Chalkboard Seating Assignment

While there are many options out there for seating assignments at a wedding, this one I really love. While attending a conference this spring I saw this great idea, Thanks Sasha! My Client was looking for something outside of escort cards for her seating assignment and I suggested a chalkboard. Instead of going out and purchasing one, I took on the diy project. Here is the lovely finished product below. I will show you exactly how I made it so you can for your next wedding or event! I took a trip out to Lowe's paint department and asked a few questions about using chalkboard paint. I was told that in order for the chalkboard paint to coat evenly on the plywood I would need to first prime the surface. This is exactly the primer I bought for the project, Kilz latex 2.

After that is was off to locate the Chalkboard paint, which wasn't hard because there was only one option to choose from. Here it is Valspar Chalkboard paint.

For the plywood I decided to choose one of the precut pieces at Lowe's. I would have no clue and no fingers if I even attempted to cut the plywood myself. So thank you Lowe's for having a precut section!! I chose to use the Birch plywood because it has a very smooth surface which meant no sanding needed! This piece was ½ inch thick x 2 wide x 4 tall.

Day One: I primed the surface using a paint roller. I thought that it would be 1. Quicker and 2. Smoother using a roller. But you might prefer to use a brush. I let the primer dry overnight.

Day Two: Here you can see the white primer that I am painting over with the first coat of chalkboard paint, again using a roller. I let that dry overnight.

Day Three: I painted the second coat of chalkboard paint, and let that dry overnight.

Here is a close up of the finished product with the names of the guests written with a chalk marker. The best part is, my client is going to take the chalkboard to her office to use now.