Wooden Cutting Board Makeover and Repurpose

This is such a little project I'm sharing today, but I love how it turned out and am feeling so excited to share it with you.

Over the summer I picked up a little cutting board at a yard sale for .10.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it , but thought maybe I would do an image transfer on it.  Well, it has sat in the garage in my "to do" project pile ever since.  Then the other day I picked up a 2nd one at the ReStore for .25 and felt it was finally time to do something with it.  As I was walking through the paint aisle at Walmart I spotted the cans of chalkboard paint and an idea hit me.

A cutting board turned message board!

I added a coat of MinWax Early American stain to the back, sides, and edges of the front.  I thought the darker colored wood would be more complimentary to the black chalkboard paint than the original light wood.

Then I taped it off and put two coats of the chalkboard paint on it.  Either my tape wasn't pressed down firmly enough or I put too thick of a coat of paint on because when I lifted the tape afterwards some of it had seeped under.  Plus, even though I had checked and rechecked and practically crossed my eyes trying to make sure my rectangle was perfectly straight, I still ended up with one slightly lopsided edge. 

 Don't you hate it when the projects you think should be so fast and easy never fail to turn more complicated?  So, I tore off a small little piece of sandpaper and started sanding the drippy areas intending to go back and fill in the sanded areas with stain by using a tiny paintbrush.  But as I sanded it I realized I actually liked how it looked.  It gave the edges a more rustic, less precise look and gave the chalkboard area a matted look.  Plus, it made the lopsided edge not even noticeable.  Yay for not having to repaint!!

I tied the chalk on with a piece of twine.  I had to make the twine pretty long so the chalk could reach the bottom of the board, so I just wrapped the extra length around the handle of the cutting board.

The addition of the board inspired me to change up the whole coffee corner and now I love it so much! I brought in one of my little Ikea canisters to hold my coffee.  

(You can read about how I "galvanized" the lids {here}.)

And I added a little metal vintage Jello mold to hold the sweetener packets. 

 (I 'm trying to get away from using artificial sweeteners, but it still looks cute.)

The only problem is, it really makes me wish I had a beautiful farmhouse kitchen with white beadboard cupboards, lovely rustic hardwood floors, and barn style lights.  {Sigh}....someday!

For now I just have to enjoy dreaming about my "someday" kitchen while I brew a cuppa each day.

Let's see a side by side comparison of the before and after.

I'm.in.love.

So, for all of 10 cents I have a gorgeously rustic message board that makes my heart happy.  

(I did have to purchase the chalkboard paint, but I used so very little of it that I have enough left over for tons more projects so I'm not really counting that in the price.)

What do you think?  Do you like my rustic repurpose?  

Do you have a message board in your home that makes your heart happy? 

 I'd love to hear about it!

                                                               

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