Boys room chalk and bead

I've been debating about what kind of wall treatment I wanted to do in the boys room for a while now. I loved the look of the bead board in their old room. Here's a pic in case you missed it.


I never wanted to change it so I knew I could live with it in the new space. But I also really love the idea of an entire chalk board wall like this pic.


If I did that, I wanted to draw shelves on the wall with books and stuffed animals, and frames. I also loved the idea of drawing on their night stands too. The possibilities really are endless.

The problem is that in that huge room, there is one tiny window. I love things light and airy and I thought a huge black wall would make me feel a little gloomy. So I decided to incorporate both things. Here's their room now...


Since my husband is still at Fort Rucker for training I decided to make the project as easy for me as possible and have Home Depot make all the cuts for me with the exception of the molding.


I had them cut up the 4'x 8' sheets of bead board in half, making them 4'x 4'. Then I had them rip a 4'x 8' sheet of masonite into 10" x 8' strips to use for the chalk board part.


I added the trim after finish nailing the bead board and masonite up and then caulked it. After some touch up paint and new lighter tan on the top, I let the kids in. They literally spent 2 hours playing in there, giving me some uninterrupted skype time with the hubs.


I love that I can showcase the kids art without having a gajillion pieces of paper on my fridge. And it's a great way to teach them what is and is NOT acceptable to draw on. Yes on chalk board. No on bedding. Yes with chalk. No with permanent marker. Kills two birds with one stone (which I'm fairly certain my 4 year old could probably do).

Kitchen island

Well, I finished my kitchen island. Almost. I have to get an over sized outlet cover from Home Depot because I got a little crasy with the saw on one side. But that IS the power of Home Depot right?


I really love the corbels on the island. I think they really make the space. I used 3 different ones because they didn't have any that were the same in our free pile. But I actually ended up liking it more.


I know, the lighting blows, but until I get up some light fixtures over the island, they'll have to do. Speaking of, which do you guys like better? I'm planning on hanging two. This oh so popular in blog land from ikea...


Or this one from Lowes?


The cheapo in me says the one from Ikea, but I already used it in a bathroom. I feel a little unoriginal. I kind of like the idea of having a white pendant light in there to keep the white thing going. What do you think? I would actually love to use one from barn light electric but I definitely don't see myself spending over $200 on two lights. If you've never been to their site, go. I love their lighting.