We’ve been in our new location going on eight months now so I guess it’s really not so new anymore. I’ve always felt bad because we never had time to paint before we moved everything in and then it’s just been busy keeping up with classes, custom furniture painting and painting pieces to sell in the Studio.

This week’s workload was a little light so I got the itch to put some paint on a wall. I tested four or five colors last week and not one was well received by the majority so I finally settled on the beautiful light grey we had at our first location. There was about a half gallon of paint left and I knew it would be close, but I had a plan.

I taped a rectangle off and had this great plan to paint a magnet board to display all our ATC’s from club, along with my scrapbook layout class samples for Sketch your Stash and Scrap your Stash.

Rust-oleum is the only brand I could find that offered a magnetic primer and at $20 a quart I thought it was a tad pricey. I checked online reviews and they weren’t that good. I asked the paint staff at Home Depot if they’ve had any feedback from customers, but they had none. I checked to make sure I could get a refund if the product didn’t work as it said it would as long as I followed application instructions. I was told it could be returned, so I figured I’d give it go.

First off, have the paint staff shake your can for you. I didn’t have the first can shaken and it took me over 15 minutes of stirring to get a nice creamy mix. Buy a roller and brush with every intention of throwing it out when done, and don’t buy foam. My foam brush just soaked up the liquid and dropped big gobs of paint everywhere. Wear a large smock and gloves.

I figured I’d have a 4′ by 8′ magnet board but the more grey I painted on the wall, the more I realized I was not going to have enough wall paint. I painted what I could and when it was dry I just taped off a huge area with blue painter’s tape. This would be my magnet board.

Stir the magnetic primer very well. It needs to be smooth and creamy (it looks and feels like really heavy motor oil – smells a little like it too). I lined my paint tray with foil so I could just throw it all away at the end. I used the smooth, to semi-smooth roller, like the can said. The magnetic primer spreads really well but spatters everywhere – thus, the large smock to cover all clothing. I also added gloves to my second round of painting to avoid the black speckled hands.

I eventually got three coats of the primer on my board. I had to buy another quart because my taped-off space was so large that I got one-and-a-half coats on and ran out. I had them shake the second can for me at the store and it was much easier to stir than the first.

I couldn’t wait for it to dry to see if it worked as I hoped. It actually dries pretty quickly – in about 4 hours or so. The can says you can paint over it when dry but we liked the black. It’s a nice background for the art work that hangs on it.

Most of the bad reviews I read were complaints about the thickness, the inability to stir it easily and the fact that magnets don’t hold as they thought they should. I had read the information listed on the can of Rust-oleum so I knew it was very thick and hard to stir, that it needed smelly stuff for clean-up (that’s why I chose to buy stuff I could just throw out), and I knew it would not hold heavy stuff like a refrigerator magnet will; it’s recommended for lightweight items.

I am so pleased with the results! I couldn’t wait to give it a try to see if it worked. I’ve used magnet tape on the backs of ATC’s and a scrapbook layout and it’s holding well. This board is going add a lot of color and inspiration to our classroom area. It’s going to look so cool when all the ATC cards are hung; they’ll create a border. It also gives me space to display our scrapbook layout samples for upcoming classes. Come check it out for yourself.