Make Your Own Chalkboard Paint

Let your inner child do some home decorating with these homemade chalkboard paint recipes. By mixing paint and a little bit of tile grout you can make your own chalkboard paint to be used on walls, furniture, and so much more. The bonus is you can make your chalkboard paint in any color you wish rather than being limited to green and black which are often the only colors available in the stores.

homemade chalkboard paint

Here are two recipes for homemade chalkboard paint – one for a larger batch using latex paint, and one for a smaller batch using acrylic paint. I saw some fun chalkboard paint jars in a catalog and decided to try to make my own using the acrylic paint recipe.

homemade chalkboard paint

Homemade Chalkboard Paint – Small Batch

3 teaspoons acrylic paint
1-1/2 teaspoons glazing medium
1/2 teaspoon unsanded tile grout

Combine the paint, glazing medium, and tile grout in a small container. Stir very well to make sure it is completely mixed. Paint onto your prepared surface. Sand with 400 grit sandpaper if necessary. Apply as many coats as needed for full coverage.

Homemade Chalkboard Paint – Large Batch

1 cup latex paint
2 tablespoons unsanded tile grout

Combine the paint and tile grout and mix thoroughly. Paint onto your prepared surface using a roller or a sponge brush. You will probably want to do a couple coats to get good coverage. After the paint has thoroughly dried, sand with 150 grit sandpaper to smooth out. You can condition the chalkboard by rubbing a piece of chalk over the entire surface and then wiping clean with a damp cloth.

CHALKBOARD PAINT JARS
Here’s what I did to make my chalkboard paint jars. I bought a small jar of paint and glazing medium at the craft store, and used some tile grout that we already had in the house.I went to a second hand store and found some glass jars for cheap. If I could do it again, I would get larger jars and paint bigger squares of the chalkboard paint so there was more room for writing.

Wash the jars thoroughly and let dry. Mark off the area you want to paint with masking tape. Paint the area inside your masking tape and let dry.

homemade chalkboard paint

I used sandpaper after the first coat to smooth out some of the bumps. This made the color I used (dark brown) look much lighter than I wanted. So I decided to take off the masking tape and then put on a very thin second coat of paint and I did not sand the second coat.

The chalk can be easily wiped off your chalkboard paint with a damp cloth.

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9 Comments

  1. Because the acrylic paint works for the smaller recipe, I think you could try a larger batch with acrylic too rather than latex. I have only personally made the smaller batch. The main thing seems to be the addition of tile grout to the paint to change the consistency.

  2. Because the acrylic paint works for the smaller recipe, I think you could try a larger batch with acrylic too rather than latex. I have only personally made the smaller batch. The main thing seems to be the addition of tile grout to the paint to change the consistency.

  3. Thank you so much for this, and for your wonderful blog! I love feeling less dependent on what's available at the store, and feeling more empowered to control what I buy, and what I can create on my own. This blog is awesome!!!(I had to blog about it on my own little blog: soupseeds.blogspot.com)

  4. Thank you so much for this, and for your wonderful blog! I love feeling less dependent on what's available at the store, and feeling more empowered to control what I buy, and what I can create on my own. This blog is awesome!!!

    (I had to blog about it on my own little blog: soupseeds.blogspot.com)

  5. I love this idea! I don't know how I missed this post before. I like this idea for a gift, because you could give the jar to someone and they could re-use the jar again for what ever they wanted. Nifty idea, I like it!