How to Make a Giant Chalkboard

Ever since last year when I showed you the dining room, I've been getting inquiries about our chalkboard.  (Seriously don't know why it's taken me SO long to write this post!?!?)  A massive chalkboard was something I wanted for my home ever since I saw one in a Pottery Barn catalog years ago.  I had thought about just painting a chalkboard on the wall, but my uber-smart hubby pointed out a few issues with that, like...

1)what if one of the kidddos pushed too hard and it made a hole in the wall...
2) or how about if I wanted to change the wall color, it would be a pain to paint around (which was so true since we did repaint a few weeks ago...he knows me too well!)
3) and if we ever moved, my humongous chalkboard would be left behind. That was the clincher for me, lol! =)

Here's how we made it: (btw...we made it over two years ago when I wasn't blogging, so there's no step by step pics, sorry!)

We used 1/8" Eucaboard that comes in an 4'x8' (48"x96") sheet for $8 from Home Depot or Lowe's.  "Eucaboard" is just 1/8" MDF....just in case the guy in the lumber department looks at you like you have two heads. =D  We painted it with several coats of chalkboard paint (that we already had) and then cut it down to 4'x6'. (I actually used the extra that was cut off for the summer list last year.) 

For the frame my hubby used door casing trim that we had taken out of this house when we began the remodeling.  It is something similar to this moulding that you can find at Lowe's.  

To attach the frame to the chalkboard,we screwed it on from behind, through the board and into the frame. We hung it using heavy duty picture frame hangers (found in the hardware section at Lowe's) that look like this....

Since we had everything we needed to make this except the MDF, it only cost us $8.00 out of pocket, which was awesome! =)

I absolutely LOVE this chalkboard and it's size.  It's so perfect for homeschooling and it's just plain fun!  It's hardly ever clean, there's always some doodling or writing on it.  Love that. =)

The chalk just sits up on the top ledge, safe from Miss Lucy who not only is mobile,but loves to put everything in her mouth!  My kids like using sidewalk chalk on our board...it shows up well and they have lots of fun colors! =)

So if you have always wanted a big huge chalkboard in your home, I hope this will help!

Do you have any chalkboards in your home?  Did you buy it, make it, paint it on the wall?
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