With the start of the new year organization is the name of the game. Which for me is all about planning! You know how much I love my planners which is why I jumped at the chance to help my Mom put together this fun DIY Menu Board.

She found an old crib on the side of the road (which is how all good projects start!) and the idea for a fun menu chalk board was born.

Of course, if you’re looking for the step by step instructions I have you covered… but there’s no reason to stop there! I’ve joined together with a few blog friends to bring you an entire group of fun organization projects. Just scroll to the bottom of the page to check them out!

Supplies

Plywood
Trim Board
Baby Crib
Dremel Saw Max
Mouse Sander
Screw Driver
Sharpie
Chalkboard Paint
White Chalk Paint
Nail/Brad Gun
18 Gauge Nail Brads
Cricut Cut Files
Cricut Maker
Fine-Point Cutting Blade
Standard Cutting Mat (that’s the green one!
White Vinyl
Transfer Tape
Weeding Tool
XL Scraper

Need help picking your perfect machine? I’ve got you covered!

Step 1: Cut Your Plywood

This first step is alllll jumbled together in a mix of measuring and cutting! We picked up a large piece of plywood from the local hardware store… the full sheet is 4 feet by 8 feet so we definitely have more than we need. Luckily our crib rail is four feet long so the first step is easy… place your crib rail on top of the plywood and use your sharpie to mark the edge.

You know the next step… cut along that line! I love using my Dremel Saw Max for small projects like this. It’s super easy to control and cuts through plywood like butter.

Step 2: Cut Your Crib Rails

Now we need to decide exactly what we want our crib rail to look like… I decided I wanted 9 spots. 1 for each day of the week, 1 at the top for the “title” and one at the bottom for notes. PLUS I can never leave well enough alone so instead of just cutting off the top and bottom I decided to cut off two of the rails so that the top spot would be larger than the rest… and the bottom spot would also be larger.

SO first I left the top rail and cut out the rail directly below it. Then I counted 8 rails before cutting out another rail for a larger space at the bottom. A pictures worth a thousand words so if this is confusing the heck out of you take a look at the finished crib rail… it should make more sense.

Once I had cut both spare rails out of my crib frame I cut the long side rails flush with the top rail and the bottom rail. Our crib rails still had hardware on the ends from where the crib went together so we took those off first so that the dremel could cut down the long rails as flush as possible.

Now your little crib rails should have a total of 10 rails with a larger area under the top rail and above the bottom rail. Boom. The dremel saw max cut the rails down pretty flush but we hit them with our mouse sander just to be sure everything was even.

Step 3: Cut Your Plywood (One Last Time!)

Alright now that our crib rail is cut down and sanded flush we need to cut our plywood one more time. Taking the 3 bottom rails off our little menu made our plywood piece too long. So we’re back to step one… place your newly cut crib rail on top of the plywood piece you already cut and mark the top. Then cut off the top with the dremel.

Now your plywood piece and your crib rail should be the same size.

Score!

Step 4: Paint!

Now we’re onto the fun part… painting! I decided to use a chalk board spray paint to turn our plywood backing into a fun chalk board for our menu. I used my handy little spray paint handle to put 3 coats of paint on the plywood.

I swear I won’t even touch spray paint without this little handle anymore. It makes such a difference when it comes to how much my hand hurts afterwards!

When it comes to chalk board paint you want to do at least 2 layers or the paint won’t work properly but I’ll be honest… this paint was even thinner than other versions I have used. So far it’s worked just fine but I ended up doing 3 (maybe 4) coats which is more than I planned on.

Of course, once I had put a layer of the chalk board paint on the plywood it was easy enough to move across the yard and put a layer of white chalk paint on our crib rails. 3 coats later and we were ready to put the whole thing together!

Step 5: Attach Your Plywood to the Crib Rails

This is where things start to get fun! Mainly because the whole menu board starts to come together. We used our little Craftsman brad nailer to secure the plywood to the outside rails of our little crib rail.

Honestly this was one of the easiest steps!

Just make sure that your brads are short enough that they won’t come through the front of your crib rails. Tat would be unfortunate.

Step 6: Add a Piece of White Trim to the Top and Bottom

At this point I took a look at how the project was coming together and decided to add a bit of trim board to the top and bottom of the menu. I made the trim just a little longer than the actual menu so that it would book end the menu nicely and finish the entire piece off.

I’m planning to hang this menu on the wall but if you wanted to stand it on a counter you could easily add a larger board to the bottom to form a little stand.

Step 7: Add Wood Filler to Any Gaps

We are so close to done! Once the entire piece is nailed together you’ll notice a few gaps… mainly at the top and bottom where the trim and the crib rails meet. I used a bit of wood filler to fill in these gaps… then it’s just a matter of letting it dry so that you can sand it smooth and paint it white!

(Do you see our latest arrival in the background? Our 8 week old long haired miniature dachshund puppy Sugar was determined to help put this menu together!)

Step 8: Use Your Cricut to Add the Days of the Week!

We are in the home stretch y’all. I decided that instead of writing out the days of the week in chalk every week I would use a bit of white vinyl to add the letters. Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

Of course, the best part is you can get the cut files for this project right here. Just download and make your very own menu board.