I have been needing something, anything, to nudge me toward getting projects done in my house. I have so many ideas and incidentally the more time I spend on here, the more ideas I come across that I think I can't live without.
My latest "need" was a chalkboard wall. I realize they're everywhere and it's all anyone can talk about anymore, but I don't know anyone around here who has one and to be perfectly honest, I think it was just the thing my kitchen was missing.
My husband wasn't too sure about it, but realized it is, after all, only paint. I wasn't asking to knock out a wall!
Here's my kitchen before shot. This is the only wall in my kitchen that isn't attached to walls that lead to other areas of the house. It's a relatively small space and it's seen as soon as you walk into the house. Perfect.
(I have to point out that I had just unloaded groceries when I decided to take this picture.)
I took another picture, with my real camera, and sent it to my husband. He's an illustrator and knows how to use photoshop. I'm a housewife and a mom, therefore all of his attempts at teaching me how to use photoshop for myself have failed. That's what he's for, right?!? I asked him to work his magic and show me what it would look like when it was finished.
That's really all I needed to proceed. That, and a quart of chalkboard paint. First, though, I needed to smooth out the orange peel texture that was on the wall. I knew it would be too much work to try to sand the entire wall until it was smooth, but I also knew that writing on it wouldn't be fun if it was too bumpy. So I borrowed my aunt's belt sander, covered my desk with a sheet, put on a mask and got to sanding.
I don't know if I felt I got it smooth enough or if I just got sick of working that belt sander on a vertical surface while standing precariously on a ladder, but at some point I decided it was good.
The paint is very thick, but goes on pretty smooth. I did 3 coats and called it a day. The next day, I did what I heard you're supposed to do before your chalkboard is open for business - I covered the whole thing in chalk. Doing this quickly revealed that I could've gone a little longer with the sander, but I'm not persistent like that.
I let the kids help me wash off all the chalk, I wrote a message at the top, a list on the side and
then I handed the chalk to my kids and they proceeded to break it in.
Here it is, all finished and marked up. My son decided that some of my words needed outlining and my oldest daughter thought it needed hearts.
And my middle daughter tried her hand at a little subliminal messaging by adding a few things to my list ;)
This project really did motivate me to get moving on some other projects I want to do. We will have been in this house 6 years in May and I'm finally beginning to figure out what I want it to say about me. Feels good.
I'm linking this up with Whisperwood Cottage
