Creating an Inspirational Chalkboard

The older I get, the more value I find in starting and ending each day by taking a few moments to gather my thoughts and point my mind in a positive direction.  Often this is done by writing in what I have coined my "Gratitude Journal", or reading a few passages out of a book of wisdom, such as The Daily Stoic or Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations".

It was for this purpose that I began to collect quotes and passages I felt should be read with regularity in order to imprint their wisdom on my mind.  It occurred to me that if I could display these quotes somewhere I would see them often it would help to keep them in my thoughts.

While visiting my sister recently I noticed she had turned parts of her wall into chalkboards, and it struck me that this might be the perfect medium to display these pieces of wisdom.  If I installed a chalkboard on the wall of my bedroom, not only could I read it every morning and every evening, but I could also change the passages over time.  I immediately knew it was time for another project.

To create the chalkboard I had many options.  I chose to go with Krylon brand Chalkboard Paint, which I was able to purchase on Amazon relatively inexpensively.  The only other materials required were a couple of pieces of Window and Door Moulding for the boarder, which I picked up at my local hardware store, some screws and plastic drywall anchors, as well as some white paint for the moulding which I had leftover from previous projects.


I began by preparing the moulding for the border.  I measured each piece, and cut them at 45 degree angles on the miter saw.  The moulding was pre-primed, so after the pieces were cut I applied the first coat of paint, and left them overnight to dry.

I then needed to drill and countersink holes to mount the moulding to the wall.  After all the holes were drilled I added a second coat of paint and set them aside.

I then proceeded to prepare the wall.  I measured the area on the wall where I wanted to place the chalkboard, and marked the edges in pencil.  Next, I traced a second square 1 inch outside the first one.  Since the moulding would be creating the border, there was no need to tape the edges in an attempt to create straight lines, I just needed to paint outside of the intended boarder so that the moulding would overlap it.

The directions on the Chalkboard Paint said two coats were required, but I decided to go with three coats to be on the safe side.  I used a foam brush to apply the paint liberally but evenly, being sure not to allow any drips to form.  Once the paint was thoroughly dry, as must be done on any new chalkboard, it needed to be "primed" by filling the pores in the new chalkboard with chalk.  If this is not done then the first thing written on the board will "ghost" after it is erased, and it will never fully go away.

To prime the chalkboard I held a piece of chalk on it's side, and covered the entire board with chalk.  I then rubbed the chalk into the board with a dry paper towel.  Once that is complete the board can be erased with an eraser or soft, dry cloth.

Finally, using a level and a square, I placed each piece of moulding and marked the holes for mounting.  I drilled the holes, tapped the anchors in place with a hammer, and screwed the moulding in place.

And that was it.  This project was incredibly easy and inexpensive.  It took my wife and I longer to narrow down the list of quotes for the first iteration of the board than it did to build.

If any of you have any suggestions for future messages for the chalkboard feel free to leave them in the comments.  Thanks for reading.