How to Turn a Wall into a Whiteboard Using Paint!

**This post is brought to you in partnership with Monsta Paint
Children’s bedrooms need to be a place they can be themselves. It is not just where they rest their heads, but also where they grow, develop, brainstorm, imagine and dream. If you were lucky enough to have a space all of your own as a child, you will probably remember the joy of your very own room in your home. I grew up in the country in a big old limestone house, filled with art and books and my parents bohemian style. We had big rooms with very high ceilings and fireplaces. A short time after we moved, my parents renovated our  bedrooms. I got to pick the blue paint and blue floral wallpaper, along with the 1970’s blue and white lino. Before they painted however, they let my me and my friends spend days painting and drawing all over my walls. Given that many of us spend hours telling our young children NOT to draw on the walls, it was an adventure in creativity with just a touch of being naughty! These stories and pictures remain today underneath those blue patterned walls.
If you have followed Recycled Interiors for a while, you will have seen our Real Homes Movement. This was triggered after I shared this real, unstyled picture below, of our youngest son Maxwell’s bedroom on Facebook and it exploded! People were breathing a sigh of relief at the simple, real nature of his room. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the photo and spoke of their own experiences of wanting a space for their children that reflected them and the need for magic and exploration. More time spent with each other, less time worrying about a “perfect” room made for other people’s judgement.

Our thoughts on decorating are that you need to go your own way, do what is best for you and our planet, and splash little pieces of your personality into your home. As we have renovated our sitting room, bedroom, lounge room, dining room and office, we have been slowly bringing our home together with cohesive, calming colours, and careful curation of things we love, spread around us. Maxwell’s room is the last to have the floors painted in the beautiful silver light grey floor paint, and now all of the rooms flow with this uniform colour. The boards still have their lived in knocks and patina, which we think adds to the warmth of our home. We have the kitchen, laundry and bathroom to complete later in the year and in spring, we plan to paint outside. For now, we are done.

Maxwell’s Room Renovation

In Maxwell’s room he wanted a calm room that he could fill with his love of history, British Military, animals, books and lego, as well as an Armory for his Nerf guns and swords! We created that with an old hook hanger and some marble spray paint. With our partnership with Monsta Paint, we were able to try their new Write Wall paint, to turn an entire wall into a whiteboard! Maxwell is a very creative child and he is always writing stories, cartoons and drawing pictures. For a child on the austism spectrum who also lives with dysgraphia (a functional disability related to writing), it is a remarkable thing to us that he is so passionate about writing and drawing. He is extremely clever and adores reading and spending many hours imagining and creating. The idea of a wall he could write on was very well received!
At first I thought I would do some art and design on the wall for him, but once we had finished, I decided to give him the textas and let him create whatever he wanted. The result was a series of funny characters, phrases and messages, including a birthday card for his grandfather (Baba)! I asked him to go get the card he had made (as chief card maker) at our family morning tea and he said it was a “bit difficult”. He took my dad into his room and he had created a “card” on his new wall! I just love it – so eco friendly! The other 3 walls were painted in the same Seaglass blue as the hallway and the floors in the grey paint. We were going to create a magnetic area with the new Monsta magnetic paint too, but decided we will use this in our kitchen renovation a bit later.

How does the Write Wall work?

This was our first time using a whiteboard paint and it was different to usual painting. It comes in 2 parts – a sticky mixture that is added to the white paint. It is important to get the amounts correct and to stir for the recommended time of 3-5 minutes, leaving it to settle for 1 minute before using. The mixture will harden within an hour, so only make up smaller amounts at a time.
The Monsta Write Wall features:

• easy removal of white board markings
• easy to apply and clean up
• low odour
• solvent free
• exellent coverage
• high gloss finish
• highly durable
• can be used together with the magnetic paint

Surface preparation is always important in any paint job. We always wash the walls with sugar soap, get rid of any flaking paint and fill any cracks and holes. Once dry and clean, you might need an undercoat or prep coat/sealer. In Maxwell’s room we went straight on with the Write Wall once clean and filled. There were a series of shelves on one wall prior, so there was a lot of filling in the room, but not on the wall with the Write Wall.

The Write Wall is applied with a foam roller or brush and needs to be worked into the surface of the wall to achieve a uniform finish. I went a bit wrong with the first coat as it is very different to working with normal paint. I am also used to a sheepskin roller. This meant there were some runs on the wall during the first coat. We were able to smooth these out somewhat, and Mr Recycled did coat 2, using his muscles to work the paint into the wall. It is a bit like working with an enamel paint as it is glossy. You need to leave at least 3 hours in between coats – we left 4 hours as it was quite a cold day. You then need to allow 24 hours to cure before writing on the wall. You will need at least 2 and possibly 3, coats.

We found the following in using the Write Wall

• Be prepared for a different painting experience – I did not like the sticky feeling of the paint, and Mr Recycled did a much better job than me in his coat!
• The Write Wall is very low odour and was easy to mix and wash up, but it is a little sticky so you need to wash containers and rollers well. If you don’t like sticky hands like me, I suggest wearing gloves
• The finish is beautiful – glossy and smooth and easy to write on
• It looks fantastic!
• The whiteboard function is brilliant and the textas are so far rubbing off very easily. Apparently you can use a mild alcohol cleaner for stubborn marks

The room is very soothing, calm and far less cluttered. He is really enjoying the wall and loves the colours too. He is actually sleeping better in the room as we moved the bed from under the window to behind the door. We still have a few pictures to put on the walls and Maxwell wants a British flag, but we are all very happy with this room and the decision to create a writing wall. I am sure there will be many stories, jokes and birthday cards appearing on the wall over coming years!

You can see more about the entire Monsta range, which is eco friendly, delivered directly to your door and beautiful to use, on their website 
Monsta are offering Recycled Interiors readers a 15% discount too – use the code monsta15
Head  here to join our Real Homes Movement community
Helen