Chalk Board Table

There was this table....a cheap Target table...that was just sitting around. My boys used it to climb on but other then that, no real purpose. I wanted to do something fun with it so I searched Pinterest to find ideas and fell in love chalk board tables. Right now, my boys mostly eat crayons and I have never given them chalk so who knows how they will actually do with it but eventually, I know it'll come to good use. I found my inspiration from this post Honey&Fitz.

Here is the original table...in rather poor condition:

While on a trip to Lowe's for lamp parts (see last blog post), I got spray on primer, spray paint and chalk board paint. Now, I don't know if those of you that are reading this have children but with two 1 year olds, shopping trips tend to be quick. I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint the table and probably should have thought about that prior to our trip. I was a little pressured since they have to unlock the cabinet and the worker was standing right behind me and the boys were ready to leave at that point so, I quickly picked a color I thought was pretty. Teal. That is my favorite color but when I first sprayed it, it was a little bright. But, B and I decided it's a good, fun color for the little guys.  Anyways... I sanded the table then used primer. The legs of the table unscrew so it was a lot easier to paint that way. I forgot to take a picture of the primer but here it is with the top primered and the rest painted teal. I ended up doing 2 coats of the teal.

 The chalk board paint was pretty simple to do and I even told B while painting that whoever created chalk board paint was a genius in my eyes! I did three coats of the chalk board paint.

 Then you have to "cure" the chalk board paint by putting chalk all over it and wiping it off with a clean rag.

 TA-DA! The end product. I am not a perfectionist by any means so I am sure some people could pick out little imperfections (like B did). I like it and I know the little guys won't care if there is a little bit of imperfections.

The little guys checking out their new table. Really, they could have cared less. They mostly just like their milk first thing in the morning and nothing else.

 C thinks he is the strongest 14 month old in the world. He is always picking things up, pushing things over and just doing anything rambunctious he can think of so here he is pushing over the table .02 seconds after the last picture.

 Simple project and a lot of fun for the kiddos to enjoy! We did try it out later in the day with chalk and like I had suspected, they like to eat chalk as well so it may have to wait a little longer. I am thinking I may put velcro in the corners to put a felt overlay with roads and stuff for their trucks and also a plastic one that may be nice to turn the table into a snack area. We will see!

And since this is my project for the 4th of July...Happy Fourth of July! Thank you to all those who served and continue to serve in order to keep our country free! In honor of that, here is a picture of B, Little B and C the day he got home from Afghanistan: 

- Sabrina