The Bat Tunnnel

Last year around this time we finally got stairs built into our basement. There is a space below those stairs with a light, an outlet, and a door. Even before it had walls, my kids called it the tunnel. I promised them that we would paint them a play area in the tunnel as soon as we could. Well, we finally have that project almost completed. 

Before. 

After. 4 year old said "awesome mommy but I'd like it better if Lightning was in the lead!"

With the help of a few different Pinterest images, I also did a Batman-inspired city skyline. It's hard to photograph, as you can imagine. 

I wanted this space to be a fun cozy spot to play and contain the overflow of toys in the basement. Now that I'm finding time to complete some indoor projects, our house is feeling more comfortable and personal. 

When we painted the basement, 4 year old (I'm going to start calling him "J". What happens when he's 5 or when the 2 year old becomes 4? It will all be so confusing. "J" is 4. "O" is 2.) anyways, "J" busily painted his tunnel under the stairs. He used markers. He used acrylics. There are gobs of satin paint and primer in one all over the floor. He was quite concerned that I would paint over his work. So we compromised. The boys kept a wall to paint and decorate over the years. 

I plan to do stars on the remaining wals with glow in the dark paint. Perhaps the solar system, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. For now, though, it's done. I was at least 8 hours painting in the tunnel. I sure hope they don't outgrow Lightning McQueen or lose interest in Batman any time soon.