Fun Kids Space

When we moved into our new house a year and a half ago we were so excited. I had all kinds of fun new decorating ideas I could not wait to dive into!! One of the things we really liked about our house was the definition of space. Our room is on the main level, and the kids rooms and bathrooms are upstairs. There is even an extra bedroom between their rooms that works perfectly for a playroom (since we already have a guest room in the basement). While it took me a little while to adjust to our rooms being on a separate level from the kids at night, it did not take me long to adjust to the kids having their own space upstairs. Meaning gone are the days of my kids having my family room covered in toys! So, back to my decorating ideas. I had big plans for my new house...except this hallway!! What was I going to do with this space? It separates my kids rooms, and across from it is the play room. The wall is over 13 feet long, with no breaks in it, behind it is the staircase to the attic. I thought of doing a family wall, you know hanging lots of pictures of the kids at various ages, with maybe some type of writing. I thought about having my friend Lisa paint a huge mural (she does such awesome work...I will use a blog on another day the show what she did in our pool bathroom). I also thought of getting pictures (or maps) of the 4 parks in Disney World (we are HUGE Disney fans in case you did not know), and having them blown up, then framed and hung in the space. And while I liked all these ideas, I was not completely sold on any of them. Then one night when I was laying in bed the idea hit me out of nowhere. I had always wanted to do a chalkboard wall, but could never find the right space. Well, this was the right space for sure!! So, I ran to Lowe's that day and $13 later I had my quart of chalkboard paint. Such a easy and inexpensive idea!! Now I will tell you that as I started to paint I did panic a little and think to myself, "Oh my Gosh! I just painted my wall BLACK!" But I decided it was worth it. After I finished painting the bottom, my wonderful husband hung a piece of molding for me, which I caulked, and then painted white to match my base and crown molding.

Now, what to do with the top?? I decided to let the kids make the art for up there also. I found a ribbon that I liked, and then bought just plain white canvases (in a small size), and painted them to match the ribbon. Once they had dried I simply glued the ribbon onto the back, and then let my kids paint them. They had lots of fun, and it helped to make the space more "Their Space". Here is how it turned out:

The kids were SO excited, and all their friends love coming over, and drawing on the wall. Such a great rainy day activity :o) !! But I still had one more problem. I had a wall across from it that backed up to the playroom, and was about 10 or so feet long. What was I going to do with it? I decided to stick with my "Art" Theme. You know all that art work you kids bring home from school? Mine bring lots home, and I love it all. That is what gave me this idea. I bought a corkboard for each of them, and glued the same ribbon that is on the canvases to the back of the corkboards and hung them. Let me clarify...I did not actually use the ribbon to hang them. I used the metal hooks on the back of the corkboards, and just hung the ribbon for decoration. Here is a picture of how they turned out:

And here is a picture looking down the hallway. Oh, and FYI the plate holder holds 2 plates that my grandmother made for each of the kids after they were born. I had been trying to decide for years what to do with those plates, and this seemed like the perfect spot for them.

I really like how it turned out, and I especially like how much my kids love their new space :o) ! Chalkboard walls are an easy and inexpensive (Not to mention fun!!) way to decorate a kids space.