True Blue Navy Chalkboard Wall

If it is possible to love a room, our recent Media Room Makeover, is probably on that love list.
I think one of the reasons I love it so, is the Navy Chalkboard Wall.  I also love that such a big impact can happen for less than $30.

I’ve always admired chalkboard walls, but I knew black would be to stark in this room. I really wanted navy.

This area of the Media Room is perfect place for an accent wall.

To the right of the wall, seen in this photo, is a big double door closet that hides the chalkboard wall from view when you first step into the room.

I love that about it.  It’s completely unexpected, a fun surprise.

Once I decided to go for it, convinced my husband, I shopped around for tintable chalkboard paint. My first stop was my local Sherwin Williams.  (When I’m not using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I pretty much use sample pots from Sherwin Williams.  They are the perfect price point for a quart of paint and it’s a convenient place for me to shop.)

Unfortunately, tintable chalkboard paint is not something my store carries in stock.  It would have to be a special ordered and it was a little pricey, around $20 for a quart and $50 for a gallon.  Not to mention, I wasn’t willing to wait 5 – 7 days for the paint to come in.  By the time I went to buy the paint, I was ready to start painting!

My next stop was Home Depot.  They sell quarts of tintable Chalkboard Paint by Rustoleum.  The paint comes in 12 colors for under $15.

Admittedly, I knew going into this, that the color I wanted, a true blue navy, was not one of those colors.  But I wholeheartedly subscribe to the theory, “You never know, until you ask,” and that other famous theory, “The worst they can say is, “No”.”

So in my sweetest, southern charm I asked the super nice paint guy at Home Depot if he would custom tint the paint for me.  He said he would try. 🙂

I promised him that I would take what he came up with.  I showed him the swatch of navy fabric I had for the curtains and he went to work.

He started with the stock “Banner Blue” color and then added lots of black.

After a few tries, it was pretty doggone perfect!! I then thanked him profusely for making my day!!!

To apply the paint, my new best friend at Home Depot recommended using a thin foam roller so that the surface would be as smooth as possible. The smoother the finish, the easier it is to write and draw on a chalkboard wall.

Here’s what I used.

Here’s a lovely in progress shot of the room, at night, from my phone.  Yikes!

This was probably after a couple coats.

The only bad thing about this process was that I’m pretty certain it took around 5 to 6 coats. But before you freak out, each coat went on very quickly, like 10 to 15 minutes tops.  I didn’t have to wait too long to reapply the next coat.

All total, I used a little over 2 quarts to get the job done.  I’m happy to have the extra paint, because at some point I can see that freshening it up with a new coat will be in order.  We’ve had a lot of fun drawing and being creative on the wall.  As evidence of that, the chalk residue is kind of clouding up the navy. Which isn’t bad really, but I think you can really appreciate the color when it’s nice and sharp.

We use a regular colored Crayola chalk mostly and chalkboard eraser, followed by a damp microfiber cloth to clean it. I would not recommend chalk board markers.  They do not fully erase on this wall.

Once we finished the wall, we added this cute little shelf for the sunshine yellow piece of pottery to hold our chalk collection. Just a simple piece of scrap wood and some brackets and voila!

The chalkboard wall definitely contributes to the happiness of the room. It totally makes me smile to see the vision for a true blue navy chalkboard wall come to life.

This definitely proves the theory, “it never hurts to ask.”

 Of course, a little southern charm never hurts, either! 😉

Sharing Here:

Sharing at Young House Love’s Pinterest Challenge, because clearly the chalkboard craze is all over Pinterest and I know I was inspired by Pinterest to do a chalkboard wall, but I don’t think I ever saw a wall this color. 😉

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm  /  Get your Craft On @ Today’s Creative Blog  /  Make it Pretty Monday @The Dedicated House  /  Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style  /  Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles  / Show & Share @ Southern Lovely  / Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Creek Cottage  / Hooking up @House of Hepworths  /  Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage  / Be Inspired Friday @ Common Ground   /  Friday Link-up @ Redoux /  Home and Garden Thursday @ a Delightsome life  / Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest   /  Frugalicious Friday @FInding Fabulous
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