DIY Time-Out Chair

It was just last month that we were celebrating Aspen’s second birthday.  How can it be that we are already waist deep in the terrible two stage?

If you are a parent, you know how demanding this stage can be on our patients.  I try very hard not to beg God for more of it, in fear that this stage could get even worse.  But I do sit at night wondering what the best approach is to take with our unruly toddler.  Time-outs have always been a suggestion as a way to correct that naughty behavior, so I took an old wicker seat chair and a little chalk-paint to create her very own Time-out Chair.

Ok, ok.  I may be exaggerating just a bit on the unruly part.  She is great, and so much fun.  She is full of adventure.  I believe it is her sense of adventure that leads her to test my limits, wanting to know just how far she can push her parents.  Some evenings it is too much.  So, we sat down to devise a way to teach her right from wrong, a subject so many parents struggle with and each their own solution.

For our family, we decided to start with a time-out.  When I came across this old worn out and paint splattered ladder-back chair in an old basement, I had not a clue how it would serve our family.  I brought it home anyway.  This weekend it hit me that we needed a spot to put our little time-outee.  I gathered up my supplies and went to work on Aspen’s time out chair.

After giving the chair a really good scrubbing, I grabbed a test can of Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black, flipped the chair over and began to paint just the legs on the underside.

It’s always wise when painting a chair, to start with the underneath by flipping the chair over.  It becomes a hassle to get all the angles when it’s right side up.

I chose to keep the seat the original color to give this chair a cute farmhouse look.  But I wanted to add in a little somethin-somethin for our time-out chair.

I decided to give the ladder back’s a spray with Rust-oleum Chalkboard Spray Paint.  Then, I took a chalk paint pen and hand-lettered “Aspen’s Time Out ___ Minutes” on the back.  I wanted to help give Aspen a sense of time with her time-out punishment, this way as she grows older we can up the amount of time.

As for right now, Aspen loves to draw on it with her chalk.  We shall see how the time-out portion holds up.

Do you have a sort of time out spot in your home?  I would love to hear feedback on how your children handle it.