Every Home Needs One

Perhaps you recall that in our old house I had painted and framed a large chalkboard on our living room wall. It started as a place for the kids to scribble on, but once Carver and Lily were both in elementary school, it took on the role of weekly spelling word reminders and creative masterpieces. (Insert desperate cries of, "Please don't erase it, Mom. I worked so hard on that rainbow!) It was a sad day when I painted over the old chalkboard in order to get our house ready to sell. Well fast forward to our new house... it was only a matter of time until I could get my hands on a paint brush. We have an eat-in kitchen that you enter from the garage, so when you first walk in, the above wall is facing you. It was just screaming "chalkboard" at me. When I went to the home improvement store to get the paint, I discovered they also sell magnetic paint! Call me crazy, but I just can't pass up such a delightful invention. So I painted a few layers of magnetic paint on the wall, and covered it with a few layers of chalkboard paint--in chocolate brown, my favorite color. The magnetic paint is great, but it's not strong enough to hold up pieces of paper. A big disappointment, because I was hoping to display the kids artwork here. But you can put magnets on the wall and they'll stay. I'm on the hunt, now, for kid-friendly magnetic poetry. That should be fun.

I always love walking by the chalkboard to see what the kids have written recently.