DIY Cabinet Door Chalkboard

I’m crafting my tushie off for our Blitzkrieg Cancer Treatment Fund booth at the Pet Promise Rescue Run this Saturday. Please come!

Husband and I will sell Barking Mad Candles for Men (more on that in a later post), braided fleece dog chew toys, t shirt grocery shopping bags, and reclaimed wood signs. The money we raise will help pay for Blitzkrieg’s chemotherapy treatments and extra medical bills we’re having because of side effects from the chemotherapy treatments. You can read an update about Blitzkrieg here.

Thank you for helping me!

I don’t want to spend a lot on the booth itself because we’d have to make that much more money to turn a profit and help Blitzkrieg. Christina from A Mommy Story stepped in and offered us the use of their awning for the event. She crossed a major expense off our list. Thank you Christina!

 

No one is going to visit our awning without a sign telling them why they should buy our super cool creatively recycled stuff (would you expect any less of me? No, you would not.) I’m not sure if I’m going to do more craft fairs so the sign should be something I can use again elsewhere.

 

I bought a cabinet door last summer at The Restore to use in my Dr. Seuss birdhouse build. I didn’t use the door for  the project because it had an unusually strong case of Thrift Store Smell – ugh. I figured The Smell will be gone after sitting in the garage for a year.

Nope. The door Still. REEKS.

Since I’m going to spend a day (or more) standing behind this door, I had better do the project the right way. I don’t want to do a quick and dirty paint job and end up having my sign smell like paint AND cat wee.

 

How to Make a Chalkboard From a Cabinet Door

 

You will need:

Screwdriver

Wood filler

Putty knife (I used a 5 in one tool)

Sander ( I used a belt sander and a finishing sander)

Hand Sandpaper (for the edge detail if you need it)

Primer (optional)

Paint brush

Spray paint

Chalkboard paint

Make it:

1. Use the screwdriver to remove the cabinet hardware from the cabinet door.

2. Use the putty knife or five in one tool and wood filler to fill any hardware hole in the front of the door. Allow the wood filler to dry.

3.  Sand the dry wood filler smooth with the hand sand paper.

4. My door reeked of ICK. I used the belt sander to sand the finish off the wood completely hoping that would remove the smell instead of removing and roughing up the gloss of the wood stain on the door in order to paint it. I used my finish sander to sand where the belt sander could not. I hand sanded the finish from the edges of the door. 

 

 My Mouse finishing sander is on the left. The belt sander is on the right.

5. The door still stank. I turned to my stain blocking BFF Kilz no VOC Primer. I primed the front and back of the door to lock in the stench. It worked. Whew!

 Kilz covers anything and the low voc version doesn't reek like regular Kilz. 

It is worth every extra penny I pay for it.

6. I spray painted the outside edge with turquoise spray paint I had leftover from last summer’s landscaping and porch project.

7. I taped off the raised center of the door with painter’s tape and broke out the DIY crack chalkboard paint.

 

If you follow me on Instagram @condoblues you might recognize this project sneak peek.

8. I removed the painter’s tape while the second coat of chalkboard paint was wet. I allowed the paint to cure for three days before I primed the chalkboard by rubbing chalk over the chalkboard paint. Then I added picture hanging hardware I had on hand to the back of the chalkboard.

Of course camera hound Blitzkrieg had to jump in the shot.

Here's the dog free version of my chalkboard paint cabinet door.

Clever, but it's missing something, don't you think?

That's better!

I keep telling Lisa her project photos are better with me in them! 

She needs to listen to me more often.

After the event, I can use my cabinet door chalkboard as a message center or hang it in another room of the house for DIY silly saying artwork.

 
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