How to Transform an Old Piece of Art into a Chalkboard

How to Transform an Old Piece of Art into a Chalkboard

I suffer from a condition called design ADD. It’s a real thing in my world. I am always moving things around, rearranging furniture, and swapping out wall decor. If you will recall I had some new doors that I made look old and crackly behind my couch. You can see that tutorial here.

Here’s the thing. The moment they were hung, I didn’t like them. I liked them, I just didn’t like them in MY space. But I tempered my design ADD because I had insisted that my husband hang them for me late one night so that I could blog about them the next day. He was super tired but he did it. So out of guilt, I decided to live with them. I lived with them for almost a year! It’s a record for me.

Before the doors I had a giant piece of art work on the wall. I bought this piece when we lived in Ohio and had a family room with a 2 story ceiling. It looked small in that space! This is the only pic I could find with the artwork actually on my wall in my currant home. But it had been in my garage since the doors went up.

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I have had this pic one of my Pinterest boards for a long time and I always come back to it. I love the gold frame on the chalkboard and the french country design of the room. I realized that I could turn that giant piece of artwork out in the garage into a chalkboard pretty similar to the one in my inspiration photo.

A quick dismantling of the art work revealed that the back of the art was cardboard. I broke out the chalkboard paint and gave the cardboard 2 coats of paint. The cardboard did crinkle up a bit with the moisture of the paint but it flattened out a bit when it dried. The wrinkles that are left don’t real bother me because I think it makes the chalkboard look old.

I removed the frame and spray painted it gold. And then I reassembled the picture. Only with the chalkboard side facing out. Here’s the best part, should my design ADD return I can always flip the picture back to the poppies side. Presto, chango!