Many Irish homes will have an unwanted headboard gathering dust in the shed or the attic, but with a few simple steps and a lick of blackboard paint, you could turn it into your very own kitchen organiser or create a unique feature for a child’s playroom that might help to stop them scribbling on the walls.

Materials Required

An old timber headboard

Sandpaper

Paintbrushes

Undercoat (I used Colortrend undercoat )

Paint (I used Turkish Teal Colortrend satinwood)

Dark wax (optional)

Blackboard paint

5 decorative drawer knobs or hooks

2 large, heavy-duty wall hooks or large mirror plates

Drill

1 Clean any dirt and grime from the headboard.

2 With a medium grade sandpaper, sand with the grain of the wood.

3 With a clean cloth, wipe away all the dust.

4 Prime with Colortrend undercoat and leave to dry fully.

5 Paint the centre section of the headboard in blackboard paint and leave it to fully dry. Give a second coat and leave to fully dry.

6 Paint the rest of the headboard in a colour of your choice. (Tip: you can use a flat artist brush to get the lines even from the blackboard paint to your satinwood paint.)

7 Turn the headboard on its front and screw in the wall hooks.

8 Turn the headboard back around and measure the centre point at the end of the headboard, where the drawer knobs will go. Drill a hole that is large enough for the drawer knob to fit through.

9 Measure two more points on the left and two on the right. I placed the drawer knobs 14.5cm apart, but mark the points according to the size of your headboard. Drill the hole and screw in the drawer knobs. On the last position of the drawer knobs I placed a drawer pull upside down to hold the chalk on the headboard.

10 If you want the distressed look, use sandpaper and sand back to the timber on any edge lines, heavy in the corners and lighter as you move around the headboard. Or you can use dark wax in the groves – apply with a small amount onto a sponge and rub it into the groves and buff away with a clean cloth (if you apply too much dark wax, you can go back in with a small dab of white spirits on the cloth and buff away the unwanted wax).

11 Now it’s ready to hang on the wall. You can place it in the kitchen and write your shopping list on the blackboard, or hang up in the playroom/hallway.

Are you inspired to tackle this project? Let us know how you get on by tweeting @IrishCountryLiv or email mmoynihan@farmersjournal.ie CL