How to Make A Chalkboard Feature Wall

Love the look of feature chalkboards around the house but are not exactly sure on how to create it? You can easily make your own in just a few hours but there are a few tricks to remember so that you don’t forever destroy all your efforts at the first stroke of chalk.

Our wish list of jobs around the house is growing quite long. A couple of things are actually required. We really need to get an electrician in to fix a few dodgy lights but that isn’t fun, so we go for more exciting painting projects and just eat our dinner in the dark.

Our house is in desperate need of a coat of paint throughout but with two kids under 4 we will hold tight and have decided to have fun with the walls instead. The kid’s toy room is a big area with plenty of blank space, perfect for a chalkboard feature wall! Here is how we did it.

What you will need:

• Sugar soap
• Bucket and rag
• Spirit level
• Pencil
• Tape measure
• Painters masking tape
• Tarp or drop sheet
• Paint brush
• Roller
• Tray
• Chalkboard paint (we used Dulux Design Chalkboard Paint 1L)

How to:

1.  Mix up some sugar soap and wipe clean the walls you will be painting. Make sure you check the paint tin for any special requirements to paint onto the surface you are using. We were just on painted plasterboard so were fine for this one step prep.
2.  We chose to paint a 1m high strip from the floor trim up wrapping around 3 walls so measured and marked the area with a pencil. We also used a string line for the long wall as a guide but not necessary.  Ensure your lines are straight with a spirit level and I also just remeasured at different points to be sure the line was 1m high all around.
3.  Apply painters tape along your pencil lines as well as on all trim. Pop the top case off any powerpoints and tape up those too so everything is nice and neat.
4.  Put down your drop sheets and if you can secure in place. Our paint was water based but even then it is a pain in the butt cleaning up spills and splatters.
5.  Put just the approximate amount of paint you will need in the paint tray. It is easier to add more paint than pour it back into the tin. Using your paint brush cut in around the edges of the area you are painting and then fill with a roller.

1.  Allow the paint to dry as specified on the tin (ours was two hours) and then apply a second coat.  We were so impressed with the coverage of the Dulux Design Chalkboard Paint that we used. A 1L tin cost us around $45 from Bunnings but this got us covered for 2 coats of 8m squared. Two coats was perfect. Deluxe also have a tintable version of the paint so your chalkboard can be any colour you like. I liked the straight up black to go with my zebra print. After the second coat was just finished I had jumped online and found a few bad reviews on it which had me freaking out but we haven’t had any of the problems people were complaining about.  As I read on I discovered the main problem is that not many people know to do the next step and neither did I if you check out the chalkboard in my pantry…

1.  Once your paint has completely dried grab a piece of white chalk and rub it on its side all over the board. This pained me to do especially when the wall was looking awesome bold and black but what this does is fills the paint so when you write on it the chalk doesn’t stay on there forever. After you cover the area you want (I didn’t do the full wall because some furniture will cover over parts of it) just wipe off with a dry duster or cloth. You can use a damp cloth when you want to give the board a thorough but you will need to cover it again with chalk when you want to create another masterpiece.

He loves it! There has been many a conversation about only using chalk and only on that wall but he has been pretty good. I am excited to have another activity in the house for those days where the park is just not an option.

This isn’t a sponsored post just sharing my DIY work from the weekend. We were very impressed with the paint!

Have you created a funky feature wall?

What was your last DIY adventure?