We purchased a door from the "as-is" department at IKEA a few months back. I had originally planned to use it to display photos in our living room, but when we rearranged the furniture, it no longer worked with my design plan. So it sat in our shed for a few months, while I waited for inspiration.
A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law gave us a dresser to use in the boys room. We painted it white and put it in their room. It looked great, but needed something above it since there was no mirror. I thought of a few ideas using art or perhaps a shelf. Then I remembered the door. Light bulb!
I decided I wanted to do a combination of chalkboard space and photos.
First, I taped of the panels with painter's tape, and then painted the insets with chalkboard paint. We tried several brushes, but it turns out that a regular old roller brush worked best. It took several coats and I then went back and filled in some of the edges with a black Sharpie.
The center square measured a little over 16" square. So I picked 16 recent pictures of the boys, changed them to black and white in Picasa, then printed them in 4x6 at the drugstore. Using my scrapbook paper trimmer, I cut the photos to 4x4.
I measured to find the center point of the square.
Using a low temp glue gun, I glued the pictures off of that center point and just kind of eyeballed the distance of my spacing. I chose to use a glue gun because the pictures peel off easily, enabling me to change them out as the boys grow.
My husband used picture wire to hang the door over the dresser and it looks great!
I am using the chalkboard space to write words of affirmation and encouragement to the boys. I know they can't read yet, but I can read it to them. And it is a good reminder for me each day that I am caring for precious sons of God, and need to be intentional with my words and actions.
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up..."
1 Thessalonians 5:11
I hope that someday the boys will use this very same door to write words of encouragement to each other.
Because I am not the most creative person when it comes to words, I searched online to see if there were any lists of affirmations for children. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find anything. I know a lot of moms read my blog. I would love it if you would leave a comment and share some of your favorite phrases of encouragement/words of affirmation that you say or write to your children....
Always,
Amanda
