Back in November of 2019, before the whole world changed, I slapped some brown paper on my kitchen door and wrote “I am thankful for…” at the top. My family spent the whole month excitedly writing random, uncommon things we were thankful for all over the paper. It stayed on the door until June of last year because it made me happy.
I took it down to hang a new piece of paper with birthday wishes for my husband. I took that one down a little quicker than the last one, and found my white door had bits of Sharpie bleeding all over it. I didn’t really care. I stared at it for a while. Scrubbed it.
Then, I decided to paint it as a chalkboard.
I was a bit hesitant at first thinking that a black door didn’t fit in my kitchen style. Would it look okay? Would it be hard to paint over if I didn’t like it? I polled my friends. I thought about it. And then we did it and we learned some things from it. I’m going to share some tips and ideas about painting a chalkboard door!
Tips, times, supplies, and cost:
- Total cost was around $15.
- Total time: ~3 days
- It took me maybe 1.5 hours total for painting including dry time between coats.
- It has to cure for 3 full days before you can prime it!
- Priming is just rubbing chalk all over it. It’s messy, so have your vacuum ready!
- Supplies
- I used Rust-Oleum Black Chalk Board paint. I got it at Walmart for $10.
- Roller brushes from Walmart for $4.
- Painter’s tape
- Sidewalk chalk (trust me, don’t bother with the little chalk)
- Chalk paint pen
Things to consider:
- You can use chalk paint on any surface; any door or wall you want, it will work.
- I have a 6-panel door. Some people thought it wouldn’t work well for a chalk door, but I disagree! It works fine. It makes writing a little difficult sometimes, but that’s it really.
- Buy new paint! I had a can from a previous project that I used. It didn’t work well and we had to sand the door down and start over. New paint was super easy.
- Use a roller brush, which is so much easier especially if you are doing a paneled door.
- I’ve used chalk pens and regular chalk, and I prefer regular sidewalk chalk. The chalk pen can be hard to get off the door, but I’m sure it also depends how long it’s on there. Ours was on there for a month. I got this set last year for my daughter and use it all the time for the door. The chalk holders are handy.
Ideas on how to use your chalkboard door:
- Countdowns: holidays, birthdays, vacations, summer break
- Menus
- Lists and reminders
- Birthday celebration doors like this or this.
- Holiday activities
- Valentine’s Day: “What I love about…” and have an area for each family member.
- St. Patrick’s Day: “I feel lucky because…”
- Thanksgiving: “I am thankful for…”
- Activity for kids while you’re cooking or cleaning.
- Family goals like coloring in a circle for every book you read; coloring in drops of water for daily water intake goals.
- Affirmations like this.
Here are some of our prettier door displays:
But sometimes it’s as simple as random little lists and a breakfast plan jotted down for the next morning.
A chalkboard door is not just meant to be another pretty thing to maintain in your house; it’s meant to be useful and bring joy. It’s a great tool to bring families together; my daughter loves marking out on the countdowns. I love jotting reminders down or writing notes for my husband on his way out the door.
