Make Your Own Large Pallet Chalkboard

by Emily Counts

11 Materials

2 Hours

Easy

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Chalkboards are so versatile. They can serve practical purposes as places to leave notes and write meal plans. Or they can be more decorative like mine is. I am pumped to write different messages on it as the seasons change!

Cut pallet boards for frame. Any saw you have should work for this. I don’t have much for tools, so I used a jigsaw attachment for my drill. Make sure you use a square to mark a straight cut line before you start cutting.

Your next step is to sand all of the wood on all edges. You’ll be grateful for an electric sander for this project – those pallet boards are usually pretty rough!

Here’s the fun part – painting! Use chalkboard paint to cover one entire side of the MDF board. Follow the instructions on the chalkboard paint. I painted three coats on mine, and allowed the proper dry time in between each coat.

Once all of the paint is dry, it’s time to assemble your chalkboard! For this step, line up everything upside down so you can drill screws in from the back of the MDF board through the pallet wood. Use screws that are slightly shorter than the total thickness of the MDF + pallet wood so they hold everything together but don’t stick through to the front.

Finally, use wood filler to fill in any gaps at the joints in the frame. You can see a joint in the photo below. I filled it with wood filler and touched up the paint.

This chalkboard is quite large and heavy, so use a stud finder to be sure you hang it up on a stud if you plan to hang it. Simply add saw tooth hangers to the back to line up with the studs.

To learn more about this project and see more pictures and details, visit the full blog post here.