Blackboard inspirations: little DIY project for the WE

Last month, I mentioned Asia's stunning house in Poland. What caught my eye was how she managed to make a banal cupboard tucked under stairs, a bit more interesting. To achieve this, Asia painted the door with blackboard paint and the surrounding walls in white which creates a striking, modern contrast.

Since then, I have found a few more blackboard examples which look equally good and would work well in a family home. Personally I think the bigger the better as a large area creates a real contemporary feature and gives the room a bit of a Deli/industrial vibes which I quite like.

However if you don't have the space to paint a whole wall, here is a little DIY project that you can do in a couple of hours...
First source a beautiful, antique picture frame from a second-hand shop. You should get a decent one for no more than £5. Then paint it. I initially painted mine in gold but hated it once it was on the wall as it looked too much like a blackboard in a pub and didn't fit the room so I re-painted it in white (see below).

Then go to your local DIY and get a board cut to the inside dimensions of your picture frame. Bear in mind the thickness of the frame so you don't get a board thicker than the depth of your frame. Blackboard paint can easily be found from any DIY shop for about £12 a pot. Apply two or three coats of blackboard paint for a nice easy finish and fix the board to the back of the frame to hang it.

I made this blackboard for our rental house in France, so rather than leaving it blank, I also added a few beautiful lifestyle images and wrote my favourite chocolate cake recipe which I shared in easy Living magazine here, to make the whole thing a bit more inviting when people walk in the kitchen.

Happy weekend