Children’s Art Rail

In our new place, we have Stainless Steel appliances.  Not only do they show every single freaking fingerprint, they also do not allow us to display artwork on our fridge with magnets.  Grrrrr….

I have a little artist here and we NEED to do SOMETHING with all the art that is produced.  I got this great idea from the Great Ana White.  Thank you Ana. Oh so clever.  I made a few alterations!  I couldn’t find the right size of large clothespins so I just used regular ones.  I also did not screw anything  use any screws.  I used heavy-duty wood glue and some 3M Command strips for mounting hanging.   Geez people…get your head out of the gutter :)

Items Needed:

• Ruler (found at Lowe’s)
• Paint/paintbrushes
• Clothespins
• Wood Glue
• 3M Command Strips (not shown below)

First I separated all the clothespins from the springs and then painted them.  I made 2 rails so I had 10 clothespins, 5 for each rail.  I kept the colors the same for both rails (I like symmetry–thanks to genetics from my mom)

Once dried, I reassembled the clothespins and then spaced them along the ruler.  I set one at both edges, the 9″, 18″ and 27″ lines.  I used the wood glue and glued those suckers in place.

Then I added the command strips to the two ends, making sure the rounded “pull tab” to release the strip was pointed down so that the clothespin body and art would cover it.  You can certainly use screws to hang these also like Ana did, it’s just the command strips help with the fact of us renting right now.  Minimal damage and easy to pack up!

I then hung these rails under some fabulous art frames I picked up at Target years ago.  I put these on both side’s of Michael’s bedroom window.  So we have some framed art of his and easily accessible clips for him to change out as he deems fit!  He was so proud to see his art displayed again…and just in time for pre-kindergarten this fall!