Oh, the clever things one finds on Pinterest. It’s a gold mine of creative ideas and inspiration, and I’ve recently added it to my list of the top 10 things to do to distract yourself when you should be cleaning.

I was feeding my addiction there the other day when I happened upon a wonderfully easy and inexpensive way to make chalkboard paint. I was ready to try it, but before I dove in, I consulted the guru of all things crafty, Martha Stewart! Turns out she too had something to say about making your own chalkboard paint, and when I say “it’s easy and inexpensive,” it’s no exaggeration. I couldn’t wait to get started and try it with the kids, and as always, we’re thrilled to share our results.

There are only two ingredients involved: white, non-sanded grout and the paint of your choice. I grabbed this container for less than five bucks at Home Depot and we used some Crayola washable paint we had in stock. (Now, Martha specifies latex paint if you’re using this on a wall, but I read on a few websites that any paint will do for this kind of project.)

This project is really as simple as combine, stir and paint. The fun starts with combining two tablespoons of grout and one cup of paint. Stir it until the lumps have disappeared but don’t use plastic soda bottles like I did—that was such a bad idea because the bottom isn’t flat!

After that, get to painting!  Give it some time to dry, then create your masterpieces. We did a test run on little pieces of cardboard we had sitting around and it worked perfectly.

Our big project is coming, so stick around to see how we revive a magnetic board that’s gotten a little beat up. In the meantime, if you’ve tried making your own chalkboard paint, we’d love to hear about it, and if you're planning to try it soon, please come back and share your results!

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