Kitchen Chalkboard Wall

The chalkboard wall is D.O.N.E! 

This project basically came about almost 2 years ago when we lived at our last house.  I knew I wanted to paint a big chalkboard wall in the kitchen, and we had a large wall for it, however, we knew we'd either be selling or keeping it as a rental (We ended up keeping it as a rental and the best family has made it their home!), so I didn't want to take the plunge by covering a full wall in the stuff because that may not be everyone's cup of tea.

So I made a big framed chalkboard out of an old mirror that did the job beautifully.

So when we moved into our new house 6 months ago, I was obsessed with the huge kitchen, but bummed that although it's very spacious, there wasn't any good wall space for my beloved chalkboard to hang (it now lives in our laundry room).  A few weeks ago, the obvious came to town. And slapped me in the face.

I had never really noticed that we have the PERFECT wall for some chalkboard paint magic. Right on the side of the cabinets where our wall oven lives.

Our kitchen is still a work in progress (we've got some big plans for it!), but you get the idea.

That fridge is mocking me. That's what I miss the most about the old house... Our fridge we built-in.
This one will eventually get the same treatment one day.
Yeah, and pay no attention to my shoes or Waylon's new dog bed box over there. We have a cabinet that suddenly decided it wasn't going to stay shut. :/  Like I said, big plans.

I love how the chalkboard wall is almost hidden. It doesn't hit you in the face when you first look into the room.

So to do this, I grabbed some Valspar chalkboard paint. You can get chalkboard paint in any color, but I went with the o.g. ... black.
First I cleaned the cabinet wall really well and then sanded it. Then, I painted on the chalkboard paint using an angled brush for the areas around the trim, and a foam roller to fill in. It took three coats.
The worst part of the entire process was the wait. It says on the can to wait 3 full days to let the paint cure before chalking it.
I'm the most impatient person ever so this was difficult.

To prep chalkboard paint, you basically rub the chalk (sideways) all over the board lightly like so...

...then erase it to make it all even and pretty.

And here she is! I decided to do it top to bottom. I'm going to add a fun chevron print to the top and because it goes all the way to the bottom, it'll be fun for future kiddos to play with.

I think it's really pretty looking in from the dining room.

As for the lettering, I basically took all the inspiration from this little tutorial I pinned months back and added a little frame of wheat.

So what do you guys think? I love little fun surprises in houses like this. Definitely made our kitchen feel more like home!