DIY: Magnetic & Black Board Paint

The school room is coming along! The center stage of our new school room is the new black board. Our school room is graced with a sliding glass door and a huge set of windows on two walls, so now the third (and last) wall is covered in a blackboard.

Step One: I pondered and pondered again whether I want a white or black board. Black boards just look so neat. Charming. But then there is chalk dust.

White boards are a big WHITE board, but the markers are simple to wipe off. But then there are those nasty marker odors. Could those be bad for myself and my kiddos to sniff all day??

Step Two: No decision on that yet, but for sure I need to measure out my painting spot on the wall. Then sand, sand, sand that texture off the wall. I wish I would have sanded even more!

Step Three: Buy Magnetic paint. Save yourself a trip and buy two cans. I painted on 8 thin coats of the magnetic paint (2 cans), trying the magnetic force in between each coat. It takes a lot of this paint to get a good hold, and I don't think you'll ever get a fridge-force hold.
This isn't too long of a process. You only have to let the coat dry 20 minutes between layers. The paint smell was so strong. I advise doing this project when you can open windows. We did this, and got a big, fat fire going too keep the house warm.

So paint, dry, paint, dry.... ( don't forget that old jammies inside-out are great painting gear)

Step Four: Finally decide that black board paint will work best, as magnetic paint is black. I wondered if all the "white" coats it would take to cover the magnetic paint would cause me to loose the magnet? So chalkboard paint will do the trick.

Step Five: Call a dear friend and invite her over for coffee, painting and lunch. Then set her to work while you admire her careful paint job. It's good to share work. :) I wish I had thought to take photos of Jen painting my chalk board wall!!

Step Six: Get approval all around (especially little ones) and wait a few days while the paint cures. This is the cleanest the board will ever, ever be!

Step Seven: Using chalk, treat the board to it's first, most important rubdown. Rub chalk all over the board for it's first use. Then wipe the chalk off and hand the chalk to your anxious kiddos to draw away!!

Step Eight: After the initial fun has worn off, (and when you need to school again) set up the board for use!

The Results: I simply love having the teaching space on the wall. We hang our timeline cards here and have schedules and calendar and math problems and penmanship.

I am still not sure about the chalk. I have to use a wet cloth to clean the chalk off and even then there is a fine layer of chalk on the board, smeary residual. I'm pretty committed now so I'll be working on how to perfect the cleaning of the board and the best types of chalk/eraser to use.

Fun! Fun stuff!