Wednesday, June 3, 2009

My favorite part of Spring

I am so in love with Lilacs! The colors, the smell, the beauty. I always look forward to the time of year that their blooms start to pop out on the branches. We have 2 huge lilac trees in the backyard so I have a plentiful supply this year! I have bunches all over the kitchen lately.



Besides trimming the lilacs and other various shrubs over the last few days I also made this chalk board. I bought this big frame for $3 at a garage sale on Saturday thinking it would make a great chalkboard. I have always loved the chalkboards memo stations that are so in style these days! The only problem I have is that I am sure neither of us would take the time to wipe it down or actually put reminders on it so I thought it would be a great way to have some original art around the house that we can change as we like (I am imagining something spooky for Halloween, festive around the holidays, romantic on Valentine's day, etc...). This is much more useful in our lifestyle.


(excuse the marble pencil edging piled up that we have yet to install)


This is the frame as I found it:


I picked up scrap MDF at Home Depot for a couple bucks and used a jig saw to cut to the correct size.
Yet again the paint sprayer comes in handy to get into all those cracks!

One coat of chalkboard paint does the trick!

The final step was to dry brush white paint on to just tone down the turquise slightly and give it some interest.

(the sign says "Our house was built with Love" for any non-french speaking readers)

23 comments:

Lauren @ with two cats said...

I've been wanted a Ballard chalkboard but didn't want to pay for it...this looks even better and so easy! Our neighborhood yard sale is coming up and I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.

Unknown said...

It turned out awesome! I love homemade art. I just made some out of a gift bag. =)

Sarah said...

aw, i love it, holly! gosh, i don't know how you get all this stuff with a little baby, you are a superhero!! the kitchen looks amazing. i can't believe it only took you a few hours to paint those cabinets. and i love how you keep using lots of different paint colors to repaint things in but they are all soft and light and still go together. yay you!!!

Anonymous said...

So cool! I have been eyeing some pretty white frames at an antique store near me, thinking the chalkboard idea would be good. Now I know where to get the supplies and that I CAN do it myself. :0)

Sa-Sea said...

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! What shade of paint is that?! I have wanted a big one, but didn't want to pay big bucks!

Tammy said...

Very pretty! I love the DIY chalkboard! Lilacs are one of my favorite smells too!

Taryn said...

Lilac is my ultimate favorite smell. I am jealous.

Donna said...

Love the lilacs!

I have sitting next to me - a very ugly frame/picture from Goodwill that will be my chalkboard...for my bedroom. My hope is that it will be used for sweet notes ;)

Then if that fails - I'll give it to my daughter for her bedroom...she wants it now. LOL

Donna

Devin said...

Looks fantastic! I'm always so impressed with your projects AND your ability to get your projects done. Most of the time, I have an idea, buy the materials, and then the project sits undone for days, weeks, months, until I work up the motivation to get it finished.
What color paint did you use for the frame???

Shannon Dew said...

You are so dang creative!!!

Jill said...

Love it! A cheap, classy, fun project that looks great!

Oh and I'm with you on the whole, like the chalk boards but don't want to have to clean them off each time, sort of thing...

Looks great!

Sugar & Spice said...

Neat project! Looks brand new :)

Erin Southwell said...

Holly, I love you, you are such an inspiration! I just love this idea. I may have to do it in A and B's room!

P.S. LOVE lilacs. Wish we lived closer together, I'm sure we would have so much fun together.

Unknown said...

Thanks so much everyone!! I wish I could tell you the color of the paint, but as you can see in the post below it was scooped up as a mistint :(
It looks like a robin's egg blue with a hint of turquoise in it for anyone looking though.

Erin, *sigh*, I too wish we lived closer!!! The baking, gardening and decorating we could do... But having you as such a wonderful efriend is almost as good ;)

Kristin said...

First of all, is there a prettier smell that blooming lilacs when you're taking an early summer walk? I envy your two backyard bushes... I have to buy my blooms from the farmer's markets.

Second, the chalkboard art turned out so perfect! We're thinking of painting the back of our bathroom door (on the kitchen side) with chalkboard paint, and this is the perfect inspiration for me to get the ball rolling.

Once again, you've hit it out of the park!

SweDaisy said...

What a lovely blog. I just stumbled here today and have posted about your wonderful blog and home on my blog. I looked at some of your older posts, I love your home, style and creativity.

Take care,
Lisa

Christina said...

Great looking chalkboard. Love the pale blue.

Your kitchen is absolutely amazing. Y'all did a wonderful job.

Little One said...

It looks great! But I can't help but tell you, "Amore" is Italien and "Amour" is French!
keep up the beautiful renos/projects!
Little One

Laurel @ Ducks in a Row said...

I love lilacs too and plan on planting several bushes in our backyard - when we get to that spot. Love your chalkboard.

Katie said...

I love it, Holly!! I am in love with anything chalkboard right now! I just painted a whole wall in my kitchen w/ it!

Soie Belle said...

"Notre maison a été construite avec amour"
Really enjoy reading your blog.

little-d-tales said...

Have you ever tried just painting the glass with chalkboard paint? That was my though rather that carefully removing the goods and then trying to fit MDF into that area. Just wondering?

little-d-tales said...

Have you ever tried painting the Chalkboard paint directly onto the glass (if the frame has it?) Just trying to avoid the extra steps, but i don't want to risk the quality of the final product!

 
Blogging tips