Chalkboard Picnic Table

I have this picnic table.  It's former home was a nearby public campground, and by the looks of it, many a camper feasted well on its boards.

The paint was beige and chipped, there were signatures and drawings all over the top.  The side pieces were bare plywood.  It could only get better!

I gave the whole table a good sanding with my hand sander.  There were quite a few knots and nicks in the top so I did what I could to sand them down.  Then I used spackle compound to fill in the holes and skim over the knots.  I lightly sanded these when dry, then repeated this step.  The last prep step I did was to give it a coat of primer.  

The fun part was finally getting closer.  I purchased a small can of black exterior paint and gave the table one complete coat of black paint.  When that was dry, I added another coat of black paint to everything but the table top.  For that I wanted to do something fun.  I found a recipe on the internet for chalkboard paint.  I used 1 cup of paint to 2 T of non-sanded tile grout.  I found taking the back of a spoon to the tile ground and grinding it as fine as possible before adding the paint worked best.  I applied two coats of this mixture to my table top, letting it dry well in between coats.

The result?

I think it turned out fabulous, and all the knots and nicks on the top are no longer noticeable!

I had some paint left over, so I painted some stones (AKA Pottery Barn Hack) to sit on the table.  A little pot of chalk, a sponge and my kids are now merrily drawing pictures and playing tic tac toe on their huge new chalkboard!  

Today's post is linked up to: The Idea Room  Whipperberry Shabby Nest Ladybird Ln Candace Creations Tater Tots and Jello Annemaries Breiblog Carolyns Homework Domestically-speaking Mommas Kind a Crafty Joyful Stamper Chic on a Shoestring Decorating