How to decorate a door with mosaic tiles and chalkboard paint

I'm introducing you to a good friend, Alida Venter, today who doesn't even realize how much this guest post is helping me at this stage. She's not a regular blogger, but I think she should really consider it. Hopefully this won't be the last contribution from this fellow crafter. 

This is her beautifully completed project:

I must admit that I shamelessly copied this idea from a friend. She has a square of black chalk board paint on her kitchen wall, surrounded by beautiful mosaic tiles. I wanted to do something similar in my kitchen, but as it is quite small I didn’t really have a good spot on the wall for it. Luckily the back door was perfect for this. At first I only did the top half, but after my (almost) two-year old son discovered that he can draw on there, I just had to do the bottom, too. Now the top half is mine and the bottom is his.

How to: this is really easy! 

All you need is:

•           Medium grain sandpaper
•          Chalk board paint, 500 ml is more than enough. Mine was from Plascon, about R100 for 500 ml at Builder’s Warehouse. (I really wanted to try one of the new funky colours, but in the end I chickened out and stuck with black.)
•          Paint brush or small roller (I used a brush, but in retrospect I think a roller will give a neater finish.)
•           Masking tape to mark off the area you want to paint
•           Mosaic tiles in colours of your choice
•           Glue to stick the tiles onto the door. I used No more Nails, it worked really well.
•      Plastic or old cloth to protect the floor.

Start by sanding the area of the door that you want to paint very lightly. All you really need is to remove the very top layer of varnish so that the paint will stick to the wood properly. I suppose you can then treat the area with a wood primer or something, but I didn’t bother with that. After sanding, wipe the area clean with a damp cloth to remove all the dust. 

Apply as many layers of paint as necessary, waiting the appropriate time between layers (see product specifications). I did three layers, but only because I still had a lot of paint. I think two layers will be fine.

After the paint is done and completely dry, you can start gluing the tiles onto the door. Put them in a random pattern or follow a sequence, whatever you feel like doing. Note – I found it easier to lay out the tiles I wanted to use for one side of each rectangle, and to start sticking the row from both corners, working towards the middle. Otherwise you might end up with the row ending with a space still left at the end, that is too big and noticeable but too small to fit another tile. Also, the No More Nails glue is wonderful, as it holds strong enough to be able to stick a tile and then remove your hand after about a second, but still remaining soft enough to be able to move a tile a few minutes later if necessary.

And, voila, you’re done! Start scribbling away – use the space for shopping lists, inspirational quotes, toddler drawings, reminders… the possibilities are endless.