Chalk: cool, colorful, and probably not a very big part of your life unless you’re still in a grade school that hasn’t upgraded to whiteboards yet. Of course, if that’s the case, it’s somewhat odd that you find yourself on this blog (but hello!). In adult life, however, there just aren’t that many chances to even be around a chalk board, much less do a little scribbling, but we’ve got an awesome new DIY project for the home that can bring chalk back into your life in a fun and simple way. It involves three words that, when put together, equal years of fun for the whole fam: chalk board walls.
Chalk board walls have become a trend in the last few years due to the creation and marketing of what’s called chalk board paint. This fancy paint contains a gritty material mixed with paint, such as powdered tile grout mixed with acrylic, and when a couple nice, even coats are slapped on a wall, it dries into a chalkboard surface that can be written on and erased!
Setting a chalk board wall up in your house is a brilliant way to liven up a kids room, create a place for reminders and lists or even make a home calendar, and doing so is pretty darn easy, as long as you know a few tricks. Tricks which Prestige, the painters Birmingham and Alabama look to for the best in painting, will of course happily provide you lovely readers today.
Location, Location, You Know the Rest
As with all home projects, the most important thing is, of course, figuring out where you want this wall o’ chalk to be. Where you put your chalkboard depends on what you’re looking to do: do you want to introduce a fun space to be creative into the house, or will you be using the board as a tool to get more organized? For a creative corner, bedrooms (especially kids, but not exclusively!), the living room and the bathroom can benefit in exciting ways from a chalkboard wall. For the more organizational-minded, try an accent wall in the kitchen, the pantry, the garage/workshop or even a high-use hallway.
For something a little more off-kilter, remember that you don’t necessarily have to use chalkboard paint on a whole wall, or even a wall at all. For instance, a small square of chalkboard paint with a cute painted border looks great in dining rooms and entryways, and we’ve seen some seriously cool refrigerators, tables and even doors painted with chalkboard paint. Again, when deciding, just think about what you want the board used for, and where that would go best. Oh, and don’t overdo it! More than one space in the house can be overkill, not to mention messy.
Store Bought, or Homemade?
When going for the paint, you’ve got the decision to buy it pre-made, or to mix it yourself. Most major paint companies make quite a few excellent chalkboard paint colors, but if you want something outside of the standard hues (plain red, plain blue etc.), you’ll probably have to special order it. Benjamin Moore, in fact, offers chalkboard paints in any of their hues from select stores online.
For a quicker fix, however, mixing your own chalkboard paint is actually pretty darn simple. All you need is a flat (not glossy or any other finish, only flat or matte) latex paint of the color of your choice and some powdered, unsanded tile grout. Pour the grout and the paint together in a ratio of 2 tablespoons of grout into 1 cup of paint, and mix with a paint stirrer until even.
Keep in mind when buying/mixing that you’ll need enough to cover the whole area. A quart should cover about 50 square feet, while a gallon will getcha near 200 square feet of chalk board.
The Prep and the Paintin’
Before you go throwin’ that paint around, prep the area to be painted like you would to paint any surface. This means ventilating the room, cleaning the surface with soap and water, removing any appliances or other objects and protecting things like floors and windows with drop cloths and painters tape.
Once the area is ready to go, use a roller to apply your chalkboard paint in as even a coat as possible. This is an important step, because bumps and unevenness will show up when you try and write on the board once it’s dry. After the first coat, throw on another, and then wait at least two days (preferably three) before you try any chalkin’ on the newly painted surface.
One thing to note: if you mixed your own paint, you’ll want to run some 150-grit sandpaper over the surface until it’s smooth, or else you’ll have one bumpy board on your hands.
Let the Powder Fly (A Few Extra Tips)
Now that your home chalkboard is dry, there are a few more good ideas you can implement to make your project even better. One such idea is to condition the board before use by running a piece of white chalk on its side over the whole wall, and then wipe it off with a damp sponge. This sets your wall up to be used and is always recommended.
Everything else is up to you, but some cool ideas we’ve seen include adding a tray for chalk to the bottom of the wall, painting a calendar on the board with normal paint or, as we mentioned before, putting a decorative border around the board.
Whether you go for a decorative old door that serves as an interactive art piece in the living room or a cute pantry “reminder list” with a nice border, when you do this simple project right, it can quickly become a focal point for any room. Now, all you’ve got to worry about is keeping up with your family’s chalk supply, which just means fun outings to the art supply store! It’s a win-win for your home if ever there was one, and that’s our favorite kind of project at Prestige Painting.
Original Source: https://paintedbyprestige.com/diy/chalk-it-up-to-a-little-diy-painting-a-chalk-board-in-your-home/
