Back in March 2016, Gina Everett asked us if we'd be happy to lend her two of our rustic wooden crates for her exhibition stand - read on, and you'll see why we were happy to give them to her.

Gina runs her own interior design business - Create Perfect - and had booked a space at Grand Designs Live at Excel in London. The theme of her stand design was 'Inspired by Famous Places That Never Existed - The Secret Garden' and she need two of our crates as part of the design.

We were happy to send them to Gina ready for the show, which started on Saturday 30th April, finishing on Sunday 8th May - for anyone who's worked at an exhibition before, that's a very tiring 9 days, especially with the build and dismantling days to take into account too!

However, the show was great success for Gina and for Chalkboards UK. The stand carried a graphic with all of the participating companies highlighted, plus Gina very kindly told everyone who asked where she got her rustic wooden crates from.

Gina's now taken the crates to her new home and will be sending us some pics of where they've ended up when it's been refurbished - designed by Gina no doubt!

If you would like any more information of Gina's interior design services, please visit www.createperfect.co.uk

If you would like to know more about our rustic wooden crates, other wooden or chalkboard products, please don't hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

Chalkboards UK has been working with Love Smoothies for a number years now, coming up with numerous chalkboard ideas that highlight their mouth-watering menu.

From large blackboards that grab customers' attention from afar, to mini-chalkboards on counters, each design is carefully thought out and then manufactured to our high standards.

What these boards really highlight is Chalkboard UK's ability to screen print quite complex full-colour designs. Most of the Love Smoothies designs are created by using full-colour (CMYK) and 4 spot colours, rather than digital printing. This allows them to be printed onto any chalkboard material, and provides a huge cost saving to the customer - approximately a fifth of the price on runs over 100.

These are some of the printed blackboards that Love Smoothies use to promote their drinks - A4 Easel and Chalkboard, A1 Wall-mountable Blackboard, A4 Easel and Whiteboard.

If you would like any more information on what we can do for you, please call 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months I’m sure you'll have noticed the recent retail craze for using reclaimed wooden fruit and vegetable crates in shop displays.

Recycling old crates is all well and good, but it does mean that there is a finite amount, so supply cannot be guaranteed and because the crates were originally made for something else they don’t always come in the ideal sizes.

To overcome these problems we’ve started to make our own ‘rustic’ crates by using rough-sawn timber and then dipping them in various water-based stains. As we’ve got our own print department, we can then add any print you want to provide that authentic look.

We’ve come up with a selection of crates using standard sizes and designs, but if you have your own ideas then please get in touch and we’ll turn your dreams into a reality! They really do work perfectly with chalkboards - we've even produced one with a chalkboard panel!

Take a look at the range on the Chalkboards UK website, or download a PDF of our newsletter Chalk It Up! by clicking here.