Milk Painted Wall Chalkboard Video Tutorial
Hi there fellow Milk Paint lovers! I’m Jenn Baker and I’m a super proud member of the Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint Team!
If you’re anything like me, you could use more organization in your life! Because I blog here at MMS Milk Paint, I found myself needing a space in my office where I could easily see my tasks and to-do’s for the week/month.
To meet my needs, I created a chalkboard using an antique frame and Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint.
Best of all, I painted it RIGHT ON MY WALL! There was no need to cut any plywood or do any sort of measuring. It’s the easiest way to make a chalkboard for your office, kitchen, entranceway, etc. With a surface that’s easy to write on and wipe clean, your family will stay organized and have a fun place to doodle and draw at the same time!
To top it off, I created a video tutorial for those of you who are visual learners so you can see the process in action!
Step 1 - Find a Frame
Find an empty frame that is the size you need for your wall chalkboard. I needed a LOT of space for my chalkboard, so I found this beautiful frame from a local antique store. It’s pretty big at 3.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide.
Your frame obviously doesn’t have to be this big. I had this one in my stash for months and couldn’t quite find the right place or use for it. Once we moved into our new home, and I realized I needed a chalkboard on my wall, I instantly dug it out and placed it on the wall to see if it would fit. Not only did it fit, it looked like it was meant to be there all along!
Frames can easily be sourced from local thrift stores, antique shops or even the side of the road! (Those are the best finds, aren’t they?)
Step 2 - Prep Your Walls
Once you have your frame, you need to decide where you want your chalkboard to be. I wanted mine to be right next to my computer and above a Victorian chest of drawers. This is where I keep all of my shipping supplies, papers, important files, etc.
Next, you need to prep your walls by gently sanding any rough patches and possibly adding spackle to holes.
My wall had a few holes that needed to be filled and smoothed over.
To keep the spackle dust down to a minimum, I used my Festool dust extractor. You can follow yourself with your household vacuum or shop vac to minimize dust in your space.
Using 220 grit sandpaper, I smoothed down the spackle and some rough bits that were left over from previous paint jobs. The point of this step is to create a smooth surface for your chalkboard. Remember, you’ll be writing directly on your wall, so smooth is best!
After you have finished sanding, remove the dust.
Step 3 - Make An Outline of Your Chalkboard
Next, hang your empty frame back on the wall and grab a pencil or a pen. Yours can even have a red pom-pom at the end, like mine. (Who says writing implements need to be boring?)
Run your pen or pencil around the inside edge of your frame. You’re essentially making an outline that will help you know where to paint.
The photo below shows my outline and how it helped me know where to paint. (I’ll talk about what color I used in a second.)
This is what you’re aiming to create:
You don’t have to make your outline perfect, although if you want to use painter’s tape, feel free. I wasn’t going for perfection, so my outline is a little wobbly. All that really matters is that you don’t create a chalkboard space that is larger than your frame.
Even though I’m jumping ahead, I wanted to show you a visual of how this works.
Here’s what my frame looks like when it hangs in place over my Milk Paint chalkboard…
…and here’s what it looks like if I scoot the frame out of the way. See how my edges aren’t perfect? All that matters is that the frame covers the paint.
Make sense?
Step 4 - Choose Your Color and Paint Your Wall
When it comes to choosing a color for your wall chalkboard, the possibilities are endless! You can opt for Typewriter and make a traditional black chalkboard, like Sada from For the Love Creations did on this door.
Photo Credit: For the Love Creations
Or, you can get fancy and mix up some vintage green using this recipe:
We have a great blog post to show you how this recipe turns out! Click the image below to read all about it.
For my chalkboard, I picked Aviary - a smokey and moody blue/gray that looks like the color of a stormy sky.
Aviary was inspired by and named after the antique French birdcage shown in the collage above.
I mixed up 1/2 cup of Aviary powder with 1/2 cup of slightly warm water. Using room temperature or slightly warm water helps the powder dissolve. If you need tips for mixing Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint, click on the image below.
Once your chosen color is mixed, apply 2 coats directly on your wall.
Paint within the outline you created in the previous step.
This is what my wall looked like after 2 coats of Aviary:
My walls are standard builder-grade drywall. Yours may look different if they’re made of plaster, stone or wood. You’ll need to experiment and make sure this technique will give you the effect you want. I can happily report that Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint soaks into drywall like a champ! (If you’re curious about painting an entire wall with MMS Milk Paint, you should check out this blog post.)
Let your Milk Paint dry completely and smooth sand with 220 grit or 400 grit sandpaper. This will get rid of lumps that didn’t dissolve or brush out on the wall.
Step 5 - Season Your Chalkboard
You know how cast iron skillets need to be seasoned before use? The same is true for chalkboards - they have to be seasoned before you write on them.
Grab a piece of chalk and rub it all over the Milk Paint.
Then, use a soft cloth to rub the chalk away. This will give you a smeary effect and will prevent your words from being burned into the surface. (That’s when you write on a chalkboard and your words won’t erase no matter how much you wipe them away.)
Hang your frame back up on the wall, clean up the excess chalk and then put your room back together!
Video Tutorial
As promised, here is a video tutorial showing how I created my wall chalkboard from start to finish!
Wall Chalkboard in Aviary by Miss Mustard Seed’s® Milk Paint
I’ve been using my chalkboard for over a month now and I absolutely love it! It’s super practical and it truly does help keep me organized and on track. I keep a small dish of chalk nearby along with a microfiber cloth so I can write down ideas before I forget them. It’s a part of my office that is functional and beautiful at the same time! It perfectly blends my love of Milk Paint and antiques.
Using Aviary as my chalkboard color was such a good choice. It coordinates beautifully with the ornate gold of my antique frame.
While the rest of my home office is a work in progress, this little corner is coming right along! I still have lots of design decisions to make to make the room feel more like “me”.
One of those involves picking a color to finish this Victorian chest of drawers.
Comment below and let me know what you think I should do!