Sometimes I wonder what goes through the mind of a builder.
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| sorry this is such a dark picture – it’s a night shot |
Who thinks the middle of this wall looks like a good place for an electrical panel? No one. I realize this panel was here long before the previous owners finished the basement but still the builder had to know that eventually this basement would get finished right? In which case, why put the electrical panel here? Obviously, I’m not an electrician, but I would imagine that there may have been a less conspicuous spot for this. Anything other than the middle of the wall would have been great, in my opinion.
Even if I had painted the panel the same color as the wall it would have stuck out like a soar thumb. I decided it needed to be hidden. The opposite wall in our basement houses the kids art center, so I didn’t really want to do another gallery wall. I opted to use these inexpensive chalkboard and dry erase board panels to make a large visual statement without spending too much money.
Did you know The Home Depot sells white dry erase boards and chalkboard panels in a 2 ft by 4ft size for about $10? They’re kind of awesome and the project options are endless right? The white pegboard panel is also from The Home Depot and already came in the same size. All I had to do was put them on the wall. They’re pretty light weight so I used command strips to hang them which makes it really easy to remove the chalkboard on the right whenever we need to access the electrical panel. It’s not a fancy solution, but for under $60 for large scale wall decor it’s not half bad. And the fact that it took less than 20 minutes from start to finish is definitely an added bonus. The pegboard is secured to the wall with anchors and screws so that took the bulk of the time.
I decided to use these boards for our house rules.
The kids love adding their own rules…….
and playing games like tic-tac-toe or hangman or just drawing pictures. I know chalkboards aren’t everyones cup of tea but I still love them. They offer endless possibilities and you can’t beat the cost for large scale art. For a basement like ours which is used as a family cave – a place for us all to just play and hang out – this was the perfect solution for hiding the electrical panel.
I used paint cans to house the chalk, dry erase markers and erasers.
Who knew hiding our electrical panel could be done with just one trip to The Home Depot?
I just wish I would had thought to do this sooner. Do you have an awkwardly placed electrical panel in your home? How did you disguise or hide it? I’m still trying to figure out why they didn’t place ours in the basement storage closet?
So cute.