DIY Chalkboard Menu Tutorial

As you probably know, we just bought our first house a few months ago. I’ve been getting lots of decor inspiration from Pinterest (of course) including this marvelous Menu Board I found.

That one is done on a piece of wood, which is great if you are renting or need it to be removable, but we no longer have crazy landlords to deal with so I did mine right on the wall.

Whatcha Gonna Need: 

  • Painters Tape
  • Chalkboard Paint (or chalkboard spray paint)
  • Paint Brush or Roller (fine finish roller works the best)
  • Measuring Tape
  • Silhouette Cameo for lettering (or stencils)
  • And a handsome husband to do all the work

Okay okay, you really don’t need that last one, but he sure does come in handy. My husband really did most of the work (like, all of it) but someone has to take pictures, right?! And I’m confident that could’ve tackled this project all by myself, so do not fear if you’re doing this solo.

Step 1

Clean any dirt or dust off the wall and let it dry completely. Then tape your wall. We decided to do 12 inch squares and there is a 1.5 inch gap between each square (because that’s how wide our tape is).

TIP: A laser level made this process very quick and painless (even though my husband still checked and rechecked the measurements a million times).

Step 1 - tutorial

Step 2

Once your tape is securely on the wall, you can paint! Keep a wet cloth nearby for any drips.

TIP: To prevent paint from bleeding under your tape, you can paint the edges with your base wall color and let it dry before painting with the chalkboard paint.

We didn’t have any paint since the house was (terribly) painted before we bought it. But our lines turned out clean with minimal bleeding and you can always touch it up later.

Step 2 - tutorial

Step 3

After your paint has dried, you can remove the tape. My girls liked helping with this step.

Step 3 - tutorial

Step 3_535px

Step 4

Add your letters. My lettering is made out of black and white vinyl. I designed it in Silhouette Studio and used my Silhouette Cameo to cut them out. I wasn’t thrilled with the bottom swirly scroll. The good news is that the vinyl is easily removable so I can change it any time I want!

Step 4 - tutorial

If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can paint the letters on using a stencil. And if you have a really steady hand, you could always freehand it.

©IMG_0907_EDIT

Step 5

Prime your chalkboard. After painting on chalkboard paint, you’ll need to prime the surface with chalk before writing on it. Take your stick of chalk, holding it on its side, completely cover the entire chalkboard, then erase it and it’s good to go.

TIP: Make sure your paint is completely dry to prevent damage to your fresh paint!

Step 5 - tutorial_3

And BAM you’re done! Now you’ve got a marvelous menu wall to keep up with your meals for the week!

DIY Chalkboard Menu

Here’s our meal plan for this week:

  • Monday: Angel Chicken
  • Tuesday: BBQ Sandwiches
  • Wednesday: Grilled Pork Tenderloin
  • Thursday: Roasted Garlic & Bell Pepper Chicken Thighs
  • Friday: Meatball Sliders
  • Saturday: Lime-In-The-Coconut Drumsticks
  • Sunday: Grilled Honey Chicken Skewers

star_pink_25pxWhatcha Got Cookin?star_pink_25px