I will be having a 3.5 foot wall from floor to ceiling in chalk board paint. I think it will be a nice touch to the kitchen. I originally thought I would go with chalk but it does get dusty. Since i saw this post I will def purchase the pens. They look like they work great. A little pricey but I think well worth it in the end.

i love the idea of chalkboard paint but wondered about the dust. Even the pictures of Houzz if you look closely have the chalkdust on the bottom. Would that be avoided with the chalkpens?

[modern kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by boston interior designer Bunker Workshop

Can you reframe your white board so it looks less office-y? I'm like you and have the white board in my laundry area right now but will be moving it to my kitchen. I wouldn't go with anything expensive if you have kids or a husband who might use it and leave it somewhere or leave the lid off. I like the dry erase better than the chalk board because it's easier to write on and to read, IMO. But then, I'm OCD and the chalk dust on the board drives me nuts.

My current whiteboard/corkboard combination had a frumpy midtone wood frame. I just painted it glossy black which greatly improved its look. I'm planning to leave the cork alone and convert the whiteboard to chalkboard (need to scuff and prime first).

Chalkboard looks good, but, aside from regular chalk being hard to write with in a small space, there's the dust issue. And I have a dark counter beneath.

Sounds like the chalk pens are erased with a damp cloth. Maybe not as handy as an eraser, but doable for the benefits. Chalk ink ain't cheap ($24 for an 8-pack of multiple colors), but there would be a huge bang for the buck.

Marti8a, it seems an easy DIY to make a custom chalkboard. Pick up a frame the right size and color at Aaron Bros. and then coat its masonite-like backing with chalkboard paint, or add your own backing. Or convert/paint an existing frame. The 16x20 frames are a good size. The only hitch is I really like having a corkboard component to stick business or appt. cards, or my updated list of frequently used numbers. I have space constraints as this will be partially over my peninsula, so I have to lean in a bit.

I bought some chalk ink (Pentel Wet Erase) to try out on my little chalkboard paint test square. It was a little awkward going on, but it looked awesome. Unfortunately it doesn't come off, which is kinda the entire point. The guy demo'ed it on glass. I scrubbed my chalkboard with a wet paper towel and maybe 5% of it came off. I checked out reviews of other brands online and it sounds like it doesn't work with chalkboard paint, but might with a "real" chalkboard.

I'm now rethinking this. I think a blackboard looks so much better than a whiteboard. I believe they make black whiteboards where you can use colored pens that wipe off. As much as I like a message center in the kitchen, I'm not gonna start sticking or pounding nails into my new cab doors. I might set something up in my hallway leading out to the garage where I really do all my coming and going.

You can get glass whiteboards, which makes me wonder if you could just hang a regular piece of tempered glass. If you have some scrap glass around--an old storm window or something--you could try using your dry erase markers on it.

Marcolo, awesome! A piece of tempered glass! Then couldn't you paint it on the reverse side or back it with something that gives color/contrast? It might be heavy though.

marcolo beat me to it.

Use a nice picture frame.... you can put whatever paper you like inside (think cool pattern)...

dry erase works great on glass (I actually like it better than on white board -- that never quite gets all the way clean)... if you want even "crisper" writing, use the vis-a-vis markers (like the old overhead ones - they need a wet napkin to wipe off) works great.

I have a message center in my hallway - I'll try to take a picture later and show you. I picked up some nice looking contact paper from target to pull it all together.

This brings me back to where I was originally headed. Only I was going to take the glass out of the frame (which I already bought) and turn the backing board into a black board. You could change out the paper behind it whenever the mood strikes. Sometimes things are much easier than they first seem.

I just tested the chalk ink I bought today on my window and it came off without water. At $5 a piece for chalk ink, the conventional pens are more appealing.

Marcolo, was your suggestion of tempered glass if it isn't framed?

Just for the other view-- We have a floor to ceiling board with chalkboard paint, divided in two vertically-- bottom half for DD, top half for parental list-making. We prefer not to be breathing dry-erase dust; we don't understand what's in it. We keep the chalk dust down by using wet cloths rather than erasers to erase the chalkboard.

We have a black dry erase board that looks pretty spiffy. Definitely much nicer than the white version. You can get all sorts of neon-colored erasable pens for ink. Let me know if you'd like to see a pic.

Chiefneil, picture please! Always assume we want to see a pic!

WIth tempered glass you could do a whole wall or large area if you wanted, and you wouldn't necessarily need to frame it. I suppose you could do with regular glass in smaller sizes, but keep in mind that no matter how many pictures you have on your wall right now, you're not scribbling or erasing all over them. I'd be a little cautious.

I have glass from Ikea. Use whiteboard markers. Love it!

I wonder about that acrylic stuff used in place of glass for photo framing. While it might not clean up quite as well as glass over the long haul, it would be unbreakable and probably less weight.

Deb, unfortunately it looks like the glass from Ikea is in-store only.

I like the idea of having a framed board and being able to swap out the color behind the glass. However, this will need to be mounted securely to the wall, so there's no movement when writing/erasing. Any ideas how to do that with an ordinary picture frame?

Using a picture frame with glass sounds like a great idea! I'd avoid acrylic, personally, since it scratches easily. I think with the frequent cleaning, it would scuff up pretty quickly.

As far as securing the frame to the wall, if you want a non-permanent solution, repositionable velcro dots attached to the wall and to the frame would keep it from wiggling. Hang like a typical picture, but then add the dots at the corners to keep the frame from shifting. We did this with a picture frame in our stairwell to keep it from going wonky. It works well. Unseen, yet secure.

I bought a stainless steel panel from the big box store and painted it with 3 coats of Martha Stewart chalk board paint, for my message area. I tried regular chalk, but the chalk dust ended up all over the tray and the floor beneath it. Once a week or so, I wipe a wet sponge over the top of it to remove the chalk ink and then toss that into the DW. I haven't noticed any difficulty with cleaning the ink at all. Yes the pens are expensive and hard to find in the colors I wanted as well.

Here's a photo of my yet to be finished message center that is located on the side of my refrigerator.

Here are a few pictures of my "command center." This is the mudroom/office/pantry/garage hallway... it connects the garage with the kitchen/rest of the house.

I did an upclose picture of one of the smaller frames - I printed out a "dinner menu" template and put it in the frame... the vis-a-vis markers have a fine point. The dry erase markers were too clunky.

(my other framed areas are a to-do list and a general idea for a bi-weekly schedule... clip area for receipts and a yellow pad clipped for shopping list.... the bulletin board area for kid info (schedules etc)... I also have a wall bin underneath for each of the kids...)

I've had this area in use for a few years - but about a month ago I thought it was looking too cluttery, so I cleaned it up with the black frames and the green contact paper from Target. The large green area on the right of the bulletin board WAS a whiteboard that would no longer clean.

hope this helps.

oldhousegal, really nice! Did you frame it specifically, or did you fit it inside existing trim? The ideal place is on either the door or side panel of my pantry, but I can't bring myself to modify or stick anything on top of new kitchen stuff. I wouldn't have hesitated with the old oak cabs. Interesting that the chalk ink came off Martha's paint. Maybe it was the combination of the ink/paint I used, but I did read many similar stories online of the ink not washing off.

lawjedi, I'm impressed! Esp. the menus! I wish someone cooked for me and posted weekly menus. :) Sounds like you have a busy family and this is a much traveled area in your house. It's perfect. My ideal location is in the kitchen, over the peninsula, the spot I pass umpteen times/day. But it's limited in size and can look funky. I go in and out of the house through the garage, so my hallway could work. I may give it a try.

Thanks so much for sharing your pics!

Love the tempered glass idea!
We are going e-message so even though my mom had the message center, our phones will have to do!

Thanks linelle! The trim was actually left over from installing some new windows- luckily I had enough to do the panel. This is actually on the new panel on the side of the fridge, and is basically just a piece of plywood. I guess when you DIY everything, you just have to go for it. It was a bit nerve wracking to nail into the panel with the fridge on the other side...

I had read prior to using the paint that it does take multiple coats for it to really work like a real chalkboard, so perhaps that has something to do with it?

Here you go linelle - dinner specials and all :D

Neil, awesome!!! I love it. Where'd you get the black board and inks? I've been experimenting with putting black and light colored paper behind the glass in picture frames, but this looks so much better.

If you google something like "black dry erase board" you'll see a bunch of places to buy them online. I don't recall where exactly I got mine, but it was from some random online vendor. The frame color was originally natural oak, but I stained it to match my cabinets.

I recall there being a lot of different price points, and two big differences being some are metal-backed and magnetic (what I have - you can see the butterfly magnetic in the photo). I think the magnetic ones are more expensive. I always meant to get a bunch of different colored markers but never got around to it.

chiefneil, what's the lighting like where your board is hanging? I just got a black dry erase board I ordered online ($20, not the $140 one on Amazon). I bought some Expo neon markers, the only thing that shows up. I decided to hang this board in my hallway since it's still a little office-y for my kitchen. It was then I discovered that neon pens need light to do their neon reflective thing. In my hall, which isn't brightly lit, the ink fades quite a bit, enough to make the board ineffective. I can move it to my office, so it's not a big deal.

What I still hope works is using a picture frame and writing on the glass. The neon pens work, but there's still the light thing.

lawjedi, you mentioned vis-a-vis pens work on glass. What color did you use behind them? Can you use black or does it have to be a light color?