After getting several pieces of furniture into our new booth space, we realized it still looked pretty bare. We decided we needed to get a few things on the walls to pull everything together, and one of the first things we made were these framed dry erase boards.
We found a few pictures at a thrift shop that had frames with pretty details. Here’s a photo of one of them (sorry I forgot to take a before pic of the other!).
Our initial thought was to make a chalkboard, but we wanted to avoid the chalk dust mess. So we decided to paint the back of the glass black and use a chalk marker on the front of the glass, so it would have the look of a chalkboard with the easy cleanup of a dry erase board.
We dry-brushed Annie Sloan chalk paint “Old White” over this frame, letting some of the existing finish show through.
We initially tried using black acrylic paint on the back side of the glass, but when we put the second coat on, it started peeling up the first coat. We switched to Annie Sloan “Graphite” chalk paint and it worked perfectly. It took 3 coats for the glass to be completely covered.
Since we’re selling these in our booth, we thought it would be nice to include a chalk marker and eraser in a drawstring burlap bag (all found at Target). We attached it to the frame by tying a piece of burlap ribbon around it.
On the second frame I did a coat of Annie Sloan French Linen, then dry brushed Annie Sloan Old White over it.
I’m kicking myself for not taking better pictures of these before we delivered them to the booth, but at least you can get the idea.
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Amy, another great look. I’m not really a “furniture painter” but I’m definitely going to try making something with this chalk paint. I really love what y’all do. Love these frames! Have a great day. I always look forward to seeing your posts.
Thanks so much, Donna!
Absolutely BRILLIANT!!! LOVE the dry erase idea and that last frame with the french linen and old white is GORGEOUS!!!
Thanks Kristi! I love how the gray and white paint looks together too :).
Amy & Vicki,
I love that you made these dry erase boards! No more weird shadows from the previous illustration. Great idea! I wish I lived closer, I’d love to check out your booth! I’m sure it will be filled with amazing pieces! Good luck!
Thanks, Cat! It’s definitely fun creating stuff to fill our booth. I wish you were closer too!
Popping over from Merry Monday =) I’m having a garage sale in June and wanted to create some nice signs/display boards to have at it. i may need to try this out. then I can sell them or have a nice board for home! Thanks for the inspiration! Be sure to share your recipes, crafts, upcycles & DIYs at Two Uses Tuesday (Mon 8pm EST to Fri 11pm EST) over at Sarah Celebrates if you don’t already!
These are amazing! And I love the little pouch for the markers and eraser!
Now, this is brilliant! I could never get the blackboard paint to perform as well as a real blackboard so I like this idea very much. Including the marker and eraser makes it easy for customers to present as a gift because it is ready-to-use and packaged nicely. Love that you give the names of what you use for your readers. I really like your blog. ~Ginene
I love these, ladies! And what a great idea to make them dry erase boards! 🙂 The burlap bow with the little bag is such a pretty touch too! I’m sure gees won’t last long in your booth! 🙂
OMG! I never thought of this. So easy and yet so cute. i have a couple of May birthdays coming up that I was racking my brain on what I could create as gifts. Well thank you! You have inspired me. So cute.
Thank you, Mary! They were so easy to make. I’m glad you stopped by!
Such a good idea. Thanks for sharing the details. The dry erase is a nice change from the chalk.
Thanks so much, Bon!
This is a great idea to get the chalkboard look without the chalkboard dust. Very pretty!
Thanks, Emily! I have a huge chalkboard calendar in my kitchen, I love it but it is kinda messy. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Such a good idea for dry erase but with a chalkboard look. Eraser and chalk dust can be a pain! Thank you for sharing at Merry Monday. Pinned!
Great idea to create a “chalkboard” look without the mess! I’ve also made a couple of chalkboard frames to fill up my booth when I sell at markets this summer, but this would be a nice alternative to people who didn’t want the mess of chalk. Nice work!
I like the idea of painting the glass and using a chalk pen rather than going the “chalk” route. I love my chalk pen…so versatile and not messy. These are beautiful!
does the chalk pen easily erase like dry-erase?
Hey Lizzie! Yes, the chalk pen wipes right off the glass just like a dry erase marker.
Super cute! What a great idea! They would make great gifts!
Totally love how you took some thrift store finds and made them so classy! Black and white is the perfect combo for these 🙂 I could definitely use one like this to keep my grocery list on!
Hello, I think this is a lovely idea! I would like to try this for my home office. Where can I find the Annie Sloan paint?
Hi Yvette! Annie Sloan’s paints are only sold by select stockists. Here’s the website where you can search for a shop near you http://www.unfolded.com/find-stockist/. Honestly though, if you’re just doing a frame or two, I would go to the local craft store and buy a small container of chalk paint. Try Americana Decor or Folk Art brands. It’ll be a lot cheaper and for something small like a frame I wouldn’t hesitate to use a less expensive paint :). Hope that helps and good luck with your project!
Hi! I’m wondering if the chalk marker easily erases like dry-erase from the glass?