{playroom pails}

We have a big magnet board in our playroom, and it is not only well-loved, but one of the favorite places to play. I only had one problem. I had a hard time figuring out to best store all the magnets. If I left them on the magnet board, then there wasn't much room left to actually play. (Which usually resulted in every single magnet pulled off and thrown all over the room.) If I had them in a tub in the closet, then I was constantly taking them down and putting them back up again.

So, after my darling 1 year old pulled off the lower rain gutter bookshelf from the wall (he definitely does not know his own strength), I decided to replace with some fun pails to store the magnets in. Solved both problems--a place for them to be, plus easy access for the kids. This project was also VERY inexpensive--less than $10, including the paint. LOVE it.

Finding pails was harder than I thought. At first I envisioned galvanized metal pails, and I searched everywhere from the dollar stores to Michael's (and everywhere in between) with no luck. Either they were way too expensive, or they didn't have a handle, or they were the wrong size. I'm also really impatient, and I'm sure if I had waited a couple of weeks I could have found something, but when I get an idea in my head, I always want it finished immediately. Finally I found these gray pails at Target, for only $2.50! They were a great size, and looked fairly indestructible. Later I realized that all the magnets would have stuck to the sides of the metal pails anyway, so this worked out perfectly!

(I am apologizing in advance for the pictures. Our playroom is in the basement, thus very little natural light. So--some pics are using a flash, and others are a little dark, but hopefully you get the idea.)

Playroom Pails


ITEMS YOU NEED:

• 2x6 board
• 1/2 inch dowel
• 1/4 inch dowel
• spray paint
  
• screws
• wood buttons
• pails!
  

The board is a 2x6 that was cut to the right length for the wall. It's a heavy piece of wood, so we made sure that it would line up with the studs where it attached to the wall. You could also use a 2x4, but I wanted room to put vinyl above the hooks.

I had originally purchased wooden pegs from Michael's, thinking I could just add those to the board for hooks, but the pails were too big, so we had to go with Plan B. Instead, we cut a 1/2 inch dowel into the length we needed them to be, per the size of the pail. The holes for the dowel were made with a spade bit attached to our drill. Those holes went all the way through through the board, to be flush with the back.

The 1/4 inch holes were made on top of the large dowel pieces the same way, except they don't go quite all the way through. This tiny piece of wood helps the pail stay on the hook, and not slide right off.


Once the board and hooks were finished, I painted it with Rustoleum's Colonial Red spray paint, and one it was dry, took a power sander to the edges.

The board was then screwed into the studs on the wall, and we added wood buttons also painted red to over the holes. You don't have to hang it like this, but it does make sure it's completely secure on the wall. Which obviously, we need. :)

I used my Silhouette to cut vinyl for the numbers, but you could use stencils to paint them on, or mod podge cute paper numbers on as well. I decided not to add any wording to the pail, since I knew they would be dragged around the playroom, and most likely not stay put too long, lol.


The kids already love it. And so do I!