A Simple Kid Art Display Using IKEA Curtain Rods
I’ve been looking for a simple solution for displaying all of our son’s art, and I found the perfect one for just $30! And, as a bonus, it has totally cut down on the stacks of papers all over my house. See how to make your own DIY kid art display here.
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Our four-year-old, Jackson, has been very into art lately – and, of course, he wants to save every single creation forever and ever amen. It’s sweet, but I’ll admit – I’m not the super sentimental type when it comes to kids’ artwork. Obviously, there are a few special pieces that I love to save (and we have a special memory box just for that sort of thing!), but more often than not I find myself sneaking dozens of half-colored papers to the trash can after Jackson goes to sleep.
I mean, let’s be real – ain’t nobody got room to display all of that kid art!
Since we’ve been working on wrapping up Jackson’s room makeover, I decided it might be helpful to come up with a way that he can display a few favorite art pieces in his own room. It saves space on the refrigerator (since I really don’t love a cluttered fridge), and gives him some control over what gets saved. I wanted to keep it simple and low-key, but I wanted it to be cute. Enter IKEA’s DIGNITET curtain rod (PRO TIP: That link is for Amazon – it’s actually about the same price there as it is at IKEA – which is rare! Unless you’re right around the corner from your local IKEA, it’s probably even easier to grab it from there than making a trip around the maze of a store).
Easy Kid Art Display (With IKEA Curtain Rods)
I grabbed two of the IKEA curtain rods for right around $30. You can make these just about as long as you want, but since Jackson has a small room, I wanted to keep things nice and proportional. I measured the wall that I wanted to put them on and ended up with a length of about 36″ for each of the rods. It only took me about 15 minutes to install each one, then I grabbed some of these metal clips to hang the art, and that was all it took!
Jackson is in love with having this little art display in his room, and it has totally eliminated any arguments about whether or not we’re keeping any new art he creates. He knows that once his art display is filled up, he has to get rid of something before he can add something new in. And, of course, I can still grab my very favorites to display on the fridge or save in our memory box – this just means I don’t have to worry about saving every single scribbled-on paper. Which is nice, considering he can produce 5 or 6 of them in one 10-minute “art session”.
We’ve also been working a bit on wrapping up some of the details in his room. After we finished building his built-in bed and shelves, we kind of moved on to other things around the house and have been neglecting the finishing touches. Half of the shelves on his built-in bed were still empty, and there was nothing on the walls. We have a ton of art left over from his room in the old house, so I raided our stash to hang a few things up, and finally spent some time actually styling his shelves.
With all of this storage in his room, we’ve finally reached a point where we don’t constantly have toys floating all over the house. He has a basket dedicated to all of his different toy categories, and we’ve even got a couple that are mostly empty, which will be great as we start to bring more baby stuff into the house over the next few months.
Here are a few quick links to a few of the products in the room – if you see anything you love that I missed, just let me know!
So, what’s left in his room? Well, despite how put-together it looks right now, we’ve still got a few things left to cross off the list.
Jackson’s Room To-Do’s
- The closet. Most importantly, we’ve got a long way to go in his closet (which currently only has 1 rod for hanging clothes with a shelf above it). We’re planning on adding a few shelves underneath the hanging rod with big baskets for clothes. Then, we’re going to be moving the dresser out of his room so he has a little more space to play.
- One last project. I’ve had an idea floating around in my head for a while now that I think would be a really cute display for one of the walls in his room. Originally, I had actually planned on doing it above the art display here, but I decided they wouldn’t look right together. I’m still deciding where it’ll go (and if it’ll even work in his room), but I’m hoping to knock it out soon, so I’ll keep you updated!
- A frame for the canvas. We got this adorable print for him to hang above his bed from Jenny’s Print Shop and I love it, but it ended up being a little smaller for the area than I had hoped. We ordered the largest canvas size possible, but I still wish it was bigger. So, I think we’ll be building a simple frame to beef it up a bit and help it look a little more anchored in the nook.
- Window treatment. I don’t think we really have room for actual curtains on the window in his room (it’s only about 5 inches from the edge of his bookshelf), but I still want to trim it out and add something a little prettier than the plain white blinds we have right now. I’m scoping out Roman shades, so we’ll see where we land.
- The tiny details. As we work on rooms in this house, I’m making an effort to finish up all of the tiny finishing touches before we call it done. That includes replacing the light switches and outlet covers, touching up the baseboards if necessary, and replacing the doors and hardware. It isn’t the sort of thing that makes a huge impact right away, but once you add it all together it makes things feel way more finished and is totally worth the effort!
Thankfully, all of the remaining things on our list are pretty quick to knock out. It’s just a matter of staying motivated (and focused) long enough to get it done!
If you want to catch up on all of the progress in Jackson’s room (and catch a peek at what his room looked like in the old house, here are a few links you may enjoy!
Kids’ Room Ideas
- Planning Jackson’s Room: Phase 1
- Jackson’s Room Mood Board
- DIY Built-in Bed & Bookshelves
- Jackson’s Room in the Old House
Have you found any creative solutions for displaying the plethora of kid art in your home?