I’ve always loved the idea of a home “command center” …a place where the family can stop and look at what the plans are; a calendar, a weekly menu, a place to write notes to each other, a place for the mail to live. Also, where the keys live so you HAVE to take a look at the calendar at least once a day to know what’s going on. I kind of had a command center set up…. It was a large dry erase board calendar with a notes section. But there was also a “drop zone” by the front door; a set of cube shelves with hooks attached to the wall that inevitably became a mess when mail piled up, junk got shoved into the shelves, etc. It drove me crazy, clutter really gives me anxiety. I wanted a way to reduce clutter but still have a spot for everything to live and a family calendar space that’s fun and able to be used by the whole family. So, I decided it was time for an upgrade.

When I lived at my Mom’s house, my bedroom had an entryway that I always wanted to turn into a chalkboard wall. Unfortunately, my Mom never let me do it. Now that I pay (half) the mortgage, however, if I want a chalkboard wall, I can have a chalkboard wall! I also wanted it to be magnetic, so I did a little research and discovered this Rustoleum Magnetic Primer. It had mixed reviews, but after reading a lot about it, I decided two cans would be needed for the space I wanted to cover. I wanted plain black chalkboard paint except my local Lowe’s was out of it, however they did have this Kyrlon tintable chalkboard paint that they were able to tint black for me. It did cost me a couple extra bucks since they had to tint it, but I was ok with that. I grabbed some roller covers, mini tray liners, and a few extra brushes, and I was ready to start my project!

The biggest thing I can say about using the magnetic primer is that you have to stir it, then stir some more, and stir once more for good measure, then stir it between every single coat. And make sure you are scraping the sides of the can, too. Seriously. This stuff has little magnetic pieces in it that dry down to your wall to make it magnetic, if you don’t thoroughly stir the paint, it’s not going to work. Second, I found that using a roller really wasn’t the best way to go, and actually wound up using foam brushes to get really thick layers; with the two cans I bought, it wound up being 5 layers total - two using the roller, the rest using the foam brushes. You have to be SUPER careful when you lift the brush, though, because there will be magnetic pieces that clump up, you have to lightly go over those spots to smooth it out. I didn’t figure out this technique until either my third or fourth layer, so I wound up going in with a 220 sandpaper before putting on the chalkboard paint on any areas that were really rough. This project WON’T be totally smooth, though - I do want to put that out there. Remember, you are depositing little bits of magnetic pieces over the entire wall, it’s not going to be smooth the way a regular painted wall would be.

I will admit, I thought this was going to be a one-day project, but with how thick I wound up putting on the paint and letting it dry between coats, it wound up being about 2.5 weekends. It took three weekend days of juggling family time and painting to get all the coats of magnetic primer up. I was SO excited when it was finally time to do the chalkboard paint! I did use the roller for this, and it worked beautifully. This only took me one day to do, and then I was able to put the vinyl on the wall. I have a Cricut machine and ordered some removeable white vinyl. I downloaded a calendar .svg from Etsy, expanded it to the size I needed for the wall, and used the slice tool to cut it into smaller pieces that could be cut on the machine, then pieced it all together on the wall.

It wasn’t until the following week that Adam helped me put up the baskets with key/mask hooks underneath, and I added the final touch of alphabet magnets for Jack! He still doesn’t quite understand drawing, but he’s already put his little touch on the walls with his chalk artwork!

While right now there’s not so much on our schedules because of Covid, and Jack doesn’t quite get the chalkboard wall, I am overall VERY happy with how this turned out, and I feel that going forward it will be a great space for our family!!