This is such a fun post to be sharing! Now that we’ve finished our built in shelving, our basement is becoming a usable space. The kids have been calling this under the stairs nook their ‘play closet’ for a while now, so I thought I would make it a bit more fun for them with a hand stamped wall.
This year (although I’m off to a late start #ihadababy), I’m partnering with the fabulous Para Paints (they’re Canadian too!) to bring some paint projects to the blog. This isn’t hard for me… because if you haven’t noticed- I paint a lot of stuff. The biggest perk for me (I’m going to sound like such a nerd here) is that I have my own fan deck so I can pick colours without standing in the store for hours. Anyone else take that long? I swear the hardware stores I frequent know me by name. I chose this beautiful charcoal, almost black colour called ‘On the Runway’ in a semi-gloss for this project and painted those DIY book ledges to match.
I tried to get a photo around the corner, but there is literally 0 light in here. I’m sure you can picture what an ‘under stairs’ space looks like though. We have a push on and off light that I just bought I will mount to the ceiling for the kids. No cords to keep it safe.
When I was dreaming up what to do down here, I knew I wanted a ledge for books (there’s the perfect spot for it with the way the wall juts), lots of pillows, and something fun that is ‘all kid’. When we finished the basement, we drywalled the under stairs space in half- the bigger half for storage and this half height spot for the kids. I thought it was a small enough space that I could wallpaper it and was really inspired by some of the fancy kids spaces you see on Instagram (you know the ones) but even then… wallpaper can get pricey. I decided this pattern was simple enough I could stamp it myself and I am so thrilled with how it turned out.
I cut out three different size scallops out of craft foam (I wish I’d done one more, though) and simply painted the stamp and stamped it on. I eyeballed the lines and left some of the stamps without enough paint. I love the way it gave it a playful, handmade look. I was originally going to fill them in but like it so much better this way.
Those ledges are also DIY. I didn’t write a tutorial for them because they were so simple (and sometimes it’s nice to just build without stopping to take photos). We used a 1×3 for the base and a 1×2 for the edge. I used PL (my fave) and brad nails to attach them. I used PL and brad nails to put them on the wall but then got worried that my kids would climb them and added mini L brackets on studs to make them extra strong. The sweet girls at Classy Clutter have more detailed instructions (and theirs have a backing making them easier to attach to the wall) if you like. Our space was so limited that I didn’t want to add bulk with backing and this is just as secure.
So that’s all there is to it! It’s officially my kids favourite room in the house (and the smallest). We’re busy working on the rest of the basement (filling and painting trim seems to take foreeeeever) and I can’t wait to share the whole shebang with you guys. Now that I’ve tried a hand stamped wall (paper), I am dreaming up all the other spaces I could give a touch of pattern to. Also #spoileralert I actually went ahead and got some bright colours. And one other gray… but there’s some bold hues coming your way and I can’t wait.
This is so cute! Love the playful quality of the handstamped wallpaper. I hope your kids get lots of fun out of it. We have an under the stairs nook too and sadly it gets used less every passing day. I’ll be sad when we turn it back into a storage closet.
Thanks so much Jen! They are loving it so far. I’m sure one day they’ll outgrow it and I know it will be sad for me!
It is a very cute and chic design, but probably something that they may outgrow. You could always let them fill it in with colors if they’re old enough, to keep it fresh, and give them a nice project they can work on and be proud of. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much Trisha! Great idea :)