On the Road Again {Boy’s Room Revamp}

Now that my son’s personality has shown itself (and then some, WHEW!) I’m slowly transforming his nautical nursery into something that truly fits what he loves.  Which means a transportation themed big boy room is in the works– trains, cars, and bikes– oh my!  After studying my kids’ room ideas board on Pinterest one thing became clear: I needed to find a way to marry what he loves (TRAINS!) with a modern design I can live with.  When I was offered the chance to try the new Disney Paint from Glidden in Great Slate (which is tintable chalkboard paint), I knew just what I wanted to do… but NO idea how to actually do it.

Here’s what I envisioned: a curvy chalkboard road on his wall that he could chalk up as he wished.   He loves driving his toy cars and trains everywhere (including up the wall) so I knew it would delight him.  But how would I go about creating a curvy road with neat lines?  It took some discussion that involved a husband, a dad, possibly a beagle and a 2-year-old boy test driving his cars on tape lines but we figured it out.

First, I roughed in some dots to approximate the location of the road.  Then we used a laser level and a straight edge to connect them, and added tape along that line.

The next step was to lay down another tape line parallel to the first, the exact width of the paint edger.  I wanted to make it the width of the edger because I’d be hand painting the curves and the edger would be my guide.

My husband taped up a corner or two but I didn’t use those so ignore it in the photos!  I found it was easiest to freestyle the corner simply by driving the edger around each corner.  After all the tape was in place, I cut any tape intersections with an X-ACTO knife and peeled it off so the paint would flow smoothly without interruption.

Now came the moment of truth– THE PAINT.  I found the chalkboard paint to be extremely easy to work with, very similar to regular wall paint.  First I loaded up the edger and made sure the entire pad was saturated with paint but NOT overloaded so much that it would drip.

Then I slowly dragged it across the wall in between the tape lines.

{get room updates in real time over on Instagram!}

When I came to a corner, I steadily moved it around the edge and met back up with the tape.  It looks wonky there because I painted over the tape, but when the tape is pulled off it’s all balanced perfectly.

You’ll need two coats; let the first dry for a few hours, and then lay down the second one.  While the first coat dried I actually painted a few inexpensive wooden frames as favors for the big ‘reveal’ party next weekend.

Tip:  The coats of paint should be thin to avoid drips and smudges.  A few thin coats makes a much better surface for the chalk than one thick and bumpy coat of paint.

Go back with a foam brush to touch-up any sparse areas and sharpen the lines on your corners.

Carefully pull off the tape while the paint is still wet, and you’ve got a beautiful chalkboard road!  Of course, the hard part is yet to come: WAITING.  You’ll need to let the paint cure for 7 days before using chalk on it.  Want a teeny tiny sneak peek of how it looks pre-chalked and pre-touchup?

EEK!  I’m not sure who’s more excited, me or my son.  Here’s a quick video on how to apply the chalkboard finish thanks to the folks at Disney Paint:

The Disney Paint site is spectacular (would you expect anything less, ha!).  You can use the virtual room painter to preview different finishes and paint colors.  Then, print your customized paint plan with a list of colors, supplies you’ll need, tutorials, and templates.  Disney practically comes over and paints it for you! *

* not technically.  But kinda almost, they make it so easy.  😉

Bee’s so excited about the whole process, he drove his cars on the tape lines and is happily freaking out over the thought of using chalk on it in a few days.  For me, there’s even more fun to come because I’m secretly working on a few projects that will really kick this room makeover up a notch.  Stay tuned, the room reveal is coming up soon!

Where would you use tintable chalkboard paint?  And how excited is my son going to be over being able to drive cars on this wall?!

Disclosure:  Compensation and products for review were provided by Glidden via MomTrends.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author (ME!) and are not indicative of the opinions of Glidden.  If you’d like to see this project from the beginning be sure to check out the Nursery to Big Boy Room Revamp featuring Disney Paint, Part One.