Chalkboard paint has been all the rage for several years now and although we love it so, there's a less expensive alternative. It's super simple, in fact, you'll probably hate that you didn't think to try it sooner (I did!) and comes on an easy-to-use roll.
It's contact paper! Over the years we've featured a million different projects with chalkboard paint and although it's quite stunning in large spaces, buying a smaller amount of it like a quart can be just as pricey as buying the larger gallon amount. Instead of letting half a gallon sit in your closet or garage until someday you have another use for it, try this chalkboard contact paper instead.
Over at Say Yes To Hoboken, they've put it to use making an oversized calendar on the wall — it could also easily cover a refrigerator or cabinet doors in a rental apartment or condo. Use it as a border on the bottom of a wall in a child's bedroom, allowing it to be peeled off when your little one grows tired of it or even in the wall in a dorm room!
Although it might be available at a store near you, good old Amazon carries it for less than $9 per roll (of 6'). How would you put this sticky product to use? Share your ideas in the comments below!
Image: Say Yes To Hoboken
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun and Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I was just planning how to paint a small portion of my all steel back door. This is the prefect solution! YAY!
This could be a good backsplash in a rental kitchen.
You should see one of the comments in the wallpaper post about removing contact paper....
That would be great for spicing up an office wall at work! (Well, not a cubicle wall, of course.)
@SubwayKnitter - What wallpaper post are you referring to? Link please.
I have this & the adhesive is pretty weak. It's also really thin - regular chalk does not work well on it. Chalk pens, much better.
Chalkboard contact paper works great. I bought some on amazon about a year ago and made a small wall a chalkboard wall in my apartment kitchen. I am a bit paranoid so I check on how it comes off every once in a while, so far it comes off clean. I used the left over bits to make a menu board. Everyone who sees it thinks we painted but without the serious hit to our deposit. (I also used some patterned contact paper for the backsplash, I thought about more of the chalkboard stuff but chalkboards of all kinds leave little chalk dust deposits and I didn't want that accumulating on my kitchen counters. Plus it looks great in green.)
You could probably put some of this inside a frame or even a tray, and mount it on the wall. I would be paranoid about it coming off, but this way, it could still serve as a menu board or grocery list board. I might have to try this ...
I've been eyeballing this door for our pantry that has a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other (or you can get just one or the other). But it's like $500. Now you have me thinking that I could just make my own for waaaaay less! The only issue is that I wanted one side to be magnetic. I wonder if a layer of magnetic primer would still work under a sheet of chalkboard or whiteboard contact paper?
@Danielle, I haven't done it, but I have read repeatedly that you can put magnetic paint under chalkboard paint and both will work. I'd see what the instructions for the whiteboard contact paper say -- as long as it would stick to the magnetic paint, I don't see a problem there, either.
I put some cork sheet inside a cupboard door, for a hidden notes board for phone numbers etc. Similar function to the white board.
This would be great to put on a table-top, either for a child's room, or for an adult dinner party!
Less expensive than paint? I guess it's relative to how much area you're covering. It would cost much less to cover a sheet of plywood with paint than with contact paper . . . and it would look a lot better too without seams.
I wanted to paint the back of my door with chalk paint but a less permant alternative is way better
@Danielle - be careful with the magnetic + chalkboard. I am not sure if I just had a bad kind of magnetic paint, but when I did this the surface did not became flat like I wanted, but kind of rugged because of the steel/iron? in the magnetic paint. It still bothers me a lot, so make sure to check the paint before you use it.
I've seen some pretty expensive but cute and practical 'chalkboard' napkin rings. This would be an easy way to adapt a cheaper set, I think.
yes...combined with an antique match safe to hold chalk....love.
I liked the inexpensive DIY approach covered here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/how-to/how-to-make-your-own-chalkboard-paint-016134
Adding a bit of unsanded grout and paint extender (or glaze) to any regular paint turns it into super cheap chalkboard paint. A box of the grout (that will probably last me at least 10 years) was $4.
If you stick this on a wall, does it come off easily? Do you have sticky residu?