New Chess Board Project

I've been kicking this idea around for awhile, now.  Last night I bit the bullet and went to Home Depot for a few supplies to get started.  My last chess board project featured a tabletop with two chessboards painted on, detailed earlier on this blog.  I wanted to follow it up with something a little more useful, but still unique.  I hit upon the idea of a chess board on both sides, top and bottom, of a piece of wood.  The chess boards would be different colors so that before a game, one could choose what colors to play with.

I recently got a chess set for Christmas that turned out to be a little larger than what I like to be comfortable on a 2.25" square board.  It still works ok, but I think it would be better on a 2 3/8" board.  I didn't want to make my new project that size because that would mean only that one set would work with it.  So I decided to compromise.  I would make two separate double boards, one with the pair of boards having 2.25" squares, and the other having 2.375" squares.  I also decided that I wanted to try a red color with my new set, so one of the two colors on that board would be red.  I would decide on the color to go on the bottom of that board based on which of the two other colors on the other board I liked best.  I had decided on a green and a blue for that board.  Below are the mock-ups of the layout and approximate colors for the boards.  Board one would have 2.25" squares on both the top side and bottom side.  One of the sides would be the blue and one would be the green.  Board two would have 2.375" squares on both the top side and bottom side.  One of the sides would be the red and the other side would be decided between either the green or the blue.

So, again, last night I bought all the supplies and put a couple of coats of the main colors on one side of each board.  I chose green and red to start.  After drying all night, I got out a yardstick and pencil and started making the grid for the board.  2 3/8" squares on the red and 2 1/4" squares on the green.  I have to wait until tonight to tape it up and start painting the light squares, so here is my first progress picture.  Here is the red board.  The grid is drawn on lightly in pencil, and I put my new Zagreb 59 chess set on it to preview the color contrasts and spacing.  I'm really happy with the way it looks so far and can't wait for the next step!