Play Room Remodel

Noel and I have been wanting to change the way the play room looks for a while, but could not figure out what to do to make it look nice and still be functional for the "safari." The "safari" will be in that room for a while.

I was reading an article on the Internet about making rooms functional for kids but still appealing to the eye of an adult. After reading the article I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to look. Noel thought it was a good idea as well and so we picked a day to go shopping. My parents came down and played with the kids and we went to Lowe's. We got paint and materials and left with the excitement of knowing that we were not going to have white walls any longer in that room. Growing up in the military I could never paint our walls because of all the work we would have to do to put the original color back on before we could move, so I never got to paint my walls. Now was my opportunity to get that out of my system.

So Tuesday during the day I taped the entire room so that we could jump right in when Noel got home and after the kids went to bed. As you can see by the pictures we went with two different colors with molding in the middle. Now the top color is Autumn Fog and the bottom color we chose Midnight Racing. The great thing is that the bottom color is actually a chalkboard. You see if you mix 2 parts paint, to 1 part glazing medium and for every 1 cup of paint you add 2 tablespoons of unsanded grout then the wall becomes a chalkboard. We did not have to buy chalkboard paint, which comes to about $60 - $80 a gallon. Also we are adding a chalkboard calender to the wall so that we can have a family calender. The wall that has the calender on it was primed with magnetic primer as well. So that we can put magnets on that wall as well. In the pictures you see that the primer was BLACK. We had to paint a coat of white primer after it so that the colors would match the rest of the room. I will put a picture of the calender up when I am done. There will be pictures of the kids on the walls and there will be curtains on the windows as well.

Noel and I are very pleased with how the room turned out and we did it in less than 3 days, working only after the "safari" went to bed. The next project that we have is redoing the "safari's" bathroom. We are putting our garden tub in that bathroom and moving the toilet and vanity down. Also we are getting a kids toilet since we will have so many little bottoms in the house. Owning a house is great. Noel and I look forward to each new project and how that will make our house more of a home for our "safari."