I finally gave up on trying to find the perfect blackboard tiles & decided to paint our pantry cabinets with magnetic paint, followed by chalkboard paint, hoping with each stroke of the roller that we don’t sell the house before I do an extreme kitchen makeover (i.e., a major kitchen remodel to make the kitchen actually work sensibly!)

Let me walk you through the process of creating Message Central on our pantry doors.

First, I taped off the area around the inset…

Then I wisely laid down a drop cloth. Since it was such a small job, I actually considered not using a drop cloth, but fortunately I didn’t go with that line of thought, because here’s how the drop cloth looked after some painting…

Yikes! That would not have been good for the hardwood floor!

Finally the prep work was complete and I broke open the magnetic paint. Actually, it was a magnetic primer, black & very thick, since it actually has iron filings in the paint.

Perhaps I have pica, but when I stirred the magnetic primer, I wanted to taste it so badly! It looked so thick & delicious, like brownie mix!

I resisted the temptation to taste the paint, and proceeded to use it as intended.

The magnetic primer was not the easiest paint to work with. The directions indicated that it is normal for the paint to have a watery layer at the surface, which it did, and that didn’t make life easy.

Magnetic primer has a texture, because of the iron filings, so it’s essential to roller it on very evenly.

I used three coats of magnetic paint, as indicated by the manufacturer. Each “coat” actually consisted of going over the area twice, then letting that layer dry for 30 minutes. It took about 30 minutes to complete one coat on all of the doors, so the project moved along rather quickly, taking only about two hours from prep to completion of the magnetic primer layer.

Here’s how the doors looked after the magnetic primer was completed…

As you can see even in the photo, the magnetic primer has lots of texture.

The primer needs to dry for 4 hours prior to painting, but because I got a late start, I waited overnight.

The next morning, I started with the chalkboard paint. This paint was easier to use than the magnetic, but still not a walk in the park, since the roller marks were very obvious.

The chalkboard paint took 4 carefully applied coats, again with each coat consisting of two thin applications, being very mindful of the roller marks.

Because of the small area being covered, this part of the project was also very quick, about 3 hours, including a leisurely coffee break and clean-up time.

Here’s the final product, looking terrific!

I really love how it turned out – it gives our brand new kitchen a vintage schoolhouse charm! And the kids can hardly wait to start using chalk on it, but it should “cure” for 24 hours, and then be “conditioned” by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire surface, then wiping with a barely damp sponge. Make it easy on yourself & use a chunky piece of sidewalk chalk to make the conditioning move along faster.

Because of the magnetic primer, the chalkboard has more texture than I would have preferred – it has almost a vinyl appeal. But, I really need the magnetic aspect, allowing me to post this & that paper on Message Central, so I’ll make do with the texture.

I’m not much of a long project type, and this one was quick, easy, and rewarding! I’m ready to start magnetizing & chalkboarding more surfaces throughout the house!

How about you? How did you use magnetic & chalkboard paint? Send your project photos & story to me at andrea@homagestyle.com. Maybe we’ll post your project here!

Showing off at the Whisperwood Cottage Chalk Talk Link Party…