Homemaking Tip -- A Little Chalkboard Paint Can Go a Long Ways

We grew up on a chalkboard.  My mom painted a piece of plywood, had someone screw a little silver tray to the bottom of the board, and hung it in the kitchen.  Our chores were listed on the chalkboard and that's where Mom left us notes when she wasn't there when we came home from school.  We also drew on it lots and lots.  I don't know why I didn't make one for my own little family because I loved it.

I really liked Ande's chalkboard globe and wanted to make one.  This past weekend I found a globe at the flea market for two dollars.  (The man wanted three, but I reminded him the countries' lines were no longer current and that really two was pushing it.  He acted offended, but not so offended as to not take two dollars.)  Ande had taken her chalkboard paint to the retreat so I brought it home.  I painted the globe and then, because the base was brown and the globe was black, mod-podged newspaper-like cardstock to the base of it, so that it was better coordinated.

Ande said she got the idea from a woman who made one for her kids so that they could redraw the maps and learn world geography.  That's a very good use for it.

As long as I had the chalkboard paint out and a dirty brush, I painted labels on jars, too.  I put lavender from the yard in one, and fresh cherries in another.

Though the globe was a good deal, the greatest deal I got at the flea market was a desk chair.  It's not oak.  It's not laminate.  It's not pine.  Calvin said perhaps birch . . . and since he knows woods, I'm going with that.  I got it for $7.50.  It was a great deal and I am very happy about it.  Jill (from the retreat) said she saw where a woman had painted the desk part of the chair with chalkboard paint.  That's a good idea, too, and if I didn't have the chalkboard globe already to sit on it, I'd be tempted.  I have chalkboard paint and a dirty brush you see.

My last good deals at the flea market were these child chairs for $4 each.

Calvin said we'd scrub them down and oil them.  Ohhhhhhh, the possibilities.  I just need a Goldilocks.