This week I had a MAJOR creative burst in relation to my children’s playroom. The following four pictures give you an idea of what I have to show for it!
The first project came from the hanging of a PotteryBarn Advent Calendar that I found on deep discount. I loved how it looked in their online catalog, but when I put it up at my own home, the buckets wobbled and didn’t “face front’ which made my type-aness hurt. Then, there was too much white space. It looked like an empty wall with weirdly dangling buckets. I thought, well… I could do some sort of contact paper behind it to put some pattern there. Then my friend suggested blackboard. My A-ness loved that idea. I got to Lowes, and there was a bifold plyboard closet door with a dent in it that was on deep discount. I bought that, some primer, and some chalkboard paint and went to town. Now, when we move, all I have to do is fold my doors closed and off we go with our advent calendar! I removed the bottom 5 buckets of the calendar for “non holiday” times. Whenever I reorganize, or when I empty the buckets to use them as an actual advent calendar during December, I can simply erase my board and write new labels. (Ahhh. OCD-licious!) 
When I finished with the purchasing of the door, I got jealous of those pictures you find online that people have of walls painted in chalkboard. We are renting so this is a huge NO. I thought about it, and realized that if I wanted to “make a wall” without making an actual dent, I can hang pegboard/plyboard over the door using over the door hooks, and I can have a “reminder/organizer” station on one side and a “here’s some chalk – keep yourself busy” station for the kiddos on the reverse! No damage, low cost, and easy to assemble!
When I was done hanging everything, I realized that the room looked weird. I’d moved one of my Expedit bookcases to place my buckets, and now the room looked off balance. I got my inner Hercules out and rearranged the furniture by myself to make the room “make more sense”. Clearly, my A-Ness was out of control… But the results were awesome. I did end up with one blank wall, and my posted values ended up “homeless”. I went back to my office (my thoughtful spot) and looked at the “what I haven’t used in THIS house yet” pile. All military families have things that don’t fit in every home that sometimes end up in storage… I found two Potterybarn ledges that were a major splurge 8 years ago, and I thought, “YEP! These’ll do it!”. I put them to work, and added a couple of pinterest inspired button initials for the kiddos. I love how it turned out! 
The last creative project in THIS room involved re-purposing a shower curtain from Target for regular window curtains. I bought one curtain, cut it down the middle, and hung it up on a rod to cover the television which (after the furniture moving) is located in front of the window. I put the sides with the stitched finishes on the inside, and the fresh cut edges on the outside. (In other words, the middles are on the outside and the outsides are on the insides… in case you’re tryin’ this one). You’d never know this was a shower curtain. It was perfect for my “letter and number” theme that we rock in our playroom, way cheaper than buying actual curtains, easier than making my own, and available in the immediate. Good call. I do plan on putting window film (watch for a post on this next week) in both this room and the den (also on the first floor). While I do enjoy looking out, we have some pretty good stuff in here, and I don’t like the idea that people can look in. We live on a corner of a well-traveled street. The blinds are always up because they pose a hazard to the kids. So, for privacy and preservation, up goes the film!
Anyhow, that’s how I was Thinkin’ this week. Happy Thinkin’ Thursday!
