Chalkboard Backsplash

My house came with a white-painted drywall backsplash, which I intended to cover with metal tin-ceiling style panels. Or tumbled marble. Or travertine tile. I might still do that eventually, but until my budget allows, I need to get the area painted. It's getting splattered up and the paint just wipes off when I try to clean it. So hey, why not chalkboard paint as a fun and inexpensive interim solution! If I get bored, I can always draw some tumbled marble on the wall with chalk.



I suppose my kitchen is pretty dark already with the cherry cabinets and black appliances, but it gets a ton of light from the sunroom and multiple can lights, so I decided to just go for it. And that is the beauty of being single - no one else's opinion counts, ha-ha. First I put on 2 coats of white primer. Here in these photos, you can really see the difference that made... NOT. But it covered the spaghetti sauce stains pretty well. ;)


Putting the black paint on was intimidating at first, but I quickly fell in love with it. It dried really fast and immediately it looked chalkboard-like (go figure!) I did have to wait 4 hours to recoat, but after the second coat it looked perfect. I decided to put on a third coat because... well, because I'm an insurance agent. We're cautious. It's what we do.

After it was dry, I had to wait 3 days before writing on it, which I think was the hardest part - I wanted to write on it right away! I painted it last weekend, then started playing with it on Thursday. My daughter Manda and I primed it by rubbing the side of the chalk over the whole thing and erasing it. What a dusty mess that was. She drew the blue sky and clouds on the left, and I've been channeling my inner school teacher in the middle. I kind of want to write out complicated nonsense algebraic formulas. Is that weird? Yeah? Good thing I erased those then.

Please pardon my rumpled tea towel. Professional stager, I am not. Linking up to Metamorphosis Monday at BNOTP. Have a nice week!