Nursery Reveal

 
I am so excited to finally reveal my baby's nursery today! As soon as we knew this baby was going to be a permanent part of our family, I got busy working on the room remodel and some crafty accents to go with it.  I had been creating a Pinterest board of all my ideas and color schemes in the months leading up to the adoption.

I wanted to rip out the cheap tan carpet and paint the floors white. I wanted to paint the boring tan walls a paler color with bright accent colors. I also wanted an eclectic look with a gallery wall full of whimsical and vintage art.

Here are a few shots of what the room looked like before: 

I am a fan of nice hardwood floors, but these floors were in bad shape after 90 years!  The cheaper way to go was to paint the floors. My husband helped with that part and already had some practice from painting the floors for our older Boys' Bedroom Makeover  the summer before.

After painting the walls Whetstone Gray by Martha Stewart, I wanted to add some bright stripes to the entry wall. I used Frog Tape and this technique, since my walls are textured, for perfectly straight lines. 

I love how the bright orange and green stripes add pops of color to the room-I chose stripes because I think it's a look that will blend into big boy decor when he's older.

I painted the doors and table in the room the same green as the stripes-Lily Pad, also by Martha Stewart. I painted chalkboard paint on the crib panel so I can write fun messages on it for him-and in his toddler years I'm sure he'll have fun scribbling with chalk.  The tree art is was made for me by a local artist friend, Dani Herrera, who makes amazing things with reclaimed denim, zippers and more.

I've had this table for a while and this is now the third color it's been. After painting it, I distressed it with a sanding sponge to reveal hints of white and added new knobs for a brand new look. The thrift store magazine rack is where books are held, next to the comfy chair for bedtime stories.

I made this artwork with a printout given to me by a friend. I traced the elephant onto dictionary paper, cut it out and Mod Podged the whole thing to pallet planks. The curtains and fabric shades are both from IKEA. We have been replacing all of the wooden blinds in the house with ones without cords for safety.

I made this mobile by stenciling airplanes and clouds onto cardstock, cutting out, hole punching and attaching twine. I used an embroidery hoop for the top of the mobile.

I moved this IKEA shelving into the baby's room for clothing and the boys' got a bigger dresser to share. The accordian style wall hook fixture was a thrift store find. It also makes a fun display for finger puppets.

Here's the gallery wall-a combination of baby and family photos and some crafty things I made. I loved the idea of hot air balloons combined with Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go" phrase, so I made this artwork by painting and stenciling a canvas, then cutting out a 3-D hot air balloon out of card stock and gluing to the canvas. I  repurposed an IKEA night light  by cutting out cloud shapes onto navy blue paper and attaching to the light fixture. I Mod Podged an old frame with sheet music, adding a photo of baby's newborn toes.

 It was so much fun redoing this room and I think baby boy loves it too. He squeals with delight when he gets to play there. It was created on a budget and most accessories were either handmade, thrift store finds or things I already had in the house that I repurposed and used for his room. There's so much for him to look at and play with and it was a really great way to celebrate him becoming "finally forever". We love having him be a part of our family!

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

 I link up at these and this parties.

Pressback Chair Revamp

These pressback chairs were in need of some updating, said a friend of mine, who asked me if I could work some magic on her set. She gave me a gallon of antique white enamel paint and a bunch of creative freedom. Here I will show you the process as well as some helpful tips and shortcuts I figured out along the way:

Materials: 

-antique white enamel acrylic paint (I used self-priming Behr paint). 

-black wood stain (I used Minwax in Onyx) 

-sanding sponge

-paint brushes in different sizes

-soft cloths

-cotton balls or cotton pads

-protective gloves

First, I prepped the chairs for painting by lightly sanding each chair with a sanding sponge (much easier on the hands than regular sandpaper)

Then, I wiped off the dust with a soft cloth.

I gave the chairs two coats of paint, allowing each layer to dry a few hours. The first two chairs I painted only with a brush. Then, I figured out a shortcut that cut the painting time in half: Use a small paint roller to apply the paint in one section, then immediately brush over it with the paint brush, to leave nice brush lines.

 After painting the chairs and some Pinterest research, I decided to antique the chairs using black wood stain. 

 For the antiquing, I rubbed the black wood stain over the grooves in the wood in small sections and immediately rubbed the chair down, leaving the stain in the grooves only. For the first chair, I tried using a soft cloth-which resulted in a drippy mess. I tried using a cosmetic cotton round and which worked so much better. It also helped to wrap plastic over the parts of the chair I wasn't staining. 

Here are the finished chairs in my friend's dining room with the matching table painted and stained in the same colors. I think they look so elegant and bring lots of fresh style to her home-dare I say Pottery Barn style?

I link up here.

A New Year: The Fun We Had and Sneak Peek Kitchen Remodel

 

Happy 2013! I thought it would be fun to share a few pictures from our Christmas and New Year's adventures. It was for the most part a really relaxing and fun holiday season filled with blessings and God's goodness. Above is our short, fat tree with presents packed underneath, ready to get ripped open by three sets of tiny hands.

 

Here they go! My older two sons were so excited on Christmas morning. Their favorite toys were Rescue Bots. I loved how cute they were in their footie p.j's running around the house.

Here's our youngest child-it was baby boy's first Christmas! Back in February, I wrote a post about our Unexpected Gift-this perfectly sweet, little newborn that arrived into our lives and I can't believe is about to turn one! And we are very, very close to adopting him-just another month or two before he's our forever child! I am so thankful that we made room in our home and hearts for this little blessing. He is truly a joy and I'm so glad I'll get to be his forever mom.

On Christmas morning, I made these amazing strawberry and whipped cream filled crepes, with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Of course, they were devoured by all and gave us the energy to go on a nice walk through the woods at our favorite metropark.

Our boys loved exploring the woods and suspension bridge on our walk while baby boy was content on daddy's backpack.

I was really happy we got snow for Christmas! Right up until Christmas, we had warm temperatures and not a hint of snow. Here's our house and yard in the winter wonderland that finally came:

On New Year's Eve, we went to an event at our zoo for kids called "Noon Year's Eve". The ball goes up at noon and everyone cheers and drinks apple juice while the confetti flies everywhere. It was cute to see the excitement on my boys' faces and that they got to have some fun because there was no way I was letting them stay up until midnight. I actually wasn't even able to stay up that late myself...

I don't really do "New Year's Resolutions" but if I did, getting organized would be on there.( I'm proud to say I did work hard on getting rid of some clutter in my crafting space)It seems like e
very January I usually get the itch to do some kind of remodeling or repainting project. No surprise, right?
So, what we're working on now is a very inexpensive project to create open shelving in our kitchen. All I had to buy was a $13 can of special primer that goes on over laminate. I am so glad I discovered this stuff-it is so easy to work with and I was able to paint right over it in the color I wanted.  
I'll go ahead and show you a sneak peak of what we're working on:

First, we removed these plain laminate cupboard doors...

Then, after a light sanding, I primed the edges with the amazing Zinnser BIN primer. The stuff goes on so smooth over the shiny laminate, dries really fast and actually doesn't have as strong of an odor as the can says. Still, I cracked a window and had a fan going so I would still have brain cells left over. In the morning, I painted the primed edges a soft gray I had saved from my living room called Sharkey Gray.

 I'm still not done finding where to put everything so it looks nice and organized, but I love this arrangement so much better. It visually opens up my narrow galley kitchen and shows off pretty colors and baskets and is a lot easier to just grab a plate or cup. I love my organized spice rack that sits conveniently above my stove too. I'm glad we chose this cheaper option instead of paying for all new cupboards.

We do plan on hiring a contractor at some point to open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, install concrete countertops and move the sink over so more of a back window can be seen. Until then, we will try doing what we can to transform the rest of the plain laminate into something that blends with the more traditional style of the rest of the house. We shall see what we can come up with on the cheap...

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! I can't wait to share my adoption pictures with you as well as kitchen progress, my final bathroom redo from last fall and some furniture projects I worked on last summer. I hope you'll come back for more!

 

I link up with these parties.

Fireplace Facelift: Before & After

On Black Friday this year, I wasn't in those crazy lines at the stores. No, I was at home, in my grungy painting clothes, ready to transform my fireplace!  I had decided that before we got our Christmas tree this year I HAD to do it. The heavy dark fireplace was overpowering the space for too long and was really bugging me.

The brown painted brick had been coated with a shiny poly finish and I had wanted to change to something brighter and softer ever since we moved here almost two years ago. I had painted other rooms first and put this off because I had never painted a fireplace before and it looked like a tedious project. But it actually turned out to be much easier than I thought and it was finished less than a day!

Here's what it looked like before and what I did to update the look:

Because of the shiny surface on the brick, I decided to use the same floor primer and paint I had used on the floor for my Boys' Bedroom Makeover.  I only used a brush, not a roller which went on really smoothly. I loved color, called "historic white"and how it softened up the space. 

And here's what my fireplace and mantle looked like when I was done: 

I am so happy with this transformation I feel like I could stare at it all day. I love the clean, modern look and how my mantle, tree and garland pop against the lighter colored brick and floor. Good riddance to my ugly fireplace!

Linking up with these parties.