Renovate Brooklyn: Back to work!

Back to work! Back to the grind! 

I have returned to Brooklyn after a few heavenly weeks in Paris. With lots of work and lots of play under my belt, I'm ready to turn my attention back to the matters at hand... Finishing the work in our apartment! Gasp!

I decided the best way to get back in the swing of things was to approach it like pulling off a bandaid: swiftly and with purpose! Within a few days of my return, I finally got around to painting the dining room table with Benjamin Moore's chalk board paint, and it looks awesome. We had friends over for dinner the next evening and it was a well-received addition to the dining experience, even though John smeared the messages wiping up crumbs after dinner... I have a feeling that may be a recurring problem with the chalk-board table, but it looks pretty rad, sans messages too.

Doing this project was 100% easy, with 100% excellent results! The step-by-step: 

1.) John lightly sanded the table top using a fine-grit sanding block to remove the existing seal of the table top. 

2.) Then he wiped off the excess dust with a damp paper towel so the surface was nice and clean.

3.) Then we painted two coats of Benjamin Moore's Chalk Board Paint (allowing the paint to dry overnight in between coats.) We used a paint brush, but a mini-roller would probably also apply a lovely smooth finish. 

Then we wrote ridiculous messages on the chalkboard to test it out and...

"Voila! Chalk-Board Table!"

So easy, it almost doesn't merit a "how-to" tutorial! Everybody loves an easy project! 

FYI: A little chalkboard paint goes a long way, so unless you have a dining room table that seats 60, a quart will be WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH to do two coats for this project. You can also experiment with chalkboard paint around the house too... We did the inside of our pantry door, so we can leave each other notes and write down shopping lists, and sometimes I write down the names of yummy products if I don't want to forget what they're called after I run out... Pretty great. 

As I was writing this posting, I had another cool idea: Painting the inside of the medicine cabinet in our bathroom! John and I always leave each other post-it notes in there, so a little chalkboard message board might be a perfect addition. I'll try it out tonight and report back.