Learn To Make a Chalkboard Using House&Canvas Chalk Finish Furniture Paint, chalk paint or any chalk style Paint!
Something I get asked ALL the time is – what’s the difference between Chalk Paint and Chalkboard Paint?
Are Chalk Paint And Chalkboard Paint The Same Thing?
Chalk paint or chalk finish paint, is used to paint furniture and other surfaces. It dries to a chalk like finish. Chalkboard paint is exclusively used to create an actual chalkboard surface that you can write on and erase repeatedly .
I should mention that in the United States and possibly some other jurisdictions, the term chalk paint is a trademark owned by the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Company. This is why you see a lot of other brands using other descriptive terms like “Chalk finish” or “Chalk style finish” – nobody is allowed to use the term chalk paint to describe their product other than the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint company. Chalk paint is a registered brand in some jurisdictions in the same way other brands like Kleenex are.
Unfortunately, many people refer to chalk finish paint as chalk paint just like people call all tissue Kleenex. Many think that all chalk style paints are nothing more than the same latex or acrylic base with chalk added to it. The truth is, there’s no actual chalk in Chalk Paint or any other chalk finish paints. The term strictly refers to the fact that the paint dries to an ultra-matte finish that some may describe as chalky. Every chalk finish paint has a different formula and offers different benefits such as color selection, dry time, ease of application, and coverage.
Chalkboard paint is an entirely different product. It’s awesome for crafty projects where you want to turn your surface into an actual chalkboard. There are a ton of examples out there of wall hanging chalkboards that are super cute as home decor. I’ve also seen sections of walls painted in chalkboard paint which is super cute for the kiddos.
There are a few brands of chalkboard paints on the market. The one I used to use was Rust-Oleum’s Specialty Chalk Board paint. I found that it had the best coverage and was the smoothest of the bunch I’ve tried. You need to be extremely precise in the application of Chalk Board paint. It’s very common to end up with a ton of brush strokes. Chalkboard paint is not self-leveling, so even the application is key. To avoid brush strokes, I have used the chalkboard spray paint quite a few times. The downside is that it takes many (many) coats to fully cover a piece. It’s also in an aerosol can which I try to avoid when possible.
BUT, there is some good news. While chalkboard paint is definitely not suitable for painting furniture, any chalk finish paint can be used both to paint furniture as well as create a chalkboard surface!
How To Create A Chalk Board Using House&Canvas Chalk Finish Furniture Paint
For this example, I used Shadow, which is our pure black chalk finish paint color. You can use any of our colors to create a colored chalkboard. I think next time I will use Evergreen to create an old school green chalkboard 🙂
Materials
- 12″ x 12″ – Hobby Wood Board
- House&Canvas Chalk Finish Furniture Paint (Shadow)
- Latex Gloves (Optional)
- Paint Brush
- Damp Cloth
- Take the 12″ x 12″ piece of hobby board cover the board with 3 coats of Shadow Chalk Finish Furniture Paint. You will get full coverage after just 2 coats, but it’s good to paint a third coat extra for durability since you will likely be using it a lot!
- Let it dry overnight. Making sure the board is fully dry is key. If your paint hasn’t fully dried, trying to write with chalk will drag the paint off the board an make a mess. If this happens to you – you need to sand and paint again. Do yourself a favor – be patient and wait overnight!
- That’s it. It’s that easy. Don’t topcoat your paint with anything (like varnish or wax) or else the chalk won’t stick. Just leave it as is!! 3 coats of paint and you are finished!!
- In the clip below, I use regular chalkboard chalk from the dollar store. As you can see, it rubs off the painted board nice and easy with just a damp lint-free cloth.
You can create a chalkboard on just about any surface since House&Canvas Chalk Finish Furniture Paint sticks to almost anything… you can try an old mirror, a wall, or even a tabletop!! The key is to not topcoat it and use a damp cloth to wipe it perfectly clean.