DIY $10 Chalkboard and Frame Re-Wire Tutorial!

Since its been all the rage on Pinterest I have been wanting to make a chalkboard for sometime now. Several months ago I was walking our pup and I noticed a vacant garage with a beat up and broken mirror sitting alone in it. I went to our leasing office to make sure it was abandoned before I claimed it. The previous owners obviously broke the mirror while moving and just decided to leave it there. Once given the blessing from our leasing office that it was indeed abandoned, I cleaned it up a bit and got my supplies ready. The frame itself had a lot of potential once spruced up, and repainted from the dirty gold color that it was. It also needed to be re-wired because, #1 it was wired landscape and I wanted it portrait and #2 because the wire was bent out of shape and just needed replacing!

How it looked before!

DIY $10 Chalkboard and Frame Re-wire

What You Need:
Frame with wood back board (Free!)
Paint or Spray paint (I used existing wall paint that we had in our garage- Free!)
Paint Brush
Chalkboard Paint or Spray paint (I used spray paint cause it was cheaper - $6)
Steel Wire ($2)
Eye Hook Screws ($2)
Staple Gun and Staples
Pencil and Measuring Tape
Drill and Bits
Pliers with Wire Cutter

Directions:
1. Make sure your frame is clean and free of dust and dirt. Paint your frame your desired color, probably do two coats of paint for adequate coverage. You should probably sand your  frame before hand to ensure good paint coverage, but I was lazy and skipped that step. We will see how well it holds up! Let dry overnight.

2. Spray paint/brush paint your wood back with chalkboard paint according to package directions. If spray painting make sure its WELL ventilated! Let dry completely at least 2 hours

3. Align your back on the backside of the frame evenly. Using your staple gun, staple the board to the frame ever 3 inches or so to insure the board will stay. My hubby even stapled diagonally in the corners!

4. Measure 6" down from the top of the frame and make a mark with your pencil. Take your drill and select a bit that is slightly smaller than your eye hook screw. Drill a starter hole about 1/4" into the wood on both sides. And screw in your eye hook screws.

5. Take your steel wire and thread through your eye hook about 4" or so. Bend up and start wrapping the wire back onto itself. Twist until the wire is completely wrapped and pinch in using your pliers. Extend the wire to the other side making sure that its long enough for hanging, but not too long that it extends above the top of the frame, clip the desired length with your wire cutters, thread wire through eye hook and wrap wire back onto itself until completely wrapped and pinch the end in.

6. Hang and admire your work! This is my first attempt at a graphic design using chalk! I guess I need a little practice!  I have seen many tips on writing on chalkboards on various websites, i.e. Pinterest. Also I have read that you need to 'prime' your chalkboard before you start writing on it to prevent ghosting. Take the side of a piece of chalk and rub it over the entire board and that should help. You will still see some ghosting, but hopefully not too bad! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!