Jack's Chalkboard Wall

Chalkboard paint! Here's Jack's new chalkboard wall. He absolutely loves it!

It was so easy to make, too. Although there are ways to make your own chalkboard paint, we got our from Lowe's.

Here's what you'll need:
 (1) can of Valspar Chalkboard Paint
 (1) roller or paint brush
 Painter's tape
 chalk
*OPTIONAL: Hand sander or sand paper

Using the painter's tape, designate where your chalkboard wall will be. Depending on the texture of your wall, you may want to sand down the wall a bit to create a smoother surface for writing on. We have textured walls and didn't sand it down. It's a little bumpy, but if you use sidewalk chalk rather than small chalk, it works just fine!

Then, paint!

After the chalkboard paint is dry (it dries super fast), remove the tape. You can either leave it how it is or add an outlining border using paint or whatever you choose. For now, I just painted a simple blue border.

Happy New Year!

It's been way too long since i've gotten crafty. My 18 month old son alone has been keeping me quite busy, but with finding out my husband and I are expecting a little girl in April, I haven't had time. Decorating her room has reminded me how much I miss my projects. Here's to a new year! One of my New Year Resolutions is to complete some of the MANY pins hanging out on my Pinterest boards! Won't my husband be thrilled :) For now, here's a quick look at the sweet face that has kept me on my toes these past several months.

Oh, mason jars....

We just finished our mason jar chandelier!

Isn't it fun what you can do with mason jars?! I fell in love with Pottery Barn's exeter 16-jar pendant.  I HAD to have it in our home, but not for $399.00! So, I spent several months perusing blogs written by people that had created their own, but was never able to find a detailed tutorial or a chandelier quite like the one I wanted. After a zillion trips to Lowe's and The Home Depot with Greg, we were able to create a design and plan for our perfect chandelier. After a few test runs, we succeeded! So, for all of you out there that have been wanting to recreate PB's mason jar chandelier, but don't quite know how to do it, here is a step-by-step how-to! Enjoy!

Things You Will Need:

(12) mason jars (I used 6 quart size & 6 pint size)

50' of 18-2 lamp wire

(12) keyless sockets

(12) light bulbs of your choice (I suggest using a low wattage bulb)

24"x48" sheet of metal

(4) 4" lag screws with washers

(4) self tapping steel screws

(2) wire nuts

Cordless drill & drill bit

Electrical tape

(1) can of rustoleum

**Be prepared to dedicate about an entire day to this project**

Plan your design: Decide the size of ceiling plate you want, the spacing between each cord, and how long you want each cord to be. Your desired cord length will determine how much lamp wire you need to buy. Our cords ranged between 2'4"-2'8".

Score the sides of sheet metal so that you can bend them to form sides. You can use self tapping steel screws to hold the sides together.



Drill holes for your cords (12) and holes to mount the plate to the ceiling (4).

Spray paint your ceiling plate.

Cut your lamp wire to your desired lengths.

Spray paint the cords.

Drill holes in the lids of the jars. We drilled two smaller holes in each lid to prevent over heating of the jars.

Spray paint the lids.

**If you are unsure when it comes to the electrical wiring, ask the electrical/lighting department at your local home improvement store. They can help you!**

Attach one end of the lamp wire to the keyless socket. Screw in light bulb. Slide jar lid on top. (Do this for

each cord)

String cords through the holes in your ceiling plates. Tie knots in each cord to hold them into place. Strip the end of the lamp wire cord.

Attach wires to wire nut and then to ceiling box.

Finally, just screw the ceiling plate to the ceiling and attach your mason jars to their lids :)

Enjoy! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

This is Pottery Barn's version for $399.00

 

And this is ours for less than $100.00