Chalkboard Spice Drawer

I finally finished this project.  I have been working on it for, literally, months.  I'm so excited to have it done.  This project was a comedy of errors, but I got through it.  I also learned a little something about chalkboard paint along the way.  

My spices used to live in a cabinet near my stove.  I fixed up this cabinet in this post, where I made it a little easier to use and see each spice.  

They looked good, but they were not easy to retrieve.  We also got more spices than fit on these shelves.  

After we installed the new cabinets, we had an open drawer right next to the stove.  It was the perfect place for a spice drawer.  My plan was hatched, but implementing this plan was a whole other story.  

I had the baby bottles.  I spent a couple of hours cleaning them.  The best way to clean the glue off these bottles was with Goo Gone.  I'm sure you know about this stuff, but if you don't, you should.  It is so cool.  You put the Goo Gone on the jar, then rub it off, and just like the name implies, the goo is gone.  

I had trouble with the chalkboard paint.  I wanted to paint the tops of the jars and write on them with chalk.  My paint rubbed off when I wrote on them.  I had the same problem with my Coke Bottles when I first started blogging.  I tried everything to get my chalkboard paint to work but nothing helped.  

So instead I ordered Chalkboard stickers from Etsy.  Unfortunately, I had my old address on the Etsy account and the stickers got sent there.  They never came back.  

While I waited for my chalkboard stickers I filled the jars.  

To keep track of which spice was which I used star post-it notes.  My drawer did not look perfect, but I knew which spice was which.

The spice jars while I waited for the stickers

Before I ordered another set of stickers, I decided to try painting the bottle tops again.  My husband suggested I did not paint enough coats on the tops (and the bottles) so I tried again.

The spice jars while I painted the tops.

I also decided to try a chalkboard pen.  The pen writes on chalkboards but writes like a pen.  This was better for my spice drawer because I wanted the spice labels to be clear and easy to write.  One great benefit of the pen is that it does not rub off but can be wiped off with a wet sponge.  

I painted one top with three coats and then wrote on it with the chalk pen and .... it worked.  The chalk pen did not rub off!  I immediately tried my old Coke Bottle and my chalk pen worked on that one too!  

I then proceeded to paint all the tops.  

It is the middle of winter so I had to paint them outside and then bring them back in to dry.  It was very tricky.  

Three coats later I had painted bottle caps.  

I lined my drawer with some fabric to add a little color. 

I added the bottles with their nicely labeled tops ... 

 ... and popped in a little spoon for sprinkling.   

Finally, my little spice drawer was done.  It may have taken me four months but I did it.  

I'm happy for it to be done.  Every time I open that drawer I smile.