Chalkboard Paint: Nothing is Safe!

I’m about to tell you a secret that may shock you.

I am absolutely, over the top, anal, OCDish about my toy bins.

That feels so good to get off my chest.

When I revamped my playroom/schoolroom last August, we purchased this shelf/bin system from IKEA. I loved it from the beginning, as before all the toys were shoved into two huge buckets that made me twitch every time I walked in the room.

The only problem was that I was the only one in the world who knew what toy went into what bucket. My children and my husband, bless their souls, would just throw toys in the buckets. When we’d have friends over to play, their well intentioned little hands and mothers would try so hard to clean up the category 4 hurricane that had hit the playroom as I tried to manage the ticks and twitches of a maniacal, organizational beast who just needed.to.calm.down.

Enter into my life: chalkboard paint.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I tried going  a different route with a labeling system before I busted out the permanent fixture of paint. I saw this adorably clever system on Pinterest using paint chips as labels. Cute as it was, Brooklyn could not keep her paws off the shiny, colorful labels and made it her

ABSOLUTE GOAL

to peel every single label off. Every single day. *twitch

Dear Brooklyn,
I love you. But you will never, ever beat Mama. Like, ever.
Love, Me.

Here is a toot on my horn: This was brilliant! I was a little afraid that the kids would get all eraser happy and continually rub off the chalk, but nope. It has stayed this way all day! Plus, this beats out the label idea I was using because I can easily change what is in a bucket, which I have a tendency to do after an influx of new toys come in for birthdays or Christmas.

But I couldn’t stop there. Oh no. Chalkboard paint+brush+me=nothing is safe.

Next came the kids table.

Formerly just a white laminate tabletop from IKEA, this table has been transformed to a chalkboard surface for my children to scrawl to their hearts content on. I love that there is now a piece of furniture in my house that I’m begging the children to draw on!

If I didn’t have textured walls, I’d do a whole wall in the stuff! I’m going to head out to Goodwill and find a huge, hideous glass frame that I can transform into an amazingly awesome chalkboard for my kitchen.

Seriously, I may need an intervention soon.