This kind of thing has been done before…and I am certain it will be done again.
But just in case you don’t know how to give your kitchen a super quick and happy pick me up…
Get tired of looking at your run of the mill ugly old knife block.
Take it outside with a beautiful gleaming can of Black (or any other color you desire) Krylon Spray Paint and spray her down. It doesn’t take much to cover it up and make it nice and pretty. 
Bring your now beautiful knife block back into the kitchen and fill it with knives that need to be replaced…or at the very least sharpened.
Then think that your knife block needs just a little something extra…not a stencil this time…not a vinyl letter this time…but a vinyl chalkboard sticker from ten23 designs!
But what oh what do you write on your super cool little chalkboard.
Your name? Nah.
Someone else’s name? Maybe.
You know, like…Sling Blade or something.
Get stumped for a little bit.
Then realize that Google has a really cool translator tool, Google Translate that you just type in a word such as “knives” and the language “Italian” and your knife block is not only pretty and shiny…but it’s now cultured as well. 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Love it! I saw your post and immediately set out to do mine. I even dragged my boys to Lowe’s to grab the black spray paint, much to their dismay (they hate shopping, even at home improvement stores). Love how it turned out – thank you for the inspiration!
http://mightycrafty.blogspot.com/2011/08/updated-knife-block.html
I’m hoping to add a vinyl word to the front later this week.
Looks great. You could also paint the front (or the whole thing) with chalkboard paint.