Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine…
You know that one, don’t you? Well, for my son, it’s the other way around: “nine ate seven…” as seven has disappeared from his counting routine! What’s a mom to do? Armed with stencils, I simply numbered the stairs going down to my kids’ playroom, and within minutes, seven came back from its long exile! The little guy now simply enjoys playing with his toys according to numbers all day long.
And since I was already in a decorating mood, I renovated this corner in my kids’ playroom…which is a bomb shelter.
Several months ago, we moved to Israel. For obvious reasons, it is a regulatory must to have a bomb shelter in every home in this country. Above, you’ll see what it looks like, with its ugly iron door and ventilation hole. In my home, the shelter is located next to the kids’ playroom and although we mainly use it for storage I really wanted to make this corner a little more appealing and a little less intimidating, so this is how I changed it.
First, I mixed a deep gray chalk paint (you can make it yourself by adding medium glazing and tile grout to acrylic paint), and painted the wall and the door.
Then, I screwed a ladder I found at Goodwill to the wall (and painted it with yellow paint leftovers from a previous project) and added a small dry erase board. This is what this corner looks like now:
One byproduct of the shelter’s iron door is that fact that it can be used to display artwork, or magnets of any kind.
Miki Steiner is a DIYer and designer who believes that creativity, rather than a big budget, is the key to making a beautiful home. See more of her projects at Miki’s Design.