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This is a picture frame with a second job: instead of glass and a photo, the panel inside gets taped off in an 8x8 grid and spray-painted black and white to become a chess board. A clipboard clip on the back turns it into a hanging piece, so it works as wall art between games.
The frame itself is the easy part — four mitered 1x2s around a 1/4" plywood panel, nailed and glued. The board layout is where care pays off: get your painter's tape lines straight and evenly spaced before any paint goes down, because a crooked grid is the first thing anyone notices on a chess board. Burnish the tape edges down firmly to stop paint from bleeding underneath, and pull the tape while the paint is still slightly tacky rather than fully cured — it gives a cleaner line.
| Item | Qty |
|---|---|
| Pine, 1x2, 5 ft | 1 each |
| Wood glue | 2 oz |
| 1/4" plywood, 14" x 14" | 1 each |
| Clipboard clipCraft-store hardware, used as a hanger. | 1 each |
| Painter's tape, 1-3/4" wide | 1 roll |
| Black spray paint | 1 can |
| White paint | 1 each |
| Polyurethane | 1 each |
| Chess setPurchased separately — any set sized to a roughly 1.5" square grid works. | 1 set |
Overall cost: $$. Lumber prices vary by region, species, and season, so we give a band rather than a figure we would only be pretending to know.
| Part | Qty | T × W × L |
|---|---|---|
| Frame sidesPine 1x2 | 2 | 3/4" × 1 1/2" × 12 1/2" |
| Frame top/bottomPine 1x2 | 2 | 3/4" × 1 1/2" × 14" |
| Panel1/4" plywood | 1 | 1/4" × 14" × 14" |
Buy 2 boards at 8 ft.
1 board
1 board
Assumes 8 ft stock, a 1/8" saw kerf, and buying each part at its own width. Change the board size or kerf on the full board plan →
Nail the four 1x2 pieces together into a square frame with 1-1/4" brad nails and wood glue, mitered or butt-jointed corners both work fine here.
Glue and nail the 1/4" plywood panel onto the frame. Sand any rough edges flush and fill the nail holes with wood filler before painting.
Mark an 8x8 grid on the panel in pencil first, checking your spacing before any tape or paint goes down. Tape off every other square with painter's tape, burnishing the edges down firmly so paint can't creep underneath, then spray the exposed squares black. Pull the tape while the paint is still slightly tacky for the cleanest line, let it cure, then seal the whole board with polyurethane. Attach the clipboard clip to the back for hanging.
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