Introduction: Chalk Board Table

Materials List:

Any table that you want to renovate. (I used an old table that was damaged in a storm.)

Paint. Any color will do. I recommend exterior latex paint.

Chalkboard Paint. Color of your choice. You can find this at Wal-Mart for about $11/quart.

Paint applicator. I used a gravity fed cup gun, but a paintbrush works just fine.

Wrench or ratchet. For disassembly and reassembly of your table.

Sandpaper.

Tape.

Plastic sheeting.

Rags. To keep your materials and space clean throughout the project

(Since my table was damaged, I also needed a drill, screws and clamps.)

Step 1: Disassemble and Sand Your Table

I find it easier to sand and paint while disassembled.

Remove all bolts to take your table completely apart. (For my table, there were 8 bolts to remove.)

Sand all parts to remove gloss so the paint will stick. It's not necessary to sand down to bare wood; sand enough to remove the shine.

Arrange the parts to make them easily accessible. (I hung the table legs from my porch and put the table top on saw horses.)

(This is also the step where I repaired my slightly warped table by clamping the cupped edges. Then I drilled pilot holes and counter-sunk them to be able to screw the table top securely back to the frame.)

Step 2: Paint and Reassemble

Paint legs and underside of tabletop.Make sure you get full coverage. (For me that took 2 coats.) You may choose to not paint the underside of the tabletop, since no one will see it. However, I believe the underside being unsealed is what led to my table becoming warped when it was damaged in the storm.

Wait overnight for paint to fully dry.

Reassemble your table and set upright.

Paint tabletop. You may want to paint the tabletop a different color; if so, wait for the paint to dry and then tape off the bottom of the table with plastic sheeting, then paint as you desire.

Wait overnight again for paint to fully dry.

Step 3: Paint With Chalkboard Paint

Tape off around where you want your chalkboard paint. (I taped off the legs as well because I was using the gravity fed cup gun and didn't want over-spray to get on the legs.) Here you can get creative and tape off in any design you like. I thought about taping off place-mat sections, but since I have 4 children, I decided to tape off the larger area so they can use the whole tabletop.

Apply Chalkboard Paint.

Remove Tape. I removed tape while the paint was still wet to avoid pulling dry paint off.

Step 4: Finish

Let the paint fully dry and you're done. Congratulations, you now have a fun indoor or outdoor chalkboard table for creative projects for your kids or yourself.

Check out my blog post!