Playroom Continued

Work on the playroom continued this past weekend, and I am happy to report it is finally starting to come together.  It seems like all of the details are in place and now we just need the big elements in place.  Here's an updated look at the to-do list for the room (again I went ahead and noted the updates in pink):

• get cable hooked up
• get adult seating for room (possibly sleeper sofa---or Genna's sofa/loveseat in August...can I be that patient?)
• get toy box for Colton's bigger toys---coming from Genna, will need to be painted
• get child seating for room (beanbag chairs? floor cushions? poofs?)
• magnetic and/or chalkboard wall
• artwork clothesline
• ABC artwork-ordered
• handprint wall art
• curtain redo...dye? paint? replace?
• flag bunting?

By the way, anyone else tend to add things to your to-do list as others get crossed off?  I swear I don't know how I ever get anything done!

But I digress...back to the list and our updates, you may notice I conquered a couple projects this weekend.  The first was painting our magnetic chalkboard wall.  I had originally planned on doing two separate walls: one magnetic and one chalkboard, but then had a genius moment and wondered if I could just combine the two paints.  Turns out it wasn't that genius because printed right on the box for the magnetic paint was the directions to make a magnetic chalkboard surface....oh well, at least I could do it, right?  I had also considered making the wall ceiling height, but even I can't reach those darn ceiling tops without a ladder, so I figured our little children should not be tempted to do so either.  Instead, I opted to tape the wall off right under our light switch (I didn't measure, but I'm thinking it's about 3 feet tall) and get to painting.  The directions said to apply 3 thin coats of magnetic primer first.  Applying the stuff was easy using a foam roller, but holy shite...let me tell you, that stuff STINKS!  Make sure you are applying it in a well ventilated room because WHOA!  Once those three coats dried, I applied three thin coats of chalkboard paint on top.  Here is the finished product:

pardon my crappy artwork

I also tackled my handprint art project this weekend.  My original inspiration was this artwork from Land of Nod:

                                                                      

But I knew I could DIY my own, so I did!  I just bought 4 canvases...I bought the 11x14 ones even though honestly I do like the square look of these better, but the 8x8 canvases were about $10 each, which was a little steep for my project.  Once the canvases were mine, I painted each one a different color: orange, yellow, lime green, and coastal blue.

After two coats, one with vertical brush strokes and the next with horizontal brush strokes, my canvases were ready for some handprints.  The Land of Nod art features handprints from different stages of the same child's life, but that would be pretty hard to accomplish with a 14 month old.  Instead, I decided to do one canvas for each of our family members, including Chipper.  The idea sounded good in theory, but I was a little naive to how much Chipper would not like having his paw painted (I should have known...the groomers always comment on how much he hates having his paws done) or how hard it would be to get a good handprint from Colton.  They certainly are not perfect, especially Chipper's whose looks a white blob, but I think their imperfections add character.  I plan to hang these over the couch once it is in the room, so for now, they are waiting patiently one the floor, but this is what the final product looks like:

And now for the really fun part.  Here's a look at our progress so far.  As a reminder, here is what the playroom looked like when we started:

And a few projects later:

Progress, right?  What do you all think?