DIY Farmhouse Chalkboard : From a Vintage Headboard

One of my favorite pastimes in the world is to take an old piece of furniture–that many might be tempted to simply throw away–and turn it into something truly beautiful.

And when it serves a valuable function, beyond just decoration, all the better! Today’s project, a DIY farmhouse chalkboard falls squarely in the latter category.

You may be interested in these other chalkboard projects, too: vintage oak frame chalkboard, beverage labels, and four farmhouse chalkboards.

Note: This post contains affiliate links for [the same or similar] products used to complete the project discussed. This is both for your convenience as well as to support my website, since I receive a small compensation whenever you click on a link and make any sort of purchase, for which I thank you 🙂 See my full disclosure here.

Buy a Vintage Head Board

One day last fall, I stumbled across these fantastic head and footboards at a local garage sale for THREE DOLLARS.

Not quite sure how I would end up using it, I quickly handed over the cash and stuffed it in the back of my van before some other junking queen could spot it, LOL.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to tackle the project and could easily picture the headboard as a statement piece chalkboard.

So I got out my Valspar chalkboard paint and went to town. Here’s a similar brand of chalkboard paint.

Tape Around the Headboard Frame & Paint

I protected the beautiful chippy white frame with frog tape and gave the central portion two coats of the chalkboard paint.

Stencil As You Like

After the paint had dried I decided to stencil the bottom portion with “Simple Blessings,” which I picked up at Scrappin’ Along. Here’s a similar one just in case. You can get my stenciling tips in this post.

I considered placing hooks along the bottom, but I have it hanging in a fairly narrow hallway and I didn’t want anyone getting poked by them as they walked past it.

Prime the Chalkboard

Before using your chalkboard, be sure to “prime it.” This is easily accomplished by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire surface of your board.

Then simply erase it and it’s all ready to go. In this photo you can see the chalk rubbed over the surface (right) and then erased (left).

Decorate Your New Chalkboard

To add a bit of color to an otherwise very black and white piece, I tacked an antique quilt bunting to the bottom.

For the Easter season I drew the title of one of my favorite hymns: Amazing Grace.

I hope your holiday was blessed with Easter joy and special times spent with family and friends.