DIY Chalkboard Family Message Center

Any other parents out there still adjusting to managing an entire family’s life schedule instead of just your own?  Yep, we’ve got that.

It drives Jason crazy when ideas/plans/schedules reside only in my head.  Sure, appointments and such are on our shared online cloud calendar, but we were feeling out of sync with the the day-to-day stuff.  That’s when Jason said “maybe we need a calendar on the wall” which I took to mean “come up with something much more complicated, creative, and beautiful”.

It was very simple and actually cost nothing since re-used all of the materials.  The one thing I did spend on was fine-tipped chalk in a nice mechanical pencil style holder that a friend found after a rant about fat kid chalk & chalk markers that don’t come off.  Seriously, where has this thing been all my life?

Anyway, all I did was take some thin plywood left over from another project, cut it to size to fit this 11×14 frame, paint it with chalkboard paint left over from our mudroomhall, and install it in the frame with these glazier points left over from framing some canvases.

The frame was in the girls’ room at the old house where it held a pink chalkboard DIY project that I used to write them messages and quotes such as “Happy Birthday” or “Today you are You, that is truer than true.  There is no one alive who is Youer than You., Dr. Seuss“.  It was thrifted, but I’ve seen similar found at Hobby Lobby, on Etsy, Goodwill, and garage sales.  Don’t worry about color, you can always paint it whatever color you’d like!  I left ours white because I have other plans for the door (hint, hint).

Clearly my chalk-art/hand-typography skills could use a ton of improvement, but we now have a great place to write out our weekly routine and leave each other grown-up-type memos like “remember to buy —-” or “you are awesome”.

This is one of those “imperfect is perfect” moments… I love the character of an antique frame and brush strokes.

I hung the finished product using two triangle picture framing hoops (like these) that I had on hand in a picture framing kit.  One on top and one on bottom hold it steady even when the door is slammed.  As always, I made sure that the screws were long enough to get a great grip, but short enough that they wouldn’t come back out the other side of the door.

Our chalk calendar and message center is in our mudroomhall, just off the family room & kitchen and where we keep bags, shoes, and other items needed for our activities organized.

Now the girls have their chalkboard and I have mine!  Oh, yeah, and Jason got his family calendar.  This formerly bare hall has become quite the useful center in our home!