Kids' Reading Corner with DIY Artwork

This Kids' Reading Corner with DIY Artwork in my son's room is a sweet little spot for him to get away to. I'd love to tell you he's spending hours pouring over the great works of literature...but it's usually a Star Wars novel or Lego book. Hey...I'll take it.

As we turn the corner into the almost-teenage-years, we've noticed that *someone* is quite opinionated about his room and its decor. Understandably so. But, I still try to intervene with some suggestions (and reign in my total type-A-ness). With the Batman kick he's on (he's just graduated into being allowed to watch some PG-13 movies)...it's opened a whole new world of super hero excitement. I thought it would be cool to add a touch of vintage Batman...since it's perfect with his interests and the vintage vibe still fits in with the rest of the house. This canvas is an upcycle...I've got all of its DIY details below. Including the fun peel and stick Batman poster I grabbed here.

  

I'm just loving this little corner. Our Ben picked this room the moment we walked in the house...he loved all of its windows (I don't blame him a bit). But, the one little twin-sized bed and 3-drawer-dresser he had in his previous room looked so shrimpy in here. We went ahead and graduated him up to a full-size bed (apparently he just won't stop growing), and then my little red, plaid chair landed in here, as well, to fill a bit more of the emptiness.  

He wasn't thrilled with the mid-century modern reading lamp I so generously bestowed on him. I was like, "BEN! I totally scored this for $5 at Goodwill...it's such a find!" I'm not sure the eye-roll from his end was completely unwarranted, BUT, I gladly took back my sassy brassy and went on a mission to update this little corner. 

I wanted the artwork over here to be really special...it's what he can see from his bed, so it's the primo spot. I used a canvas from a previous piece of art I had made for his previous room. His new bedding kind of dictated that this piece really didn't fit in here anymore. Rather than throw it in a closet for ten years, I repurposed it with a peel and stick Batman poster from Fathead. I had no idea the extensive amount of awesome pieces Fathead has...it's definitely not all sports people (I'm sure by my lingo, you can tell I'm definitely not of the sports people variety. I try, y'all. I really do.). 

I painted the canvas with red chalk paint. Then lightly sanded the edges. My main idea was to introduce a deeper red to this piece...so it would easily coordinate with his curtain panels which are hanging right there in this corner.

After my canvas was prepped and ready, I got the peel and stick poster ready by trimming the edges of it. There are lots of fun peel and stick posters just like this one on the Fathead site here. They can adhere to the wall, too. We have a bit of texture on our walls, so I erred on the side of caution by adding the canvas to mine. Plus it allowed me to bring in that vintage vibe and additional shade of red.

I used the provided squeegee and smoothed out the poster.  

Nana, nana, nana, nana....BATMAN! 

We made the plumbing pipe curtain rod, too.
See that tutorial here. 

I turned an old wire crate over for a little side table for books. 

And I made the industrial wall-mounted light fixture, too.
See its tutorial here.  

Again, grab your own peel and stick poster like this one here. 

Would your kids enjoy a reading nook in your home? 

Neglect your chores like me and don't miss a thing:

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