If you’ve been following me on instagram, you’ve seen what I’ve been up to lately. As soon as I finished the dining room mirror wall, it was on to the next project! This time I’ve created a chalkboard/activity wall for my boys and I can’t wait to show you how it turned out.
I wanted an area the boys could draw, create and ultimately feel was “theirs”. I had the perfect spot in the back of the house to put this that was out of the way and not seen often. In the picture above, it’s the wall in the back right hallway, kind of opposite the round mirror. Below is an up close shot of the space.
The door in the back leads to my youngest son, Owen’s, nursery. We also keep the dog leash and towel here since it’s accessible to the back door and again, not seen in plain view.
I like to give credit where credit is due, and I got the idea from Pinterest, where I saw this chalkboard wall in an article on parents.com. I love the orange pop of color, and the ability to draw OR use chalk.
Materials:
- 1 sheet of 4×8 plywood / $11
- Primer / $11
- Chalkboard paint / $15
- 1×4 trim / $16
- Metal magnet strip / $7
- Utensil cups / $3
- Round magnets / $6
- Eraser / $2
- Rod straps (2) / $1
- Wooden dowel / $3
- Roll of paper / $7
- Yard stick / $1
- Old picture frames / $0
- Total: $83
I took some painters tape and taped off the area on the wall that I wanted to designate as the activity area. The space was about 55″ wide and 64″ tall. I wanted the coloring utensils to be tall enough that the boys couldn’t reach them on their own.
I bought a piece of 4′ x 8′ plywood from Home Depot for only $10.98 and cut the long side down to 60″ with my Ryobi table saw.
I gave it a light sanding with my Dewalt orbital sander with a 220 grit and then primed it with one coat of a basic white primer.
Then I gave it 3 coats of this gray blue chalkboard paint I picked up at Target. I used a foam roller to make it go on as smooth as possible and allowed ample drying time between coats.
After it was dry, I located the studs in the wall with my stud finder and marked them with a pencil. I used my nail gun & compressor to nail the plywood into the studs.
I used my leftover 1×4 trim from the dining room wall and cut to size to frame around the plywood chalkboard. I nailed this into the studs as well. One side of the trim did not line up with any studs and in this case I shoot the nails in at alternating angles to really grip the drywall as best as possible.
After the plywood and trim were nailed up, I went through with caulk, patched the nail holes, and then used both paints to cover the caulk.
Next was the fun part – adding the accessories! I ordered the 18″ roll of paper on amazon and the dowel, clamps, and paper holder from Home Depot.
I also had a couple old broken picture frames that I took apart to paint and use for the activity board.
I spray painted the wooden dowel, yardstick paper holder, and frames in a fun green.
I used these pencil cups from IKEA to hold the crayons and chalk at the top of the board with a magnet from Home Depot.
I attached the 6″x18″ metal strip to the top of the board with double sided tape which would hold the coloring utensils. I attached the dowel clamps, and yard stick to the board with regular screws. And finally, I attached a couple more magnets to the right side of the board with more double sided tape to magnet the picture frames there. They can be moved to “frame” the kids’ artwork.
We got everything hung up, and before using the chalkboard we “conditioned” it by turning chalk on it’s side and coloring over the entire thing. This ensures that everything you write on the board fully erases.
Here’s the completed activity wall!
Again the BEFORE:
And AFTER! Comment and let me know your thoughts, I love hearing from you guys!
