TIPS 12 Quick Chalkboard Decorating Ideas

Looking for quick and easy chalkboard decorating ideas? Here’s how I decorate my oversized vintage chalkboard 12 different ways.

When you are a true junker or a yard-saler or an auction-goer or a shop-by-the-side-of-the-roader or a thrift store shopper, there is one mantra that you live by.

Hope springs eternal.

Truth?

No matter how many broken dishwashers you find at the end of the yard sale rainbow.

No matter how many times you dig through boxes of junk at the auction and find nothing worth anything.

No matter how many times the “GIANT MULTI-FAMILY YARDSALE” sign lets you down.

You know that you know that you know….

….the next great find is just around the bend.

IYKYK.

I know.

I get it.

I understand.

Truly.

Here’s one of my favorite vintage finds. One of those finds that makes all those empty-handed shopping trips worth it.

Here’s where it started and where it ended.

And 12 ways I decorated it.

Here it is.

When I found it at my favorite thrift store, I was looking for absolutely nothing.  I’ve found that’s the best approach.  It’s when you are looking for absolutely nothing….

….that you find everything.

I rounded the corner back by the glass shelf of figurines that look like the seven dwarfs and there it was.

This.

I know….right.

Can you see why my heart started beating faster? I didn’t even know what it was. But I knew I needed it.

Good thing they tagged it “vintage pool cue stand” or I might have never figured it out. You can see the spaces at the bottom for the pool cues. It’s worn and wonderful with a patina from years and years of pool games.

The top still had the indentations where the cues rested and a bar across the top to hold them in place.

Have you ever seen anything like this? It’s so heavy and made out of solid wood.

I lugged it home from the thrift store and my husband added a board behind it painted with chalkboard paint.

And now?

It looks like this.

My husband attached a thin sheet of plywood to the back and stapled it in place (you could also nail it, too). Then I painted it with chalkboard paint—two coats—and primed it with chalk.

And then it was ready.

I had no idea when I thought of the idea how much I would love it.

And all the ways I could decorate it.

I shared it recently in my spring kitchen decorating post.

It’s an ever-present fixture in my kitchen now.

A fixture that I’ve decorated over and over and over again and every time I share it someone asks me what it is. It’s a pool cue turned into a chalkboard.

And now?

Ready for some chalkboard decorating ideas?

Let’s GO.

// set of three mini topiaries //

12 Quick Chalkboard Decorating Ideas

1. Spring: Row of topiaries

Let’s start with this year.

I found these little mini topiaries and I originally had them on the kitchen island.

But they leapt off the island onto the chalkboard.

Look at the little row of them on the ledge.

Aren’t they the cutest?

You can see the set of three topiaries here.

// preserved boxwood wreath //

2. Valentine’s Day

The amazing thing about a chalkboard?

You can write anything on it and that counts as decorating.

Here I hung a preserved boxwood wreath (perfect wreath for spring) in the center (I’ve used nails and command hooks and ribbon to hang the wreath from the top of the chalkboard).

// wood vase with glass bottles //

3. Summer: Add a flower vase

I love built-in vases like this that have a wood frame with multiple glass vases.

They come in different sizes and shapes and it makes it so easy to create an arrangement with a few flowers I clipped from the yard.

I add the vase to the base of the chalkboard.

4. Fall: Add a row of pinecones

Are you ready for the easiest chalkboard decorating idea ever?

I just added pinecones to the base of the chalkboard.

It would also look cute if you dipped the pine cones in white paint halfway so they were color-blocked and then lined them up along the base.

5. Giant spider web

Here’s the perfect marriage of two vintage finds.

This is a spiderweb I found at a vintage shop.

I tucked it inside the frame of the chalkboard and it held it in place perfectly.

// spring flashcards for a spring chalkboard //

6. Flashcards

Another fall decorating idea I used the chalkboard for was to display flashcards.

I bought these vintage flashcards off Etsy.

Then I just tucked them into the frame.

// cardboard deer head //

7. Cardboard deer head

I found this cardboard deer head in the Target dollar spot bins.

The deer head was attached to the center of the chalkboard.

Then I hung a winter wreath from the center.

(total aside: don’t tell the other chalkboard decorating ideas—but this was one of my very favorites.)

// metal vase holder with glass vases //

8. Winter

Here I made a snowball garland and draped it over the edges of the chalkboard.

Then on the ledge below, I added sprigs of boxwood from the yard in mini vases.

Here’s the link to the metal vase holder with glass vases (it’s PERFECT for a quick arrangement with flowers or sprigs from the yard.)

You can see how I made the snowball garland here.

9. Christmas Tree

I made this Christmas tree on the chalkboard one year to decorate it for the holidays.

It was just leftover garland cut into pieces and attached to the center of the chalkboard.

Then I taped a star on the very top.

10. Stockings

This is one of the easiest ideas to decorate a chalkboard for Christmas.

Just add stockings.

I hung the stockings off the pool cue spaces at the top.

11. Christmas cards

When our Christmas cards come in the mail? I open them and laugh and giggle.

And then?

I decorate the chalkboard with them.

I tuck them into the sides of the chalkboard (kind of like the flash cards).

// Similar Christmas tree poster // doorknob bottle brush trees //

12. Bottlebrush Christmas trees

Here’s my bottle brush tree collection.

I added the collection along the bottom of the chalkboard.

Then I hung a Christmas tree poster from the pool cue spaces at the top.

And with all these ideas?

And as amazing as this pool cue chalkboard is?

Sometimes it takes a fine yardsale connoisseur to appreciate it. When I first showed it to my husband with great fanfare accompanied by tiny dolphin claps and hand-waving and asked him if he could add the board to the back and make it into a chalkboard form me.

He seemed extraordinarily underwhelmed at the prospect.

After a moment he raised his eyebrows and sighed…..

….and asked me which way was right side up.

I think he was done with “treasures” 477-yard sale signs ago.

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