As I was thinking about what I wanted to do in terms of revamping the front porch for Fall, one of the easiest things was to make a Fall chalkboard. Now I have one out there already but it’s a bit small for the space it occupies.
The other evening on my way home from my day job I stopped in at the Salvation Army to see if I could find a frame to fit the bill. I got pretty lucky and walked out with a good sized one for $2.
I’ve seen a lot of layering of chalk paint lately and I absolutely love the effect. So I decided that it might be fun to try that technique on this frame. The frame I chose was a medium colored oak with some cool details on it. It was actually a framed picture, glass and all. Now, I like these for chalk boards. I just clean the glass really well and prime the glass with Kilz water based primer. I paint in all in one direction first and let it dry really well, like a couple of hours. The second coat I do in the opposite direction and let it dry overnight. Then comes two coats of Rustoleum chalkboard paint, in two directions, letting it dry really well in between the coats . I know this sounds time consuming but I just set everything up on a old towel on the kitchen table and work on it was I clean house or do laundry.
The hardest part of this little project was deciding what colors I wanted to use. Ultimately, I chose a base of olive green
The base coat needs to be the heaviest, the coat that covers the most completely. I McGyvered this color for another project and I had a little bit left over. It’s a mix of Americana Decor chalk paint in the color New Life and a random brown AD craft paint. I didn’t care for the color at all until I tried it on oak and I really like it!
For the second coat I went with a turquoise.
Annie Sloan Province
I really dig these two colors together, believe it or not. I may have to do this combo again down the road. In hindsight I thnk I should have almost dry brushed this color. Coverage seems to be irrelevant for the middle color.
Lastly, I went with a light coat of Old White. I applies one thin coat for this color, not being too particular about the coverage. I knew I was probably going to sand most of it off anyway.
After no more than half an hour I got out the sandpaper and REALLY went to town on this frame. My objective was to be able to see all three colors at once, simulating years of wear and painting & repainting.
It worked!
The last thing I did was apply dark wax and it was done.
I’m very happy with how this little experiment turned out! And I love the turquoise/olive combo!
Now, the BIG dilemma . . .
What will it say?
Happy week ahead,
Paige
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Love the color combo results from your experiment too, you created a really nice finish there Paige!
What a great idea! I was actually wondering what to do with my front porch for the fall the other day and I think I'm gonna copy you on this one!!! Love it!
Cheers
Your frame turned out beautiful!!
I love the layered look – it looks awesome!
Beautiful! I love the colors and the fact you craft and do housework!
Beautiful layering effect! I'm still trying to perfect that myself.
Great job. Thanks for sharing how you did this. Love the layering effect.
Love the patina that you gave the frame. Looks fabulous….and I always love a pretty chalkboard!