Comments on: Homemade Chalkboard Wall

By: Holly

Holly — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:39:46 +0000

I saw your magnetic wall and your chalkboard wall. I was wondering if it would be posssible to combine the two into one. To take the magnetic paint first and apply that as a base coat of paint and then to go over that with the chalkboard paint to give you a magnetic chalkboard wall. I understand that I may need to do multiple coats for coverage. Has anyone tried this or am I the first to think of this?

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:39:40 +0000

On second thought maybe the darker color would affect, not that doesn’t erase as well, but just that you can more easily see every little bit of chalk dust that didn’t come off. ??

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:38:02 +0000

Hi Chris,

I don’t think the darker color would effect it. We’ve found that the best thing to use for removing the chalk is a terrycloth washrag. The texture of the cloth helps remove the chalk. Also we periodically use a wet cloth to remove the chalk residue.

Another factor maybe the smoothness (or lack of smoothness) of the wall before you painted.

We’ve found that sidewalk chalk erases more easily than standard chalk (but we avoid the bright colors).

We used a semi-gloss base paint.

I hope this helps and you can get it to work for you. We still love ours and find it very useful.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:14:50 +0000

Kimberly, we painted a wall like this in our dining room which doubles as our school area. I think I followed your directions but the chalk will not erase very well at all. We did use a darker color (brick red)of paint. Do you think this would make a difference? Any other ideas? What kind of paint did you use to begin with? We used flat wall paint.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:42:14 +0000

I did my daughters large sliding closet door. The directions of the chalk board paint was to use the side of a piece of chalk to make large lines and cover the entire surface then erase. Then the board will be ready to write on. Do you want the wall to always be the dark color you started with before you used chalk? Remember you’ve created a chalkboard it will always have the powdery look. I hope this helped.

By: Svetlana

Svetlana — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:00:10 +0000

I did that…I bought a very thin piece of wood can’t remember the name exactly and I got primer and bought the chalkboard paint and painted it. Look awesome…BUT…once i started to write on it and i tried to erase it the eraser didn’t work so every time i need to erase something i use warm water and vinegar and even w/ that it leaves streaks ughh I’m so upset…I don’t know what else to use. Do i need a special “eraser”?? Someone please help!

By: Arlene

Arlene — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:13:14 +0000

A great alternative is to buy a nice piece of board at a home improvement store and paint it with the chalkboard paint. You can hang it or lean it on the wall.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:08:41 +0000

My daughter has large sliding closet doors in her bedroom. I painted one with chalkboard paint and the other with magnetic paint. First I painted a light green boarder around the doors then taped them off and painted the doors with chalkboard and magnetic paint. I did it about 4 years ago and she still uses them much as when I first did it. Super easy and great project.

By: 4 Moms Open House: Yard and Entry | Raising Olives

4 Moms Open House: Yard and Entry | Raising Olives — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 11:21:46 +0000

[...] Be sure to come back next week for a tour of our kitchen and dining room. Psst, that’s where we have our art displaying magnetic wall and our chalkboard wall. [...]

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:52:56 +0000

I would suggest that you try painting the table with regular paint first and seeing how chalk works on it. I have a friend who writes on her walls all the time and she hasn’t used the chalkboard paint.

The texture is a little gritty and it is more difficult to clean.

If you try using chalk on your table w/o the chalkboard paint, I’d love to know how it works out for you!

By: Monica

Monica — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:52:52 +0000

I stumbled across your blog from Leah Killian’s blog (lifeaslou.blogsome.com). My husband is just about finished making our craft table and I would like the top to be a chalkboard. We will use this table to preschool, scrapbooking, painting, etc. Is the texture rough & gritty? Will it be beneficial to sand it down? Thanks!

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:32:00 +0000

No I didn’t sand the wall first. However, I think that would be a good thing to do. There is a natural texture simply from where the previous pain has been applied.

By: Debby

Debby — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:29:28 +0000

Did you sand your wall before applying the chalkboard paint?

By: Raising Olives

Raising Olives — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:55:19 +0000

Sharon,

There would be 2 cups of unsanded grout per gallon of paint. However a gallon of chalkboard paint goes will go a very long way.

Blessings as you begin your homeschool journey. We love, love, love homeschooling and are so blessed that this is the path the Lord led us on.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:47:00 +0000

I love your website! I have a question about the amount of grout to use per gallon of paint. Thank you for all you do! I have four children and I will be homeschooling the 7 year old my oldest. I am scared and excited!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:54:28 +0000

WOW!! This is such a great idea! I rent, so I really can’t do it…but I wish I could! I try to use the whiteboards you can buy in the stores, but they’re never big enough! Thanks for sharing this!!

By: AZ

AZ — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:04:01 +0000

Very cool!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:23:34 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do a chalk board wall for the longest time but the cost of the paint kept stopping me. Now I have no excuse!

By: Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect

Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:12:45 +0000

I LOVE this idea!! Our walls are a weird, textured material . . . but if we ever move to a different house, I hope to have a chalkboard of some kind in my daughter’s room. But your idea – the whole wall and in the family area – is so smart. I love it!!

(I came over from WFMW.)

By: Scott Somerville

Scott Somerville — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:41:05 +0000

That’s cool enough to tweet about!

By: Raising Olives

Raising Olives — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:20:02 +0000

Heather,
I keep the children from using chalk on the other walls by controlling the chalk. They may use the chalk with permission, but it is a treat and not available whenever they wish.
Also, chalk is easy to remove, so when it happens and I’m relatively sure that it will, it won’t be as disastrous as if we were using a dry-erase board.

Smockity,
No it’s not cork board and you will simply have to come back next Wednesday to see how I display the art in my marvelous dining room.

Blessings,
Kimberly

By: niki

niki — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:51:22 +0000

I love it! I am always seeing so many people using that cool paint for a variety of projects but a whole wall is just awe-inspiring!

By: hi-d

hi-d — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:09:50 +0000

I love having the whole wall to write on! I always run out of room on my chalk board… so next time I paint the dinning room/class room… I’m doing a whole wall chalk board too! Thanks for sharing!
Looking forward to your other “wall” post!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:05:52 +0000

Your room looks fabulous! I love this idea and can’t wait to read about how you display the artwork.

By: Smockity Frocks

Smockity Frocks — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:31:14 +0000

Kimberly, How do you display the art? Is it a corkboard wall?