I hunted for awhile to find the perfect baskets for my new bathroom fix-up and I finally found them at our local Superstore (that’s actually the name of a grocery store chain here, for those of you wondering). They’re actually magazine holders but the tall, narrow shape of them makes them perfect for holding hand towels and hiding lots of junk too. The only problem was that they were a little plain looking all by themselves, so I decided to snaz them up a little bit.
To the recycle bin! You can make almost anything out of an old cereal box, I swear.
It doesn’t even have to be a fancy cereal box. It can be a generic one from Walmart too!
I measured and cut some little rectangles (I think they’re about 7″x3″) and grabbed a foam brush and some Americana chalkboard paint. I love the chalkboard spray paint and the big cans of it too for bigger jobs, but these little bottles are perfect for all your mini chalkboarding needs.
I did two coats and let them dry about 2-3 minutes between coats. I always hear people say that you need to put a crazy amount like 8 coats on when you do chalkboards, or that you need to let it sit for 24 hours before you touch it, but I’ve only ever done 2 coats and have always just barely let it dry, even on glass, and my chalkboards always turn out perfectly. So if you want to take the impatient route like I do, I say go ahead!
Next, I “seasoned” them by rubbing some chalk all over them and then wiping it off.
Time to see how they look! I used some thumb tacks to attach them to the fronts of the baskets. I just pressed them right in and they held on beautifully. They look pretty neat too.
A few extras for fanciness and I had just the look I wanted.
You might think it sounds crazy to try and use cardboard to make a chalkboard, but it really works just as well as any other surface once you get the paint on there. That stuff is magic.
Here’s one in action! I’m pleased with it. 🙂
Only one final tip: Try to remember to wipe your greasy fingerprints off of your labels before you photograph them to show the world. Oops!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.