Better Late than Never: Mock off Monday {Chalk Board Spoon and Fork}

Listen, I know this post's a day late and I'm really sorry. And I know that the last thing you wanna hear right now is a lame excuse for my slacker-ness. But listen, I'm gonna tell you anyway. Sunday night I came home to a pool of water on the kitchen floor. The culprit: a malfunctioning valve in the dishwasher. Is it covered under warranty even though the dishwasher is only two years old. Heck no!

Needless to say, I spent yesterday calling repair men and hoping that my wood floors wouldn't need need to be replaced. Did I mention that it also leaked into the basement downstairs? Ya, awesome. It's the hubs baby now, cause I got better things to do like make a feak-tastic knock off of somebody else's work. Can you handle it?

I saw this fun chalkboard spoon & fork at Pier 1 the other day.

They weren't hellishly expensive {$40 a piece}, but the color scheme didn't really match my kitchen. So, I decided to make my own version instead.

Here's what I used:


And these old cabinet doors as my canvas:



But you could use an old piece of wood or anything with a flat surface really. Just an FYI, you can pick up random cabinet doors at IKEA for a couple of bucks. The {As Is} section is fast becoming my favorite area...even more than the food court...all right not really. Nothing can take the place of a heaping mound of hot, swedish meatballs, smothered in artery blocking gravy and accompanied by heart attack mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce. Not healthy, but oh so yummy. Uh-hum, back to cabinet doors.

I prepped my cabinets:
Sanded:


Primed:


Painted-first coat:


And then used candle wax to help make it look all old and chippy:



Painted again- final coat:


Then I wiped off all of the waxy areas, to reveal old, chippy deliciousness:




While the paint was drying I prepped my spoon and fork stensil.
I used contact paper and freehanded an image onto the back and cut the image out. I used additional contact paper to protect the edges of the cabinet doors from paint over spray.



Then I sprayed it with chalkboard paint.

After it had ample time to dry, I removed the contact paper.
And voila..really plain, nothing special, spoon and fork chalkboards.

So, the finished product really didn't do anything for me. I really hate it when things just don't turn out right the first time.

Time for some brainstorming. I'm in the process of redoing my living room/kitchen area and I'm trying to stick to neutral colors and oraganic fabrics and accents. So by process of elimination I decided to go with burlap. I love burlap. It's neutral, but at the same time has great texture.

I used burlap to line the inside panel of the cabinet door. Then gave it a more finished look by gluing burlap cording along the edge.



Insead of using chalkboard paint this time, I opted to use chalkboard vinyl. I traced out an image of a fork and spoon onto the back then cut them out. I used spray adhesive to stick them to the burlap...and voila.

A much better end product.




These babies are gonna go great in my kitchen. I like that they are artwork, but also functional at the same time.

I ended up spending $6 for the burlap and cording and $11 for the chalkboard vinyl. The cabinet doors were a dollar a piece and everything else I had on hand. That's a grand total of $20, or $10 for each piece...a fourth of the price of the original. Not too shabby methinks. Do you know how many meatballs I can buy with the money I saved? I think I might have to reward myself with a little trip to IKEA now. See ya at the meatballs.