AE Update | A New Home For The Advent Boxes

Some of you might remember these Advent Boxes I put together back in 2007 (inspired by a project I'd seen in Martha Stewart's Kids magazine).

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a project (with a bunch of help from Chris) to paint the one long wall in our laundry room with both magnetic + chalkboard paint. I thought this would be a cool spot for this Advent calendar and a cool place for Anna (and Simon) to use chalk or play with other magnets (like this alphabet set).

Here's a couple before photos of our laundry room (it's right off the kitchen):

I stripped off the wallpaper border and then we got down to business of painting the magnetic paint first.

A couple of coats later we added a couple coats of chalkboard paint (they were just about the same color) and called it good.

To get the boxes to "stick" to the wall I used magnetic tape from Michael's. I used 2-4 strips per box. I put a couple strips on before I could tell that the adhesive on the magnetic strips needed a bit more reinforcement so I used red line tape to stick the tape to the back of the boxes.

So far they seem to be sticking ok. I'm not planning to put anything heavy inside the boxes and anticipate that they will get re-arranged and moved around throughout the month.

Now if I could just change up the floors...

She seemed to like it.

He definitely liked it.

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86 thoughts

  1. Advent::Counting Down the Days « life full of whimsy~chronicles of my life says…
    12/02/2010

    [...] together. It was just a great start to the season. I love the ideas of the boxes, especially like Ali’s and Sally’s . I didn’t want to make a new one this year, because I know I have one. I [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Jo says…
    12/03/2010

    What a fab idea!

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Friday Finds 12.3.10 says…
    12/06/2010

    [...] I love Ali Edward’s advent box display. She painted the laundry room with magnetic and chalkboard paint, and it will double as a play [...]

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Katie {choc0holic} says…
    12/06/2010

    Would you mind sharing what brand paints you used for this and whether or not you're pleased with them? I'm considering creating a magnetic chalkboard space in my craft room as I have a half of the room that my kids use and they would LOVE something like this. I just hesitate and worry that the chalkboard part won't work as well as I'd like it to be.

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Yan says…
    12/07/2010

    When I saw your post, I knew that's what I wanted for the bedroom that's about to turn into our home office, but read so many negative reviews on Lowe's and Home Depot websites that I am dubious about starting. How many coats of the magnetic paint did you put on? Which brand did you buy? Are you still happy with it?
    Thanks.

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Melissa Darnall says…
    11/30/2011

    Ali. I am about to venture painting a wall of my kitchen in chalkboard paint and perhaps magnetic paint. Now that you have had it for awhile, do you still like it? Would you do it again, or are you SO OVER IT? Do you find the chalk dust unbearable? Thanks!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Ali says…
      11/30/2011

      Hi Melissa - still happy with the chalkboard. The magnetic paint, even with 3-5 coats was not really enough. I'd skip the magnetic but I think the chalkboard is fun.

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