‘My maternity leave side hustle stopped my toddler drawing all over the walls’

“She ruined her bedroom furniture with black permanent marker,” the Melbourne mum reveals.

When it came time for Maddie to put her newborn son, Levi, down for a nap, she did everything she could to occupy her two-year-old daughter, Frankie, with her favourite activity.

“She loves to draw so I would set her up with pencils and colouring books with stickers,” the Melbourne mum tells Kidspot.

When Maddie was occupied with Levi for just a few minutes, the plan worked seamlessly. But that was not often the case. 

“At other times, I would be stuck in that dark room for a while, and that’s when disaster hit.”

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

A creative genius 

Much to her parents’ shock and frustration, Frankie chose Levi’s nap times to express her artistic sensibility in the most destructive way possible - by drawing all over the walls of the family’s rental home.

“She would draw on the walls in her playroom and in the hall near Levi’s room,” the 34-year-old mum recalls.

“She also drew on her bedroom furniture. Her white wooden chair is completely ruined with black texta and her chest of drawers was covered in texta and I was only able to get some of it off.”

And Frankie didn’t choose easily removable textas or crayons, either. 

“My partner is a bricklayer and he has permanent markers that are left around the house, and she always found those to use,” Maddie adds.

“We put the textas in a cupboard with a child lock, which she even got open. There was nothing that could stop her.”

RELATED: Interior designers turn kids’ wildest drawings into reality

Frankie loves to be creative. Image: Supplied

An idea is born

After a few days of combating her daughter’s “unwanted” artwork, Maddie looked online for a way to give Frankie an opportunity to draw on the wall without it being destructive.

When the product she wanted couldn’t be shipped to Australia, instead of giving up, the ingenious mum-of-two decided to use her maternity leave from her construction company role to solve the problem for herself and other Aussie parents going through the same issues.

In just over two months - and a $10,000 investment from her rainy day savings - Maddie created an arch decal measuring 100 x 70cm that has a wipe-off capability for whiteboard markers, chalk, water-based paint and crayons, and is all magnetic to boot. Importantly, it can also be moved around the house and used on different paint surfaces.

“I wanted to design something that blends into the decor of a home and didn’t look like bright, toy clutter,” she says.

“It was a big risk because that’s all the savings I had but it was something I was so passionate about.”

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

A game-changing idea

After the first sample arrived, Maddie breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Frankie was so excited and it suddenly just changed everything,” the excited mum says.

“I would come out of Levi’s room and she would lead me to the decal to show me a picture she’d drawn and there would be nothing on the walls. Everything she does, I’m able to easily clean with a wet wipe.” 

Following successful trials in her own home and with friends, Maddie launched her side hustle, Oh My Frankie, in January this year, selling the wall decal for $99.

“I’m replying to emails and messaging my supplier in the middle of the night during a feed,” the busy mum says of juggling the load of being home full time with a two year old and eight-month-old.

While she was at first excited to sell just a few units, the business has grown much faster than Maddie anticipated due to how well the product has been received on social media - and without any paid advertising.

RELATED: Boy’s accidentally X-rated homework drawing

The Melbourne mum couldn’t control her toddler drawing on the walls. Images: Supplied

In just seven months, Oh My Frankie - which also now sells other play accessories - has made just over $75,000.

“I knew it was a great idea, but I had no idea how much it would kick off, and what that would mean for the business to manage it all,” she admits.

“At times I feel out of my depth and it can be overwhelming but when I’m sleep deprived, I think, ‘Oh my gosh, I did that!’ It’s amazing what you can do when you believe enough in something.”

Her biggest satisfaction, however, is seeing Frankie playing with the decal - and not the wall - every single day.

“Sometimes she’ll just use it to put stickers on there, or connect magnetic tiles, and other times we’ll do a big painting session,” Maddie says proudly.

“It’s getting a lot of use and making nap times with Levi easier, which makes me really happy.”

Originally published as ‘My maternity leave side hustle stopped my toddler drawing all over the walls’