My desire to have all of my framelits out for easy use led me to Pinterest where I saw many ideas. My plan was to use the crawl space covering in my basement craft room and convert the whole thing to a magnet board to store all my framelits.
I have seen friends use magnetic paint to cover a wall in a kids' playroom to make it fun for kids, so I assumed that was the way to go. I went to Lowe's and found a can of Rust-Oleum Magnetic Primer for just under $20. I then came home and found it on amazon for the same price, and spent a lot of time reading the reviews. A few tips I picked up there suggested: have the paint shaken at the store; use about eight coats for best effect; make sure to use a tarp, in a well-ventilated area, because it is messy and odorous; and make sure you paint over it since it is just a primer which can peel. So because I wanted to have the can shaken, I went back and bought it at Lowe's and had it shaken there. My helpful husband painted it for me in the garage with the door left open. He painted one coat, and then let it dry for 30 minutes before applying the next coat. After each trip back in, he said, "I don't think this is going to work!" After the suggested eight coats (four hours later), he left it overnight to dry.
The next morning, we discovered that some magnets did stick to it, but not my framelits, the whole purpose of this project! So we proceeded to spray paint it with black chalkboard paint I had on hand. Worst case scenario, it could be used as a chalkboard. When we got it back up in the basement, I do have to say I like the look of the framed chalkboard, a better disguise for our crawl space hole. Now, I need to figure out a back-up plan for storing my framelits. Stay tuned...
I have seen friends use magnetic paint to cover a wall in a kids' playroom to make it fun for kids, so I assumed that was the way to go. I went to Lowe's and found a can of Rust-Oleum Magnetic Primer for just under $20. I then came home and found it on amazon for the same price, and spent a lot of time reading the reviews. A few tips I picked up there suggested: have the paint shaken at the store; use about eight coats for best effect; make sure to use a tarp, in a well-ventilated area, because it is messy and odorous; and make sure you paint over it since it is just a primer which can peel. So because I wanted to have the can shaken, I went back and bought it at Lowe's and had it shaken there. My helpful husband painted it for me in the garage with the door left open. He painted one coat, and then let it dry for 30 minutes before applying the next coat. After each trip back in, he said, "I don't think this is going to work!" After the suggested eight coats (four hours later), he left it overnight to dry.
The next morning, we discovered that some magnets did stick to it, but not my framelits, the whole purpose of this project! So we proceeded to spray paint it with black chalkboard paint I had on hand. Worst case scenario, it could be used as a chalkboard. When we got it back up in the basement, I do have to say I like the look of the framed chalkboard, a better disguise for our crawl space hole. Now, I need to figure out a back-up plan for storing my framelits. Stay tuned...
