Saturday, December 5, 2009

Cottage Living 2007 Idea House- Custom Chalkboard Paint Color

Cottage Living's 2007 Idea House has always been one of my favorites.
Do you remember it?



The home sits at 4505 Camp Street- a historic neighborhood, in the heart of New Orleans. It has 2400 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and two baths.
Cottage Living teamed with the New Orleans Preservation Resource Center to build the modular "shotgun" style home, which was designed by Eric Moser of Moser Design Group...



The term "shotgun house" is often thought to be named for the tradition that if a shotgun were fired through the front door, the bullet would exit straight through the back door. Recent studies suggest the name may actually come from the word “shogon", which means “Gods House" in African.
Shotgun houses are typically made up of a simple, single row of a rooms that run perpendicular to the street. This compact style allows for more houses to be built per city block. They almost all have front porches, and they often have gabled roofs.

Cottage Living's 2007 Idea House is definitely one of the prettiest shotgun houses I've ever seen!
Even the exterior paint colors drive me wild...

Photo by Artsy-Craftsy


Photo by Artsy-Craftsy


One of my favorite parts of the house is the chalkboard wall in the kitchen...

Photo by Robbie Caponetto


Photo by Artsy-Craftsy


...and thanks to the custom chalkboard paint color instructions they listed in Cottage Living magazine, we're no longer limited to just black or green chalkboard surfaces. Their recipe allows you to mix whatever color you want, so you can create a chalkboard that coordinates perfectly with any palette.

Here are the steps...

1. Pour 1 cup of acrylic latex paint, in the color of your choice, into a clean, 1-gallon bucket.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of dry, unsanded tile grout mix into the paint. Mix with a kitchen whisk until the paint is smooth and clump-free. (Use plain grout mix without added pigments to prevent color shifts.) Repeat the mixing process until you have enough paint to complete your entire project. (For the pantry area in the Idea House, they mixed their chalkboard paint in 1-gallon batches)

3. If necessary, prepare the wall with a light sanding or priming. Apply the chalkboard mixture to any paintable surface with a roller or brush. (In the Idea House, they used two coats of chalkboard paint to build up a thick surface.)

4. Allow the paint to completely dry, then sand the surface with fine sandpaper until you achieve a texture that accepts chalk. Next, "color" the surface with the side of a piece of white chalk to get a chalkboard-like patina.

5. Wipe away excess chalk with a damp cloth.

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If you'd like to see more of this magnificent house, click on the photo below to take a video tour...



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We're in Virginia Beach today, and we've got a great view of the water from our hotel room. (I'll post photos tomorrow night) We're excited about shooting our "shopping day" segment tomorrow. If you'd like to see what we score in the stores by the shore, our segment will air, live, Tuesday morning on ABC Family.

Wish us luck!

Layla

29 comments:

Christine said...

That is a beautiful house!

Aura said...

I almost squealed out loud. I am dying to do chalkboard paint but I didn't like the basic colors. I always tell Michael that when we have kids, I'm dying to make them an "art room." I want to use pretty crown mouldings and make frames on the walls, one of which will be chalkboard paint to doodle on. Imagine how many fun colors you could do for kids rooms!

Things That Inspire said...

I have been toying with the idea of painting a masonite board and having it framed - there is a space on a long wall in my casual dining area that would be the perfect spot for this project....a custom colored chalkboard would be ideal!

Moore Minutes said...

That house is so fun and gorgeous. Sweet treat to see. ;)

beachvintage.com said...

I just love the exterior paint colour, it's simply stunning.

Meredith Newberry said...

Yay - good luck with the segment -- you guys will be amazing!! have a wonderful beach-y weekend.

Darla said...

I love chalkboard paint too!! Great house..

Leen said...

Love that house and the colors too :)

Hope you are having fun at the beach!

Anonymous said...

Layla (and Kevin),

Great post! I love the sliding door as well as the chalkboard wall.

I wish you much luck tomorrow as one of your dreams becomes a reality!

Remember to take a deep breath and BE in each moment. We will all be watching and cheering you guys on!

AnNicole@Our Suburban Cottage said...

Loved that house! I still pull out that issue and look at it every once in a while. Thanks for posting the chalkboard paint instructions!

ChrisA. said...

What a beautiful home, thanks for posting the pictures (I'm going to click and look around). Thank you also for posting the chalkboard recipe - hmmmm, where shall I try this out?

Have a wonderful stay at VB and I so enjoy your blog!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the chalkboard recipe!! I've got it saved and can't wait to try it. I plan on using it in our new laundry room.

Lauren1964 said...

Hi,

Hope your experience in Virginia Beach is fun, not too exhausting and opens up other doors of opportunity for you both! I'm very excited for both or you!

Lauren

Tales From My Empty Nest said...

Have fun in Virginia Beach! Love that house you posted about. So adorable!!! Thanks for the directions for making the custom chalkboard paint. Love & blessings from NC!

René said...

Yes I remember this! Still have all of my old Cottage Living issues. Some of the best ideas come from there. Mourning the loss to this day. Thanks for sharing!

Natalie of TheBusyBudgetingMama.com said...

beautiful! thanks so much for posting these directions! i'm for sure going to be doing this.

Jessica @ Lavender and Lilies said...

I just found your blog and it is fabulous! thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hey guys,
I don’t know how I missed this…but what show are you going to be on???
Thanks

Cottage Dreamers said...

I remember that house. I love the sliding door!

RLG said...

http://www.hudsonpaint.com/

Ren said...

I sat down this morning with my Sunday edition of the Montgomery Advertiser and, lo and behold, who is on the front page but Mr. and Mrs. Lettered Cottage themselves! It was a great article and I enjoyed reading it almost as much as I enjoy your blog! Congrats to you both.

the Hawks said...

Sigh: How I miss Cottage Living! That Idea House was one of the best...so I must ask: how well does it work? How many times can you wipe and rewrite?

Cathy said...

Good Luck...y'all will be great!!

{{Big Hugs}}

Cathy

Sharon@Sharon at Home said...

I love that now you can have a custom colour chalkboard wall. Black is sometimes too stark .... I LOVE the colour of their walls. Thanks for the recipe!

Wendy said...

Thanks for sharing this great chalkboard paint recipe!!

Good luck!! I'm so excited for you two and your segment!!

MagicMarkingsArt said...

I cut that same article out of Cottage Living - love the look. I also just wanted to say - I live in Va. Beach, at the North end of the beach and can't wait to see what you uncover and highlight in our "little town".
Hope you had an enjoyable vacation - sorry the weather wasn't better!!!

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

I'm going to do this....now to choose the perfect wall!

Its So Very Cheri said...

How Fun Layla--I did a post with recipes for making your own colored chalkboard paint http://itssoverycheri.blogspot.com/2009/08/recipe-make-your-own-custom-color.html
I come by all the time but don't leave a lot of messages because I know how busy you are but I just wanted to encourage you since this other blog came along and took spot number 1. You are still great and amazing.

I was talking with Sarah (#2) the other day and she mentioned you had been having Google problems. I have them all the time, where they mess stuff up. I would love to chat with you--times are tough and (hubby not working right now plus doing school, trying to get blog going even more to help out financially)Google issues drive me nuts. I am trying to get my blog back up to the rankings I did have (I was in the 30s but Oct killed me--long story) I would love any suggestions you might have. I am working on changing up my blog so I can move it over to my own domain (already purchased). If there is anything I can ever do for you please let me know.

Cheri

Keep up all the great work.

rr said...

isn't it the saddest thing that cottage living is no longer??