How to Paint a Chalkboard Wall

Not much has happened in the kitchen so far. My husband and I are at odds about which task to pursue first. He wants to knock down a wall and rebuild it around the fridge. I want to build the cabinet. Both need to happen, but I need his help for the wall bit. The cabinet can be done completely by me. With the kids being out of school, I have a bit more free time on my hands to accomplish said cabinet building. I have painted the door wall with chalkboard paint, though!

Finding the right green was not as easy as I thought it would be. I thought there would be 1 choice for green, but Lowes had about 20 choices. That makes the job much harder, not easier. I mean, I guess it’s great that there are so many color choices for chalkboard paint, but I like classic colors. I want black or green. I had to go find a comfy seat in the patio section to mull over the choices and look at pinterest. I ended up going with a totally different choice than the 2 I was considering under the harsh fluorescent lights in the paint area.

Is there anything happier than a paint pan full of paint and a new project? I love painting so much. The green ended up being the perfect color that I had in mind. I chose La Fonda Plaza Green, which is kind of a mouthful for a paint color name. I used the smoothest roller I could find, a Purdy 1/4″ nap roller. It also helped that I had done a ton of repairs on the walls before paint went up. My walls were smooth as a baby’s bottom, which is the perfect texture for a chalkboard!

I let it dry for 2 days before seasoning it with chalk. The can didn’t say how long to let it dry, but the internet suggested leaving it alone for a few days. It was such a lovely color that I could have left it alone. But if I want to use it to write on, it needs to be seasoned. The chalk dust fills in all of the porous areas and prevents chalk from leaving permanent writing.

I took a piece of chalk and held it sideways to color the entire wall. It looked kind of pretty like this. I used my daughter’s outdoor chalk and I ended up using an entire piece of it. It was either white or gray chalk. I don’t really think it matters what color of chalk you use, as long as it’s not the opposite color of the paint. For instance, I don’t think red or dark pink chalk would have worked well without changing the color, but blue or yellow would have been fine. This is just a theory of mine.

I wiped all of the excess chalk off the walls with a dry paper towel and it left a perfectly smudgy, super matte surface. I love how the green looks with the gray door. Wouldn’t the cabinets look amazing in gray as well?