The secret recipe for magnetic paint success!

>>>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.

(UPDATE! Unfortunately, these magnets have been out of stock for like, years now. Get your life together Amazon. The closest replacement I’ve found so far are these Super Strong Adhesive Disc Magnets, which I have not tried myself, so I can’t make any guarantees).

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?