EVERY CHILD IS AN ARTIST...

Have you ever stopped to look carefully at a child's artwork?  My three daughters never cease to amaze me. Their imaginations are endless. I wanted to create a space for the entire family to let our imaginations run wild. Our family is a very artistic bunch to say the least. I love to paint and design and so do my little ladies and hubby. This room once was a white boring room stuffed with work out equipment for my husband mixed with toys for our girls (NOT A GOOD MIX). Freddy and I  would walk into this room, take a quick look around and often times turn right back around and close the door feeling defeated by our children. The best word to describe this room is CHAOS. This was our kids dumping ground for all of their toys. The walls were covered with fingerprints and crayon marks. The gym equipment turned into rides for our children to play on...it was a MESS.

I recently built up enough energy to try and tackle this room. I knew that I wanted a dark color especially to hide the murals on the walls that my girls created using markers, crayons and any other drawing utensil they could get their little hands on. I also knew that I needed to create a room that would empower them to tap into their artistic abilities.  I wanted their artwork to be showcased proudly and their art supplies and toys neatly stowed away. So I thought to myself how cool would it be to have black and white room. Black was a perfect color for the walls and furniture since it would hide the mess that my girls love to make and white compliments black so perfectly. Once I had the color pallet together I got to work. I painted all but 2 walls completely black. The other 2 remaining walls were already painted white. They had a few scuff marks on them but nothing a Magic Eraser couldn't fix. I used a level, pencil and tape and began to draw 18 inch horizontal lines where I painted black stripes in between the white stripes. Once I was finished painting I knew I was already obsessed with this room. Black rooms tend to scare most people but I absolutely love the dark setting it provides. It feels so cozy and cavernous. A perfect place for our family to feel like we have left Earth and entered a new world.

Now it was time for the fun part! What I like to call putting the icing on the cake design...adding all of the furniture and accessories to make the room pop. A lot of what you see in the room was free or bought with very little money.

 The large 8 foot desk was a table that I found next to the dumpster at my job along with the bookshelf. As you can see a little paint and some elbow grease goes a long way. The large chalkboard and white oversized floor lamp along with the flat screen television was a treasure that Freddy once again found on Craigslist.

I'm sorry ladies but I truly have the best husband in the world! Besides his good looks and hilarious sense of humor he is a once in a lifetime catch. He calls it the "Ech Curse".  All jokes aside he really is amazing. He found these items on Craigslist but then realized that it was over an hour away in New Canaan, Connecticut. He knew that I fell in love with the chalkboard and the next day after pulling an all nighter at work we took a road trip to Connecticut to pick up the chalkboard and boy was he glad we did. We pulled up to a mini mansion fit for a king.
 It turned out that the family that owned the house was in the process of moving and their interior designer was helping to sell all of the items they no longer wanted. The people that owned this house had very expensive taste. Everything was bought at high end stores and after conversing with their interior decorator Christina, she was willing to let things go for a bargain of a price. I showed her my designs and she saw how passionate I was about decorating that she really sweetened the deal for us.  We were able to buy the chalkboard, lamp and flat screen tv for 300 dollars! When we left we gave eachother a high five and had a smile ear to ear the rest of the way home. The flat screen tv was easily worth 2600 dollars brand new so we knew this was a steal.

Around this black oasis of a room you will see white inspirational quotes which really pop on the black walls. Our children's artwork is showcased on the cork boards and wires hung on the wall. A teepee was placed in the corner of the room. Our little ladies love to cuddle up next to me while we read inside the teepee.  Across from the teepee is a miniature piano that my aunt picked up at a garage sale for only 2 dollars. I painted it black and added music notes to the wall and on the piano to give it a little drama. Black and white striped curtains and gold accents finish off the look of the room. This black room is by far my favorite design to date. My kids love playing and drawing in this room.  We often go in there as a family to play a game of tic tac toe or hangman or just cuddle up with a blanket and watch a good movie. This space is where our family will flourish as budding artists and I wouldn't change any of it for the world!

P.S. After completing this room I aked my 6 year old daughter Lyla what she liked the most about the room. She turned to me and said, "Out of all the things in this room my favorite part of it is YOU! You worked so hard to do this room for me and I love you! My heart melted...xoxo!