First things first…

After receiving multiple comments (and even a text from a friend!) about the “lady on my shoulder” in Monday’s post, I wanted to make sure that all of you got the chance to meet my new little friend.  (Zero in on my left shoulder if you’re still confused).

32-001

Quite the optical illusion, eh? I laughed so hard when I first saw it.

Aaaaaand now back to the business at hand…which would, apparently, be asking for recommendations on the best place to send my 4th child for Poser’s Anonymous meetings.

evy collage

I was getting all set up to take pictures of our pantry door, and when I looked up, I discovered that this adorable little urchin (who dressed herself, by the way) had dragged a stool right into the middle of my shot and was doing some hardcore cheesing.

Of course, I cooperated by snapping a pic or 50 and then scooted her cute little bottom out of the way so I could show you guys what I was actually trying to shoot.

If you recall, this is what our pantry door looked like before.

old kitchen

It played nicely off of the rug, mixer, island (which you can’t actually see in this pic), and various other red elements in the kitchen.

But we’ve had a bit of a shake up in the kitchen over the last few months (I am going to try SO hard to do a complete reveal next week, but nobody hold me to that too closely, m’kay?), and the red just didn’t jive as well as it used it.

I thought about all sorts of other statement colors–canary yellow, coral, aqua…and so on and so forth.

But, shockingly enough for my color-loving self, I kept coming back to the idea of black. And I figured if I were going to paint it black, I might as well paint it a useful black. And by “useful,” of course I mean “chalkboard.”

So, the morning of the twins’ party (because, why not add one more thing to the list?), I plopped my pantry door on my island and started slapping paint on it (while my children ate Raisin Bran at the very same island about two feet away).

chalkboard door

The plan is to let the kiddos go to town on the lower portion of it and then to use the upper part for menu-planning (Ezra, who is a pretty typical firstborn, was very excited about the prospect of knowing what was on the docket for dinner each day…and holding me to it. “But, Mama, the first one says, ‘Turkey Lasagna,’ and Monday is first, so today should be Turkey Lasagna!” Ever heard of the words “not set in stone,” kid?)

chalkboard door3

I’m certainly no chalkboard artist, but I do like to play around with fonts and such, so one night, I stayed up way too late writing all of this out, and now that I’ve got it to my liking, I’ll simply erase the specific menu items and replace those each week as we go.

chalkboard door2graphic

The one thing I do want to do to jazz things up a bit is to spray paint the knob a fun pop of color. I’m leaning toward my beloved blue/green, and I’ve even got the perfect color…if I can just find it. Grrr.

Also, it might be fun to paint that little alcove something other than white to make the white trim around the door really stand out…but I’m not completely sold on this idea, simply because that hallway flows into two other rooms, and the paint transition would probably be awkward.

Thoughts?

Oh! And, in case you’re wondering about my “technique” for painting (other than the plopping and the slapping I mentioned earlier), I first lightly sanded the existing paint, and then used a foam roller on everything but the grooves (those I brushed) to apply very thin coats of chalkboard paint. It took about 4 coats, but they went on very quickly, and dried crazy fast, so the whole project didn’t take but about an hour.

Also, I made sure to “season” the whole thing with chalk to make it both quicker to take anything we write on it and easier to erase.

And my “I,” I mean these two handsome fellas.

seasoningchalkboard

(If you’re not familiar with the concept of seasoning chalkboard paint, all you do is rub the chalk on, using the length or sides of the chalk piece, then wipe/wash it off with a damp cloth, and you’re good to go!).

So, there you have it! A pantry door that hides the often messy shelves within and gives my firstborn yet another way to keep his mama in line.

Win! (?)

Any suggestions for wall colors and/or knob options?

 

 

13 Comments

  1. Looking good! I think an antique brass doorknob would look lovely on that black door, but I understand completely if your heart is set on aqua. I’ve never had good luck with spray paint on a surface that gets a lot of wear, like a doorknob would. It all looks great for a month or so, then the paint wears off because of so much handling. I just don’t think your paint will hold up. That would be my only caution. Darling little poser. 🙂

    1. I agree that a vintage door knob would look awesome. Sadly, they’re kind of hard to come by in a functional state for cheap. And while, yes, I do expect the paint to come off to some extent, I do plan on sealing it with an antiquing wax that should help some. Also, I’m not too worried about its looking perfect. I think a weathered, chippy look would be cool too.

  2. Love love the door! I recently tried to update some of our old 1978 brass knobs with ORB spray paint. And after a while it rubbed/flaked off with lots of use. That would be my only concern with painting the knob…but if it takes and doesn’t rub off…then heck yes to aqua knobs!!!

    1. I’m thinking it will probably chip off some, but I’m pretty okay with that. I think it might give it a vintage flair (fingers crossed)

  3. We have a chalkboard pantry door as well and I love it! It serves as our grocery list. I will often just snap a picture of it with my phone on the way out the door and shop from that. 🙂 Only the inset on our door is chalkboard (our contractor ordered it for us when we were building), but we use the bottom part of the door as Eliana’s personal drawing space and she loves it!

    1. Yup, chalk marker! And mine was Craft Smart brand. Only one I’ve ever used, but it seems to work great!

  4. Love the door. 🙂 I like the idea of the blue/green doorknob & the other color painted in the alcove- depending on how that would affect the other rooms.

  5. Love the new door and can’t wait to see the new kitchen reveal 🙂 You are such a cute pregnant lady. Also, love your kitchen floors – what flooring is it exactly?

    1. Thanks, Nicky! And the floors are just a checkerboard tile pattern that my husband laid with light/dark tiles.

  6. It looks great! Did you r door have any texture to it, or was it smooth already? All of our doors have an ugly faux wood grain to them under the white builder-paint.

    1. It was smooth. But, unless the grain is super-pronounced, I think you could probably get away with doing this to a door with a bit of texture. The black covers pretty forgivingly.

I love hearing from you guys!