apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Did you have to ventilate well? I've done smaller chalk board paint projects and the smell always drives me crazy.

Your wall looks great!

What a wonderful idea for a play room! It looks beautiful!

Here is another one that I really like in a play room: http://www.houzz.com/photos/10855/---C-O-B-U-R-N---A-R-C-H-I-T-E-C-T-U-R-E----contemporary-kids-new-york

does anyone know where you can order sheets of porcelain chalkboard material? i think it either comes in rolls or 4x8 sheets. any help would be much appreciated.

@rachel: the fumes really weren't that bad, i kept the room's door closed and a window cracked and didn't notice any more dizziness or stinkyness than usual...

Oh wow - are you guys psychic or what?! I was logging on specifically to look for any info on chalkboard paint!

I want to get ready for when my 3 1/2 month old can grasp things! :) My favorite and earliest childhood memories are at an old chalkboard (pulled from the one room school house in our town!) leaned against the wall in the kitchen.

Do you know anything about the magnetized paint?

Do you find that its easy to erase? My husband was concerned it wouldn't erase well...

@asibtroy: i looked into the magnetized paint and heard mostly negative feedback, so we chose blackboard paint instead. some people choose to put a magnetic primer under the chalk paint, but again, i read way too many complaints about the magnetic paint being too weak to hold anything but industrial-strength magnets, so we skipped it. the black board wall is very easy to erase with a regular black board eraser. i've also used a damp paper towel to get the board really nice and black-looking, but i don't do that often because a bit of the blackboard color showed up on the paper towel and i assumed that was a sign to not wash the thing daily.

SKIP THE MAGNET PAINT!

Oops - rest of comment - SKIP THE MAGENTIC PAINT. We did a sample area (thank goodness) and it's gritty and uneven and once it was all done with a layer of chalkboard paint on top, magnets just slowly slide down it... even lightweight magnet letters. We then painted the adjacent big wall in chalkboard paint and it looks awesome much like the one above. I would say the smell stinks and to be careful about ventilation and the paint drying at different speeds (especially on a big wall), ours cracked at one end of the room (closest to the window) and we had to wipe on paint thinner, smooth it out and re-coat.

Thanks for the advice!!

wow..this is awesome, but it seems a little malfunctional from what i am reading.

my fiance just suggested that we leave a wall white so the baby could draw all over it when she's big enough, and i said to him- 'you know they do have chalkboard paint now just for that purpose'.. if only he were here, i could show him this. i had actually had the same idea when it was just me and my daughter, but never had a place of my own. (wouldn't you just love to be my landlord?) though i would let her draw on the front door (it was made of metal) with wipeable markers. despite my landlord, however, when i found out about chalkboard paint, i was totally going to do a wall in it.

Oh, and window crayons are so fun for the wee ones too. Being able to draw on the "wall" seems like such a big special thing for my 2 year old.

A great way to clean the wall is to use a damp microfiber cloth--it also picks up the dust that collects on the baseboard really well. And ditto on the magnetic paint. Very disappointing!

This is really cool !
You were very brave to do a whole wall, but the effect is so much better that way !!

What a great idea - and it turned out fantastically.

We just did this in our boys' playroom too. So fun, even though I'm not quite ready to give them chalk yet, so it is still virgin chalkboard (I guess I missed that part about writing on it and erasing it!)

For those wanting to do a magnetic bit - we did this by buying a piece of sheet metal (it has smooth, finished edges that I covered in duct tape just to be safe) and adhering it to the wall with liquid nails (not like we're moving anytime soon) and then I used felt to make a "frame" that I hot-glued on. This sucker is STRONG. It holds up heavy magnetic toys and the boys love it.

Here's a pic (and note the Cubino chair we won here on ohdeedoh!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pyjammy/3224001882/

FYI, you don't need to go out and buy chalkboard paint. You can make it yourself - and in any color you want!

Check the details with Martha below, but all you really need is your favorite color and some tile grout.

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/make-custom-color-chalkboard-paint?autonomy_kw=chalkboard%20paint&rsc=header_1

What a fabulous project. She must be a super cool mom.

I second CraigPelz. We used the Martha recipe on our refrigerator panel and it worked out well (and no stinky smell). We used a charcoal gray base color, so it had a slightly used look from the start.

What a terrific idea! I don't even have kids, but I'm seriously considering doing that in our new place in August - great for jotting down ideas, sketches, and doodling fun!

I love this idea. There's nothing like an old fashioned chalkboard (I'm a teacher and most schools have moved to white boards). Just keep in mind if you have a child with asthma, chalk dust is an irritant.

Absolutely brilliant!

I really love the shelves hung right on the "chalkboard". Everything you need is right at your fingertips! Great job.

Thumbs up from me! This is wonderful!

very, very cool!

Thumbs UP. Very cool!

Thumbs up, I love chalkboard paint!

I love this look! I wish this was available when my kids were small.

Another way to get this same look in a smaller space, without the mess, is to use Uppercase Living's new Chalk Wall kits. UL is always a great option for apartments.

Here's the info: https://ulexpress.uppercaseliving.com/CMS/LinkClick.aspx?link=ChalkWallPromo.pdf&tabid=78&mid=402

Oops, I forgot to add the link for ordering the Uppercase Living things: Uppercase Living online