Chalkboard Table

This was a fun and easy project.  With the chalkboard craze right now, and my decision to homeschool, I thought the Hargraves needed to chalk paint SOMETHING!  My thinking was that I needed an accessible surface to help Arden with writing, and to explain math problems to Halle.  I originally thought about doing the back of a door, or just making a big chalkboard out of plywood.  Ultimately I decided to make the kitchen table into a chalkboard.  Brian said, "if you're going to chalkboard our table, then you should add something cool like a chess board to the middle."  So I did! 

 

 I've been asked by several people how I made the chess board.  I'm horrible at explaining things, but I'll do my best.  This was a figure-it-out-as-you-go project for me.    I used painter's tape, a ruler, scissors, exacto knife, pencil, sharpie, and masking tape.

 

 

The width of the painters tape I had on hand seemed to be good.  The makers of the painters tape couldn't make it easy on me, though.  Instead of the width being a nice even number like 2 inches, they decided to make my job hard by making it something retarded like 1 and 7/8 inches.  So adding up odd measurements was the only annoying part of this project. 

 

I lucked out with the centering of the board.  If you notice my table, you will see that it has a middle point and makes a perfect cross.  This made it easy for me to start my grid perfectly centered and perpendicular. 

 

I measured out eight strips of tape.  They were 8 times longer than the width (so 15 inches in length).  I laid out four of the strips in one direction, and the other four in the opposite direction.  I spaced the parallel strips out 1 7/8 inches apart.  To make it perfect I used a pencil and drew straight lines on the table to help me lay them out perfectly. 

 

The overlapping of the tape naturally made some of the wood squares.  The others I cut out with an exacto knife.  I took care to not cut into my table, but wasn't too worried since it was going to be painted anyway.   

 

It wasn't until I finished the grid that I decided I wanted a border.  I liked it without a border, too, so it wasn't a necessary step.  I made a border with a tape of thinner width.

 

 

 I used chalkboard spray paint.  The paint was dry to the touch about an hour later, so that is when I peeled off the tape. 

 End Product.  I drew in the rest of the border with a thin-tip Sharpie marker. 

I came back a few weeks later to add another coat of chalk paint, and to spray the chess board with a  clear coating for protection. 

We love our chalk table!  We've played several games of chess on it, and the kids love drawing on it.  The chalk easily wipes up with a wet paper towel.   

A game of chess and a game of Hangman going on!