The Handbuilt Bedroom, pt. 5: The Chalkboard

I’m back to post another entry in “The Handbuilt Bedroom” series (you can see the last part here).  With a dresser and a bed, my son was ready for something “fun” for his room…and he wanted a chalkboard.

A big one.

My son’s room is a little awkward, in that there is very little wall space.  There is a window on one wall, with about 3 feet on either side.  Then there are two blank walls, but the fourth wall has a closet and two other doors that fill most every inch.  With the bed on one wall, that left us with about 10 feet of wall on the opposite side of the room.

Initially he wanted the chalkboard to run the full length of the wall.  However, I didn’t just want to use chalkboard paint on the wall because of the orange-peel texture, so I opted to buy a piece of hardboard to get a smoother finish.  I couldn’t figure out how to “seam” the hardboard and still make it look good, so the poor boy had to be satisfied with a chalkboard that is 8 ft long and 3 1/2 feet tall!

You can see how I marked the studs on pieces of painter’s tape, and then I used small brads to nail the hardboard directly into the wall.

Then I had to trim it.  Since boards come in 8-foot lengths, and my chalkboard was 8-feet long, I couldn’t do nice mitered corners.  Instead I used 1x3 boards along the edges and cut down some 1x4 boards to make some nice corner blocks.  Everything was painted red and glazed with black stain to match the chest of drawers.

Of course, the most fun thing to do was to “decorate” it for him before he got home!

“Cubby” (that’s my boy’s nickname, much to his chagrin") loves his chalkboard! 

AND his mommy!

 

 

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!