When deciding to make repairs, each owner of a living room tries to get acquainted with modern methods of interior decoration. One of such fashionable trends of recent times is the creation of a slate wall, the advantages and disadvantages of which we will consider in this article. In fact, such painting is a common type of wall surface finish, but unlike other coatings, it allows you to draw and write directly on the wall, as well as wash off labels with a damp cloth.
Therefore, lovers of changing the interior at low cost will be able to appreciate this type of wall painting.
Features and Benefits of Coating
You can buy slate paint in any hardware store, while it is sold in ordinary containers for coloring materials. Even many standard paint coatings cannot boast the unique properties and features of such a paint:
- The surface on which this type of paint is applied does not lend itself to minor mechanical damage, and is also easy to clean and wash.
- You can apply slate paint from an aerosol spray can to small details of the decor.
- The color of the coating can be changed in a wide range from classic black to any shade.
- The composition of this paint does not have harmful fumes and is completely safe for human health, so you can make a slate wall in the children's room.
- It is applied to any type of wall (metal, wood, concrete) as easily as any other paint.
- There are special compositions with magnetic properties, which allows not only to draw on the plane, but also easy to mount small metal products.
Cons of coverage
In general, a slate wall has practically no negative properties. It is difficult to call some of its shortcomings significant disadvantages of the technology. They can be attributed only to not very significant drawbacks of the construction and operation of the coating.
The nuances of insufficiently effective operation of the coating are as follows:
- for allergy sufferers, the harmful effect of dust from chalk may be negative, therefore it is necessary to produce regular wet surface care;
- an important condition for quality coating is a fairly flat surface;
- the use of classic black visually reduces the area of the room;
- applying a coat of paint to aluminum or glass surfaces is not possible without prior priming;
- quite expensive paint compared to a washable coating, but you can buy a slate film.
Scope of the slate coating
The installation of a slate wall has recently become very popular not only in the apartment, but also in the office, cafe premises and even outdoor advertising of various institutions.
Unexpectedly, but in some cases you can find such a unique design even in the toilet room. The paint is not afraid of moisture, so the original inscriptions will help create an unforgettable style of such a room.
But of course, the most common slate wall for painting is arranged in the hallway, in the kitchen or in the children's room.
Kids room design
The most common place to create a slate wall in a modern apartment is a children's room. A child, if there is chalk in his hands, draws constantly and everywhere, so most often the walls of the room suffer from this creativity. For this reason, recently made repairs in the apartment in a short time lose their freshness.
Therefore, many parents, in order to preserve their nerves, specially make a slate board on the wall in the children's room. So a small child can develop his creative abilities and instead of boring pictures draw on the wall a new vision of the world. Older children use the board to prepare homework, repeat the multiplication table, write down various physical and mathematical formulas.
Slate coating in the kitchen and hallway
In the kitchen, a slate wall is arranged in the dining area. This original solution allows you to captivate a capricious baby with food. The process of feeding is not a tedious task, but the cognitive development of the child.
Slate paint is also often used to decorate an apron. Here, a quick housewife will manage to write down a favorite culinary recipe.
The manufacture of the wall for notes in the hallway must be done taking into account the location of things in order to exclude their pollution with chalk. But in general, it is nice to read a note from children or family members, as well as sweet wishes for a good day.
Application of slate surface in cafe
Often, walking along the street past various institutions, you can see the original stands on which the cafe menu, various promotions and invitations are written in chalk. The presence of such advertising increases the number of visitors.
A unique feature of any institution will be the use of slate wall in a cafe. Indoors, themes for wall painting can be changed depending on the direction of the event, which is held in a cafe (football, holidays, anniversaries).
The use of black paint and special inscriptions looks stylish and beautiful on the wall surface. Moreover, modern manufacturers have developed special sprays for cleaning the surface of the wall, which are scented with unique odors. The use of such cleaning is safe even for catering.
Painting materials
Work on slate coloring does not require complex tools and special knowledge. It is enough to have a house painter tool:
- container for paint;
- a brush or roller for applying the painting composition to the wall;
- if necessary, align the surface of the wall with a spatula;
- protective coating on the floor.
Paint is purchased with a special composition. If you decide to apply a composition having magnetic properties to the surface, you will have to buy an additional substance. Also, a special paint with dissolved metal powder can be used as a coating.
If it is necessary to paint large areas for mixing paint, it is advisable to use a special automatic machine that will prepare a monochromatic color scheme.
Surface preparation for painting
To obtain a high-quality result of painting, the slate wall must be previously prepared for work. Of course, the main requirement of such a process is the leveling of the wall surface. To do this, you must first remove the peeling fragments of the plaster, as well as pieces of old wallpaper. If necessary, the old plaster is repaired, and the surface is leveled with putty.
The primer is applied with the last layer, which greatly reduces paint consumption due to its absorption property. The primer is applied in the same way as for ordinary coloring material.
Wall painting
This stage of work can be safely called the easiest. The main thing here is to apply the dye evenly on the surface to be treated.
The main stages of painting are as follows:
- after the primer layer has dried, it is advisable to rinse the area for painting;
- then open the can of paint and mix thoroughly;
- the cuvette is filled with paint;
- with a wetted roller, the paint is evenly distributed on the surface of the wall;
- work with magnetic material is best done in a well-ventilated area;
- wait for the paint to dry (about two hours), apply a second coat.
The slate wall can only be used 72 hours after drying. At first, it is better to clean the inscriptions with a wet rag. Household chemicals are allowed to be used after a month of operation of the wall.
The use of slate coating is considered a new direction in the interior design of any room. This decoration method is suitable for practical and creative people.