Show notes

• The paint can be purchased here (if you're in the US), but when I tried the black color, it turned the room into a dungeon. Instead, I used the “tintable” variety that you can get at your local hardware store. I believe this particular color is “Moonstone”.

• The dog's name is Mouse; the cat's name is Coal Porter (or just Porter for short). They're my bros. (Maybelle the cat had a preexisting obligation and couldn't make an appearance.)

Transcript

It seems that, right around the time I was leaving elementary school, chalkboards became... old-fashioned. Whiteboards were all the rage! They didn't make as much of a mess, and they were just the new, hip and cool thing.

The downside: they are VERY reflective.

We here at Fixing Your Video were just about to line the walls of our studio with whiteboard material, when we realized: no way! All those reflections are going to make our lives hell.

So instead, we used this stuff. Let's see how it compares to a whiteboard.

(comparison)

Another nice thing about this paint: whiteboards are surprisingly expensive, whereas it cost me forty bucks to cover all this.

It's not quite as good as a real chalkboard (which, by the way, would also work well). The chalk tends to never get completely erased, and considering that I wipe it down with a rather abrasive cleaner, I'll probably have to apply another coat of paint in a year or two.

But the tradeoff is that you can paint eeeeeeeverything. You can have SO MUCH SPACE. You can spread your lessons across different parts of the board.

But for those who already have a whiteboard and can't switch over, all is not lost. You just need to get your lights way off to the side. And big, soft light is usually the best.

If you found this video useful and you'd like to receive more tips like it, we'd love it if you'd sign up for our newsletter! That's all for now. Thanks for watching!