The idea was not entirely mine-- The idea to take ceramic plates and paint them with chalkboard paint-- nope, not my idea.
To be honest, I saw this idea in Pott*ery Barn's spring catalog.
They looked so fun.
The idea might be due to a surge of frugality in my budget.
Or it might be that Lowe's Home Improvement store "challenged" me by offering basic matte paint to be used as chalkboard paint. IN ANY COLOR YOU WANT.
Here are some very pretty plates I bought *for no good reason whatsoever* at an outlet.
I found them in my dining room. Just sitting there.
"Oh, I have a plan for you, my dearies..."
(Side note: Did I tell you that I'm trying to decorate my house using what I already have before I go buy more? It's kind of fun!)
I needed to make a template roughly the size of the inside of the plate...
See?
And then I cut it out.
Please keep in mind that I have no idea what I'm doing. Purely trial and error.
I taped the back of the Chinette plate...
...so it would stick nicely to my ceramic plate.
And then I taped the heck out of the edges with painter's tape.
Have you ever used spray primer? Because it is dreamy.
It is also smelly, so use it in an area that has ventilation and no people.
I put two coats on the plates.
One coat, dry. Second coat, dry.
And then the paint fumes probably got to me because I took this random picture of my dining room.
Here's the color I selected at Lowe's...
It reminded me of the old blue slate boards that teachers used.
The paint MUST be matte if it will work with chalk.
I did most of this work when Eve was sleeping or bound to her high chair.
After the primer was dried I pulled up the tape and paper plate templates.
Voila! A funny edge! (Grrrrr.)
Steel wool-like sponges save the day and clean the edges.
With a paintbrush I carefully, carefully painted over the primer. Twice.
And if you want to know if it works well, then you'll just have to wait until tomorrow, my friend.
This project probably took 2 hours tops.
It's very choppy as far as time increments... a bit of waiting.
Cost: If you have some plates already, then the cost is $10 for paint, $5 for a small paintbrush, $5 for painter's tape and $5 for primer. But if you're crafty, you may already have most of that stuff.
I hesitate to answer this one. Obviously the painting parts require some precision and some ventilation, so leave the youngins out of that part. But the taping part could be fun for older children.
Not really that hard. And kinda fun.
