Wall Decals, Blackboards and Magnets

I am presently somewhat obsessed with wall decals, blackboards and magnets.. I am not too sure how exactly it came about, but I am loving them.

A couple of years ago, I painted a small wall in our house with blackboard paint, with a vision of it being a communication station for our family. It seemed like a master plan as it would by default have allocated space according to height. EPL taking the section closest to the ceiling and myself the next little space then the kids. Until the kids learnt to write, their space would just be a big scribbling pad and better still... they could tell their friends that they are allowed to draw on walls.. well, one wall.

I originally wanted to paint this wall with magnetic blackboard paint, but found out that this product is no longer available. I later found a couple of black metal strips at IKEA which I hung up on the blackboard wall, meaning that we could hang smaller notes or put up artwork the kids did and change it regularly.

When lil-L was born I discovered those magnetic frames which was just the ants pants.. I am a photographer so this meant I could just keep changing pictures of my little darling without the hassle of reframing them all the time.

My newest discovery is large sheets of metal at IKEA. The new additions to our house include a large Red magnet board for lil-L's room so she can hang whatever, whenever she wants and I don't have to stress about blu-tack and sticky tape on walls. And the other is a round black circle board for the laundry for me so I can hang my handymom to do list on it.

I also found these groovy little metal discs about the size of a AU20c piece that come with double sided tape so you can have a little magnet spot ANYWHERE in the house. I stuck 4 of these on the inside of the front door.. At the moment the little discs being used as a display space for lil-L's paintings, but a future vision is that each person can have their own disc to hang a note for themselves of something they need to remember the next day. Its a perfect little spot as you will always see it before you leave the house as we always use the front door to leave.

The other little item.. or big one I am slightly addicted to is those removable wall decals. There are so many amazing images out there and they are so much fun for decorating a kids room, and more so, they are removable so the decorations on your child's walls can evolve with them. Lil-L's room has a set of cherry blossom flowers which are scattered above her bed head, a set of 3 chickens and currently I am sticking up the alphabet for her. Zaccy has a big red plane with white clouds on his blue feature wall and a set of blue/white/red hot air balloons on his wardrobe.

And still rolled up waiting to be stuck up, I have bought a 1.8m tree decal to stick in the laundry in thoughts of drilling a set of hooks into the wall where the branches are and turning it into a flat coat stand. By default the lower branches will be for the little ones and high ones for daddy.

I like blank walls and but I also like things on them... and then I like to change my mind... a lot!! Wall Decals, Blackboards and Magnet boards are therefore the best thing ever in my eyes. I can write quotes on the blackboard, draw pictures with lil-L, write letters of the alphabet for her and our house can just evolve with us.. now to find a blackboard wall decal I like...

I guess the main thing I am trying to achieve is great communication in our family and a sense of fun. Life is to serious!! And too short to be serious!!