Dilapidated child’s easel becomes chalkboard wedding sign

I wanted to make a sign for my wedding to tell guests where to sit, but didn’t have a concrete plan. Then one day I found a dilapidated child’s easel in someone else’s trash (which turned out to be the MÅLA easel by IKEA). It was covered with chalk and marker, but I saw the potential.

MALA Chalkboard Wedding Sign - before

MALA Chalkboard Wedding Sign - Legs off

The biggest transformation came from sawing off the legs (which also removed the tray), to make it look less like a child’s easel. Then it needed a fresh coat of turquoise paint, new chalkboard paint because the previous owner had used it so heavily, and finally I used a chalk pen to add the hand lettered seating instructions. I’m so pleased with how it turned out — it looks so different than where it started, despite still being a chalkboard!

MALA Chalkboard Wedding Sign - painting

MALA Chalkboard Wedding Sign | IKEA Hackers

More details can be found on my DIY blog, Plaster & Disaster.

` Sage Ruth