DIY Pottery Barn Knockoff, Chalkboard Gallery Frame

I am in the process of making over my entire office on a budget, taking on one project at a time. Like many of us, I browse Pinterest, Pottery Barn and Ballard magazines, and tons of blogs for inspiration.

I knew I wanted a chalkboard to hang by my backdoor, and fell in love with this Chalkboard Gallery Frame from Pottery Barn which retails from $59-$79. I especially like that it can be personalized with your pictures.

 

That pricepoint would break my budget, so I began my search for something to use as a DIY knock-off.

Wouldn't you know it, a few weekends ago I went yard saling, and scored big! 

I found not one, but two message boards to makeover, and paid $5 for both. 

They both were in great shape, the French Chef was brand new in the box.

I started my makeover with the tallest chalkboard.

First, after taping off the inside chalkboard, I primed the frame with a Gripper primer, because it's made out of some strange plastic laminate type substance. When that was dry, I painted two coats of my all time favorite teal blue. Seriously, I think I use that color on everything.

Next, I needed to cover that lovely tile in the middle, I found a coordinating picture in an old calendar I kept from last year (see, you can reuse old calendars!). I cut it to size, and Mod Podged that sucker down. Once it was dry, it was finished. Simple as that! This one is going in my Art Room to help me keep track of supplies I need to replinish.

The Chefs were next. There was a time only about five years ago I had these guys all over my red kitchen. Loved them. I still respect for the little fat guys, but not so much that I want them in my office. 

I got lucky on this chalkboard because the frame was already black, which is exactly what I want. Perfect, no priming and painting.
I wanted to duplicate the look of the picture frame on the Pottery Barn boards, so I simply printed out two black and whites of my favorite pictures, as well at the letter "W" as a monogram for the middle. I cut them to size, and Mod Podged them into the three little frames, right over my fat French Chefs.

This is going in my office, and I didn't want the word "Menu" across the chalkboard. It wasn't a sticker I could peel off. I also didn't have any chalkboard paint to cover it with. So, I did the next best thing and painted over it with regular black acrylic paint. When that was dry, I used a white paint pen to write the words "Things to Remember" and gave it two pinstripes in order to know where it would be safe to write with chalk.

I am very happy with the final result of this one. It will be perfect in my office makeover. I like that I was able to incorporate the family pictures, just like in the Pottery Barn chalkboards.

These makeovers were very simple. It just took a combination of inspiration and creativity. I'd rate this a two on a scale of one to ten, it's that easy. Even better, both of them together cost a tiny fraction of the chalkboards at Pottery Barn.

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