If ever there was a good time to release your inner child, then this summer is the time to do it while you are decorating with chalkboard paint. Using either a spray paint can or a can of brush-on chalkboard paint you can add a touch of fun, whimsy, and even, elegance to any room in your home. Chalkboard painted surfaces are easy to clean and easy to change!
Decorating with Chalkboard Paint
What was a big fad of 2008, has now become an easy do-it-yourself project extending beyond children's rooms, and into office and kitchen spaces around the country. The special formula of chalkboard paint allows you to transform nearly any surface into a space for ever-changing artwork, note taking, lists, and even aimless scribbling.
With the addition of colors in the different lines of chalkboard, decorating is all the easier and finding a use for chalkboard paint is easy and extends as far as your imagination can take it. You can use chalkboard paint to define a space, accessorize a space, or create a whole new look in less than a day.
Buy or Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint
Chalkboard paint comes in spray-on can form as well as brush-on can form. It is available under several different brand names in home improvement and hardware stores nationwide.
Yet, you can also make your own. Decorating Queen, Martha Stewart, has a great link in her site, at the bottom of the article, on how to make a chalkboard wall calendar which gives an uncomplicated recipe for making your own colored version of chalkboard paint. It is useful information to have, especially if you are in need of a lighter, more pastel version of the paint for a project.
Chalkboard paint is priced competitively and even though you may need to use a double coat of the paint, a little goes a long way.
Room by Room - Some Great Ideas for Chalkboard Paint
Kitchen
- Use a section of a wall for your chalkboard creation. Write down recipes and grocery store lists.
- Use a piece of foam board or even a piece of wood and create your own menu board.
- Turn the lower portion of your refrigerator into a revolving art gallery for artists of all ages.
- Turn the upper portion into a handy message board for you, babysitters, and your children.
- Try chalkboard paint as a backsplash and a change from traditional tile and its messy, time-consuming grout.
- Dining Room
- While you may not want to use this directly on your good table, you can have a custom pad of wood made for it and create a chalkboard tabletop suitable for just about any occasion. Draw the placemats and napkins before you set the table, create place cards in place, and even draw a centerpiece for a conversation starter to any kind of meal.
- Use it on a room divider or door as place to write messages of welcome and congratulations, or even draw your family tree for a holiday meal.
- Office /Living Room/or Den
- You can create your own wall calendar, certainly one that will be as functional and less expensive because you will not have to replace it every year.
- You might consider covering your desktop or creating a desktop cover to create an accessible place to write notes down while you are on the phone, or to make a to-do list, or as a place for inspirational messages.
- You might also create a space for any little office helper who wants to come and share the space with you.
Cover the top of an old drafting table with chalkboard paint and turn it into a useful side office space to brainstorm or draft an idea out on.
Bedroom
- Another idea is to turn the back of your bedroom door into a Reminder board (a particularly great idea for a teen's bedroom door).
- You can even label storage containers, wood, glass, or plastic with a couple of coats of chalkboard paint. Remove the labels with a change of content or season.
- In a child's room, create an art wall that the kids can color on at will. Use painter's tape to create a different design and turn something fun into functional…or even funky! A circle can become a flower for a retro look, or a magic mirror for a princess. It can even turn a wall into a headboard for a bed that you can decorate each night to guarantee your child has sweet dreams.
Bathroom
- Turn the inside of your medicine cabinet into a chalkboard where you can list all current medications and medical supplies.
- Label the space over the towel area as to which towel belongs to whom.
- Decorate a small piece of wood, cork, or foam board and place a welcome sign up for guests telling them where the extra toothbrush or soap is for their use.
Garage
- A place for everything and everything in its place. Surprise your partner by creating a chalkboard wall, then drill holes in it for hangers. Hang tools and draw an outline of each tool around the actual object. It will make keeping tools in their place a little easier and serve as a reminder to pick up.
All decorating with chalkboard paint involves in a little hard work, some primer, the actual paint and painter's tape and level. You can do a small or large project, with or without a helper, and make it actually cool again to write on walls!
