How-to: Magnetic walls

I love being right. And I love even more when my husband acknowledges that I am a super genius...or at least that I was right. Anyway, one of my greatest triumphs that falls into the whole being right category of late is the magnetic wall I created in our house. I heard nothing but doubt the *whole* time I was working on this project - only to turn that frown upside down when everything was complete. Score one for the good guys.


I would do the whole before/after photo thing, but it looks exactly the same as before the wall was magnetic (so above is the after). I would do the whole steps in photo, but the steps are painting and that would be as boring as...well, watching paint dry. So let me just break it down quickly:

1) Get magnetic paint at your local hardware store. In the Home Depot/Lowe's stores it is over by the chalkboard paint and spray paint. It comes in a quart can and it is heavier than you think it should be, just a word of warning.

2) Have the hardware store paint department put it in their little shakers and have them shake it 'til the butter melts.

3) Paint the intended wall - but plan on several coats. I did my my 3' x 4' section with 4 coats of paint and it created a good coat of metal on the wall. The paint goes on a charcoal color and if that is the color you are going for, great - stop here with the painting.

4) Paint over the magnetic paint with your intended wall color. Depending on the paint color, it may take a few coats of the real color to cover the magnetic paint.

5) Get neodymium magnets online or a hobby store, like Michael's.

6) Select your works-of-art and post them as you please. Right now I rotated in pictures from my sister's wedding.