How To Create A BlackBoard Wall
One of my favourite features in my home and one that gets lots of love on Instagram is my blackboard wall in my kitchen. The whole back wall of my kitchen diner is painted with blackboard paint which gives me the option of completely changing the look of this end of the room whenever I want for zero pence!
For someone like me who gets bored easily and likes to change things up regularly and give the room a different look it’s the perfect solution. And although I realise as an illustrator I have an advantage when it comes to creating artwork you don’t necessarily need to be an accomplished artist to create interesting artwork on your walls.
To create your own blackboard wall you don’t even need to dedicate a whole wall to it. A section of a wall or even a door or a cupboard can be painted and used as a blackboard.
First of all the basics, you can get specialist blackboard paint with is essentially a totally matt black emulsion. You can also get coloured and magnetic varieties. Recently though I just used some matt black paint I had which wasn’t blackboard paint and it worked just as well. I tend to re paint my wall once a year to keep it looking fresh.
To draw on it I get asked a lot about what I use. Chalk or chalk pens? Now it’s totally up to you and is a personal preference but I use just basic kids chalk. It’s cheap, easy to get hold of and well, looks like chalk when you draw with it! You may prefer to use a chalk pen but personally I don’t like them. I find them scratchy and they can permanently mark your wall and can be difficult to easily remove. They also give a line more like a marker pen and I prefer an actual chalk texture on mine.
Another question I get asked a lot is how is the best way to remove your design? I’ve found that using a wet sponge or cloth tends to just smear the chalk around the wall and doesn’t leave a clean surface. After some trial and error I’ve found the best way is to spray the surface with furniture polish and wipe it off with a duster. You may need to go over the wall twice. Another tip I’ve been given, though never tried this myself was from someone who worked in pubs and used to regularly have to clean chalk boards! She recommended wiping my blackboard clean using full sugar Coke! Now I’ve never tried it but if you do let me know if it works!
So now you have your blackboard wall and are all ready to unleash your creativity! You don’t have to be an artist though or even draw on there. It can be obviously used for writing messages and lists on. You can let your kids get creative on there or write silly messages to one another! If you want to draw designs on there but feel your drawing skills are lacking getting a design and projecting it onto the wall as a guide could be one way of doing it. Or just having a go with some simple doodles. I like drawing simple Scandi style flowers and leaves. Snowflakes at Christmas or cute little scenes of houses. You could draw fun illustrations to celebrate birthdays and I love creating new seasonal scenes, Halloween Chinese New Year, Easter, Divali are all fun to illustrate and will give you seasonal updates to you space without having to splash the cash! Have fun drawing!
Theresa x
