I wanted to make my kids' new playroom wall a little extra fancy. I could have rehung the wire rack we were using to store crayons and markers and such, but unfinished wood was 40% off at Hobby Lobby and YOU KNOW I LOVE A SALE! So I bought 3 of these cube shelves:
First I painted the edges with 3 or 4 coats of Americana Raw Umber to make them extra dark.
I bought a few pieces of brown polka-dot scrapbook paper so that all three pieces would have a unifying look on the outside.
On the inside I used some of the leftover paper from my fancy wall.
I stuck it all on with 3 coats of Mod Podge and used a brayer to get out all the air bubbles. I love my brayer. Supposedly you should be able to use your fingers to get the paper all smooth, and I would love to be all: "Look at me, playing in the Mod Podge with my hands. I'm all organic and one with the Mod Podge." In real life I think a brayer works much better.
When the Mod Podge was dry I wet-sanded it a little to make the finish extra smooth.
Then I hung those suckers up and placed all my Target dollar-section buckets in them. And, of course, my Kermit mug doesn't need an explanation. He's Kermit the freakin' Frog yo!
Total Cost for the 3 Storage Cubes: about $16.00
Since the unfinished wood was on sale, I also picked up this peg rack.
I painted it with 3 coats of the same Raw Umber paint that I used on my cube shelves. Then I Mod Podged on some punch-outs of leftover paper from my fancy wall. When it was done I massacred the peg rack by attaching it to the wall with 2 inch screws. I tried all sorts of frame-type hanging devices to hang it from the back, but I could never get it flat against the wall. So in the end I just pushed the screws all the way through the wood from the front and then covered the heads with paint. Total Cost: About $3.00
The last thing I did was to fancy up this much loved, hideous table:
It's a great little table, but we've had it for years and it's been used a lot. I went to the fabric store and got a little bit of that pleather-type stuff. I don't know the name of it, but it's like tablecloth material, so I didn't need to hem the edges. Because I don't sew. I measured the table before I went and got just enough to cover plus a couple inches for the sides. Of course, I waited until it was on sale, so I think it only cost me about $3.00. Then I used spray adhesive to stick it on. Even though it's still a plastic table, I like that it matches the color scheme of the wall.
So there you go, some basic coordinating wall storage and a newish-looking table for less than $25. Sweet!
16 comments:
You are just WAY too cool for your own good! Kickass playroom!
That playroom looks FANTASTIC! Great job. I love all the colors! I'm going to have to bookmark it for inspiration on my next decorating project.
It's called vinyl I think :)
I absolutely love EVERYTHING!! I especially love the cubes...they rock sis! xo
How cool!! You are so creative. I wish that was MY play room. haha
Wow! Ok I'm so jealous and NOT showing the boys this they would want my room to have a fun play room like this! Absolutely love the walls and those boxes are just too cute!
Wow this is awesome and just what I need for my daughter's room. Fantastic thank you! Found you through Spearmint Baby :)
How adorable! I love how you used the scrapbook paper! What lucky kiddos you have! Thanks for sharing your creativity!
Do you mind if I ask where your little tin buckets are from? :O)
kim
trying4two at gmail dot com
well done! It looks awesome and I love the deals!
Quick question. Do you have trouble with the paper (on the 3 cube shelves) expanding when you modge podge it? Whenever I do a project like this, I cut the paper out perfect and double check the size, but then when it "gets wet" it expands and hangs over the edges. Just wondering if there's a special trick to it. Especially for doing the insides of the cubes where the paper would tend to wrinkle up after expanding because it doesn't fit in the space.
Hi Evonne - Maybe I just got lucky, because I didn't have a problem with expanding paper. Around the outside I actually overlapped the paper over each corner by about 1/8 in. to make it look completely covered, so I probably wouldn't have noticed if if expanded there anyway. I would think that if it expanded inside, you might just push it up the sides a little or at least push the wrinkles to a corner with your brayer. I'm definitely not a Mod Podge expert. Half the time I end up cursing at my bottle of Mod Podge, so I understand where you're coming from. :)
Well hi! I love this playroom. I want it to be my room! :D
This is awesome! How is the wall holding up? I want to use this for the nursery, but I'm concerned about not being able to clean the paper.
Hi Anne,
The wall held up well! I'm taking it down now (a year later), because I'm moving, but I wish I didn't have to!
If any paper gets messed up, just replace it with a new sheet. Easy! I know you can't actually clean it, but I haven't had any problems, except:
A couple pieces of my paper did start to bow out a little. I'm thinking that happened because the wall is in my basement. Maybe it's a little humid in there? I still love it, though!
If you do it, I'd love to hear how it turns out!
So how easy was it to clean off the glue dots??? I was super excited about doing this in our own playroom but as soon as I said "glue dots" my husband made a horrible face and pretty much said no.
Anonymous,
I used a goof off-type adhesive remover and a butter knife and it worked fine.
I think it would depend on the paint/surface, though, so I can't be held responsible! :)
Maybe try a sheet or two of paper and experiment with removers until you figure it out. Then you can show your husband after you make sure the glue dots come off perfectly!
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