With all the fair weather, the remaining basement projects are getting knocked off one by one around here. I'll show you Chloe's finished playhouse under the stairs shortly but today I'll share one little project, her 3D decal and magnetic board:


I wanted to make use of the triangular piece of wall under the stairs. Originally, I thought I would decorate it with a decal but I could do so much more with it... why not make it 3D? And add a magnetic board too?

First, I coated the wall in about six layers of magnetic paint (I wanted it super strong) and then painted it over with the basement wall paint (Para Paint Whitewash White). I was worried the black magnetic paint would show through but all it took was one coat of the Para Paint to cover it up! Good stuff. Then I applied a custom decal of a boxwood from my friend Elephannie who has done all the decals in my house. HandyMan made a simple planter box out of MDF and some trim pieces.


To attach the box to the wall, we used a piece of wood cut to the same size as the opening in the box. Just like we did with the laundry room countertop, the wood would act as a cleat. You can see above that HandyMan also predrilled some holes in the top of the box and the top of the cleat which will be used to attach them together later on.


First step was to attach the cleat to the wall. The cleat should be screwed into a stud. Renovation tip: To locate a stud, use a screwdriver to poke holes into the drywall near the base of the wall. Typically, you will cover this area over with baseboard so the holes will be easy to cover up! Once you hit the stud, use a level to mark the position up the wall where you want to drill.


HandyMan marked the stud location on the wall and transposed it onto the wood so he would know where to drill. Studs are 16" apart on center so he measured over 16" from this line to find the location of a second stud where he could drill into.

Then he got his trusty sidekick to predrill, hammer in some anchors, and screw in the cleat. He put the planter box on top of the cleat, put some screws into the holes on top that he had pre-drilled, and we had our 3D boxwood hedge.

I love that it's not just a decal, not just a magnetic board. Its interactive! We've been having fun with dressing it up for different seasons:


 Chloe's been displaying her artwork on the wall too. But you'll see more of that in another post ;)