DIY Door Chalkboard

I have been wanting a chalkboard in my kitchen for a loooong time now...I needed a place to jot down notes, our menu, and a shopping list. I saw THIS on Ashley's blog and knew it was perfect! Mine is a little different and I'll tell you how I did mine.

I went to Home Depot and picked out a super thin piece of lumber and had them cut it down to a 24x60 size for me {it's free to have them do that}. Let me tell you how awesomely fun the Home Depot is with 3 crazy kids running around and carrying a huge board ;)

Then I painted the board with chalkboard paint about 3 coats. Tip: use a normal roller, not a foam brush. Let the coats dry completely before adding another. And I did mine inside because I started it outside and the paint began to bubble because it was too cold. But, the most important tip is...Don't let your 4 year old step in your paint tray and then rub her foot all over the carpet!!! {thank goodness "Goo Gone" got it all out}

I wanted to add a cute frame around mine so it looked really nice. I also got some cheap decorative molding from "Home Depot" . It comes is long strips and they actually won't cut that. Well, I didn't have a miter saw to make the nice angles for the frame. So, I took it to my local framer up here "Al's" and they cut the molding and put the frame together for me...only $10 and so nice to not have to do it myself! Then all I had to do was staple {from the back} the frame to my new chalkboard!

Since I rent, I couldn't glue or staple it to my door, so I stapled some strong ribbon to the back of the chalkboard and then the top of my door. And tada! done. I LOVE IT!

Of course the kiddos drew me a line that I could not cross. I guess I should have known :)

ps. if I want to take my "shopping list" with me to the store, all I have to do is take a picture of it with my iphone :)