A few dozen people recently dug up this old photo of our former dining room (which is now the third bedroom) from our archives and wanted to know what was on the walls. We’re here to settle the curiosity. Did the post title give it away?
Yes — it was chalk. Let’s take a closer look.
After we carefully removed the wallpaper and painted the walls a bright, cheerful color, the room still felt a bit bare. I grabbed a piece of chalk from the junk drawer and freehanded leafy branches directly onto the flat latex paint (the color was Sea Spray by Glidden). I had planned to trace over the chalk with white paint using a small brush, but instead I picked up a spray-on chalk fixative at a craft store — an old art-school trick. A few light sprays set the chalk on the wall without drips or wet spots, so the design stayed put.
The chalk plus fixative worked well for a casual dining room, but it’s not as durable as painting over the chalk with real paint. If you’re doing this in a child’s room or an area that will get heavy wear, trace the chalk lines with a small brush and latex paint for maximum longevity. For a lightly used space, though, chalk plus fixative is an easy, charming solution.
Because everyone loves a before-and-after (and because this room was later converted to a bedroom), here’s what the space looked like when we bought the house:
Not bad, right? You might notice the brass chandelier looks a bit sleeker in the other photos. One of our earlier quick projects was painting that brass chandy. It’s a straightforward update: remove the fixture, take it outside or into the garage, spray it with a primer such as KILZ, then finish with two thin coats of enamel or latex spray paint in your chosen color — soft green, sultry red, or classic black all work well. Be sure to remove bulbs and tape off the bulb holders so they stay clean. When we rehung the fixture, we swapped the flame-shaped bulbs for clear, round bulbs for a more modern look. Simple, inexpensive, and very effective.
Happy chalking and spray painting!