I wrote about building these work surfaces and touched on the benefits they bring to child development last week.  This post is dedicated to how we accessorized the boards and organized our supplies to make them even more fun.  I will also describe what is needed to turn them into easels.  I used mostly Ikea supplies and a couple other add-ons from Amazon.

I love easels!  They are fun and playful and bring a fun element to a room.  They are loads of fun, but  tend to take up a lot of floor space.  This is one of the reasons that we decided to make our DIY vertical work surfaces.  They take up no floor space, just wall space.  I consider them to be pieces of artwork on the walls in the playroom so I don’t mind the space they take up on the wall.  If you have less space, then consider making only 1 vertical board.  

To build a vertical work surface visit this post from last week:  DIY Magnetic Chalkboard 

Turning A Wall Into An Easel:

To make our vertical work surfaces into easels we added Grundtal Ikea Rails and rolls of paper.  The rods were hung above both of our vertical boards.  White rolled craft paper from Ikea were added to the rods so that the paper can be pulled down to use:

It is important to get the right kind of rod from Ikea – not all of their rods will fit the paper’s depth.  You also need a rod where the paper can be replaced without having to take the whole rod and bracket off the wall.  These particular rods have screws on the side so that you can easily slip the rod off of the bracket to replace the paper and then replace the rod onto the bracket again.  In addition, they are very sturdy and I am not worried about them slipping off the wall like I would be if we had just used curtain rods and curtain hangers.  Below is a photo with the paper pulled down and Eliana using the vertical work surface as an easel to paint her DIY Thank You Cards:

Accessorizing Our Vertical Work Surfaces:

Ikea Bygel rails were hung below both boards and white ikea buckets hang from the rods.  Inside the buckets I organized our magnetic toys and coloring apparatuses:

The metal wire “Bygel” basket below (also from Ikea) is what we hang from the rod when painting.  It is the perfect place to have bottles of paint:


I got a few packages of white circular magnets from Ikea.  They are sold in sets of 4 and they have been awesome!  When coloring we can hold a piece of paper to the magnetic boards by using these magnets:

I found the below clip with a magnet attached to the back at Home Depot in a pack of 2.  I picked up two packs and we use these very frequently as well:

I also added wooden magnetic numbers and letters to the tops of each board that can be removed and played with or can stay at the top for decoration.  I found these wooden letters and numbers on Amazon.  They are very cute and were incredibly cheap, but I am concerned about their durability.  I would have gladly paid a little more money for letters/numbers that I am not afraid are going to break if they are dropped or gripped too tightly.

So that’s it!  That is how I accessorized, organized and “easelized” our Vertical Work Surfaces!  Are you considering making a vertical work or play surface?  They are fun!

Here is a preview of what I have been working on and will be posting about soon:  A Reading Nook In The Playroom!

Please Share it! 🙂

Related posts:

DIY Magnetic Chalkboards for a Play Room and Vertical Work Surfaces for Children Reading Nook, Swing And Art Wall In The Playroom Between the Studs Storage – A Tutorial Jack and Jill Budget Bath Renovation – Before and After