Casey's DIY Chalkboard Tree Wall

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Casey’s DIY Chalkboard Tree Wall

If you’ve been following the adventures of the Superlounge for the past year, you’ll remember that in April of last year, we painted our kitchen wall with chalkboard paint.

In the fall, my friend Casey stayed with us for a weekend visit to NYC. Inspired by our chalkboard wall, Casey - who is a homeowner in San Jose (of all my friends, he is most passably a real adult) - decided to paint a chalkboard wall in his own kitchen. I have yet to see it in person but he recently uploaded a photo of it to Facebook, and I’ll admit he has totally outdone ours. Since I never got around to writing my DIY chalkboard wall post, I asked Casey if he could share the details of painting his. In his words:

I was looking for ways to decorate my place to give it more of a homey feel, but didn’t want it to look like a cluttered college apartment with random posters and objects. One area that needed some personality was my kitchen - since all the walls were white. The back wall looked like a place where I could hang a picture or make it a colored accent wall.

A friend of mine suggested putting up one of those tree sticker decals you find at places like Urban Outfitters.

Procrastination got the best of me so I never got around to doing anything with it. Fast forward to October, where I had the pleasure of staying at the Superlounge while traveling to New York City for the first time. In their kitchen was a large wall that had been turned into a black chalkboard using a special paint. Who would’ve thought that there’s such a thing as chalkboard paint! Genius! There was a bunch of stuff written all over their wall, ranging from thankful messages from party guests to house rules. I loved it!

(I would’ve preferred something like this on my wall, but obviously painting this or commissioning someone to do so would be way too difficult.)

So came the idea of combining the original tree wall design with a chalkboard. I didn’t trust myself to have the artistic capacity to free-hand anything, so I took the tree shapes from a Googled image.

Step 1: Drawing the design on the wall.

Step 2: Sand and prime. All the reviews on Amazon recommended smoothing out the surface you plan on painting so the end result will be easier to write on with chalk. My walls have a very hard and heavy texture, so sanding it smooth would’ve been a bitch and a half. The only solution was to skim coat it using wall joint compound, and then sand that afterwards. I left the tree areas the original wall color and texture.

Step 3: Paint! Apply the chalkboard paint to the finished smooth areas. I used Rust-Oleum chalkboard paint, which you can get on Amazon for $15.

The finished product.

Have you painted a chalkboard wall before? I’d love to see what yours looks like! If you’re looking to do something similar and have questions for Casey, let me know.