DIY Reclaimed Wood Chalkboard

So my Son's 4th Birthday is tomorrow and I want one of those cute HUGE Chalkboards that I could write cute things on. Since I am both frugal and I collect free wood where ever I can find it, I figured I could make one pretty easily. Seriously people you can make this in 20 minutes!

I'm NOT KIDDING, Seriously!!

So here is the quick and dirty on this very cute chalkboard!

What you will need:

3 old fence boards

Home Depot chalkboard

heavy duty stapler

nails

little wood glue

First... Seek out some free wood, we have a local FB page that is called Buy, Sell, Trade and someone posted free old fence boards. So I took my husband and the truck and loaded up on as much as I could fit. I've been letting it dry out and now it is the perfect gray color. LOVE me some gray reclaimed wood!

You will need three boards total, these were on average 5-6 feet long.

Second.... Check out your local Home Depot or Lowe's and buy some of these super easy and awesome 2' x 4' Chalkboards. They also have dry erase boards and cork boards. So you can choose whatever floats your boat. They are $10-$20 depending on what you choose.

BOOM... Easy peasy!

Third.... Bust out your Miter Saw. If you don't have one, ask your significant other for one for your Birthday, Christmas, in your Easter Basket, whatever. They will think your cool for asking for one and may like you more for it! Honestly, what guy doesn't love a girl that wants power tools for Valentine's Day!!  

Place your angle at 45 Degrees, really its that simple. That will give you the picture frame edge. I easily stacked 3 fence boards and cut them at the same time so that they were exactly the same.

You will need :

two long pieces, at just under 4 feet long.

two short pieces, at just under 2 feet long.  

Make sure to cut them a bit shorter than the chalkboard length and width so that when you make your frame, the chalkboard will over hang onto the frame and you can have an area to nail together. 

Once you make your first cut on all 3 boards, separate two and face the finished (gray) side towards each other. Then flip it and reverse it (You can do the Missy Elliot sound affects like I do) and cut the opposite end at just under 4 feet on the short side.  Short side meaning the right side of the board on the below picture. Get it? Got it...Good!

 

 Fourth... Take the third board and flip it and reverse it and cut the short end at just under 2 feet.  

Fifth... Take the scrap piece from what you just cut and flip it and reverse it again to cut the last 45 degree cut. 

I find it easy to stack the short pieces and then the long pieces together when cutting to use as a template, so that they are exactly the same size. 

I know this sounds confusing, but once you start it's really not. Your are just making 4 cuts total.

Recap: Cut three boards at 45 degree angle.

Take two of those pieces, face together, flip, reverse, cut 45 degree angle.

Take third piece of wood, cut short end at just under 2 feet.

Take scrap piece, reverse and cut another 45 degree angle at just under 2 feet on the short end.

VOILA!!! You have 4 pieces and this may or may not take you 10 minutes.

Moving on ( I hope)....

Lay all 4 pieces grey side down, square up the corners and get out your wood glue and staple gun :)

I just put a little glue on each joint and put three staples on each corner. Simple enough!

Now onto my favorite part! Get out your NAIL GUN :) I giggle just thinking about how much I love this thing. 

Sidenote: Thank you Home Depot girls night, where I fell in love with this amazing Ryobi, battery operated nail gun. I sing "HALLELUJAH!!" whenever I find a reason to use it.  Also a great tool to drop hints for, or you can just buy it "for the husband" and then use it all the time :)

Last and FINAL step..... Lay your chalkboard finished side down and nail around the edges, I put a nail about every 2 inches and I used a 1/2 inch nail.  I also added little D hooks on the top so I could hang on the wall.

TAA- DAA!!!! Here is my new favorite Home accent!

 

Plus if your looking to use every scrap of wood like I do, you can make these cute arrow accents for your walls :) Just more 45 degree cuts, some wood glue and staple gun! BOOM!

LOOK AT THIS HANDSOME BOY! So Happy how everything turned out and so thankful I had a Chalkboard that cost me $10 to make and I was able to document this day! PLUS!! I made it in the top three, without prompting ;)

Ciao Friends!!

I'm obviously new to blogging, so I'm not paid by anyone to tell you to buy tools, there just cool, and you should.