Hello Tatertots & Jello readers! It feels like it has been forever since I’ve been here because this summer was filled with traveling and moving for my family and I. We are finally getting settled into our new house but there is SO MUCH that will need to be made over in the upcoming years. One of the things that drives me crazy is the refrigerator in our kitchen. Its original to 1991, when the house was built, and it’s -no joke- real wood, oak paneled. I’m sure it was “high class” back in the early 90’s!
The big bummer is that not only is it ugly, but it also isn’t magnetic, which means I can’t hang any of my daughter’s art work on it. I’m not one for having a bunch of stuff cluttering the front of my fridge, but when my daughter comes home with something she’s really proud of, I like to display it on the fridge for a few days. I knew I needed to create something magnetic for the kitchen, and I just happened to have an old window that I love, and that fits perfectly on the wall next to the pantry. I had, what I thought was a genius idea, to use Rust-Oleum’s magnetic paint to paint the window, and then use chalk paint over it to make it a magnetic chalkboard for the kitchen. Genius, right?
I started by cleaning the window with rubbing alcohol to get the glass perfectly clean. There are lots of ways to clean windows but rubbing alcohol is an easy way to remove any/all residue, and not leave any streaks.
Next I painted on 3 coats of magnetic paint, as per the instructions on the box.
I let the window dry over night and then the next morning I sprayed it with a couple coats of Rust-Oleum’s chalkboard spray paint. After the chalkboard paint was dry I brought it back in the house and hung it up and then I got out the magnets. I put the first magnet up… it fell off. I tried an even stronger magnet… it fell off! I quickly realized that my genius idea and become a project FAIL, and one that I was super bummed about!
So now I have a cool chalkboard window in my kitchen, but still nowhere to hang my daughter’s artwork. {Insert BIG sad face} I racked my brain trying to think of a way I could still make it work. I happened to have a sheet of steel in the garage so I tried duct taping that to the back, but the glass was too thick so the magnets still wouldn’t hold.
I was finally able to come up with a solution, and though it wasn’t my first choice, I think it turned out pretty cute. I ended up taking the steel off the back of the window and had my husband cut it to fit the lower portion of the window. I spray painted the piece of steel with the remainder of my chalkboard paint and then I used 3M foam mounting tape to secure the steel to the front of the window.
To cover the seam between the steel and the window glass I used teal washi tape, which gives the chalkboard a pop of color. I used my Silhouette to cut out the “my Materpieces” and then hung the clips with with magnets so my daughter can hang her artwork with the clips.
Overall I’m please with the way it turned out but I’m still bummed the magnetic paint didn’t work.
Have any of you ever used the Rust-Oleum Magnetic Paint? I would love to hear about your experience with it, and if/how you were able to get it to work! Please share your wisdom with me so next time this can be a project success!
Thanks for letting me hang out today!
So cute Anna!!
I love that you turned a project that could have been a project fail, and turned it into something you love!!
That happens to make ALL the time LOL!!
Anna is amazing — here are a few other awesome ideas from Ask Anna:
How to Hang a Wreath on a Glass Door
Be sure to follow along with Ask Anna for even more amazing Home Organizing and Cleaning Ideas!!
Have a Beautiful Day!
xoxo
I really liked your idea here, if you had removed the glass and replaced it with a piece of 26 ga sheet metal, that would solve all your issues 😉
Hello, I use to work at a craft store and whenever we used that chalkboard paint we found we would have to mix it really well and it usually took 5-6 coats of paint to make it magnetic. There are little specks of magnetic material and it takes a lot more than they say to make it work. I would try some more coats. : )
I like this idea better than a cluttered looking frig. I have wood on my frig and dishwasher and love it and yes, it was done in the mid 90’s when we remodeled the kitchen. My frig woodwork has more detail on it compared to yours. It matches the cabinets. My cabin in WV has butcher block counters and the white cabinets popular in the 70’s when we built it; and I still like that kitchen too. I guess dated does not bother me.
This is a really good idea and something I will definitely have to try. Although, when i do things like this, they rarely turn out the way they are supposed to.
Very cool – I like that it’s magnetic. I just did a chalkboard for the kids for another project but I can’t wait until we have a wall in the kitchen that can handle a large one like this.
Have you thought of painting your fridge with the chalkboard paint? A chalkboard fridge would be so cool!
I thought about it but we are going to get a new fridge when we redo the kitchen so I decided against it. Thanks for the great idea though!! 🙂
Anna
I painted a wall using magnetic paint and the store employee told me that to ‘activate’ the paint you need to use a really strong magnet and run it over and over your painted area. It was a pain, but does work. I found a large industrial strength magnet to make it go faster. Now what to do with said magnet…
That’s a good idea, I should try that! Thank you. 🙂
Anna
I actually like it better with the washi tape! Nice save!
Thank you!!
I love your magnetic and blackboard window! You came up with a great resolution to make it work.
Thank you!!
Very cool to see your problem solving skills put to good use. Glad to see you got if all worked out and it turned out great.
Thank you Jerry! 🙂
Anna
I’ve never used it personally, but I have heard from others that it takes a BAJILLION coats of it to actually work.
Good to know! Maybe I’ll try going back and adding more layers of the magnetic paint. Thanks!
Anna
This post sounds all too familiar! Pretty much the same thing happened to me a couple years ago with Krylon’s version. I wrote about my experience here:
http://lessthanperfectlifeofbliss.blogspot.com/2011/02/magnetic-chalkboards-dos-donts.html
The post I wrote about is is still one of my most searched posts. Apparently, we’re not the only ones!
That’s a bummer! Hopefully Krylon and Rust-Oleum will see our posts and make a better product. 😉
Anna
I love your chalkbaard it came out amazing.. great save with the steel piece… very ingenious!
Thank you!! 🙂
Anna