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| The finished result! |
When dealing with people who are not very organised (my other half...) it becomes essential to create ways in which you can communicate what needs to be done to remain organised... without it being forgotten again five minutes later!
So, to combat this problem in my household I came up with an ingenious plan that gave me a chance to get my paintbrush out and have a go at some DIY.
Messy creativity and organisation in one task... HEAVEN!
So the plan was to create the following....
- Reward Chart for the small boy
- Chores Boards for myself, the big boy and the small boy
- Important Dates Board
- General Notice Board
As blackboards are "in" at the moment and the perfect medium for boards that change on a daily basis I thought I would give making them a go.
To make the boards I used....
- 6 Mismatched Picture Frames (purchased from a car boot sale)
- Sanding Block
- Wet Cloth
- Blackboard Paint/Spray Paint
- Gloss Paint (in a colour of your choice, I used Ivory to match my wall)
- Paintbrushes
- Small Nails
- Hammer
- MDF (cut to fit inside the picture frames)
- Gaffa Tape
Before you read the instructions please be aware I am no expert at all in DIY, My boards aren't perfect but they serve a purpose!
Instructions:
- Take out the pictures, glass and backing boards from the picture frames.
- If the thickness of MDF you intend to use is more than the thickness of the backing board, glass and picture you will need to remove the pins that held them in place.
- Sand down the picture frames to score the surface and wipe them down with a damp cloth afterwards. It is recommended that you clean anything due to be painted with sugar water, I didn't do this, which caused come problems so I recommend you do!
- Paint the MDF boards with the blackboard paint, you may need several layers.
- Paint the frames using the gloss paint, again you may need several layers.
- Leave everything to dry between layers and after the painting process has finished. Believe me, it is extremely messy and annoying if you pick up a frame before it is dry.... I did! It involved lots of touching up of paintwork!
- When everything is dry put the MDF boards inside the picture frames, blackboard side facing outwards.
- Secure the boards into the frame using the small nails and hammer - I found this quite tricky, but i'm no picture framer!
- Secure and cover the nails using either gaffa tape or picture framing tape. I used gaffa tape because it was easier and cheaper to get hold of.
- Hang the frames!
The image at the top is what I ended up with! They may not be perfect, but they are extremely useful and look lovely on my wall!
