About two years ago, I drilled a few Ikea pieces together with wood screws to make a behemoth of a desk, only to take it down to make room for baby toys. I sold the two end bookcases on Craigslist, but had an impossible time getting rid of the huge slab that made the desk top. It sat in our garage for well on a year, collecting dust as it was too big to set on the side of the street.
Harrison is a HUGE fan of chalk & although he mostly just draws lines & requests that I draw school buses, it is our favorite past time together. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere in our backyard for chalk & I was looking for a way to move chalk to a backyard activity, where his sandbox & swingset reside, along with our garden & the pup.
So I sealed the “wood” with a spray sealant, painted the desktop with chalkboard paint (purchased at AC Moore craft store with a 40% off coupon, making it roughly $8.00 for the can) & drilled it with wood screws into the fence.
I’m hoping it won’t warp in the first rain, but we’ll have to see!
yep, Harrison’s shirt is backwards. I could blame it on Doug but I totally did it in an epic wrestle to transition the toddler from lunch to nap.
I think it’s a fair statement that Harrison is pleased. Have you done anything cool with unused items lately? I’d love to see it!
What a neat idea!!! I have to do this for my sons next summer!
Oh, man! That’s inspiring. I should totally do something like that for my little dude, he would love it! Harry is lucky to have an innovative momma!
Darling project!! Clinton has that same shirt. Last week I wore my yoga pants inside out, so no judgement from me!!
Rock on! Love it. Oh, and Kendall has shirts and shorts on backwards regularly around here. It’s part of this whole “I DO IT MYSELF AND PUT IT ON MYSELF!!” phase, which sounds lovely and freeing, but is actually really grating and challenges my perfectionism.
What an awesome idea! You are MUCH more industrious than I am.
But this makes total sense – I’ve seen lots of people using the chalkboard paint on things I never would have thought of. Harry looks so cute carrying his chalk pail, too!
I’m totally scoping out a toddler size table and chairs so that I can paint the top of it with chalkboard paint and just have the bestest time ever. But, I’m waiting until I find the perfect one because there’s no way I’m paying more than $10.00 for it.
Such a fun idea! Should do this because my entire backyard fence and the house is covered in chalk right now. The only place they don’t do it? The ground!
great idea!
I just converted an old coffee table to a train/chalk table for the twins second birthday. Will send ya a pic! It was awesome!! Great job on your project. Looks great.
that’s an awesome idea!
Very awesome. I am super lazy and just let Landon draw on the fence. he thinks he is “getting away” with something. Sucker.
Love this! What an excellent idea!
I love this! Would love to paint something in my classroom with that paint!
So clever! Love this post, Especially Harry’s backwards shirt. Classic. And so representative of my life, too.
Once again, please get out of my mind. I just came up with the idea yesterday to get a toddler sized table and chairs and paint the top of the table with chalk board paint. I’ve been looking for a table and chairs at consignment sales just because I’d like for her to have one eventually but haven’t found anything yet. We’re going to go to Ikea and get a cheapo one instead. Then I’ll girly it up by painting each leg of the table a different girly color!
Awesome idea, BA!
Shut your mouth – that is an AMAZING idea. I wish I had an old desk now. Or I could just chop up our dining room table…
That is such an awesome idea! I have a top of an ikea desk sitting in our garage. I was going to get rid of it, but we have been thinking about setting up a chalk space for the kids! I am totally going to steal this idea!
So you know how I said I was totally going to steal this idea? Well I did and I will be posting about it tomorrow and linking back to you. Hope that’s okay??
x