

IdeaPaint Coming to 1,700 Lowe's Stores - nh
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/ready-to-erase-whiteboards-ideapaint-lands-1-700-lowe-s-stores.html

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puzzler314
I love the idea of IdeaPaint. However, in practice, things aren't that simple:
IdeaPaint just doesn't compare to a quality white board. A quality standard
white board does better in almost every important aspect; a smoother surface,
better erasing, no "burn in" (if we left something up on the wall for too
long, it would become nigh impossible to erase). Sure, IdeaPaint is cheaper,
but I find I'm never disappointed with quality, even if it costs a little
more.

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janesvilleseo
I agree. I have it at our office. Actually i was the one who found it and
painted it on the wall. The packaging hat it came in was really cool with a
lot of thought put into it. The instructions turned into a "wet paint" sign.

The surface is bumpy, but it works. It it currently being used as a giant
project calendar.

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chopsueyar
Did you pay out-of-pocket for the paint?

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janesvilleseo
I got the owner to reimburse me for it.

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nolanw
I was looking into turns-into-whiteboard paints/stickers recently and turned
up a handy comparison of various surfaces and their whiteboard-ability. Turns
out washing machines and dryers often work great, though are likely
impractical.

<http://rumkin.com/reference/whiteboard/surfaces.php>

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hop
Glass is a pretty cool looking surface to make a whiteboard (clearboard?) with
too and can be cheaper than this stuff, even with the hanging hardware.

I wonder how well ideapaint works with textured walls? Have to tip my hat to
these guys for selling a quart of paint for $170 bucks with their marketing
effort.

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dochtman
You have to sandpaper textured walls first, works fine after that.

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squirrel
This stuff works great for us. We've put it up all over the walls in our
London and Boston offices.

[http://www.tektura.com/pages/display_pattern.asp?Type=Range&...](http://www.tektura.com/pages/display_pattern.asp?Type=Range&PID=5&PAT=7)

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jrussbowman
can you paint over it with normal paint? Or at least sand it down easily
enough to prime/paint? I'd consider doing my daughters room with this as long
as I wouldn't have to gut it to resell as we plan to move when we're no longer
upside down.

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chopsueyar
Just reduce the width of her bedroom by 1/2" when you attach new drywall over
the existing, painted drywall.

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jrussbowman
Not sure if that was a serious suggestion or not? The logistics of that get
more difficult when you take into account door frames and window ledges, the
over all product would not be very appealing. Over all be easier to gut the
room. If that's the case, I'll wait until we can get a new home we want to
live in for years. The current one is on the wrong coast, my wife from
Vancouver wants off the east coast :)

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marknutter
I'd much prefer the paint on chalkboard stuff
(<http://www.rustoleum.com/cbgproduct.asp?pid=103>) you can get. I HATE dry
erase markers.

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r00fus
After about 10 minutes of diagramming, I'm a bit high on the fumes (not in a
good way).

Chalk feels better.

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pitdesi
Cool product and I love the marketing story, but not as good as a whiteboard
(too hard to get smooth) and VERY expensive:

[http://www.amazon.com/IdeaPaint-Sq-Ft-Kit-
Whiteboard/dp/B002...](http://www.amazon.com/IdeaPaint-Sq-Ft-Kit-
Whiteboard/dp/B002OJ7EAE) $175 for a 50 sqft area - $3.5/sqft... a lot more
expensive than the cheap tileboard that many startups on the cheap use:

[http://www.lowes.com/pd_61082-46498-31023248_0__?productId=3...](http://www.lowes.com/pd_61082-46498-31023248_0__?productId=3042205&Ntt=tileboard&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dtileboard&facetInfo=)
$10 for 10 sqft - $1/sqft

Another cool idea (that I've never seen/tried) is Whiteyboard
<http://www.whiteyboard.com/> $35 for 20sqft - $1.75/sqft

Incidentally, we decided to hell with all of these things and that it was
worth it to spend $400 on a kickass whiteboard and ended up with this
[http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Ship-Deluxe-Reversible-
Markerboa...](http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Ship-Deluxe-Reversible-
Markerboard/dp/B001GIAY7E) (but paid closer to $400). It is awesome - rolls
around and flips

Does anyone know why whiteboards are so damn expensive?

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chopsueyar
I've been using shower tile boards for almost a decade. I've always found 4' x
8' sheets for about $10 at Home Depot.

If you are going to spend the money on paint, get the black chalkboard paint.
$15/qt for 100sqft...

[http://www.lowes.com/pd_203261-4-007.0203261.005_0__?storeId...](http://www.lowes.com/pd_203261-4-007.0203261.005_0__?storeId=10151&Ntt=chalkboard+paint&UserSearch=chalkboard+paint&productId=3080751&N=0&catalogId=10051&langId=-1)

With the black chalkboard, you can use many colors of chalk and pastels. How
many colors can you use on a whiteboard?

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foob
I once had an office with chalkboard paint on all of the walls and it was
terrible. The rough surface tears apart chalk much more quickly than a real
chalkboard and the result is chalk dust absolutely everywhere. It would cover
desks and laptops and we eventually decided that it wasn't worth using at all.
Even if you love using chalk I highly recommend avoiding using chalkboard
paint in a work environment at all costs.

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chopsueyar
Good to know. I have only used the chalkboard paint for residential projects.
However, I have also found using a cheap roller, with any type of paint, will
leave a rough surface. Wool (mohair too) rollers are more expensive, but
provide a rather smooth surface (also Purdy brushes make a difference too).
Plain drywall is fairly smooth.

There was a cool video from one of the first Kinect previews on Xbox Live and
the family's living room had an area covered in black chalkboard paint with
chalked designs all over it. Of course, I am sure this was not a real family,
nor their real home.

