Chalkboard Paint Outlet Covers

After I painted my kitchen backsplash with black chalkboard paint I looked at my white plastic outlet covers – they just would not do. The white plastic was just too high contrast with the black chalkboard wall. I wonder if I can save a few bucks and reuse what I have (very green BTW) and paint those cheap plastic outlet covers with chalkboard paint to match the wall?

White plaste builder outlet covers.

I took off the gloss with steel wool. Sandpaper works too. I used steel wool because it was only two steps to my right under the kitchen sink instead of six steps to my left in the garage. You know I am all about saving energy, fossil fuels as well as my own.

I grabbed a variety of items from the recycling bin to use as risers to make painting and priming the outlet covers easier. I primed the outlet covers using the same grey colored primer I used for the walls. Using a colored primer under a dark top coat reduces the number of extra coats of paint you will need to get nice even coverage.

Gray primer.

Once the primer was dry, I painted the outlet covers with two coats of chalkboard paint.

Black chalkboard paint outlet covers!

When everything was dry, I screwed them into the wall with the original screws and dabbed a bit a black paint on the black screws so they would match.

They blend nicely into the wall. I can draw on them too.

Ta Da! The matching chalkboard outlet covers was the final addition to my chalkboard backsplash that appears in the July/August 2010 issue of This Old House Magazine!

I'm in the July/August 2010 issue of This Old House Magazine.

I’m kinda of hooked on chalkboard paint. What shall I do next? I’m eyeing the refrigerator…


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