Sprucing Up The Princess' Room: Part 1~

If you're like me, one project often leads to another. When I started working on the home office/Mom cave, I decided that I needed the bookshelf that was in the Princess' bedroom. It looks great in the home office.




One little problem, however. The Princess' room looked a bit bereft. So I moved her dresser to the wall where the bookcase had been.

And it was okay. But it bothered me. Here is a photo of what it looked like. (That little girl of mine is a bit of a packrat. (Note to self: must find more "paper" storage for that girlie's bedroom.) And I wasn't sure what I was going to do.



That is, until I found out about Canvas People. If you haven't heard about Canvas People, you're going to thank me! They will make you a FREE 8x10 canvas of one of your digital prints. All you pay is shipping and handling. It's TRUE! First, let me say that I chose an 11x14 of one of my favorite photos of the Princess for her wall. It's easy to upgrade for only $9.99...and I really like having a slightly larger canvas.

That little girlie likes decorating almost as much as I do, so she and I have been talking about what we would do to her room if we weren't renting this house. She mentioned that she would really love to have pink and brown in her room. I love the color brown, but just didn't feel like we could use it with her apple green walls until I saw this scrapbook paper at our local craft store. It's called "Stylish" from the "Sultry" line of Basic Grey. It incorporates all the colors that are currently in the Princess room AND brown. So I decided to go for it!

I chose to make polkadots out of chocolate brown vellum using my Silhouette Digital Cutter. Then I simply measured and stuck them on the wall.

I used some 3" wired chocolate brown ribbon and a darling fleur de lis knob to make it look like the canvas is hanging from the ribbon. Adds a lot of elegance for basically no $$.

Now the wall looks great! Much more sophisticated, but still playful

The dresser is still a work in progress. The poor thing needs an overhaul, so it will get a fresh new coat of paint and some new accessorizing. But at least we're off to a good start!

If you'd like to get your free 8x10 canvas, hurry over to Canvas People. It would make a great Christmas gift!

And by way of full disclosure, I was given my 11x14 canvas because I am an affiliate of Canvas People, in addition, I receive a commission from Canvas People for each canvas sale that is initiated through my blog.

And my November Thankful Thought for today...I am thankful for a sweet daughter to be girly-girls with in the middle of our little, testosterone-filled world of boys. Have a great day!

Sock Monkey Room Revisited~

The last time I posted about the little boys' sock monkey room, I mentioned that I was 99% percent done with the room. Well, this weekend I got busy finishing two of the three projects that were still on my to-do list for the room.

First up, curtains. I have been wanting to add long curtains to the far wall of the room. (I don't have a before picture of the wall without curtains (my bad, sorry), but trust me when I say that the wall was boring...and that it was just begging for curtains.


So here is the AFTER.




And can I just say that I love the current style of long straight curtains for window treatments? In the mid-90's I worked for a design firm that had a "signature" window treatment. No, seriously, they did. Pretty much every house that they did got the same basic window treatment....and can you say "fussy"? Of course, that was the style then. Swags, jabots, florals. Fussy. Why do I mention all that? Because there was really no way to do a window treatment like that unless you were an expert seamstress. But this window treatment? Easy-peasy.


As a matter of fact, you could totally do this no-sew. And it doesn't even require a tutorial. Here's what I did...


1. I bought about 6 yards of fabric.


2. I cut it to the proper length. (In this case, 93 inches...91 inches for length, 2 for hemming.)


3. I hemmed the top and bottom. (I didn't have to do anything to the sides...just left the selvedges. Too easy.)

4. I clipped the top edge of each panel to curtain rings.


5. I hung the rings from upholstery tacks. (Most people would use a curtain rod, but I didn't need these panels to be functional...they are purely decorative, and I have been using upholstery tacks throughout the room, so I used them here.)


That's it. And they look fabulous...just what the doctor ordered.


The other thing I finally did was change out the rug. The old rug was pretty. But that's just it. It was pretty. It wasn't at all boyish, and it bothered me. I originally put it there because it was the right color and I didn' t have a budget for a new rug. But everytime I looked at it, it said "girl-y" to me, and that just wouldn't do.

Then I lucked onto this rug from IKEA. The Kerby, for $14.99. Okay, so it's really kind of an indoor/outdoor mat. But it is very durable...and more importantly, it's the right colors. Tan and dark espresso brown. And more than that? The boys love it. It was the perfect touch.

Finally, I just had to show you were I put the "To the Moon and Back" print I got from cute Leslie at Glitter and Bliss.

Doesn't it look cute? It's just the right touch to the reading nook corner. Thanks again, Leslie!

So now the room is 99.8 % done. If I could just figure out what to do with the closet, it would be perfect. But, I'm happy with the changes I've made. And so are the boys!

Have a great Monday~

Pretty Kids' Rooms~

I have a weakness for kids' rooms. They are my favorite rooms to decorate (by a long shot). I think it is because it's easier to break rules in kids' rooms. You don't have to be a grown up - duh they are KIDS' rooms. They can be whimsical, fun, crazy, over-the-top or tailored, romantic and sophisticated. Like I said - no real rules.


So today I thought I'd share some pretty children's rooms with you. (Here's the "hate me" part...these are from my inspiration file where I should have recorded all the links and didn't...so if any one knows credit info that I don't include, please leave me a comment...give credit where credit is due, I always say...)

Image from Full House - the girls' bedroom

Where do I begin? I love so many things about this room! The pink...I just love pink. The wallpaper behind each bed. The mix of traditional and contemporary...even some lucite....love me some lucite! And the pops of blue and red. mmmmmmm.

Image from Sunset
I love the slipcovered headboards and the soft color palette of ocean blue and white.

Image by Sally Conran

So serene...love the neutral color palette...and all those doors propped against the windows...although let's face it, once this baby starts moving the doors will have to go.

What I love about this room? It's modern vibe...industrial and girlie at the same time. The bunk beds. The butterfly mobiles. The twinkle light chandy. And, of course, the oversize photo. Okay, I guess that's just about everything, huh?

Image from JDesignsSalon

I adore the paper parasols suspended from the ceiling...at my nephew's wedding they hung a bunch of those parasols from a pergola and I fell in love...when I saw the same idea used in this room? Well...SWOON...what more can I say?

Silhouettes + the black and white palette = perfection

I've been dreaming of having a bunk room in my house. I'm seriously considering doing one for my little boys' room when we buy our next home. Perfect for slumber parties, out of town guests etc. This one is just darling!

I love the citrus color palette and the contrast of an upholstered bed and metal lockers. So fun!

I still have to finish Mr. One's Tween Room...hopefully a post on that later this week...and I have a FAB idea for the Princess' room that involves repurposing her old baby crib...coming soon.

In the meantime, anyone catch HGTV's Design Star last night? What'd y'all think? (Lovin' my grammar? Yeah, I am an editorial assistant IRL...no, seriously, I am.)

Have a lovely day~

The Tween Room - For the Love of IKEA~

It occurred to me that I haven't talked about Mr. One's Tween room in a while. So I thought I'd give you all a little update today.




As you may remember, I had some grand plans before my budget for his room was suddenly gone. So I made do with what I had already purchased.


One of the things we were lucky enough to have purchased before our budget ran out was the IKEA Expedit workstation. I love this desk/bookshelf combo.



This is the version we purchased for Mr. One's room...it has a black/brown finish. I love the clean modern lines. And the storage...Oh, the storage! It was easy to put together with the help of the hubby.

Just a hint: If you happen to put together this bookcase with your spouse, please make sure you are both in good communication mode that day. So that when you ask him to "hold it up for a minute", he doesn't hear "put it down" (because those two things sound so similar) and accidentally drop said bookcase on your little toe causing a huge purple bruise that lasts a week and half. Don't worry, I've long since forgiven the Hubby for his lapse in listening skills. Really, I have.Now on to other things...

This Dignitet display system is still on my list of to-buys for Mr. One's room (and my office for that matter.) Isn't it a fab way to display art? And Mr. One is quite the artist. Yes he is. I plan on hanging it above the Expedit workstation.

In the meantime, I have something up my sleeve for Mr. One's room...that I plan to hang above the workstation in the interim.

Here's a hint...What do Anthropologie, a 2-liter soda bottle, and a Styrofoam sphere have in common? Well, you'll have to wait until Frugal Friday to find out...but it will be worth the wait! (I hope anyway.)

Have a great day~

99% Complete and A Winner~

Happy Thursday! The Boys' Sock Monkey Bedroom is now 99% complete. So I've compiled a little slide show to give you all a look-see at the room...again.

Free digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

I just love this room! So why is it not 100% complete? Well, if you've read my blog for any length of time at all, you probably realize by now, that no room is EVER complete. I'm a tweaker. Yes, I am. And the two things I'd still like to tweak in this room?

First, the rug. I want something a little more boyish than the abstract floral-type rug I have in there. The colors are right, but the pattern is all wrong.

Second, I want to wallpaper the inside of the closet.

Since this house has no doors on the closets, they need to become a design feature. I thought adding a little punch with wallpaper would accomplish that task nicely. But since we rent, it can't be permanent. So I'm thinking of trying some of this. Easy Change wallpaper from Sherwin Williams. Removes simply by pulling it off the wall. No solvents...no damage. Perfect for renters. What do you all think?

And last, but not least, the winner of the Modern Bird Studios giveaway is... Mindy Gauthier. Mindy, drop me an email and we'll get you set up with your uber-fabulous prize!!

Have a great day~

The Tween Room Continued~

A few weeks ago, I talked about my plans for Mr. One's Tween bedroom. You may remember that I shared my tentative layout with you (below) and talked about the furniture we were planning on purchasing at IKEA.

Well, we got as far as purchasing the Expedit workstation and the Lillesand bed, and then due to unforseen circumstances, the budget ran out. So I put the project on hold for a while. And then I decided that it was silly to put it on hold just because I couldn't purchase everything I wanted...after all, do I or do I not preach the virtues of Frugal Decorating here on the old blog? "Well," says I, "maybe I should practice what I preach."

So today, I tackled putting together the bed. (And I did it all by myself because the hubby is currently suffering from a horrible bout of the flu...which I am fervently hoping skips by the rest of the family...poor hubby.)

WARNING: Lots of horrible indoor lighting photos coming your way...when I do the final reveal of this room, I promise to bring in our photography lights...maybe that will diminish the orang-y glow...

So here is the big ol' box it came in. And despite what Kate says in this post, I truly think this has to be the most boring photo ever posted on the internet.

And here is what I found inside the box....I love this headboard!! As I mentioned above, it's the Lillesand bed from IKEA. It's classic, but with clean contemporary lines. A perfect bed for my almost 10-year-old to grow up with...

The bed was really easy to assemble despite the fact that I was working by myself. Once I got everything out of the boxes, I was actually able to assemble the whole thing in about 15 minutes.

Then I had to talk Mr. One and the Princess into helping me drag the mattress and box spring into the room, and with a little help from Mr. One, I was able to get them in place. Here's the bed all dressed... again, with the horrible lighting, it's hard to tell in this photo, but the quilt and euros are a dark gray (from IKEA again) while the sheets are a soft goldenrod. I found a great set of pillowcases from Tar-jay in pale gray, dark gray and goldenrod as well. Love them!

But now, I'm not really lovin' the ticking drapes. They blend, and look okay...but that's all...just okay. I'm thinkin' I'm going to have to replace them...and I have an idea that involves the matching sheets to the striped pillowcases.

Finally, since my budget for this room is now GONE, I can't purchase the armoire I was hoping to get. Nor can I make the bedside tables. So I decided to rehab Mr. One's old white dresser and, if possible, to find a similar dresser at a thrift store or yard sale...then I could use them on either side of the bed as bedside tables...because I really like the look of having the little old dresser right where it is. I also really need to do something about that lamp...anyhoo...

Here's a closer view of the pillows, so you can get a bit of an idea what the stripes look like...drat that indoor lighting...

The room is really coming along...and Mr. One ADORES his new bed!

For this week's Frugal Friday, I'm going to share a fabulous piece of art I created for his room....I'm so excited!! And sometime next week, I'll share his workstation...and the injury I sustained while putting it together... ;-)

Have a great day~

A Bedroom Fit for a Tween~

My oldest son is about to turn 10 in a couple of short months. And since we've moved into this house, he has his own bedroom for the first time in years. So you can imagine how excited he is to make the space his own. He has been very patient as he's watched me decorate every other bedroom in this house. (Okay, not that patient...he has asked repeatedly when it was going to be his turn...poor kid.) And now, his day has finally come!

His room poses a couple of challenges. First, it's in the basement with only one small window, so it gets very little natural light. And second, his room has no storage at all. (This house is closet- challenged as you may remember from this post.)


Here is my proposed layout for his room...

In addition to the the challenges of the space itself, we are facing a serious furniture drought. Mr. One is going to need some major clothing storage, a new bed, bed side tables, and a desk and chair for homework. That's a tall order, and although you all know how much I love thrifting for furniture and giving new life to the "previously loved", we decided to take a more contemporary approach to the space. So with that in mind, and the fact that I am on very strict budget, I saw only one solution. And it is spelled I...K...E...A.

Here's my wish list...

At first, I considered getting Mr. One a large dresser to hold all of his clothing folded up. But then I decided that a wardrobe or an armoire might be a better solution.

Image from IKEA

Enter the Hemnes wardrobe. With this armoire, Mr. One can hang his shirts, use baskets for his underclothes, socks and miscellaneous items, and use the drawers for his shorts and pants. Not only that, but placed across from the bed, it will visually balance out the high window.



Next up...a homework desk. I love the Expedit workstation. The bookshelves will be perfect for all of Mr. Ones stuff. He is a bit of a packrat, so using storage boxes that fit in the shelves will create a clean/uncluttered look with TONS of storage.

Images from IKEA

I love the idea of using the Jules chair in a contrasting light wood. It looks clean and modern with a touch of whimsy.

Finally, I love the Lillesand bed. It's metal with fairly clean lines and looks both traditional and contemporary at the same time. Perfect.

Image from IKEA

The bedside tables are currently just a vision in my imagination...but I hope that with the Hubby's woodworking skills, we'll be able to make them a reality. So you'll have to wait and see...right along with me.

Now to nail down the color scheme. I have already made the window treatments in deep indigo denim and blue ticking fabrics. And Mr. One has picked out his first piece of "art" for the room. A poster of Percy Jackson : The Lightning Thief. (He's a huge fan.) I actually really love the colors in the poster...primarily dark blues and grays, so I'm going to try to work within those paramaters...adding a touch of something brighter for punch...maybe yellow? That remains to be seen.

Image: Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

I hope you'll come along with me on this decorating journey as I create a room fit for a tween!

My interview on FaveCrafts radio is coming up this Sunday at 7:00 EST on BlogRadio. I'd love it if y'all would tune in!!

Have a great day~

Master Bedroom Headboard~

In my SYTYCD week 4 challenge post, I promised to explain a little more about how we created our master bedroom headboard, so today I thought I'd do just that!

As I've mentioned previously I wanted to go with some sort of architectural salvage as a headboard. An order, it seems, that proves to be quite tall when you are trying to stick within a budget. I visited a local architectural salvage shop and found many wonderful alternatives, but decided finally to use a narrow 5 panel door. When it came down to it, however, I just couldn't bring myself to fork over the cash.

So I debated and debated about what to do. And the answer finally came when the hubby and I were cleaning out our storage room. We came across some old wood left here for who knows how long. And when I say old, I mean old. And cracked and looking more like it should go in the burn pile than anything else. But the wood spoke to me. (Not literally, silly. ) And I knew that it would make a perfect headboard.

So I asked the Hubby in my sweetest wifey way if he would build me one. I told him I wanted it to resemble a narrow five panel door and that I wanted it to have character. He added that he wanted it to be substantial, and Anthropologie-ish. Yes, I am telling the truth. The HUBBY said that. No, really, I promise he did.

In order to make the headboard "substantial", the first thing we did was to glue three long planks together back to back to make them thicker (one plank on the back and two on the front). You can see in the photo above that we left a seam, and chose purposely to use the side that was more uneven and cracked as the front.

We clamped the boards and let them dry overnight. After they were thoroughly dry, the hubby cut the boards to length (approximately 80") and set to work trimming the "door" out with 1x3's.

He simply cut 80" lengths for the top and bottom and then cut the shorter lengths (5 of them ) to make the "panels" - and yes, 5 cross pieces creates 4 panels - not 5 - and I'm okay with that. From here all we did (and when I say we, I mean the Hubby) was screw them together. After I saw the finished product, I asked him to add another small piece to the top and have it hang over about 1/4" to give it more of a finished "headboard-ish" feel.

Then came the fun part. We took a hammer and banged that door until it looked nice and aged. Rather than filling the screw holes in with wood putty, the Hubby had the idea of adding wood plugs. He glued them in...a little haphazardly...to help with the aged and used look we were going for.

Finally we painted it out in a soft dove gray. "Moonlight" by Ralph Lauren. (I know, I know Home Depot doesn't carry RL paint anymore, but according to AnNicole, the RL company says that the paints will still be available at independent distributors, so breathe easy folks!!) We purposely did not prime the wood to allow the knots and imperfections to come through and add to the age-y feeling!!

Now because of the Hubby's need to make this headboard "substantial", it is, shall we say, slightly weighty...okay, it is dang heavy. So to secure it to the wall, we needed to use large L brackets and long drywall screws. You can see that the brackets stick out just a bit further than the headboard, but that's okey dokey because my pretty curtain panels cover them.

Two last notes...

I had a lot of comments about the pretty canning jar. It was a gift, and the lid came with that fun opening in it (it has a glass piece that fits inside.) So I simply removed the glass and used the figure-8-shaped opening to help me arrange the stems. Serendipitous, no?

And the curtain panels? They are the Alvine Kottar panels from IKEA.

Have a lovely Wednesday~

If you liked my master bedroom project, there's still time to vote at So You Think You Can Decorate...you can head over there now...pretty please.

So You Think You Can Decorate: Week Four Challenge~

Welcome to the Week 4 Challenge for So You Think You Can Decorate.


This week's challenge is to use the color white. "No problem", says I. I just love white!! Our Master Bedroom has received no love at all since we moved into our house a little over 2 months ago. My plan was to use a large dose of white in this room. Perfect for the week 4 challenge!!


Here is a before photo...and a perfect example of how NOT to use the color white.

No headboard, no curtains, lumpy-bumpy comforter. It reminds me of a bad dorm room...with the exception of the color on the walls. And because we are renting our home, the wall color had to remain...providing a little bit of a challenge, but I love a challenge!

So let's see... a list of everything I needed to get this room out of its bad-dorm-room-funk and into master-bedroom-retreat-mode...

• a headboard
• window treatments
• pretty bedding
• a bedside table
• art

Wow! That's a tall order...but here we go!!

Now here is an after photo....hard to believe it's the same room, huh?

The Headboard:
I wanted to use a piece of architectural salvage as a headboard. So off I went to the only architectural salvage store in the surrounding area. I decided to use an old 5 panel door. The problem was the price. Just a little more than I wanted to pay. Enter my dear husband who built me a "5 panel door" headboard out of a bunch of old wood in our storage room. We painted it out in a pale dove gray to match the gorgeous curtain panels I found.


Here is a closer view of the headboard. Join me here later this week, when I'll go into more detail about our design process and how we put this together.

Window Treatments:

I purchased the drapery panels ready-made from IKEA and actually ended up saving a lot of money over the amount I would have spent on fabric to make the same extra long curtains. I hung them at ceiling height to make the room seem taller. The curtain rods I used (not pictured...sorry) were pretty much the least expensive ones they had at IKEA...problem was that they were black...so I just spray painted them with Krylon spray paint in a brushed nickel finish...problem solved.

The Pretty Bedding:

The bedding is the thing that really makes the room and ties the whole color scheme together. I added the tan burlap pillow and the pillow with the crown motif to tie in the color of the walls. The pillow with the vintage french photography graphic ties in both the tan and gray colors while the charcoal pillow punches up the gray in the color scheme. The pretty rosette pillow finishes the grouping. One of the keys to using white in decorating is texture. The lovely coverlet on the bed adds that element beautifully and makes the entire bed seem elegant but comfortable.

Here is a close up of the ribbon detail on the pillow cases. Join me later this week and I'll tell you more about these as well.

A Bedside Table and Art:

The side table was in our basement and was old and beat up. I gave it a coat of fresh white paint and it became the perfect partner to the bed. To accessorize the table, I added a lamp that was previously black metal. I simply spraypainted it with the same Krylon paint I used on the curtain rods, and it looked perfect. I added a favorite photo of the Hubby and me in a silver toned frame, and for a bit of color some lovely pink stalks in a large vintage canning jar with a unique metal lid that added to the color scheme (and helped with the flower arranging.)

Finally, to finish off the grouping, I added a painting I made of a stylized damask motif. I found another piece of scrap wood in our storage room and used leftover paint from the headboard and table. It ended up being just what the room needed...a little modern but with a vintage feel. (You can see it a little better in the photo below.)

Now our neglected Master Bedroom is a pretty white retreat to relax in at the end of a busy day!

Please take a minute and go vote at So You Think You Can Decorate, you won't be disappointed!

Resources:

Drapery Panels, curtain rods (not pictured) and Ofelia Coverlet: IKEA

King Size pillows and white pillow cases (gray ribbon detail not inlcuded): Target

French Photography Graphic pillow, Crown pillow, Gray Ruffle pillow and White Rosette pillow: available in my Etsy store (theshabbynest.etsy.com)

Clock pillow was won in a drawing here.

xoxo

Wendy