Sunday, July 24, 2011

Menu Board

Don't you love the new Menu and Dishes boards!  I saw the darling idea after a friend sent me a link to Melissa's post at TheInspiredRoom.  She had painted the side of a kitchen hutch with chalkboard paint and made it a menu board.  I totally loved the idea naturally, but had to think what would work best if you didn't have the side of a hutch to paint.  I finally decided a simply 1/4" board would be great for a chalkboard menu.  I was a little concerned about it moving around a lot when you erase or whatnot.  That was when I decided it needed holes drilled in the corners to be mounted directly to the wall, rather than sawtooth picture hangers on the back or the board being hung with a ribbon.  

After our recent dish disaster I told Bobbi, my vinyl lady :0) that I had to make a smaller board to be hung right next to the sink that said "Dishes" to keep track of who's day it was to suds the pile of crusty plates.

What's that?  I didn't tell you about my Dish Disaster???
Well, about 2 days before my friend Wendi came to visit me with her 6 kids and husband, my dishwasher broke completely :-O  Could it be!?!  8 more people, plus our 5, using dishes all day and no dishwasher (electrical one anyway)!!!  I stayed on top of things ok during the week, but the repairman did not come while we were gone on vacation, and still not after we came back.  You should understand that a lot of the newer houses around here come with "Home Warranties."  That means that when you thing breaks, like your dish washer or garage door opener (yep, we have broken that before too), the warranty company sends a repairman out to fix it, rather than replace it.  Usually the repair would be more expensive than the unit being replaced, but since it works kind of like insurance, you only pay a co-pay and the rest of the balance is tossed out into the atmosphere to be burned up by the sun...or something like that.
Finally, last Saturday I decided I was sick of doing dishes by hand and would not do another dish!  Hah!  Eat that, you horrible home warranty company!  Only problem was I forgot to tell them that I was on dishwashing strike.  Apparently they didn't really care, if they knew that is :0)
So, as I crafted my little Super Saturday fingers to the bone, the dishes piled up.  
Yep.  They piled...  
and piled...
and piled up
At least we still rinsed them.  I must say that.  We weren't totally unsanitary :-O

 The repairman came on Monday and said it needed to be replaced, but we had to wait for everything to go through.....  Finally Thursday I threw in the towel.  We literally had not one cup in the cupboard nor fork in the drawer.  My real hope was that the dishwasher would have been in the repairman's truck and he would just take this one with him when he left back on Monday.  Since each of the following 4 days no progress was made, I hung my head in utter hopelessness and started washing dishes.  4 hours and a very sore shoulder later, the dishes were done and I decided I didn't need to wash another dish the rest of the week.  

Cue family dish chart....
The boards were painted with 2 or 3 coats of black chalkboard paint.  Now, if you have never used the stuff, it dries about as fast as...I don't know.  My mind has already gone to bed.  You will just have to know that it never dries.  I live in a VERY dry state.  After 2 hours the board was still wet in spots.  After over night, it was still a little tacky.  Plan on 2 days to get things really dry.  

As for dimensions, the big board is 16x40" and the little one is 9" side by 24" long.  
Home Depot sells 1/4" MDF Handy Panels (24x48") for about $5.  Again, you can probably get the guy at Home Depot to cut the board down for you with a wink and a smile :0)

I went with 1/4" because I didn't want the board to be heavy and it was going to be a big board.  The 1/4" seems like it will be sturdy and light.  
You will only get one menu board out of the handy panel, but you can get up to 5 of the little ones out of the same board, just so you know.

Anyway, I primed my boards with brush on primer, but the spray paint kind works just as well.
Apply one coat of the chalkboard paint and let dry about 2 hours.  Apply another coat and let dry overnight or longer :0)  
When the paint is completely dry, apply the vinyl.  I put the word on at the top, then figured out how many more inches were left on the board.  Take that number and divide it by 7.  That is how much space you have for each circle monogram letter.  Use a ruler, or three rulers like me :0) and put your vinyl letter in the middle of the allotted space.

Now, before you use the chalkboard, you need to prime it.  I had forgotten that this step existed.  You prim the chalkboard by rubbing a stick of chalk sideways on the board.

Cover as much of the board as possible.  It would be easier if the vinyl weren't there, but I was worried it wouldn't stick if I primed the board first, and then applied the vinyl.

Now use a piece of felt to rub all the chalk off.
Consider yourself primed!

There...Wait!
I think I can do a better job than that.  I am holding a box of colored chalk!  Hold on...

There!  I like that better.  It almost insinuates that dishes are going to be FUN on your assigned day :0D

And here are Mom's finished dishes!  
See, the board is working already.

After Super Saturday is over and I no longer need my board as a sample, it will live here.

There you have Super Saturday Idea number 4.
I have to say it is one of my favorites.  
Oh!  I forgot to mention that we will offer three word strip choices for the top of the board:
Menu, Dishes, and To Do, in case you want to use the board more like a weekly calendar or message board (or in case you don't really cook :0)

More Super Saturday ideas coming soon!!!

1 comment:

  1. Vanessa - Have you seen the menu boards/weekly happenings that they do on small picture frame? That might be a good idea too. You use a picture frame. Put whatever background you want under the glass and add the vinyl and then use a dry erase marker to make on the glass. Maybe do this too for those of us who don't have a lot of wall space for this large size chalkboard one.

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