Just Chalking Around…

Every few years I get a hankering to freshen things up around here and paint all the walls. The bulk of that project will happen the first couple weeks in June, but over the week between Christmas and New Year’s, Jess and I took care of the small wall between the kitchen and the master bedroom by putting on a few coats of chalkboard paint. The boys love sidewalk chalk outside and now they can use it inside when the weather is bad. I also enjoy chalkboard signs and chalkboard art, and this is the perfect canvas for practice.

Here is the plain boring wall when we got started. The thermostat and light switch in the middle always made it a challenge to decorate. Jess mudded and sanded the joint down the center.

Then a couple of coats of paint with plenty of drying time in between and we have this fun, huge chalkboard to play on. The paint was Disney Great Slate Chalkboard Paint, purchased at our local mart of the Wal. I think it was around $15 and we still have almost half the can leftover. (I did paint the light switch and the thermostat, so they blend in somewhat. They’re still a pain in my neck, though.)

As life goes, things got super busy and we didn’t even draw on our new wall until after Layla was born and came home.

We didn’t end up using this photo for a birth announcement, but it was a cheerful welcome to our sweet grandgirl. You can see that the boys colored in the top and bottom right-hand hearts to help me.

When that was erased (using a damp cloth per instructions on the paint can), the boys and I went to town drawing and writing this and that, here and there. Things were drawn and written and erased, and new things took their place.

Then Grace was here one day and we were treated to some awesome graffiti. She drew all this with the exception of the giant horse-dragon in the center. Bradley was inspired by Grace’s work and added his own, starting out with a horse, then decided that since it had a heart at the end of it’s tail, it should breathe fire and become part dragon. The chalkboard wall fulfilled it’s intention by providing a canvas for both Grace and Bradley to express their creativity.

 

See the random words written at the top? Brad was writing in his idea book and needed to spell some words. I wrote them so he could copy. Silas enjoys drawing and writing on the wall as well. The letters of his name written in random order, lines and circles here and there, the beginnings of representational drawing of a monster or person he randomly names. That jar of chalk is always on the plant stand, and we also have sidewalk chalk in a plastic lidded box that can go outside or be used inside. The sidewalk chalk works better and the colors are more vibrant, so we all tend to use that the most.

The kids aren’t the only ones who get use from the wall. Recently the Easter Bunny was able to set up the kids’ baskets and show them which basket went to which kid. The Easter Bunny is no great artist, but they enjoyed his work and never questioned how on earth a bunny could reach so high and spell so well…

Chalkboard walls have been very popular on many of the DIY blogs, and it’s easy to find lots of examples on Pinterest. Is it a passing fad? Perhaps. It’s only paint and when we’re done with it, it’ll take only a few minutes to cover up. I don’t see that happening, however. We’re going to enjoy it at our house for a very long time.