We will only be starting our major remodel at the end of the summer, so last year I did a quick fix by painting our kitchen cabinets and walls to hold us over. On one large wall, I used chalkboard paint to paint a large square, roughly 3' x 3' and framed it out in some leftover molding. It is very practical for leaving messages and noting groceries to pick up, but I won't have a chalkboard again in my new kitchen. It always looks great in magazines, but in reality it's just a chalky mess. If you use an eraser, then you just get a white haze over the black. It's nearly impossible to have a crisp, black background with white writing. If you don't use an eraser, then every time you want to clean it you need to do so with a sponge and water and you need to do a couple of passes on it to get it truly clean. I've also found that while the paint doesn't exactly wash off, after time it does affect it and if I was keeping this kitchen I'd probably repaint it once or twice a year. For me, it's been one of those things thats a nice idea but impractical to maintain. My suggestion would be to purchase a large chalkboard (or make one by painting a piece of mdf and framing it) and then hanging it on your door. That way, if you find it isn't practical (as I did) or you just don't like it, you can remove it without replacing the door. Good luck, claire.

I know what you mean! A simple project or errand just snowballs. Yes, I got the last 3 brown outlets they had at Menard’s. FWIW, I saw that Lowe’s had lots in black, too. It got my attention because I don’t remember that from the last time I needed some. I wanted a dimmer switch in brown, too, but had to give up on that one. I know I could probably find one mail order, but for one switch, don’t want to bother with shipping. That switch is in a weird place, right where the old and new wallpaper border runs through. Half the plate is on the border and half on the painted wall that has a faux finish. After thinking it over, I decided to make that one just blend in, more or less, and cover half with the border and paint the other half to match the wall (not easy to recapitulate the faux finish, since I don’t have those colors anymore, but I’ll try…). Oh, geez, there I go again…why don’t I just buy a “vanilla” switchplate and be done with it?! Why does this stuff become so complicated? !

Leave them if they are in decent shape. They are a classic style. I have very similar black stools with white ice granite, & white shaker cabs. And three kids ages 11, 9 and 5. Your kids are even younger, so the chairs are still going to withstand a few years of abuse and I think painting them will only leave them more susceptible to chipping and scuffs because you'll be refinishing over a factory finish. I say leave them, let them get good and dinged up in the next few years (mine are from Target and are surprisingly forgiving to scratches and chips). Then replace them all together - maybe with an updated style - when you decide to do a kitchen refresh in a few years.

Real milk paint is the one that comes in a powder form and is mixed with water. Among other things it contains lime, which reacts once mixed with water. The other main ingredients are ground pigment and casein. You have to mix a fresh batch for every new project due to the lime reaction starting once mixed. I have used this: http://www.milkpaint.com/ for my kid's furniture. It's really fun to use and the finish does look somewhat uneven and streaky, but that's the beauty of it. It is also very safe to use if you are worried about VOCs. There are a lot of so-called milk paints sold in paint cans. These are just diluted acrylic paints. There is no lime in them. Not that they won't give you a nice finish, but just not the real thing. In fact, the results look just like an ordinary latex paint job. It's a marketing thing: call it "milk paint" and people will buy it. I know nothing about chalk paint. I hope this helps.