Lava Lava You: Chalkboard Fridge

I decided to tackle a small craft project in my never-ending quest to decorate and "me-ify" our new house.

Presenting: Chalkboard Fridge

I only wanted to do one side, but had originally seen the idea at The Handmade Home. Memaw gave us her fridge when she moved to independent living (among other furniture, for which we are very grateful!), but in the move this side had gotten a little scratched...plus it's the only side that is fully open... plus chalkboard stuff is all over pinterest... plus it's fun, so I wasn't too scurred about the change.

1. Clean your fridge

2.Purchase BOTH Chalkboard Paint and Rust-Oleum Magnetic Primer (total $40). This primer is important for several reasons:

A. To ensure the fridge stays magnetic through layers of paint.

B. To get the chalkboard paint to stick to the side of the fridge.

C. (Per Lowe's paint guy) To keep the latex paint from rusting the side of your fridge. I do not know if that is true, it is just what I was told.

3. Prime your fridge.

A few tips from the can: shake the hell out of it for several minutes (they did not say hell), use a foam roller brush, and do THREE thin coats, waiting 30 minutes in between to dry.

The first coat was pretty thin, and I only waited 20 minutes for coat #2 because little man was waking up from his nap. I could tell that it affected it a bit, but not too much.

3. Chalkboard Paint it!

Chad and I discussed using a color other than black, but decided to just go with "normal color" for now. The black and white contrast doesn't bother me. I did two coats of the paint (30 minutes in between) and let it dry for 24 long hours before writing on it.