Chalkboard paint!

Pinterest has been buzzing with chalkboard paint recipes so I had to jump on the bandwagon. I started with the door panels on the inside of the basement door. I want to use this space to keep track of my 8-year-olds toys that are stored in the basement as well as the dates when she brought each set up. This organizational method helps us make sure she's playing with all her toys (and if there's something that she no longer wants because she's outgrown it, I can move it to storage).

So chalkboard paint is made by mixing about 1 cup of paint (any paint, any color) with 2 tbsp of unsanded grout.

I found the grout at Home Depot, in a 5 lb box for 11 dollars.
It's going to take a LOT of paint to use up this box;
I'll probably have it for the rest of my life.
The paint mixture is chunky at first but as you stir it,
 it smooths out. Some little chunks are ok,
they will smooth out as you paint.

This is how it looks going on the door. I'm not sure if you can tell but there are tiny white spots in the paint which left as I painted over and over the same spots. It was basically like painting with regular paint, it's just a little thicker.

I used this blue paint because we bought a whole thing of it (you know, a can. What is that? A gallon?) and only used it on 1/2 the walls in our bedroom so there was a lot left over.

Here is the finished door:

I only needed one coat, but I can imagine that some colors would need multiple coats (like red, yellow maybe)


Then I put a nail in the door... well actually I tried to put a nail in the cellar-way under that railing you can see in the picture. While nailing (I am not good at this kind of thing) I  hit the wall instead of the nail and made a big hole in the drywall. Don't tell my husband, he hasn't seen that blunder yet. So then I put a nail in the door, instead. On the nail I hung this cute basket that I had lying around from a garage sale. I filled it with some chalk so that Jade can write on the bottom section of the door.

Don't worry, you can sit in the hall and write on the door- I'm not locking her in the basement or anything. Plus I didn't want to try this project anywhere else in the house in case it failed. It didn't! The chalkboard erases with a cloth and a little water and it writes nicely. White, yellow, and green show up the best on the blue paint.
 Here's a close-up:

I would recommend this project! It was easy. Next, I am making boards to hang in the basement above the cans where we sort deposit bottles. That way we can tally how many boards of how many cans and bottles we put in the bags. We'll know when we have 100 and we'll tie up the bag and get a new one. We use a redemption center that wants cans and bottles separated and counted (but they pay 6 1/2  cents and pick up from our house!) so this will stream-line the process. Yay chalkboard paint!