Personalized Melissa & Doug Wooden ABC Magnets

We have been in full get-ready-for-baby #2 mode for last few months. This has mostly included converting our guestroom/office/craft room into a "big boy" room for Little J (and subsequently trying to find a new home for all the contents of that room) so we can free up the nursery for the new baby. Since it has been a HUGE undertaking that has consisted of so many mini-projects, I thought I'd finally share one of those mini-projects today: Personalized Melissa & Doug Wooden ABC Magnets.

In our home we are big time Oregon State University fans (the hubby and I are alumni, he was an athlete there, so were his cousins...our love for the school and the athletics runs deep). Since "OSU Beavers" was already the theme we had going on in the guestroom/office/craft room (read: lots of orange & black), we decided to embrace it as we transformed it into Little J's "big boy" room, but it was very important to me to make at least a few toddler-friendly additions/changes along the way. That's where this project comes in.

Here is a sneak peek of the room! We made a trip to Ikea to buy a number of things for overhaul including the new PUGG wall clock (with very large numbers so we can eventually say, "Stay in your room until the little hand is on the '8' please"), the RIBBA picture ledges (how amazing is it that Ikea now offers these ledges?? They're just a smaller scale of the ledges we DIY'd for our master bedroom not that long ago), and finally, the SPONTAN magnet board. I definitely thought about DIY-ing something like the chalkboard I made, only with the addition of magnetic paint, or even painting something directly on the wall...but the convenience of something pre-made won out. I also wanted the option to move the board to another area (rather than painting something directly on the wall) in case this specific part of the room becomes the perfect place for a play kitchen or something like that :)

The Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet was a Christmas present, but since we already have  a set of magnet letters (like these) downstairs on the fridge, I thought this would be the perfect addition to Little J's "big boy" room. The letters come in red, blue, green and yellow which would have been fine...but, I'm all about color-coordinating :) We already had most of the spray paint on hand, just had to pick up a can of the orange (since we needed it for another project in the room anyway). It just took a couple light coats (don't worry, I painted outside, with a mask on) and 48 hours later, voilà! Fun, functional room decor! I don't know how the paint will hold up over lots of play, but since we waited the full 48 hours to cure, I'm hopeful that it will be a long time.

Can't wait to share the rest of the room and the other mini-projects with you!

PS - I'm linking up this post at House of Hepworths , The Shabby Nest, Liz Marie, and Tater Tots & Jello