The Story of my very own Vintage Chalkboard

This whole endeavor is the result of some extremely inconvenient road construction just a mile from our home. We live in a semi rural setting in the middle of a subdivision. Less than a mile from our home, the city is undergoing road construction at a somewhat major intersection.

This intersection is situated right in the middle of the route from our house to my parent’s house just three miles away. Needless to say, the closing of the intersection is rather inconvenient. Instead of a five minute drive to my parents, we have to go way out of the way and now have a fifteen minute drive. This drive around the intersection forces us to drive through small town. It’s quaint.

One day driving through to my parents, I spotted a garage sale.

My husband was driving. I saw a few pieces of furniture, and I requested him to stop. I told him I’d be quick. I immediately picked up a $5 mirror for our mini bath renovation. (It was a LOT less than the $250 mirror I was eyeing on Schoolhouse Electric.) Then I saw an old door that was the best thing ever. But I really have absolutely no place in the house to use it. I tried to think up something as fast as possible just so we could buy it. But I just couldn’t justify it.

The sweet lady at the garage sale took me to her detached garage to show me some old vintage French doors with perfect panes. Oh dear. These were beautiful. Since we are in process of imagining up some built in shelves and cabinets on one wall in our home, I was able to justify their purchase. Maybe down the road, we can incorporate these old small French doors into our built ins.

Later that evening, I returned to pick up the doors. While there picking up these doors, I saw an old HUGE chalkboard leaning against the wall in her garage.

I exclaimed, ‘Is that a chalkboard?!’
The kind lady replied, ‘Yes.’
I asked, ‘Is it for sale too?!’
She said, ‘Sure.’
I asked, ‘How much were you thinking?’
She replied, ‘Oh, maybe $50.’

I took a picture of this old chalkboard and left. I needed to talk to my husband.

A few days went by. (I’m really trying to avoid impulse buying.) I continued thinking about that chalkboard. In my mind, it was a one of a kind piece of furniture. I don’t run across huge chalkboards like this very often.

I texted the kind lady to see if she was still interested in selling it.

She was.

We set up a time for me to meet her at her house again. My husband moved some seats and car seats around in the van so the chalkboard would fit inside.

I didn’t measure the chalkboard before purchasing it. We made it to the kind lady’s house again to pick up the chalkboard.

I knew I should have measured. The chalkboard wouldn’t fit in the van. I called my dad to see if he could meet us with his truck and pick up the chalkboard. He wasn’t available at the time, but he said I could go get his truck if I needed it. My husband and I went to get his truck, but once we realized the cover was on the back of the truck, we had to hitch up a trailer instead to the truck. I’ve never driven with a trailer, but I pulled the trailer in my dad’s truck while my husband followed me in the van with our children who were growing a bit impatient in their car seats. (I chose to drive the trailer instead of listen to crying children.)

I slowly drove home with the chalk board feeling like it was going to fall out with every bump in the road. I’ve never been that slow moving vehicle with a line of cars behind me, but that was me this time around.

We arrived safely with the chalkboard and asked a neighbor boy to help move the chalkboard into the garage.

My husband measured the chalkboard to see if it’d even fit on the wall where I envisioned it. Well, it kind of fit. But it would cover our light switches.

So my kind and dear husband, with a slight eye roll, said he would move the light switch.

After sanding off much of the paint, we finally have a huge vintage chalkboard hanging in our breakfast nook right by the kitchen table, and I love it. I think it turned out perfectly.

Here is what this wall looked like previously. Those white shelves are a favorite of ours that we bought at an estate sale soon after we were married. We didn’t want to get rid of them, but we wanted them moved. They crowded the dinner table a bit when company was over. We conveniently moved them to the entry way. The chalkboard, obviously, takes up much less space.

And here is also a before shot of the chalkboard. (Please pardon the gray circle on top of the kind lady’s head. While I doubt she would mind, I didn’t feel right putting her face on the internet without permission.) The gentlemen standing there happens to be my dad…who had gone back with me to pick up the French doors randomly one evening when he was at our house. He was holding the chalkboard for perspective so I knew how big it would be. But, as we learned above, I probably should have measured the chalkboard…like in inches or feet or something logical like that.

(Did you see that white door in the background? That was the door I wanted to purchase but had no place for in our home.)

It was all worth it, friends. Sometimes a good DIY project feels so good to finish. 🙂 In case you were curious, I made that vintage sheet bunting using this tutorial. I purchased the vintage book pages from a vintage shopper on Instagram. Here is a link to her account: https://www.instagram.com/marigold_vintage_ness/. We spray painted that barn light fixture for an inexpensive project. And that fruit hanger is from Amazon.