I Love Chalk boards!

So if you remember from one of my past posts about the 40 ammo boxes I bought, well it was time to paint up a few more tops into chalkboards.  You can see my first tops reported HERE.

I was able to get the sample size jars of the Martha Stuart paint at Home Depot for $1.00 (they are discontinuing the line) I picked a turquoise color called Lagoon and also a deep brick red called Chocolate Cosmos.

So I started by filling in the nail holes with some wood putty,  gave the top a quick sand, a coat of primer and I was ready to get started.

First coat of color was the brick red and I did that all around, even on the back leaving the chalk board area alone. Let it dry.

Next I painted over the red with the turquoise color. Let it dry. 

Because I knew that I'd be distressing the wood and adding a glaze I felt that a second coat of paint wasn't necessary.

So after the paint had dried I got out my trusty handy dandy orbital sander.  I'm not one for sanding by hand. So I lightly went over in the spots that I wanted the red to show thru to create that distressed look. The trick is to sand off the turquoise paint but not the red, this requires a light touch.

After that was done I used a glaze product I got from Woodcraft called Burnt Umber Glaze Effects

So I just brushed it on liberally and wiped down with a damp cloth. I find that wiping with a damp cloth eliminates brush marks  I love this stuff  it really is a great finish for distressed pieces.

So that part was done I then painted the chalk part using FolkArt brand of Chalk Board Paint. I needed to do 3 coats.


In all projects I learn something and this is true with this. What have I learned?  My first set of these I used the vaseline trick and also some crackle to expose the undercoat of paint. I didn't do that here. The brick red was such a great color combined with the turquoise  but I was a bit disappointed that the red didn't show up as much as I would of liked.  A little vaseline would of worked wonders for it. I'll use vaseline next time

I also learned that combining colors is fun and I'll do it again. Next I'm thinking of using that same red with a deep eggplant color.

Pine Wood Tops Turn Country Charm Chalkboard

Remember those pine ammo boxes I got a couple of weeks ago? Well I started doing something to a few of the tops.

BEFORE

So originally I thought the box top could be repurposed into a wall hanging. My idea was to give the top a chippy paint look and then decoupage a nice vintage image in the middle. Then I also thought it would be a good project in making this top into a chalkboard hanging. 

So I decided on doing 4 tops with the chalkboard idea.

Step one I sanded off all the rough edges on the top and sides.
Next I knew this raw pine needed a primer and I used Kylz2 latex primer.

I decided my paint color choices would be a chocolate brown with an off white top coat and the black chalkboard in the middle.
 
So after the primer had completely dried I applied the brown paint on all parts but the chalkboard area. Luckily it only needed one coat, Hooray for primer.

After the brown coat was dry I used a crackle medium in a few scattered spots and then also using a brush painted on some vaseline on a few more different spots.

Years ago I read somewhere that to achieve that chippy paint look to put some vaseline over the first coat of paint where you want the look of chipped paint. The vaseline will  inhibit the second coat of paint from adhering.  It's a bit messy but it's my technique of choice to get that look.
 
After preparing the brown paint for the old look I applied my off white paint.  After the white paint had dried I used a damp rag and wiped off the paint where the vaseline was. Next used a sandpaper pad and lightly went over the painted area. Then applied a  umber glaze  with a brush and wiped it off with a rag and repeated until I was happy with the effect.

After the paint technique was finished I then did 3 coats of chalkpaint in the center using the FolkArt brand from Joann's

Add two pieces of chalk wrapped in twine and it was done.