An Oversized Chalkboard and Bench In the Kitchen.

Sometimes I make decorating decisions that either I don't end up loving or that don't work for our family. I hit the jackpot with this wall seeing how it fit into both of those categories. You can see in this post how I first decorated it shortly after we moved in. Although I really liked the clock I wasn't as big a fan of the shelves. I thought they would be a nice addition seeing how we didn't do any of the open shelving that I had orginally planned on doing but because they were on a wall that we walked by regularly I had to go with shelves that weren't very deep and that meant I ended up just putting random things on there instead of dishes and other more substantial things that give the overall look I like when it comes to open shelving. Even though I chose shelves that were not very deep so there wouldn't be any problems with anyone bumping into them that didn't work out so well either. Poor Jon bumped into them just about every single day, to the point where they were leaning more and more and I needed to take them down before we had a big crash and some broken toes. 

So, down they came and I decided to go with something more simple and practical. As you know, I love chalkboards so I thought it might be nice to make an oversized one that we could use as a message center of sorts. I may at some point put something "pretty" on it but for now it is working out really nicely as a functional chalkboard. It is a great spot to keep our grocery list (I just snap a shot of it on my phone before we head to the store), Lillie's memory verse for the week from school, and for keeping track of what we have going on for the week. We used it last week (which is what the photos are of), and then I changed it out this week and so far we are really loving it.

Then I decided to move the bench in here to see how it worked. We had moved it upstairs to the end of our bed once our new dining room chairs came and I liked the functionality of it there but I figured I would prefer it to be downstairs so it could still be easily used at either the kitchen or dining room table for extra seating. I didn't think it would work here because I thought it would stick out a bit too far but after a couple of days of it sitting there we realized it actually worked wonderfully. It's a nice place for the girls to sit when I am in the kitchen and we have all used it to put our shoes on and take them off seeing how the closet where we keep the shoes is just around the corner. Once we knew it was going to work there, the girls and I went ahead and recovered it with this striped fabric that my mom got for me from New England Fabrics in NH.  It is the same fabric she used in her kitchen and I LOVE it! Even though it's still neutral I think it adds a nice interesting and fun touch in here too. And don't look too closely because the nailhead trim is pretty crooked. The girls took turns hammering in every other nail =)

Until we can go ahead and replace the counters and add a backsplash (and that is probably still months away!) the kitchen is pretty much finished for now. Here is a reminder of what it looked like on moving day:

 

I made the chalkboard the same way I did for our other ones (you can find that tutorial here) except I made it a good bit larger. And then for the chalkboard part instead of painting chalkboard paint onto a piece of wook, I painted the backside of a whiteboard that they sell at Lowe's. It was $13 for a HUGE piece (I think it was 4' by 8') so I had them trim it down a bit for me.

You can find our tutorial on how to build the bench here.

And if you are looking for sources you can find those by click here.

Have a blessed week!