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My menu board bit the dust. But I resurrected it.

Remember the menu board I made from a super-ugly Goodwill frame this summer?

chalkboard menu in dining room

Well, it had a little accident.

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Large pieces of glass don’t take kindly to being knocked off the wall.

I’d grown rather fond of my board, though, and I didn’t want to just give it up. So, I popped in at Goodwill to find a new frame to paint/stain.

Lo and behold, they had what appeared to be a sibling of the original ugly frame/print I started with.

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(original on the left, new one on the right)

I didn’t snap a photo of the frame, but it was the exact same dark stain/black speckled finish as my first frame. Apparently everyone is currently donating their framed 80s prints.   😉

Anyway, I started to feel cautiously hopeful about being able to just pop the glass from the new frame right into the already-refinished frame.

So, I carefully removed the glass from the new Goodwill frame and yes! It fit into the stained framed.

(Oh, happy day!)

I really wanted to make sure that we didn’t repeat the falling-off-the-wall thing again, though, so I decided this needed a wire hanger and whatever the heck you call this thing:

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(Previously the menu board had just been hanging on a nail.   We should not be surprised it got knocked off the wall, should we?)

I found some wire in the toolbox, but couldn’t come up with eye hooks, and I figured I was going to have to buy some.

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But I kept on digging through all the compartments of random hardware and I came up with two eye hooks.

Eeeeeexcellent.

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I screwed them into the sides of the frame and then wound the wire through them.

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(See the old hanger there?   Not secure, people, not secure.)

And I cleaned off the glass from the new Goodwill frame, gave it several coats of chalkboard spray paint, and put it into the stained frame.

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Yay!

I did have to pay $7 for the new Goodwill frame, but I already owned everything else I used for this fix, and that makes me happy.

I haven’t yet decided what I will do with the empty ugly frame I now have.

For the moment, I’ll probably store it on a laundry room shelf, and next summer I may paint or stain it and use it to frame some of my kids’ art, because that doesn’t really require glass.

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P.S. I already discovered that glass-less frames are kind of great.

P.P.S. Children’s art looks pretty marvelous in a frame.

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Pat

Saturday 27th of December 2014

So cool that you were able to reconstruct it.

Amy (Savory Moments)

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

I should make a nice menu board like yours - I'm glad you were able to resurrect it. I just use a white board on the fridge, but this is much nicer!

Matt

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

i love it im going to try it.

Jacqueline

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

Haha, my reaction was: $7?! That's why I don't shop at Goodwill that often - for a thrift store, they're on the pricier side.

Kristen

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

This is true. And many readers have emailed me, shocked that I paid $7. ;)

But I was already there (Lisey needed jeans and Goodwill's hip teen skinny jeans cost a fraction of what I'd pay in a regular store! Such a bargain.), and I was totally willing to pay $7 for the privilege of not having to refinish the actual frame part of my menu board.

(I can manage to get that kind of thing done in the summer, but during the school year, I just have a hard time getting sanding and staining kind of stuff done.)

Patti

Wednesday 22nd of October 2014

Hi Kristen,

If it breaks again you might try Michael's or Hobby Lobby for replacement glass. Not in the frame department but on the shelf ready cut. It might be less than $7 especially with a coupon.

With the new old frame...one year I made an earring holder out of an old frame. Painted it and then stapled regular screen around the inside. I used eye hooks and used a pretty ribbon to hang on a nail. It holds wired earrings easily. You could even put some sort of thumb tack across the top to hang a few necklaces.

Patti

Like this:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/202236352/large-purple-mauve-screened-earrings?ref=sr_gallery_9&ga_search_query=screened+frame+for+earrings&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

Patti

Wednesday 22nd of October 2014

Other backing ideas:

Get creative and use items other than wire mesh or window screens!

- lace

- chicken wire

- mesh bags from apples, onions or potatoes

- string several wires across in a straight line...

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