If you’ve been tuned in for a while, then you know that we’ve been finishing our basement rehab, bit by bit {we’ve shared some of our plans here + here}. It’s hard to believe it no longer looks like a serial killer’s lair – no, I’m not kidding, as we’re pretty sure there were deer skinned down in said basement, so I’ll spare you the details. Between that and the giant spiders and the crawlspace, we just couldn’t wait to do something about this space – even though the wait was actually 1.5 years.
We’re slowly piecing it together and I’m waiting for a rug that I really wanted, so finishing it off will be oh so worth the wait. But in the meantime, it’s made us super thoughtful about specific uses for each space. While I can’t wait to show you my office {it’s been so nerdy-cathartic putting it all together} I came up with an idea for us to keep up with our schedule for the week, each week. While Jamin is a big fan of all things technology, I’m not so much. I’m more of a lists and written word kinda gal, and frankly, since I’ve found what works I don’t think I should change that. I love the idea of a family command center, and I missed my old dry erase board from my old office, since it no longer fit in this space. We decided to come up with a new one for the basement. So without further ado, how to make a diy dry erase board with Frogtape.
I found this sweet little industrial desk at the Nashville flea market last fall. I loved the rough wooden top, and it offers plenty of storage for practical things like school supplies and extra stuff the kids need on a regular basis. The industrial look reminded me of my days at Auburn {Biggin Hall, anyone? Woot woot!} And I just kind of fell in love with it. So I gave it a fresh coat of green and some brass pulls for added character.
We love the combo of the acrylic and these awesome brass stand offs to work with the simple pattern!
We have a lot of organic patterns going on in this space, and knew we wanted something simple and geometric, while still keeping it light, to write on. We love all the colors!
The funny part is, ever since we’ve placed it in the space, Emerson hasn’t stopped drawing. We’ve even ordered new dry erase markers, and she’s loved her creations.
So here’s what you’ll need:
MDF: We actually have 8 foot ceilings in our basement, which isn’t bad, if you ask us… especially considering what it once looked like. We knew we needed a smaller size, so it could be placed on the furniture, and easier to access from the floor. You can alter your design for any size that you need. Ours is an even 4 ft x 4 ft square. {Helpful hint: you can have yours cut to whatever size at the local hardware store, but we recommend triple checking behind the cutters if you need a really specific size.}
Frogtape: is key to doing your pattern. We opted for the delicate surface, since we coated the MDF first in a matte white paint.
Paint: {we used a matte white wall paint we had on hand, so that the paint behaved more like watercolor on the surface of a canvas} + Acrylic crafting paints of your choice.
Brass Standoffs + Acrylic: {We went thicker to avoid any movement when writing on top of a larger surfaces and you can have this cut at your local glass store – get the brass pieces here}
You’ll also want an X-Acto knife + brushes + a cup for holding your water + some paper towels + a light stain of your choice if you choose to age it a bit. More on that below.
Once the MDF was cut and we brought it home {and then corrected the incorrect cut even though the guy swore it was the right size ;)} we gave it a few coats of white matte paint with a roller brush and let it dry.
When we were finished, we measured to the center-most point, and left a mark indicating where that would be.
Once that was marked, keeping it on the diagonal, we moved our tape from the marked center point, to one corner.
And we repeated this step from the other side.
Then we placed a piece of tape going straight down, on the right side of the dot we placed, so that we had a nice visual for each side. Then we stayed with one section and decided to finish that section off, to begin our pattern.
You know that leapfrogging move I love to do with tape so that it’s easy measuring and you don’t have to use the ruler over and over again? That’s what we did. We just placed tape side by side, continuing on the diagonal of one section.
And then removed the center one before proceeding.
We leapfrogged the Frogtape {see what we did there?} over and over again, until one section was finished. Don’t worry about overlapping, I’ll address that in a second. Just make sure the tape is secure, and keep going.
When we were finished with that first section, we started on the next, with the same steps. Just leapfrogging the tape as we went.
This time, we did two sides at once, making the same pattern, and meeting on the pointed edge.
Usually, I wouldn’t be so meticulous with a pattern, but I had an idea as to what I wanted and knew that doing it this way would help keep the entire design even.
I’ll show you more on this step in a photo below, but when you’re finished with all your sections on the first side, come back with an X-Acto blade, and cut/finish off your tape where each point meets, and overlaps. This way you have a nice, pointed edge to work with.
And you can remove your tape down the center. I cut it off so as not to disturb the lines that mattered.
We then repeated the steps on the other side, starting with a piece of tape that met in the centermost point and taking it to the far, diagonal corner. We did the mirrored step on the other far corner side. We then started filling each one in by leapfrogging the tape.
I’m sure you could measure this out, but it ensured that our lines were perfectly straight, since they were butted against one another before we removed each center piece. Also, math is hard, but this ensured that it was in fact, symmetrical.
Plus math doesn’t give you clean crisp lines, Frogtape does. Take that, math.
Here’s a clearer photo of the cut edges. See where the tape overlaps on each one? There’s a natural point to be seen, and you just cut there on the edges to complete the look. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you can finagle as you go.
Finish cutting each one, and you’re ready to go!
You may notice that on our tape, we marked each yellow piece with a W. This was as we were working, so that we knew which pieces to remove. It’s especially helpful, if you do a lot of pieces at once. This was to indicate which surfaces would not be painted.
Also also, Jamin is known {quite notoriously at this point} to remove the wrong pieces. This was secretly for him. ;} It helps when you have more than one set of hands working on the piece, so there’s no confusion.
So you have two options at this point. And if you’re going for my end product, all this taping may seem a little overboard. But since I was figuring out how to do this for the first time, I decided that there were officially too many lines for the size board I was making. From here, I decided to edit.
So you can have the many-lined piece as your final product that I shared above or the edited piece below. Because I then {don’t hate me} removed every other line to simplify the dry erase board. It’s Easy peasy to edit with Frog Tape. Not so much with math.
So if you’re keeping score at home that’s Frog Tape – 2, Math – 0.
And when that was ready, it was time for the fun part. I was ready to paint!
I’m super fancy, and as a professional artist, really love using paper plates as my palette. {I even did this in college – so lame, I know.} But practicalities aside, I broke out a brush of choice, water, and some similar paints from my collection. I used so much water, I did the entire board with this one plate. So you don’t really have to have a ton of paint, if you’re going for a similar look.
Painting away from the edges, I started with a color, and simply thinned it out with water. Its fun to play, add paint, and get the nice little swirls you may want that will make your piece so unique. The best part? Keep some paper towels handy, because if you don’t like it, you can simply blot it up, the colors are so light.
Then I removed the Frogtape, and the design was ready to go!
Hint: Frogtape really is perfect for this job, and I’ve never had sharper lines than working with this product. But if you want, you can always touch up any booboos {since this is real life} with some of the white paint, afterward. Tada! Perfect results!
When the paint was dry, I decided to add a little stain to the top – a very thin layer of gray, wiped on and quickly wiped off. I actually did this one with a cloth towel, since matte paint can leave pieces of paper towel behind. Just to age it a bit, and tone the color down. It just made a slight difference, so it wasn’t so bright white in the end.
The next day, when the paint was dry, we decided it was time to add the finishing touch!
We had some thick acrylic cut for us at the local store and ordered eight sign standoffs {from here} to complete the look.
We started by measuring 1.5 inches inward from both edges, on each corner, and marking there.
Then we measureed to the center, and in 1.5 inches on each side, and marked there.
We started out with a smaller drill, and worked our way to the larger one, to match up the hole size that we needed, and to help with the whole acrylic-not-cracking thing.
Something we’ve found helpful was that when the drill was is on reverse, it works better. Weird right?
Somehow it’s less likely to crack that way. Also, leave the protective coating on both sides, while you do this step, to help protect against scratches.
Tada! Our plexiglass holes were ready. From there, we stacked the MDF as we wanted it, then the acrylic after removing just the underside protector.
We then lined up each brass piece {the thicker part} underneath each acrylic hole, so that we knew where to drill into the MDF.
From there, we secured the standoff with a 3/4 inch screw. NOTE: You can also drill directly into the wall with something like this. but we opted to lean ours, as mentioned above.
When the standoffs were secure to the MDF, we removed the final top protective covering on the acrylic, then screwed the top of the stand off on to it’s base through the acrylic, and our dry erase board was ready to go!
This is s project that has a lot of steps, but they’re small and easy when you break them down. And we love the way it turned out as a great writing surface and command center for our family. This way we’re not forgetting all the meetings/parties/school events/deadlines/shoots/things.
We’ve made a lot of things around here, and it just may be one of my very faves. I definitely think the brass pieces kicked it up a notch.
Of course you can adjust this to whatever size or pattern you’d want. What I love about this is that it will be easy to disassemble in the future to clean or switch out patterns, if we wish.
Such a fun project with Frogtape!
What’s your favorite part? As always, let us know if you try it, or have any questions. We’d love to hear!
Have an inspired day!
(We partnered with Frogtape for this post. For more on our partnerships please visit here.)
To see more of our projects…
The best uses for Frogtape in a renovation
tips + tricks for creating art with Frogtape
build your own basketball goal with Frogtape
Kris Shock says
I love this!! How would you attach this to the wall? Thanks
Jamin Mills says
Hey, Kris.
You would simply use a longer screw and some wall anchors. We only used a #8 3/4 inch screw so as not to go through the MDF. If you wanted to hang it you’d want to use something around a 2-inch screw and some sort of wall anchor that you can buy at any home improvement store. Hope that helps.
Fran says
We so need a version of this in our life. Random question though, the last time I tried to use the blue tape it seemed to tear and split a lot plus I wasn’t impressed with how it keep paint out. Did you have the same issues with the Frog tape?
Jamin Mills says
Yes, we had those same issues with other tapes. After using Frog Tape for a long time we feel like it doesn’t have the tearing/splitting issue and is really great for keeping paint out. The bonus though is that it also seems to come up easier once you’re done while still leaving crisp lines.
Michele says
Beautiful, perfect, awesome, too cool for words…I don’t have enough synonyms 🙂 I LOVE THE WAY THIS PROJECT LOOKS!!! it really is gorgeous! 🙂 great job!! Ya’ll are super inspiring to me. Thank you for that… 🙂 Your home and style aesthetic, like for the incredibly amazing planner, are literally the styles and colors/prints that I would design if I had your talents. You rock! Have a great day!!
Sharon Smith says
Hi Ashley,
I loved this. You have the cutest room ever. I need to check out half price books. I’m pretty sure we have one here. I want to get fashion and makeup books. In your blog, all pictures are really adorable 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
Charla S says
This is beautiful! Love it so much!
Tim says
Wonderful idea! This is so great I’m going to have to try and make this for my wife’s new office. This is right up her alley!
Harry says
Awesome guide! I made a giant dry erase board for my first apartment a few years back and I loved it! But this would make it look so much better! Thanks!