LIFESTYLE NEWS - A blackboard is a wonderful idea for a child’s playroom, but can also be used in the kitchen, recording all your messages for the family, or ideas for shopping.

Jenny Ter Morshuizen shows us how it's done.

Requirements
• Hardboard, cut to a required size
• Frame large enough to hold this hardboard
• Chalkboard paint - available as a spray paint or in a cannister
• Paintbrush (50-100mm)
• Primer
• Small nails/hammer

Method
Begin by painting your wood with a primer. Using your chalkboard paint, give the wood two coats of paint, allowing drying time between the coats.

Rub the entire board down with a piece of chalk, as this will season the board and prevent the writing from being burnt into the surface. Using a wet paper towel, erase the chalk for a clean look. A dry cloth used to erase it will cause a smeared, vintage look. Place the board inside the frame, using small nails hammered into the sides of the frame, to secure it.

Now your very own blackboard is ready for poems, ideas, song lyrics or menus to be written on it! An alternative way of making your blackboard is by buying a frame with glass fitted to it, and painting the glass, as above. Then return the glass to the frame.

Enjoy, and remember, you are welcome to contact me on lushjennifer6@gmail.com. And, in the meantime, keep on crafting!


Jenny Ter Morshuizen