Chalkboard paint

[MrsMike]

Ds loves to write on chalkboards. A few of his little friends has one and there is one at my parents house. I'd like to have one at our house, but haven't been able to find anything suitable for him. And most stuff is MIC. I was thinking of just painting a large rectangle on the wall with chalkboard paint? I'm sure someone here has used it. Is it worth it? Does it hold up well? Does it work well with all chalk?

[Ducky5306]

I did it, I used the nasty spray paint (do not do this if its somewhere in the house you can't close off and open windows, it smelled soo horrible!!)

if you google it they tell you a better way to do it! (Regular paint, any color with something added to it (some mix of sand/motar i think) You can use any color (darks work better)

My ds loves his! its about 4ft all and 8-9ft wide (its a whole wall under the staircase)

Its holding up well, Its black and its never been totally black since we painted it. The chalk sort of stays around making it a grayish black but If i washed it better it might turn dark again (for the 5 min before he uses it again!) All kinds of chalk work on it.

I say go for it!!! just google the better way to do it! (or use spray paint if you don't mind the horrible smell)

[4Blessings]

We have a kiddie sized table that I painted with chalkboard paint about five years ago. I painted the top of the table. It still looks great. I used the green colored Rust-oleum variety. I don't remember it having an overwhelming smell but I did do the painting outside.


I still have that can of paint and have used it for other projects (several coats on the table and another 4'x6' wall project) and still have at least half a can left. Depending on the size you are thinking about painting you might want to ask around to see if anyone has any they want to share (freecycle, Craigslist,etc).

[mommariffic]

I bought chalkboard paint and home depot, and we did a whole wall practically with it. We use it every single day! Paige draws, and I keep "this week" lists at the top!

We also got magnet paint which is NOT so great - it doesn't have much power, but we can do our wooden ABC's on there which is fun.

[LuckyTrish]

I love mine! I used the plum colored Rust-o-leum that was in a can, not a spray. It is just like a regular chalkboard, it stays kind of gray from the chalk dust, but when I wash it off it goes back to the original color. Have fun!!

[onlyzombiecat]

We painted one wall of dd's bedroom with chalkboard paint.
We used black and rolled it on with paint rollers.
It has been almost a year and it has held up fine. Dd likes it. It works with all the chalk we've tried.

[vm9799]

we did that in our dining room.....we LOVE it! you can see it here.

[MrsMike]

Thanks everyone! My friend thinks she has a can and will give it to me if she finds it. Otherwise, I'll just buy a can. I went pricing "real" blackboards and at the $$$.

[lanamommyphd07]

make sure the wall is a really smooth wall--a friend tried it on a lightly textured wall and it was a disaster...mine worked pretty well except for the washing needs...didn't erase so well.

[Multimomma]

Originally Posted by lanamommyphd07

make sure the wall is a really smooth wall--a friend tried it on a lightly textured wall and it was a disaster...mine worked pretty well except for the washing needs...didn't erase so well.

That was our wall...we hated it and dd was completely frustrated. We wound up painting over that (and yeah, that was NOT easy, three layers of primer and two of paint color) so consider that if you rent or would want to change the color, maybe you would paint some mdf or drywall to screw to the wall (or even leave portable!)