A Kid's Chalk Board Table

A Kid's Chalk Board Table
by Brenda Hyde

Trash to treasure projects are rewarding, especially when the piece of furniture you are working on would have actually been thrown out! Our latest project was my husband's creative idea and it turned out great. He found an old coffee table in his dad's shed and had the idea to make a chalk board table for our kids.

The materials we used:

coffee table
wood putty
4 pastel acrylic paints-yellow, pink, blue and yellow
one can blackboard spray paint
Kilz acrylic primer
paint brushes
sandpaper or sander
regular black spray paint

Wash your table if it's dirty or dusty and allow it to dry. Take off the legs if they are removable. Use the wood putty to fill in any gouges or deep scratches. Allow to dry and sand. Wipe the table with a clean cloth to remove dust. Prime the entire table and the legs. After the primer dries, paint each leg a different pastel color. They will need two coats each. Allow them to dry between coats. (See tips below)

Turn the table top over so the bottom is up. Using the REGULAR black spray paint cover the bottom. Allow to dry and give it a second coat. Make sure it's completely dry. Place an old towel on your work surface and turn the table over so the top is face up. There are several brands of blackboard paint. Follow the directions and paint the top only of the table. They go on just like spray paint and our fairly easy to use. Spray evenly and make sure no one touches it until it's COMPLETELY dry. It takes longer than paint.

When the legs and table are completely dry, attach the legs back to the table. Most of the blackboard paints instruct a certain drying period of 1 or 2 days before using.

This such an easy and fun project. Our kids loved the table! If your kids are older they can even help with the project.

Working Tips

Sandpaper: A 4x6 inch piece of 2x4 wood works well for wrapping the sandpaper around the block and using this to sand rather than just the sandpaper itself. It will make it easier to sand evenly.

Painting: Take a scrap piece of wood (we used a piece of 4x4) and drill 4 holes in the wood spaced several inches apart. Screw in the 4 tables legs just enough for them to stand up. This worked great for painting the legs and allowing them to dry.