>>>this post is in collaboration with MagnaMagic and contains affiliate links.
Remember about one hundred years ago when I told you that MY GALLERY WALL WAS HIDING A SECRET?
You probably don’t, so let me remind you. Here is the gallery wall in my office:
IT HAS A SECRET.
Some eagle-eyed viewers were quick to spot it … and some other readers guessed that the big secret was that I was pregnant. (I guess the giant pink YES and my unflattering reflection in the convex mirror could give you that idea).
So no, I’m not pregnant.
The secret is that everything on this wall is being held up with MAGNETS! And underneath the magnets? Magnetic paint, of course!
“No!” you are shouting aloud.
“It can’t be true!” you are gasping to yourself.
“Everyone knows that magnetic paint is the biggest lie the decor world has ever seen!” you are sputtering angrily. “I’ve tried it myself! Sixteen coats of ‘magnetic paint’ later and I could barely get a refrigerator magnet to stick to my wall, let alone hold up anything heavier than a single piece of paper!”
SHHHHH my friends. Calm yourselves. It’s true. Here are the two things you probably didn’t have.
#1 – the right paint
#2 – the right magnets
That’s it. That’s the recipe for magnet wall success.
This paint I used was MagnaMagic Magnetic Receptive Wall Paint. There are a couple other options from this company, including a magnetic chalkboard paint, but I chose this one because it’s actually a primer, which means it can be painted over. Very helpful if you want to have an incognito magnet wall.
It goes on a dark gray color, which I just painted over with my regular wall color once it dried. I used a quart which covered a rough 5’x5′ square patch on my wall. You may think that’s not great coverage for a quart of paint, but we’re not after coverage here, we’re after concentration. It’s going to take a few coats to reach maximum magnetic potential. I simply kept coating the area until I had used all the paint. That’s key.
It’s important to note that I did not tape off this 5’x5′ area. Otherwise I would have had obvious lines when I removed the tape, even after painting over the gray magnetic paint with my regular wall color. I just make a rough 5’x5′ splotch, feathering out the edges so it would be unnoticeable where the magnet paint stopped and the regular wall paint began.
Next, you can’t just use any old magnet. Oh no no no no no no. NO. Don’t try it. You will surely drink the bitter tears of disappointment. The only magnets I’ve found that will work on my wall – which were suggested to me by the kind MagnaMagic folks – are the Hooked on Paint Hanging Magnets
In fact, they are strong enough that the smaller items on my wall … other than the few you can see that are obviously held up with thumbtacks, (wooden thumbtacks, mind you, because I keeps it classy) … have only one magnet on the back. The larger items, like the YES and the white photo display frame have four each. And they are extremely secure.
I like to show people all the time like, “Hey! Come look at my wall! Now look at this!” And I dramatically rip something off the wall, then dramatically toss it back on, and everyone is always amazed.
So many fun ways you could use this. I heard a rumor that you could potentially even hang a TV. I have not tried that myself, and I imagine that would require very many polymagnets, so if you try it and it doesn’t work out, don’t come suing me, but if it DOES work out then good for you!
I just love the fact that I can rearrange my wall however I want, whenever I want.
No nail holes, no damage, and endless possibilities! Every wall should be a magnetic wall, that’s what I say.
What say you, you creative souls? How would you use magnetic paint in your space?
Brilliant, you are!
Hi Lindsey,
I was one of the sputtering angry naysayers too until I tried this, and it seems to be working, so thanks! However, I am using these magnets to hold up a picture of my late beagle Pablo, so I’m hoping that this stuff holds up. Ah, dear Pablo, I knew him well. 🙂
http://yourhomesecuritywatch.com – Home Security / Automation Reviews
We need a video of you taking stuff off the wall and putting it back up. Like you do for your guests. 😜
I wish I would have known this when I painted my grand-daughter’s play table–sooooo many coats and then it wouldn’t hold the wooden alphabet magnets I bought! That’s just what you said–aaaack! Maybe next time….
You should market this whole concept to property management companies–if they would paint some key areas in apartments where normally they don’t let tenants hang things with nails –they sell the magnets to the tenents I bet it would be an add on money maker.
I literally stared at your pics of the gallery wall for so long trying to find your secret!! Obviously, I did not. I LOVE your wall so much! That’s really neat that those are magnets!
A magnetic wall? That’s awesome. I wonder where in my house I might need one of these……
That’s genius!
I think you’ve just changed everything in my life forever, holy cow.
That gif at the end!
WHAAAAT? Crazy awesome. Ok, so I’m wondering… are these stronger-than-rare-earth-magnets actually safe to have in your home? Do they emit their own electro-magnetic field or something? I’m just thinking this has got to be too good to be true!
This is really a neat idea! I’m wondering, that if you only painted a 5′ x 5′ area on your wall with a thick coat of the magnetic paint, and then followed up by painting the whole wall with your normal wall color – Are the edges of the magnetic paint visible?
Hi Karen! The edges aren’t visible because I didn’t use any tape to mark it off. I just painted a rough 5×5 splotch, that way I could feather and blend the edges out and not have an obvious line where the magnetic paint stopped.
I didn’t have such luck with magnet paint on my first try, but I know now to go over it over and over again, thanks for the tip Lindsey and love your gallery wall!
I was super excited about this post until I seen the price of the paint. YIKES! But I guess all quality products are expensive. I might have to get this and give it a try. So many possibilities.
This looks wonderful! What freedom!
All I see is YES YES YES. YES, I will definitely do it at home!
First let me say this is absolutely amazing!!! I’m wanting to do a world map accent wall and thought I could cut the wallpaper into squares add flat magnet to the back and paint the wall with magnetic paint do you think that could work?
I’m a teacher. This idea is SO cool.
Where can you buy these? super expensive paint on Amazon ($30 shipping) and the magnets are out of stock on Amazan!
Wow! I wish I had read this PRIOR to attempting to paint an entire wall magnetic using another brand. One question, I notice the walls are very flat/untextured. Would this work on very lightly textured walls as well?
Hi Lindsey! I’m a photographer and I’m considering using this method to “hang” my poly paper backdrops on the wall instead of tacking them up causing lots of holes. I saw that the magnets you recommend aren’t made anymore. I’m consented that your second choice for magnets won’t work as well. Would you say they’re very comparable in quality?
Thanks for your help!
Jenelle
Hey- so the back of my desk at school is already magnetic (literally made on metal), but I was thinking about a layer of the paint to make it “more” magnetic for the alphabet letter magnets…. do you think that might work?!? I can’t really replace any of the magnets on the letters because they’re tiny— but maybe something stronger for them to hold onto is my thinking here! Your opinion would be lovely !
Thanks 🙂