Nursery Project: Wall Decor

Some of the finishing touches in the nursery were to hang up things on the wall. Before I reveal the whole completed nursery, I wanted to feature those snippets.

With all the headbands and hairbows that I made (and bought, and mom bought), I needed somewhere to store them. I saw people using old frames with hooks and ribbon and it seemed like the perfect idea. The only problem is that some of her thicker headbands do not fit on the hooks so I have them in a tray on her dresser.

I made a wreath for Miller's nursery when I was pregnant with him so I needed one for her room.

I ended up going back and redoing Miller's wreath so that they match. I love seeing  both of them on their doors when I am upstairs.

When I was early in my pregnancy and always worried that something would go wrong, I swear that I would immediately see a rainbow. I have gone years without seeing one and all of a sudden I was seeing them all the time. I told my mom and that afternoon she texted me a picture of one outside her window. Since, mom and I are huge "Wizard of Oz" fans I wanted to put up a quote from the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I could not narrow it down so I just used the whole song.

 

I wanted to have some consistency between both kids rooms so I needed to make a quilted name banner just like the one over Miller's bed. I guess this also serves as a reveal of Baby Girl's name.

Miller has a large "M" on his wall and while I looked for the same one on etsy (the shop has since closed) I went with something much more girly, an "S" covered with pearls. I keep picturing if the kids end up sharing a room at some point and Miller has his wirey black "M" over his bed and she has this pretty pearly "S" over hers. Or they might make their way onto a family gallery wall someday.

I planned on using the dresser as a changing table and wanted something hanging over it. I saw these tassel garlands on pinterest and I had to make one, especially if it  had some metallic in there. I am no longer using the dresser for that anymore but this is still pretty. It was pretty much my substitute for a mobile over her bed, which she does not really have a place for.

 

Miller has a print with a "Rocky Top" quote within the state of Tennessee so I needed something to represent our home state in her room. There are hearts over our hometowns. The bottom picture is a painting that we made with Miller.

I had this on my initial to-do list so that it would be something Miller could be involved in. I had pretty much scrapped it when one day a couple of weeks ago I decided to attempt painting with Miller. He loved it so I figured we could give this a shot.

I taped up my design and put our colors on a plate. He had so much fun. Mommy and Daddy had to help him so that the whole thing got covered but that just makes it a whole family project that we made for our newest little member.

Baby Project: Headbands

I came to the realization early on that this baby girl was going to be stuck in her brothers hand me downs a lot for the first few months. Part of me feels guilty for that but part of me is happy that all of his clothes are not going to waste. I know that we will encounter plenty of cases where people will call her a "he" and I know that wearing some boy clothes are not going to help (and I mean wearing neutral color onesies, not blatant boy clothes).

I wanted to try to make her look more girly and I started looking into headbands. I was going to buy some on etsy but then I started thinking that I could make most of them. I was only going to make 10 or so, just so I had one in every color but then I went a little crazy. Like 23 headbands and 8 hairbows being made in 4 days.

I started out wanting to make some celtic knot headbands with t-shirt yarn. Goodness knows that Ben is always wearing out his undershirts so I knew that I had that on hand. I took one t-shirt of his and it made 14 headbands. I dyed them using moms tie dye stuff.

I first made all of these knotted headbands using this tutorial at Love Stitched.  Once I did the knot, I would spread out all of the yarn ends and sew on a piece of elastic to connect the two sides together.

I really liked them but they were not as wide as I was hoping they would be. I went back and cut some yarn strips to be 2" wide and did those. This is definitely more what I was picturing.

Just for a size comparison. 

I did not need all of these to be knotted so some I braided. These were the first ones that I did so I was experimenting with how to sew up the ends (That is why you see one with a white band around the back). These do not have elastic on them as you can see. They still stretch some but they definitely will have a shorter life span than the ones with elastic since they will not be able to grow as much with her head.

Lastly I wanted to try another method. I made these pinched bow headbands using a tutorial from Sugar Bee Crafts. I love how simple they are!

These I just made a bowtie using the same method that I did for Miller's birthday party. I sewed the two ends of elastic together at a felt circle of the same color as the fabric. Then I hot glued the bow on.

Same concept as above except I made a bow with grosgrain ribbon.

I already had these flower made from a project a few years ago. I just did the elastic with felt circle sewing and glued on the flower.

 

The bows were so easy to make for the headbands that I decided to make a few more just for her to wear when she gets hair (if she is not born with it like her dad and brother). Yep, I already have a Halloween, 4th of July and St Patrick's Day bow in there. I am just being prepared because I know I will not have time for any of this stuff for a while after she is born. The orange one in the top left corner is to put on our UT hat for the hospital. It has a safety pin back.

The rest have a simple alligator clip. 

I am aware that I went a little overboard but I had fun. Confession time- as soon as I made these, I started researching colored elastics on-line. I ordered 27 yds of different elastic ribbon for future headbands. I am not making them all now but if I was going to pay for shipping, I wanted to get all of them for future use. I might be making a few before she comes but I will try to keep it under control.

Nursery Update: Painted Curtains

I knew I would need curtains on our side window in the nursery, and we needed something that had blackout backing. I decided that I wanted a geometric print in navy but do you know how hard that is to find that will not cost you an arm and a leg?!?! I finally came to the conclusion that I was going to have to make them.

My first plan was to pay $30 and get a pair of plain curtains from Ikea, hem them to the right length, paint them, and then sew on black out backing. I started looking at the curtains from Ikea and something with the dimensions was just not right for our window. What if I just buy white blackout curtains and paint them? The answer, I cold not find any for the price I was looking to pay. Now I was back to square one.

That was until on a trip to Walmart, I discovered a white blackout liner. It is supposed to go behind regular curtains but I figured that if I painted it, why couldn't it be the main curtains.

I washed and ironed them first, based on the packages instructions. I laid them out on a shower curtain liner from Dollartree so that if paint seeped through, it would not get on anything.

I bought plain acrylic paint in the color that I wanted and textile medium. I mixed them up per the instructions on the back of the textile medium. I had seen other recipes on blogs but I decided to trust the manufacturer and it was just fine for this.

I put a strip of frog tape on the piece of velcro that was on the curtains. I laid down my Moroccan template, aligning it with the corner. I used a small sponge brush to tap on the paint over the whole template.

I would let it dry for a few minutes, before lining up the template and doing another section. Between drying time and painting, I would say each panel was done over 7 hours. That probably added up to an hour of time that I was actually painting for each panel. Not bad.

I am going to say it, with the valance up there, this corner is a bit busy. I do have a degree in Interior Design and I am not blind to this. My predicament is that I ordered that fabric specifically for the box valance and those curtains definitely took some time to make. I do not want to sacrifice either one. Right now, despite their faults, they are both staying.  

Nursery Update: Headboard (s)

Part of this whole rentervating thing is making things work in your current space that will also work for a future home as well. I am going to try to keep this explanation brief.

My bed since I moved out in college was two twin beds put together to make a king. Late last year my dad and stepmom got a new mattress and boxspring set so they gave us their old one because it was not that old. We then moved our faux king bed into the guest room.

Well now we had to figure out what to do with that guest bed. We did not want to get rid of it because there could be two scenarios in the future when we need it. 1) We would move into a house with 4 bedrooms and need a guest bed again. 2) We could use the individual twin beds as the kid's big kid beds when they move past their toddler bed.

We decided to keep them both. One is stored (under our bed actually) and the other we wanted to keep as a guest bed of sorts in the nursery. We configured it so that it is against the wall lengthwise and acts as sort of a daybed/couch without the side rails.

I really wanted to experiment with making an upholstered headboard and this was my chance. In order to accommodate for some flexibility in the future we made it as two twin headboards that can also serve as a king size when put together.

Most people go with plywood and padding. We decided to go simpler and do foam insulation sheets and batting. We cut them to the right width for a twin bed and left them kind of tall. We can always cut them down later (as you will see, the bottom portion is left exposed) but for now, since this serves as a day bed of sorts, we wanted something cushy to lean back on.

We got out our foam sheets and sprayed the portion that would be covered with spray mount. Then we laid the batting over that area. Just make sure you have enough of an overhang to wrap around back. I made this mistake on another project.

We were really careful to line it up and not create any bubbles or wrinkles. Then we wrapped over the top side and began stapling. One thing we did find was that the staples would not grab the foam if they had to go through the batting and the fabric so we tried to stretch the fabric to go further in than the batting. (*Basically, if you follow this method, make sure your fabric is about an inch larger on all sides than your batting).

 

After we did the top, we sat it up, smoothed on the front and laid it back down again so we could staple the sides. Then we turned it over and stapled down front on the bottom. You could always try to make this look nice or we even talked about wrapping a solid piece of fabric around and stapling on the back, but once we got it behind the bed, you could not see anything.

We planned on attaching this to the wall with command strips but once we slipped it behind the bed, it stayed just fine on its own. Use your own judgement on that one.

I really loved the fabric that we picked out and I am really happy with how easy this project is. I wonder how they will hold up being in a house with two kids but as long as they do, I am excited that we can use them in their rooms in the future. 

I am still trying to figure out if I want to trade out the back pillows for bigger ones, or add new ones but so far, Miller loves going in there and sitting on the bed.

Disney Shirts and Autograph Books

We are going to Disney World in the next couple of months, and before  you say it, yes I know that I am crazy. An overwhelming, over stimulating theme park for 6 days with a 2 year old and me being 7 months pregnant. Let me present my argument (because I know you are dying to hear my reasons).

-Ben and I both have holiday birthdays. Celebrating our anniversary was a big deal to us but then 2 years ago we spent it in the hospital having Miller and last year we were prepping for his birthday party. This year is our 5th anniversary and since Miller is a little older, we wanted to make sure we celebrate.

-Why take Miller? Simple, I was not ready to leave him. Plus, I want to go on a trip for our anniversary and want to spend his birthday with him, which is the day after. There is only way way to get it both ways.

- Miller is so young that he will not remember anything. Why bother? At 2 years old, he is still free, so it is not like we are wasting admission on him if it is a bust. Regardless of him remembering anything, we are still making family memories.

- Why put myself through the stress of Disney World? All the other places we wanted to go would be so far away that we would have to fly and that is not something I wanted to do with Miller and all the stuff he needs. Disney World is a 6 hour drive  so we can pack up our car with whatever we need. Plus, Ben has never been to Disney World and I really want to take him.

- Why go when I am so far along? When we started planning, we were trying to get pregnant and assumed that we would be. I booked the trip right around the time we found out we were pregnant so I knew that I would still be allowed to travel. However, I did not plan on how much harder this pregnancy would be on my body than the last one. We are going with a toddler so we will already have to take  things slow and allow for a daily nap break. I will admit that I am really worried about this but we will just play it by ear.

Some people go insane planning their Disney World trips. I am a person who normally plans every little detail but I am trying to go in with a loose plan that has plenty of wiggle room. I wanted to do a few projects for our trip but not go too crazy.

First up, T-shirts. I was only going to make one for Miller but since I was pregnant I thought it would be fun to make one for the baby and I will just wear it. While I was at it, I decided to make my cousin Ally one (she will be there as well for a couple of days).

I went really simple and did a Mickey head silhouette as an embroidered applique. I found a basic silhouette on-line and adjusted it on my computer to the sizes I wanted. I actually did 4 different sizes that varied by an inch each so I could lay them on the shirt first and see what fit the best.

I laid them out on my fabric to see how big a piece of it that I needed. I cut that and then cut a piece of Ultra Lite Heat-n-Bond (the purple package and not the Ultra Hold) that was just slightly smaller. You do not want the Heat-n-Bond being exposed to your ironing board so that is why you cut it a smidge smaller.

Iron that on. At that point you can trace your design onto the back of the Heat-n-Bond and cut it out.

Peel off the paper layer and lay it where you want the applique on your shirt. Iron that on. To place it on Miller and Ally's shirts, I folded the shirt vertically down the middle and pressed my iron there just so I could get the center. Mine was a pain in the rear to place. I had to put on the shirt, put the applique where I wanted it and traced it with chalk.

After that, I ran it through my sewing machine with a zig zag stitch. One good tip that I found on-line was to leave the tails of your thread long so that you can use a needle, pull them back through to the inside of your shirt and knot it there.

For mine and Ally's, I sewed on a bow as well. 

 

I am not even sure if we will do the whole meet the characters thing but if we do, I want to be prepared. I wanted a simple book where the characters could sign on one page and I could hopefully put a picture with him and the character on the other. 

I bought a simple 44 page sketch book from a craft store. I wanted something that had a wire binding so we could flip the pages to make it easier for the character to sign. I also got a piece of red and black foam sheets that has sticky on the back.

This is ridiculously easy so I am not even going to write out instructions. I cut out and stuck the red foam to the front and back covers. Then I just used one of the same templates I had from the t-shirts, cut out Mickey's head and stuck it on the front. Some people do more stickers and personalize it with the kids name but I just wanted simple.

Both projects were majorly simple but that is the way I wanted them. 

Nursery Update: Ruffled Lamp

I saw this ruffled lampshade on Pinterest a while back and knew that one day I would need this (yes, need!!!). I was unsure of what I wanted for a base but I knew that I would think of something. I considered finding a glass lamp and doing a mercury glass finish but ultimately I decided to just find the right shape lamp and paint it a solid color.

I finally found a basic lamp shape that I liked at Goodwill that had a pretty decent shade to go with it. I found it funny that in Miller's room I wanted something skinny and tall but this time I wanted something more stout and rounded.

Before Picture

Supplies
Lamp with lampshade- $8
Spray Paint Primer- $3.50
Spray Paint Gold- $3.50
Spray Paint Gloss- $3.50
Burlap (1yd)- $2
Glue stick and Glue Gun
Total- $20.50

The lamp is pretty basic. I taped up the top and the cord (just like I did in this other tutorial). Primed it with two coats. Then I sprayed a few coats of the gold spray paint. If I ever saw any imperfections in between coats, I would wait until it dried, sand it down, wipe with a dry, then a wet cloth, wait for that to dry and spray again. Last was a few coats of the glossy top coat. I did not do this with my previous DIYed lamps but I really like the finish it gave this one.

For the ruffled lampshade, I followed the tutorial above. The only exception is that because the shade  was already about the same color, I did not cover it first in a layer of burlap. In the other tutorials on-line, they lampshade did not angle in but were completely vertical so I was unsure if that would affect the outcome. This is one of those projects that is made better by its imperfections so I just went with it. It worked out perfectly!

I will admit that I was hesitant of how  this would turn out. I am all for a contrast of materials but I was not sure the rustic burlap would work with the flashy gold base but in the end, I am super happy with the finished product. I think it will fit in the nursery perfectly! And it might make its way to somewhere else in the house someday.

Isn't it pretty?!?!?!?!?