A Room for Little Sister

I'm resurrecting this blog to share some room transformations in our new house (well almost a year broken in now!).

My favorite room in our home is my latest project: a nursery for our soon to be arriving little miss.  We had this spare bedroom painted before we were even pregnant, and I chose a deep teal as I was really crushing on the teal/coral color combination at the time.  Thank goodness for a little girl filling the room, otherwise I would have had to be a bit more creative making the space suitable for a little man (for those that have a little man, red would be a great accent color!).

Because the color on the walls is so rich, I went with a softer pallet of white, coral and gold for everything else.  We decided on buying a new dresser and convertible crib instead of using Sienna's furniture and chose the Child Craft Soho collection in white; which is a sleek, modern design with honey colored legs.

I was inspired by the elegance of gold used in some Hobby Lobby prints I picked up so chose this as an accent color for frames and other details throughout the room.   One of the first things I changed when we got our furniture were the pull handles on the dresser.  I took all the chrome handles off and spray painted gold.  Perfection!

Hobby Lobby prints

Updated to have gold pulls

I just recently picked up sewing, easing into the hobby my making cute cotton baby bibs.  From there, I became ambitious, choosing to not spend hundreds of dollars on some bedding I had my eye on in an Etsy shop, and instead choosing to tackle making it myself.  I had picked up a fabric intended for bibs, but quickly realized how much I loved it for the nursery.  I scoured online shops to find more and was able to order a few yards from a site called Quilt Sandwich Fabrics.

There are literally tutorials for EVERYTHING online these days.  My initial plan was to create a crib sheet and changing pad cover, but I decided on a changing pad cover, crib skirt and pillow cover instead.  I already had two great sheets which would mix well with this patterned fabric.

I found a genius crib skirt tutorial, which recommended making adjustable panels instead of a single size skirt that would bunch on the ground as we lowered the mattress height.  I didn't use a crib skirt for Sienna's crib and don't generally like the look of one, but with this crib, it felt necessary.  I hung each panel with safety pins on the wire mattress frame.

Too bare looking without a skirt!

Adjustable crib skirt

Changing pad and pillow covers

I hung my prints over the dresser with two cardboard cut outs painted coral, making a small gallery wall.

Hobby Lobby prints

If your a longtime reader, you may recall my Ikea meltdown when doing Sienna's room.  I had really wanted their spice racks to use as bookshelves, but they were out of them each trip up there.  This time around, we quickly snagged a couple spice racks for the new nursery.  I picked up a stain at Lowe's that matched the honey colored wooden legs in our furniture and stained the shelves.  We had an old mirror laying around that I spray painted gold as what little one doesn't love looking at her/his self!

Stained bookshelves

Lastly, we pulled our white slip-covered JennyLund chair (also part of that Ikea meltdown) into the room with a small gray foot ottoman we already had for a comfy sitting area.  I hung some paper lights down the wall which will act as a nice night light, and found a gold accent table at Hobby Lobby (I swear they have everything!).

The room is 95% done now, with a few small details to be added over the coming weeks.  We'll add baby girls initials over her crib and probably a few newborn prints on the wall above the chair.  We also currently have a sheer white curtain on the window, but will likely add a double rod with a heavier fabric to make the room darker.  I haven't settled on a fabric yet for this.

Here's how it all ties together!  We can't wait to welcome our newest little one into her cozy abode - any day/week now!

Creating Simple Art

Artwork can make a room come together.  It can act as a focal point, or a subtle accent.

I seem to always struggle to find the right piece of art for a room.  So, many times, I tend to create it myself.  I'm not overly handy and I don't consider myself an artist, so I try to stick with abstract, fun pieces.

Here are some ways to create simple, fun pieces of art for your home.

1) Scrapbook paper!  I usually have a 12 x 12 book of scrapbook paper and some cheap Ikea frames on hand.  Using scrapbook paper is a cheap and easy way to bring some color into a room.  I especially love using scrapbook paper in a photo collage or gallery.  I try to mix these in with other prints and photos.  Here are some photos of how I used it on our laundry room makeover.  

Need: Scrapbook paper, frame, scissors

2)  Duct tape!  Recently, I was trying to find a fun way to bring color into Sienna's play room in a child friendly way.  Duct tape now comes in dozens of fun prints and colors and can be an easy way to cover a canvas.  I found a fun floral print that complimented the emerald green color of the room, so I tested it out.

Duct tape

I covered three canvas boards with the duct tape, including all sides.  I didn't match up the print since it would have been difficult to do so and I liked the abstract look - but you can do so if you'd like.

After covering the canvases, I decided to use some poster board to cut out silhouettes of animals.  I free hand drew each one and think they came out pretty decent!  To make the silhouettes look more polished, I added a few coats of white paint I had sitting around.

Fun animal silhouettes!

I then applied Modge Podge to the back of each silhouette and adhered them to their own duct taped covered canvas.  Once dry, I took the Modge Podge and applied another coat to the entire canvas.

Here's the finished product! (I know, a little uneven, but I've since fixed!)

Need:  Duct tape, poster board, scissors, Modge Podge, canvas, and paint (optional) 

Playroom artwork

3)  Canvas Photos!  I recently posted about our upstairs kids bathroom makeover and how I was hoping to add some kid friendly wall hangings to it.  I got rid of the "Le Bain" piece, and added some fun photos of Sienna in the bath.

I ordered the prints I wanted from mpix.com in a size the matched the canvases I picked up at Wal-Mart (11 x 14).  The quality from mpix is great and they shipped pretty fast.

I then used leftover stain from our bathroom makeover to cover the white canvases.  Paint would probably have dried faster, but I think using the same stain as the cabinets and mirror frame allowed the pieces to tie in nicely with the room.  I let the canvases dry for 24 hours before applying Modge Podge to the backs of my photos and adhering them.

Once dry, I coated the entire photo and canvas sides with a coat of Modge Podge.  I then took some sand paper and gently went over the edges of my photos.  This helped soften the edges and make the photo blend into the canvas.  I probably didn't need the coat of Modge Podge at that time - as it ended up peeling when I sanded the edges.  I pulled most of it off and applied another coat once my sanding was done.

I'm going to add an acrylic sealant since these are going to hang in the bathroom, but I still need to pick that up.  In the meantime, I hung them in the bathroom so I can appreciate my work! 

Need:  Photos, canvas, Modge Podge, paint/stain, sandpaper, acrylic sealant (optional)

There are endless ways to get creative with the art in your home.  Hopefully this post helped you come up with some ideas to bring color and personality into your home through art/pictures!

It's In The Details

I'm going to take a quick break from a whole room makeover, and share a tip on how we added a touch of color and personality to our living room.

Our house has beautiful detailing inside with crown molding throughout every room.  One way to make this stand out is to use color on the walls - it's actually the reason I went pretty bold with  my color choices.

The fireplace in our living room also has beautiful detailing.  When we moved in to our house a year and a half ago, I knew instantly I wanted to tile inside the molding at the top of the fireplace.  This was one of the very first projects I did (again, with the help of my mom) and I love how it came out!  It's also an incredibly inexpensive way to add color to a room - this project maybe cost a total of $25. 

Before and after fireplace

To do this, I picked out a blue and gray mosaic pattern of small, glass tile from Lowes (the type that comes with a netted back in 12x by 12x sheets).  It doesn't look like they sell the exact pattern we ended up using, but this one is close.  I had liquid nails at home, so the only other thing I needed from the store was tile grout.  When buying grout, make sure it is meant for application with glass.  Otherwise, you may end up with a grout that is rough on your tile.

We used liquid nails on the back side of the glass tiles and held them in place for several minutes before moving on to the next sheet.  Once all the tile was up, we let dry over night.  We lucked out in that the sizing and spacing of the small tiles fit perfectly within the framed rectangle, so no tile cutting was necessary.  The next day we mixed our grout and applied to the glass tiling.  We used a wet paper towel to make clean edges and wipe down the tile.  Here's a close up of the final result!

Tiled fireplace

Pretty!

Stay tuned for more tips on decorating your home with color (and on a budget!).  

Feeling Green

Our upstairs hall bathroom is one of the only rooms in our home with no natural sunlight; which makes for a drabby room.  As you can tell from my color choice in our laundry room...I like bright colors for spaces with non existent sunlight.  And since this bathroom will be a kids bathroom (once Sienna is actually using her room upstairs!), I wanted it to be a fun.  

Here's a side by side before and after.

Before and After

Like every room in our home, this room started off bland.  I'm just not a fan of white walls and light finished cabinets.  

I found some color inspiration on Pinterest in this picture of a bathroom with green tile against a dark counter and white cabinet.  I loved how much the color just POPPED.  I decided to commit to the color and brighten our upstairs bathroom up with Valspar's "Temptation."

Since I try to keep my room makeovers to a few hundred dollars at most, I had to work with the counter and cabinets already in the bathroom.  Our bathroom counter was white, so I went with a dark stain for the cabinets.

We took all the drawers out and unscrewed our cabinet doors.  We then sanded all surfaces starting out with a coarse 150 grit sand paper.  We finished off the sanding with a fine 220 grit sand paper until there was no longer a shine to the wood.  To get the color you see here, it took two coats of stain and we let dry overnight.

To finish off this space, we had a family friend frame our mirror using crown molding and the same stain we used on the cabinet.  I always hated the large, frame-less bathroom mirrors builders always seem to use.

With the intense wall color, and dark cabinet, I softened up the room with a white shower curtain, towel hooks and towels.  I added a "Le bain" print from World Market, but I'll probably change this out to something more kid friendly when Sienna starts using the bathroom.

Overall, the makeover probably took us 7 - 10 days and roughly $150.

I hope this inspires you to brighten up a room in your home! 

A Place To Air Our Laundry

One of my recent room makeovers was the laundry room.  This was one of the few rooms left to paint and put our stamp on.  

There wasn't much here to begin with other than our washer and dryer on pedestals and a wire shelf. 

Before - laundry room

Before I show off the finished result, I have to give my mom a shout out, as this room would not have been made over if it wasn't for her help.  Sienna was having a fussy week, which limited my ability to do anything other than give some direction, slap on some paint, and use a few nails.  THANKS MOM!

After - laundry room

This was one of the most intense, frustrating, and complex rooms I've ever redone.  It took one week (or two months depending on how you look at it) and roughly eight trips to Lowes.  

We started out by removing the pedestals from both the washer and dryer.  I debated over this for a while, as the pedestals provided nice storage and lifted the washer and dryer up for easy use.  However, I really wanted a flat surface for folding clothes, and if the pedestals stayed I wouldn't have been able to make that work. 

Then came the paint.  For this room I chose Valspar "Apricot Jam" which is a bright, happy orange color.  It made a huge impact on this small, windowless room. 

We then tackled the wainscoting.  For some reason, we had a really hard time finding studs in the walls which resulted in using a lot of liquid nails to keep the boards up.  We were still able to sink a few nails in when we were able to locate a stud.  The wainscoting covers four of the five walls, as we didn't place any behind the washer and dryer.  My mom finished off the look with the chair rail nailed in over the boards.  

For storage I decided on a tall freestanding cabinet and some shelves.  I knew I wanted shelving that came out farther than the previous wire shelf so it would be easier to store and reach items.  We headed to Lowes with measurements in hand and found a 1/2 inch thick piece of plywood for our table top.  Once cut, we realized we could utilize the excess wood for shelving.  I wanted the shelving to come out the depth of the cabinet to give the illusion of one large storage unit, so we had them cut the remaining wood into two pieces 18 inches deep to match.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find cute brackets that fit 18 inch shelving, so I resorted to smaller black brackets meant for 15 inch shelving.  I don't plan on putting much weight on the shelves, so it seems like the smaller brackets will work just fine.  To finish off the storage area, I found cute storage bins at Homegoods for items like toilet paper, towels and iron.  I also hung a paper towel holder under the lower shelf for convenience.

Shelving

I tossed around the idea of using a Formica countertop over the washer and dryer at the beginning of this project and even came home with a six foot piece of Formica to use.  However, we quickly realized the Formica didn't have the depth needed to cover the entire washer and dryer.  We returned the Formica and decided to make a table instead.  This turned out to be my favorite piece in the room.  We stained the plywood black, added white spindles as legs, and had a notch cut out of the left corner for the water hook-up.  

On the opposite wall, I have a simple white shelf with some pieces of scrapbook framed.  I might add a message station of some sort under the shelf at some point in the future.  

The last corner was a tough area to figure out.  There is an angled wall with little space next to it.  This space ended up being perfect to store our ironing board.  I also added some wall mounted hooks for hanging up items like coats, purses, diaper bags, etc.

On the flat wall, we have an electrical panel for some of the wiring in our house, which I wanted to cover up but still be able to get to if needed.  With leftover bead board and some composite, I created a mounted back for our drying rack.  We hung this up by sinking it into drywall screws which we'll be able to unscrew when needing to access the electrical panel.  I added a black "laundry" sign I found at Hobby Lobby to finish off the space. 

Drying Rack

I hope you like the laundry room makeover!  It's nice to have a fun space around me when there seems to be endless amounts of laundry :)

My fun new space!

Next room up - our upstairs bathroom!

A Nursery For My Little One

One of the rooms I had the most fun decorating, was the nursery for our little girl, Sienna (read all about Sienna's story here).  Now, I'm no girly girl, so I definitely didn't intend on following the bubble gum pink baby room trend just because we were having a girl.  I wanted her nursery to be pretty, soothing, and a space she could grow in to.

Here's the "before" picture so you can see the space I was working with.  All white walls and a decent size room.  We also replaced all of our carpeting shortly after moving into our house, so the carpeting in her room is now a creamy gray color.
*Disclaimer - I didn't take a true "before" picture...this is actually the photo of the bedroom from the listing of our house.  Just picture the room with no furniture!

Starting point

To start us off, I wanted to paint the room a neutral color.  But I didn't want something on the cream/beige color scale; instead I chose something in the gray family (gray is the new "neutral" you know!).  Also playing a factor in our color choice, is that at the time of painting, we didn't know if we were having a little girl or boy.  I hit up our local Lowes and chose a light gray paint (Valspar "Gravity") and put the hubby to work.  Since I wanted the space to be fun, we also decided to paint stripes on one wall.  The stripes look great, but boy were they a pain to paint!!  It took lots of tape, a laser level and lots of teamwork and patience to get them marked right.

My plan was to accent the room with yellow and possibly another color.  I went back and forth between a teal and fuchsia, but ultimately felt like fuchsia was the right touch for a little girl's room.  

Here is the end result; which I LOVE!

Finished Nursery

I had originally wanted to do a white/gray patterned curtain in the room, which I looked everywhere for.  My husband happened upon some curtains that fit what I wanted at Marshall's and were only $25 for two panels.  Such a great deal!  However, when I put the curtains up I just knew that they weren't right.  I let them hang in the room for a week or two to see if they grew on me.  They didn't.  So during another trip to Marshall's I decided to look again at what they had for curtains.  JACKPOT.  I found these solid, yellow panels and I knew instantly they would work!  Even better, two panels were only $17!  Talk about a great find.  I love when elements of a room just fall into place.

I purchased the wall decal from LittleLion Studio on Etsy.  I looked at this decal for weeks on etsy before finally deciding to purchase.  I'm so glad I bought it - I think the Koalas make this room playful and they look great!  I can imagine Sienna sitting in her crib chatting away with her Koala friends when she is a little older.  The decals are made really well and I would highly recommend ordering from this vendor if you are thinking about decals for a room in your home. 

Here's a closer look at one of the decals.

On the striped wall, I hung two white shelves from Target.  For the shelf near her crib, I bought a fake, fuchsia, orchid stem and white vase from World Market (one of my FAVORITE stores).  I had the white frame, and covered the glass with some pretty wrapping paper (also from World Market) and a white "F" I found at Babies R Us.  My mom sent down an old koala beanie baby from my childhood to match my decals.

I kept things simple with two picture frames for the second shelf.  In the larger frame, I used the picture from our gender reveal on new years eve.  It's a close up of the pink icing inside a cupcake letting us know we were having a baby girl.  I love this photo as it captures the moment I fell in love with our little girl.

Across from the crib I created a reading nook.  Our friends sold us their old swivel, recliner chair and ottoman which was in great condition and oh-so-comfortable.  I had both re-upholstered in a gray fabric since the chocolate brown corduroy didn't mesh well with my color combination.  For Sienna's books, I saw on Pinterest how someone used spice racks as book racks and immediately knew I wanted to copy that idea :)  However, after two unsuccessful trips to an inconveniently located Ikea (resulting in an almost 36 week pregnant meltdown), I was about to give up on the idea.  My husband, as sweet as he can be sometimes, went to Lowes after the second failed trip and surprised me by making book shelves replicating the Ikea spice racks.  I love these so much more than anything I could have bought at Ikea!

Ikea didn't completely fail me though.  After months and months of searching for a chandelier that wasn't too big, too gold, or too gaudy, I found the perfect one at Ikea.  The chandelier hangs just high enough that my husband won't hit his head on it, is a pretty brushed nickel, and I think it was only $60! 

The last part of her nursery is where I have her dresser and changing pad.  Both the dresser and crib are from Heidi Klum's furniture line, Truly Scrumptious.  I LOVE the furniture we got.  It's a beautiful light gray, with gorgeous rope detail and incredibly sturdy.  You can find her line at Babies R Us.

Over the dresser I have a long, white shelf hung which was given to me from my mom.  It was the perfect shelf to fill in the space!  I spray painted some wine bottles white and added in fake flowers in yellow, white and fuchsia.  I also decorated two canvases - one I wrapped in the same wrapping paper I used for the "F" picture frame, and the other I glued on fuchsia ribbon in a stripe pattern.  To finish things off, I added a "You are my sunshine" plaque, framed scrapbook paper and propped up a teddy bear. 

Stay tuned to see how I made over my laundry room!