My Favorite (and cheapest!) Project

Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I just love me some chalkboards. Always have. They are ALL OVER my house, and I paint everything in sight with chalkboard paint. So much that my husband asked me the other day if he was getting a chalkboard for Father's Day! Such a funny guy. I just might, just to be funny;). Several months ago, we painted the bottom half of a playroom wall with chalkboard paint, and put up a chair rail. Looked adorable. But I stumbled across various Kid Gallery Walls on blogs, and thought it would just be perfect above the chair rail. Not only would it look adorable, but hardly cost me a THING! And fortunately for me, I have a few budding artists around the house, whose masterpieces I am constantly collecting;). And also fortunately for me, going to my parents' house is like going to a ginormous yard sale - I kid you not. On any given day, I could walk into their laundry room or storage and find about 15 picture frames, some old lamp shades, candle sticks, pillows I could re-cover - it's fan-freaking-tastic, I tell you! I'm always leaving with something! If you don't have the luxury of going to your parents' house and rummaging through things, hit a couple yard sales, grab some white spray paint, and you will be set. (If you don't have any small artists on hand, you can take this idea and run with it any way you like - favorite photgraphs, art, whatever you want to throw in a frame). Here's my end product:

See those handprints? This is what they looked like when I bought them for a buck (for all 3!) at a yard sale:

 I thought they looked just the right size for those cute little hands, and they were! Spray paint is MAGIC, people, MAGIC! Not one single frame on this wall was white to begin with. I took some old frames (some from my parents' laundry room, some that were next to nothing at yard sales, some I already had), sprayed them all white, and put my kids' art in them. I thought it would be cute to get some letters from JoAnn's, (they were also super cheap - maybe $2, can't remember the exact amount), and I sprayed them different colors to make it fun, and that sign in the middle there? Well that used to be this...

Yup, an old cabinet door. Painted it white, and used paint markers (LOVE THEM!) to write the quote on it. Now it looks like this...

If that quote doesn't sum up our playroom, I don't know what does!

Oh! Almost forgot about the word "PLAY" that I hung at the bottom of the stairs - didn't take a before picture, but those are just the cardboard-ish letters from JoAnn's - cost 2 or 3 bucks a piece. Sprayed them white also. Now, when you come down the steps, you know you're gonna have some FUN! Isn't that what a playroom is all about?! I just completely love this wall. Other than the chalkboard paint, it probably cost a total of $15, and that's simply because of the letters. Makes my heart smile, it truly does. To see all those masterpieces, and to me, they ARE masterpieces, hanging up there, along with their sweet little handprints...getting all misty-eyed just thinking about it. I know the day will come, when they aren't this little, and this won't be their favorite place to come and play, create, imagine, dream. But for now, it's their haven, and if you ever come over and see the mess, please excuse it, they are a little busy making memories.