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The writings on the walls

During lunch yesterday we were talking about the trend of having chalkboard walls in a residential kitchen. Someone’s previous creative director had chalkboard walls in his custom-designed kitchen. I remembered seeing photos of similar kitchens in FLOR catalogs; Anthropologie is in on the trend with a cool color twist. Our friends over at Coudal Partners have chalkboard paint covering the bathroom. Staff members leave each other messages, pose riddles, and hold contests.

To achieve this look you can buy big pieces of slate to cover the walls, or you can cover the walls in special chalkboard paint. Paint a wall in an eating area, or all your kitchen cabinet doors, or a whole kitchen wall.

Why this obsession with chalkboards outside the classroom? Maybe it’s because parents can be cool with parents drawing on the walls. Maybe it’s because parents can color on the walls, too. Maybe it’s just another step in the continuing trend of self-expression — our IM icons reflect our changing moods, our car purchases reflect our feelings on the environment, and our blogs walls reflect our latest mental wanderings. We seem to have an increasing need to express ourselves — whether that’s to everyone online or just to ourselves. Everyone is a writer. Everyone is an artist. Everyone is a philosopher. At least we like to feel like we are.