Chevron Painted Frame

A while back I made an under sea corkboard for Joann’s Create with 8 contest.  While I liked the frame, the more it hung in Noah’s room the less and less I loved it.

After making this frame I choose colors for his room that were slightly different than the background color of the frame and my OCD kicked in. I had already decided I wanted to make another frame but I am still not completely sure what I am going to as far as the other frame.  So that will be saved for another day.

Last week while all three big kids were gone I worked on several projects and this frame was one of them.  At first I thought I only wanted to repaint the background to match the colors of his room, but taking off the fish was less than an easy task.  I can’t remember what I used to attach them, but it held really well.  So well, that I got to use my new sander for this project first.  After pulling as much of the fish off as I could I used my sander and made the frame nice and smooth again.  Then I painted the entire frame the lighter of the two colors I choose for Noah’s room.  I finally decided I was going to give it my best try and attempt a chevron paint pattern.  After reading many different tutorials online I decided to use a little bit of this idea and a little bit of that idea to tape of my frame.  I am not going to give you a tutorial on how to paint a chevron pattern here since there are so many of them out there already.  Then I painted the dark of the two colors (which is also the same color as Noah’s accent wall).  When I was done I still did not love it.  As time has gone on and I have looked at it more and more it is growing on me.  But I feel like the corkboard center takes away too much of the chevron design.  Don’t be surprised if in the next few weeks I decide to sand it and start over again.

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Kid Friendly Decorating

A few days ago I posted a picture of Bradley on Instagram and several people commented on the bookshelves in the background, so I decided I’d do a recap of some of the projects for our sunroom. When we first moved into our house the sunroom was our children’s playroom.  Over time that has changed and now we simply have a play area in Mommy’s craft room.  But the color scheme is still the same.  You see having boys and girls I wanted it to be something that was neutral but still fun and playful.

I had seen this table and chairs at Hobby Lobby and it was what inspired the decoration of this room.  Hobby Lobby also has a bookshelf and coat rack to match but they aren’t needed in my area. Later I was looking for something to organize the kids’ toys in and I found this cute set up at Wal-Mart.  I am not as fond of the basket now as I was when I first got them.  They haven’t held up as well as I would like so I am planning to get some different baskets in the future.  Hopefully I can find some plastic ones in the same color scheme that will fit.

I realized when preparing to write this recap that I never did a post on the first project my husband and I did for the sunroom, the picture frames.  I will tell you more about them at the end of this post.

The next project I did for this room was the Artwork display.  It has been a year since I made the artwork display and while I still love it I have learned a few things about it.  1.  My oldest daughter has made lots of stuff to hang on it and I had to reattach her clothes pin.  The hot gun didn’t hold up well over time.  2.  The sun has faded the cardstock from the lettering, but it still looks nice.

The last project I want to feature in this post is the Pallet bookshelves. It has also been a year since I made them and I still love them.  They don’t hold a bunch of books but its prefect for each child to have two books in the sunroom and the rest of their books in their rooms.

As far as the picture frames go, I looked and looked for something that I liked to match the color scheme and I couldn’t find anything. So I decided I wanted to paint some picture frames so that each side was a different color (red, blue, green and yellow). Adam did this for me. He taped off two sides and painted the other two sides, then when they were done he taped off the sides he painted and painted the other two sides. When I bought the paint I wasn’t thinking and I bought flat. So when I made the artwork display and the bookshelves, I put a coat of mod podge on the picture frames to give them more of a finished look. They have gotten messed up some over the years but for the most part they still look good. The pictures of my children that are in the frames were done by Mandi Hutchenson Photography. If you are in the Birmingham area and looking for someone to take pictures of your family make sure to get in contact with Mandi, she does a wonderful job.

Tuesday To Do #3

I had all these plans the other night of getting some post ready and my Internet was acting up so instead of being prepared for today I wasn’t.  I knew what I wanted to write about but actually sitting down and blogging didn’t work out for me.

As you know I am auditioning for S.Y.T.Y.C.  Voting is up this week so make sure you head on over there and vote for your favorite projects.  I so wish I could tell you which one is mine but I am really excited about the fact that it truly is a competition based on the project and not popularity.  Also I am really excited because my blogging buddy Janiene from A Bunch of Bishops is also auditioning.  I can’t wait to see how her and I do.

I am in the process of redecorating all three of the big kids’ rooms.  As you know from my recent post Good-bye Pink Wall, Alyssa and Noah share a room.  For three years now Noah has wanted his room decorated in under water.  Alyssa changes her mind daily and Taylor isn’t much better.  Right now Noah’s room is a big to do list I am working on so hopefully this will help me remember everything.

Most of the stuff left in Noah’s room are things I am making and painting.  This past weekend Adam painted the pink wall a bluish green color(I’ll check the can later to see the exact color but its from Valspar).  We thought it had enough coats but after looking at it we have decided it needs one more.  So this upcoming weekend after Alyssa and Noah leave for their vacation with their father we are going to put another color of paint on the wall.

Projects:

• Painting – The blue wall needs another coat and the white walls need to be painted once I decide on a color.  All three kids will have one accent wall and then white walls so I want to use the same white for all three kids but we have white baseboards and the girls’ furniture is white so I want it to be a little different but look good with the accent walls.

• Fish Stand – Growing up I had this huge fish aquarium and after Noah decided he wanted a fish room my parents said I could have it but it leaked.  Adam re-caulked it and now I am going to paint the stand.  When I got the paint for Noah’s wall I picked out a lighter coordinating color to match.  I am going to paint the fish stand this color.

• Frames – You make remember the fish frame I made a while back for Create with 8.  I don’t really love it.  I have decided I am going to take the fish off and re-paint the frame the same color as the fish stand.  Also I am going to paint a “N” on the corkboard.  Then I am going to put the fish back on.  Hopefully I can take them off without messing them up but if not I guess I’ll have to redo them.  I am going to get another frame from Hobby Lobby and paint it the same color but that is all I have decided so far about how I am going to do it.

• Lego Area – I decided to make the top of Noah’s bookcase into a Lego area which is prefect since his Lego’s are stored in baskets in the lower part of his bookcase.  The lower part is going to have a seat and the higher part will have a Lego table.  I have to pick out the fabric, sew the cushion, purchase Lego board and attach it to the bookcase.

• Fish – Noah said he wants fish on his blue wall.  We talked about what would be the best way to go about this.  We talked about painting it but seriously that would be hard.  I finally decided vinyl would be the best decision.  I thought about using my Cricut and making them myself but to buy all the different color of vinyl I would end up spending more than if I just found something and bought it.  So now I have to find a shark and some salt water fish for his wall.

I have one other project for his room but I plan on using it for one of my weeks on S.Y.T.Y.C.  Once that week has been posted and closed I will post about it here and let ya’ll know all about it.  One good thing it will be completed too.  I have been working on it and had a lot of failures in the process so I’ll have lots to tell.

Good-Bye Pink Wall

Last summer we decided to decorate our girls’ room in hot pink, lime green and bright orange.  We got one wall painted pink before things changed.  Our daughters do NOT get along.  You see one has to talk 24/7 and the other has to have quiet time.  The one who needs quiet time couldn’t go in her bedroom and have that time because she was sharing a room with the other one who even in a room all alone is talking.  Our oldest son is also like our oldest daughter and he also needs quiet time so they can both go in the same bedroom and have quiet time and everything be ok.  On a spur of the moment decision we did some rearranging and this ended with our oldest son sleeping next to a hot pink wall.  But he is so selfless that he said “that’s ok”.  He knew his sisters needed this rearrange sooner rather than later and that as soon as we could the hot pink wall would be gone.

Several months have gone by since this rearrange.  It has been one thing after another and timing has not worked out well for us on painting the hot pink wall.  This past week I went to Lowe’s and got a bunch of different paint chips, spreaded them out all over his bed and decided on two colors.  I needed a wall color and a contracting color for some of the stuff in his room.  I am so glad I did it this a way too instead of just picking colors on impulse because if I had of well, we would have ended having to repaint the wall again because the original color I picked was not the final color I picked.

Most people who know Noah knows he is color blind or red/green color deficient is actually the proper term for it.  He can see colors but he can’t pick them out and he doesn’t see them the same as most people.  Green is orange, orange is green, blue is purple, purple is blue, lots of different shades are all a tan color and so on.  Noah has done a wonderful job adapting to this and it has not affecting him in school at all.  When he tells me something is a color and I correct him he doesn’t get mad.  He simply says, “Well, you know I’m color blind.”  Noah is really a trooper.  So while he says he likes the color his room will be I am not actually sure that he knows what color it will be.

His room is decorated underseas.  His bedspread is brown will bluish/green, tan, etc circles on it.  He wants sharks and ocean fish on his wall.  So I picked the color on his bedspread that looks the most like underseas for his accent wall color.  Since him and Alyssa are sharing a room we have set up their furniture so that it divides the room and we are in the process of making a divider for the room too but painting the walls is the first task to complete.  Hopefully we will get that done soon but its taking much longer than expected because I am redecorating three kids’ bedrooms at the same time and trying to pick colors is not the easiest.  Each child has an accent wall and I’m trying to pick a neutral color that will work for the other walls for all three kids.

Keep an eye out for more projects going on in Noah’s room over the next few weeks.  I have four other projects that I hope to get done and be close to having his room done.  The girls keep changing their minds on how they want their rooms decorated so Noah’s projects are more on top of the list to complete.  Also I am auditioning for So You Think You’re Crafty next week and I have several projects I am working on for this contest.  Make sure you check it out Monday and vote for your favorite project.  Fingers crossed I make the audition cut.

Paper Mache B

One of the things on my to do list for Bradley’s room was a paper mache B to hang on the wall in his room to replace a picture that was previously hanging in his room.  The previous picture was an animal picture that matched his bouncy seat, play mat and jumperoo.  Since he no longer uses these things I plan on getting rid of them and that made the picture not really match anymore.

I started out with a plain paper mache B that I found at JoAnn’s Fabric.

First I painted it baby blue.  I used the Americana baby blue acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby and a foam brush.

Then I used a round sponge brush and Americana traditional burnt umber acrylic paint to put polka dots on it.  I couldn’t find anything good for a pattern so I decided to just eyeball it.  I was pleased with how they turned out since I just eye balled it.

I had a hard time deciding what ribbon I wanted to use to hang it.  I finally decided to use the same ribbon I used on his wreath.  I thought that made it match pretty well since each one is hanging in his room on either side of his window.

Tuesday To Do #1

I have spent a lot of time lately trying to grow my blog and one thing I wanted to do in all of that is work on a schedule for post.  I am working towards something for each day Monday through Friday.  So with that in mind this week I am adding Tuesday To Do.  I am the type of person who uses list for everything.  It just makes life easier.  Its no surprise that I have to do for different rooms, unfinished projects, etc., that I use.

This week I am going to talk about the to do list of my projects in Bradley’s room.  The other day while we were playing in his room I was looking around thinking about things I would like to do.  Some are to finish his room from when we originally decorated it.  Some are to make updates for decorations that just don’t really work or the light fixture which is broken.  Some are changes because he is getting older and his needs are changing.

Things I want to Buy:

• New light fixture – The temperature is so hard to regulate in his room so when it started getting hot I turned on his ceiling fan and started using his lamp instead of the light on the ceiling fan.  Now the cord to the light is messed up.  I am sure we could probably take it apart and fix it but lets be honest I HATE the ceiling fan altogether.  It is old outdated and just not doing justice for his room.  I have no clue what I want at this point though.

• Blinds – I have slowly been buying blinds for through out our house.  It is expensive to go out and buy blinds for the whole house at one time.  Right now he has a darkening curtain and I would really like blinds to let some light in.

• Valance – After I get blinds I don’t want the darkening curtain up so I have decided the valance that matches his bedding would be really cute.  It still fits his age too.

Things I want to Make:

• Canvas for above his bed – I have yet to find something that I LOVE to hang above Bradley’s bed so far he has nothing hanging on the wall that his bed is on.  I thought about something for above his changing table and something for above his bed and something for above his bookcase.  But I decided that was too much so instead I want a big canvas to hang on that wall.  But lets be honest here those things are expensive, which is why I don’t have any of them yet.  I have seen so many different post people have done about how to make them yourself that I have decided to give it a try myself.  I know I want the biggest one I can find.  I know I want it to be in sepia.  I know I want to include his pictures from 1 month to 12 months in it.

• Shade box for above his dresser – I have all his bracelets, his paci, his blood pressure cuff and everything else from when he was in the NICU.  I want to make a shadow box with all his stuff and a picture of him from when he was born.  Then I want to hang a smaller picture on either side of it from the first time I got to hold him and the first time his Daddy got to hold him.

• Paper Machi “B – On the wall with the window he currently has his wreath and a picture that I bought hanging up.  I am going to leave the wreath but I am really not feeling the picture anymore.  It matched a lot of his stuff (bouncy seat, play mat, jumperoo) but now that he doesn’t use that stuff anymore I think its time for something new.  I want to get a paper machi “B” and paint it to match his room.

Book Shelves

Another one of my many projects in the sunroom is finally complete.

A while back I saw these cute bookcases months ago on pinterest made from pallets. So I had Adam bring home some pallets for me. After they sat on the porch for a while I finally had him cut them. I painted them to match the color scheme in the sunroom. Then I cut out letters with my Cricut in the same font as my artwork project and I mod podges the letters on.

Now the kids have a nice little reading area on the homework side of the sunroom.

Artwork

My children LOVE to make artwork for me but I have never had a good way to display it other than a magnet on the side of the refrigerator and it seems like they always side down.  Recently I have seen so many cute ways to display your children’s artwork on pinterest but most of them required wall space that I just don’t have to hang the artwork.  Earlier this year I made my mother in law a hanger to display grand kids and decided to use the same idea to display the kids’ artwork.

Since I am hanging it in the sunroom and my color scheme for the sunroom is red, blue, green and yellow I used these same colors for the lettering.  First I painted a piece of MDF board black.  Then I used my Cricut to cut out the letters to spell “ARTWORK”.  I used mod podge to attach the letters to the board.  I dyed four clothes pins black, then I cut out paper to match the lettering and glued it to the clothes pins before writing the kids’ names on them with a sharpie.  To give it the same finished look as the rest of the board I put a coat of mod podge over them.  Then I found some matching ribbon from my stash and attached it to the back of the board with hot glue to hang it.