Chalkboard Wall

Look at me 3 posts in a row!!! WOOT WOOT fist pump fist pump. (too much?)

SO Loves awhile back (Spring time 2012)  on a "I hate the decor of my home" moment I ran out to Benjamin Moore and purchased chalkboard and metallic paint. I needed to shake things up a bit and what says CRAZY fun more than a metallic chalkboard wall???  Now I have to share with you that I bought these paints at a very inopportune time the hubs was on sick leave from an injury at work so there wasn't really any extra moola to be throwing around ..... so you could imagine my buyers remorse the second I got home. I had decided that I would return both paints the next day but than I got busy and the buyers remorse wore off. 

Source

Than finally a few days after Christmas one of my besties that is staying with us for a bit asked if there was anything I wanted help doing around the house and immediately I was like ..YES I finally want to paint a chalkboard wall!!!!!

SO I went out to the workshop and grabbed the paint after fighting off a few spiders I found the can and some roller  brushes. Now here is how it all went DOWN

SO of course I can't find a BEFORE shot of the wall but if you are wondering it is the wall on the right that I painted...

8 steps to your own chalk board wall

1) Pick paint- there are so many options for chalkboard paint - you can pretty much pick any colour your little heart desires and have it made in to chalkboard paint. I choose to use Benjamin Moore's Latex Chalkboard Paint in black

2) Make sure to wipe the wall down and remove any grease, dirt or wax...sometimes if the wall has bumps and scratches you will have to smooth them away by sanding them down lightly

3) Once your desired object is free of dirt and so on your are ready to paint..(obviously I did a little wipe down but that was pretty much it..)

Now you are ready to paint!!!! Make sure to stir the paint thoroughly


4) paint on first coat with roller brushes. I found that roller brushes spread the paint on smooth and evenly, every time we used a bristle brush to do the edging and hard to get spots I noticed brush lines and the paint was uneven. Another tip for painting is when brushing or rolling apply generously using short overlapping strokes, always moving from unpainted to painted areas

Here is what it looked like after the first coat

5) Let the first coat dry for 4 hours... this was REALLY hard to do. I am a very impatient person when it comes to working on projects they have to by finished in a certain time frame ...like an hour

6) Roll on 2nd coat

7) Let the paint curate for 3 days... this almost KILLED me! I am not gonna lie I broke and tried writing on it after 2 hours of putting on the first coat

8) The instructions on the can of chalk paint "suggest" to write and wipe chalk over the entire chalk paint surface  and then wipe away therefore creating a solid base to create your chalk masterpieces but I was too lazy to do that..... but I think overall it looks pretty fantabulous.....

I also thought about framing out a large rectangle on the wall with crown moulding and only painting the inside with chalk paint that way it is like your own framed piece of work but I decided I liked the bistro/industrial look of the entire wall being covered in paint.

I absolutely love the wall, the whole family uses it everyday. We actually christened it by writing down our goals for 2013!! I find myself covering the board with blog ideas, trip ideas, doodles pretty much anything that I just want to jot down. LOVE IT

and there you have it CASA M's Chalkboard wall!!!

 Oh and one last thing I have had to try a few techniques in cleaning the wall 1 blog suggested COKE I tried it and it worked OK I found another that suggested vinegar and water in  a spray bottle ...this option works splendidly!! 

Wishing you all a lovely WEDNESDAY!!

XOXO
A