I have a tiny, Quartet dry erase board from Walmart. It works awesome, and was cheap, but I need bigger!! I didn't see anything ideal at Walmart, so I went to Target, purchased a Board Dudes black framed one. I took down a mirror, patched the holes and had my DH put the screws in for the new dry erase board, only to find the thing was bubbled! I took it back to Target. Bought the only other one they had, got it home and it's scratched/a tiny bit warped, not to mention the horrible lines it left after erasing...My cheapo Walmart one doesn't even do this (and sometimes I don't erase it for days!) Anyway, I'm very disappointed, this one is going straight back to the store too. I should've looked at reviews before making a purchase as the reviews for the one I bought are terrible! Where did you get yours and what brand is it?!
I forgot to add I was really hoping for it to be magnetic! Though I am really thinking about DIY and keeping the small one I currently have for magnets...
I got one at Office Depot 12 years ago. It has an aluminum frame and two small trays that snap onto the bottom edge for erasers and markers. It works great, erases well, and I've used all kinds of dry-erase markers on it, not just the more expensive Expo ones. I clean it every now and then with plain white rubbing alcohol, and it's just fine. It's (I think) 3'x4'. I don't remember how much it was, but I was surprised at how inexpensive it really was. I think its brand name is Boone.
We have a few dry erase boards, We have the handheld ones from Becker Teacher Stores (www.beckerteacherstores.com), the one side is plain, the other side is the lined handwriting type lines...each one of my kids have that one so that they can work out math problems, etc. These are VERY nice, and I don't recall them being all that expensive, either. We also have a magnetic one that hangs on our fridge. It's probably 11X17, it's from Walmart, by Roseart, and frankly, we use this one most! LOL But I love it. The key, I think, is not using the cheapy dry erase markers that come with the boards. I buy the Expo Dry Erase markers, they work really nice. And every so often, I actually use the Dry Erase Cleaner on the boards. The cleaner is special, it has a "scratch filling" ingredient in it. We've had these boards for over 3 years now, and with the changes I've mentioned, they still look almost brand new (except wear around the edges, etc). My husband and I are hoping to invest in a huge board to cover the area in our basement that we covered in chalkboard paint - it just leaves major chalk mess and is REALLY hard to clean!!!! I love the melamine idea! I'm wondering if we could get a large piece and frame it ourselves! That would be very cool.
