DIY customized "white" board: Fancy and utiliarian

I wrote before about my salon-style wall with lots of different frame sizes, types, designs, etc. One of the things I definitely wanted on this wall from the beginning was a chalkboard.  Mostly because it would be a utilitarian thing.  

I used chalkboard paint in one of my homes in grad school.  I painted several large-ish cardboard rectangles, which I interspersed with same-sized cardboard rectangles covered with brightly colored, patterned fabric from the $1 clearance bin.  This made for a cheap and amazing wall.  It was decorative and utilitarian.  My roommate and I wrote grocery lists, to do lists, and who owed who money from recent shopping/outings.  I loved it!  However, the one problem was that the cardboard was not a very long-term base for a chalkboard.  It soaked up a ton of paint and lasted great for a year, but was never meant to be forever.  

For my grown-up house, I wanted something more durable, so I figured I would paint my chalkboard over the glass already in a large frame.  However, the difficulty of getting cheap chalkbaord paint that I knew would stick to glass made me change my mind a bit. (There is a special kind of chalkboard paint for glass, but it is normally sold in tiny bottles for use on glassware.) I also started thinking about having chalk dust flying around and ultimately decided to go in another direction: custom "white" board. 

One of the fun things about white board markers is that they work well on all kinds of slick surfaces, including glass.  Ever see a mathematician or a crime-solver writing on windows or glass walls on TV or in a movie?  That's what I'm talking about.  

The one thing is that it can be hard to read markers on glass, because of the transparency factor.  Opaque boards have the advantage on this front.  But I also had two issues: 1) I didn't want to pay for white board material and 2) I didn't want to use anything that was hard to cut to fit in my frame.

I came up with a solution that is working really well for me:

1. I already had a large frame with nice glass in it that would work well.  (I got it from my mom.  She was going to donate a bunch of old frames to the Goodwill, but a few were diverted to me.)  My frame is about 16 X 20 and I spray-painted it to match the rest of the frames on my frame-wall.  
2. Bought a piece of poster board ($0.50 at the Dollar Tree) and cut it to fit inside my frame, right up against the glass. 
3. Found a fabric for the background that was cheap, attractive, and not too busy.  You could use any plain color, light pattern, etc., but I bought a silver-on-silver floral patterned fabric from the clearance rack at my local Hancock Fabrics.  It clocked in at about $2.50 a yard and 3/4 yard was more than enough.
4. Tightly covered my poster board rectangle with the fabric, folding the extra to the back and securing with tape.  
5. Put the fabric covered rectangle in the frame like a photo and then closed the whole thing up. 
6. Custom "white" board finished and ready to use! 

Cost for the customization:

• Frame--Free 
• Spray Paint--$4 (but also part of a larger project)
• Poster Board--$0.50
• Fabric -- under $2
• Total--Under $7!