THE BLACK MAGIC TOUCH

We just painted a blue accent wall and it’s result inspired us to be even more bold. Yup. I painted a wall black– “Black Magic” by Sherwin Williams, to be exact.

We have this narrow wall that’s right by the garage door. It used to be home of a red magnetic board that is now hung on the inside of the pantry door. We thought the new spot for the magnetic board would be much better for flyers, cards, save-the-dates, etc because it is always changing and appeared somewhat cluttered (as Mya enjoys rearranging the ones she can reach.)

We also have a small coat closet (located behind the newly painted black wall), but we wanted something easier for Mya (and us) to access. (Since truth be told: We were just throwing our everyday hats and bags on the floor instead of hanging them up!) Easy solution: hang some hooks. But we wanted to make it a bit more interesting. Normally, I wouldn’t paint a wall black, unless I wanted it to be a focal point of the room. But this small wall section was different. Painting the wall black makes our bags and coats and hats less noticeable. “Sorcery!” you say?! Nah… It’s just that when we looked at what we would be hanging on the hooks, we realized most of our items were dark-colored; and their organic shapes would draw way more attention on a beige wall. We also figured the wall would be getting marked-up more with our everyday items hanging there, so a dark color would hide any smudges and prints. Some may say, “bold,” but really it’s just practical.

The hardest part of this little project was finding hooks that fit our style. But we couldn’t go wrong with a warm wood grain and industrial-looking metal. We shopped around (Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ikea, Amazon…), but eventually landed on two of the same coat rails from Target. Derek added some wall anchors (with Mya’s help, of course) and after some touch-up painting by Mya (what would we do without her manual labor?!), the hook wall was complete. The bottom hooks are still a bit too high for Mya to reach (even on her tippy toes), but she’ll get there soon enough.

You also may have noticed that the bottom wall vent is now black too. We just spray-painted it, so it wouldn’t stand out. All-in-all, a quick yet calculated fix to our everyday living. Now I can say that “I went black… and I’m never going back.” (Insert Derek’s eye roll here.)

How do you declutter your family’s everyday items? Would you dare to paint a wall black?

But perhaps something even more crazy than Black Magic, was the decision to cut me off some bangs. Mya makes them look so cute, so I thought I’d take the plunge. I guess I look to my 22-month old for styling tips!