chalk it up

On an extremely dangerous (no kids and a 20% off coupon) trip to The Christmas Tree Shop I was determined to get some new storage for the laundry area. Up until now I've been resuing the 15 billion dish buckets I have from my days as a Body Shop at Home consultant. I wanted something a bit nicer and was digging the idea of something with a chalkboard.  I stumbled across just what I was looking for. They were $10 and normally I wouldn't spend that much on a basket, but I was determined to get this project up and running, and I had a 20% off coupon.

Armed with my new baskets, I started the task of emptying out all the buckets, cleaning them out and then reorganizing them.  I was hoping I'd be able to fit 8 buckets into the 3 that I purchased but no dice.  My first thought was to get more (didn't want to spend the money though) and then I figured I'd just resue the buckets I have and maybe print out new labels, when I remembered something I had found the other day..

i can not for the life of me find the link for this. sorry!!

and was like GENIUS!!!

So, I set off on the task of adding chalkboard labels to these plastic dish tubs. I first cleaned them with some soap and water and let them dry.

I then taped one long side and one short side. This way I could change the way I display them based on where I put them (in case they end up somewhere else one day)

Then I opened up what is probably a 5 year can of chalkboard paint that I got from Kelly last year. It looked a little suspect, but I went with it anyway.

And then I just applied some on each of the tubs where it was taped off.  It looked a bit bubbly on some of them (old paint maybe?), but I just let them dry and then applied another coat.

Once dry, I peeled off the tape, which proved to be a bit harder than one would think. I actually ended up scoring along the tape first, because if I didn't do that, the chalkboard paint came off with the tape. And here is the finished product, sort of.

Not the most perfect rectangle, but these are going in a laundry closet, that no one really sees. If these were going to be out on display, I probably would have taken more care to make sure the rectangles were rectangles. Actually, if these were going to be out on display I may not have used plastic tubs. HA!

I did find out after the fact that you can buy primer for plastic that will keep the paint form peeling off.  I guess I should have googled "how to chalkboard paint plastic" before I set out on this task.

Here are some REALLY bad photos of them in the laundry closet.

The closet is ALMOST done. So close! I have my light dilema to share with you and then I'll clean it out one more time and take some pictures to share.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day. And, I hope those that celebrate it had a lovely Hanukkah!
I feel like getting ready for the holidays is in full swing now!!