What should I use for drawing (and erasing) on painted walls?

Have you seen those liquid chalk pens? Try those, just get a shade similar to the wall color. Actually, just use a pencil…

you can actually buy chaulk board paint which comes in different colors, see the attached link You can paint only one wall and use chaulk as @cheebdragon and erase with ease

@cheebdragon I tried pencil and it erases pretty well. Do the liquid chalk pens erase better than regular colored chalk? It’s possible the chalk I used was just especially bad (it didn’t erase well on a blackboard either).

I’ve only tried it on painted wood but it came off fairly well with just water, and the rest was easily removed with rubbing alcohol (which also removes permanent marker). I can test it out on one of my walls for you though as soon as I find my pens….

Have you seen this? It’s invisible uv paint, i wish it wasn’t so expensive because it’s really fucking cool.

How were you trying to erase the chalk? It should come off with a wet sponge if it’s normal chalk.

But if you want to be sure it’s designed to come off easily with water, just go to a toy store and get kid’s sidewalk chalk. That better come off easily with water or that company is in big trouble with parents :)

I’m with @creative1, though I guess I always thought chalkboard paint just came in black and green. When I was a kid my dad painted a section of wall with chalkboard paint and we drew on it all the time.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like in people’s houses. You can turn just about anything into a blackboard with chalkboard paint and then just use regular chalk. I think it’s pretty cool.

@Buttonstc with a wet sponge and dish soap.

I was under the impression from the OP that they prefer to avoid painting (or repainting).

And unless they’ve knocked the price down from the last time I looked into it, it’s a fairly expensive deal, compared to regular paint.

Just my little 2 cents :)

If it didn’t come off easily with soap and water, I’m guessing it was chalk with some type of oil based additive (perhaps to keep it from crumbling too easily or cause so much dust)

But, when I was teaching, I really disliked that type of chalk because it was so annoying to deal with. I preferred the dustier more crumbly old style which erased easily.

But the sidewalk chalk should do the trick. It’s designed to be washed off with only the water from a hose or bucket.

I have several flowers drawn with sidewalk chalk in the backyard that hasn’t washed off completely….. It’s been there since May.

@Buttonstc Yes, the OP did mention preferring not to repaint, but there may not be a choice. When one wants to draw on one’s walls without leaving permanent marks sometimes compromises have to be made, I think. :-) Children are inveterate wall drawers and if there was an easy solution to this there would be fewer parents being driven crazy by it. Perhaps we need some parents of small children to weigh in here and see if they have any solutions. I still think chalkboard paint is the best solution and it’s not that expensive.

＜== Parent of small child

@cheebdragon LOL. I will now have to reread your posts on this thread with greater attention. :-)

@lilly

Yes. Children are wall drawers and your comment reminded me of Randy Pausch’s advice in his talk, The Last Lecture, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.

He told about his parent’s willingness to allow him to draw on his bedroom walls and the pics he took revealed planets, rocket ships etc. all drawn by him as a young boy.

He appreciated his parents willingness to put a greater priority on their kids creativity and inspiration rather than the potential resale value of their house. (And repainting was always an option)

He passionately urged parents to allow their kids to draw on walls. Too soon they’ll be grown up and out of the house. Plenty of time to repaint then. Enjoy their childhood in the present.

It was a rather unique way to approach life. This guy was really one of a kind.

If you’ve never heard of the Last Lecture, go seek it out for a number of reasons (not just drawing :)

The title is especially poignant because he gave this talk when he knew he would die from Pancreatic cancer.

He died way too young for someone with such a zest for life.

www.thelastlecture.com

There are places on the web where one can stream it for free and it’s also available for sale on CD/DVD.

@Buttonstc Thanks so much for the link! I haven’t watch it yet but I was able to find the lecture on youtube.. And here’s a tour of Randy Pausch’s childhood room!

That’s kind of why I was pushing the chalkboard paint idea. As I mentioned in my first post, that was my parent’s compromise. My dad painted a wall, at least one big section of at least one wall with chalkboard paint when my brother and I were little and we were allowed to draw on those walls with chalk. My memory of it, which wall or walls is a little vague because I was very young at the time and my memories of my childhood at that age are kind of spotty.

@Buttonstc and @lillycoyote I have a link to the last lecture on my profile and have had it for a while now. I suggest to read the book too, I bought it and read it the day it came out. I always find inspiration in both the book and the video.