smartgirlstyle: DIY Duck Tape®-Framed Chalkboard

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I doubt many of you would even remember, but I bought a sweet vintage double desk off Craigslist a while ago for my girls' room. With the start of school this year, they've been trying extra hard to keep it cleared off so they can actually use it for doing homework.

(Side note: My kindergartener is stoked about having real homework. My 2nd grader knows better. Ahh, experience...)

The girls have different homework requirements each night of the week, though, and they've been having a bit of a challenging time remembering what's going on each day. So I decided to make them a fast and easy scheduling tool(ish), using none other than some cute Duck Tape® and chalkboard paint and an old wooden cupboard door removed from this room.

I know it's nothing terribly earth-shatteringly new, but you should validate just how fast and easy (for real) this project is...after the jump.

I removed the old hinges and set the cupboard door on a paint mat. (Of course, you could recycle whatever you have on-hand or even use a new piece of wood for your own project.)

Laughed gleefully to myself as I checked out the sides of the old door and realized I wouldn't have to do a thing to them because they'd be covered in Duck Tape®. Yee-haw.

Power-sanded away some of the nastiness on the door front.

Spackled in some of the crevices.

Rolled on twothree coats of chalkboard paint, letting each coat dry completely in between.

We went to buy Duck Tape at Walmart, and after much deliberation (several other color and pattern options were in the running), the girls picked out this polka dotted roll. It's pretty awesome. And inexpensive. And fun. That's a trifecta of joy, right there.

After the chalkboard paint was dry, I simply framed out the edges of the chalkboard with the tape, moving from the center outward. One thing I liked was that the Duck Tape® was pretty forgiving as I was placing it along the edge, but it stuck like a pro once I really pushed it down.

Because their room is next on the makeover chopping block around here, I used these semi-permanent Command® strips to hang up the chalkboard for now.

And here she is.

I like it, especially because my girls (a) think it's so cute, and (b) actually use it for keeping their lives organized. I have a lot of Duck Tape® left over, too, so I'm thinking about using it on a few other things around here...the girls' school binders, ugly bad-floral tissue boxes, dresser drawers, mirror frames, or whatever else I can get my hands on.

In fact, if you're super inspired by this totally original (cough) project and are feeling so inclined, you might want to consider following @TheDuckBrand for tons of creative inspiration for using Duck Tape®.

Note: This post is sponsored by Duck Tape® for Walmart. All opinions expressed are my own.