Baby C’s Nursery: DIY #5

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these posts!  But don’t let that fool you—I didn’t lose interest in decorating this nursery with lots of do-it-yourself touches.

When trying to put together a room, curtains are ALWAYS my downfall.  I can’t grasp what looks good.  So many lengths, weights, curtain rods to choose from!  (times like this I need my girl, Cole from Just Cole, to come put her talents to use!  Must remind her to blog about curtains for those of us who are interior-design-challenged….)

In the interest of saving money, I simply looked for a fabric that matched my color scheme and purchased 2 yards (from http://www.etsy.com/shop/imaginefabric).  At first I was looking for vintage fabric, but ended up caving and getting this vintage-inspired floral print.  I also purchased a yard of purple gingham fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics to give my curtains some interest (ok….and because the 2 yards I ordered wasn’t enough to cover 2 windows!  Oops.).

First things first, I cut the floral fabric into 4 panels.  I then sewed the gingham to the bottom of each pattern to add some length (and to make them cuter!).

(photo 1- a sketch of the plan…or more like, a sketch of the LACK of plan and how to fix it!

photo 2- adding extra length by sewing a contrasting print on the bottom

photo 3- floral and gingham—a match made in baby nursery heaven!)

Next comes the most time-consuming part—hemming ALL edges.  I simply folded each edge twice and eyeballed it.  The gingham pattern worked as a great guide for straight lines!

(photos 4, 5, 6—hem and hem and hem….)

After all the edges were finished I folded over the top edge to make a space for the curtain rod.  To make it a little fancy, I measured down one inch and sewed a seam and then did the other seam and the bottom of the fold.  The rod will go in the lower of the two openings—this allows for a little bit of a “ruffle” on top, above the curtain rod.

(photo 7- measure the fold-down length, based on how long you want your curtains to be

photo 8- sew two rows, so that the curtain rod doesn’t have to go right at the top of the curtain—makes a cute ruched top detail

photo 9-final product should be two openings at the top.  Put the curtain rod through the middle one)

Lastly, IRON them!   Ironing sewing projects give them a much more finished look.  It smoothes out imperfections and gives curtains a much more crisp look.

(photo 10- take that extra step and iron!)

Here is the finished product—a happy accident of two-toned curtains!  I wish they were a teensy bit fuller and a smidge longer… but they are made with love and I can’t wait for little Baby C to see how hard I worked to make her room pretty!

Excuse the poor photo quality!  The sun shines into the room so brightly, but there's no light going out...so taking pics of windows is next to impossible!  I will try again once I do the final nursery tour!  Stay tuned...

xo

Jayme

Baby L's Nursery: DIY #4

Hey there, it's Amanda again.  I know, two blogs in one week! WOWZA!  I'm taking over this week's DIY because I have been dying to share it with you....except it was a surprise for Jayme's shower, so I had to keep it on the DL until she got it last weekend.

I wanted to make a wooden initial to hang on the wall of my niece's nursery.  But it couldn't just be a boring painted letter...I wanted it to look vintage.  And in the end, it did!  I love how it turned out (and so did Jayme), and it was pretty easy, so I thought I'd share the steps with you.

I sketched the L-shape I wanted (There's a clue for all of you, readers!  Baby's first initial!) on a piece of wood, and Q cut it out for me.***

***Disclaimer:  I am thankful to have a pretty rad husband who knows how to do pretty much anything involving tools and woodworking, which made this DIY extremely personalized from its inception...but if you don't have a husband with a room full of every saw/router/ known to man, you can purchase a wooden letter (I've seen them in the craft sections of Target, Walmart, Michael's, etc.)

He edged it with a router to give it depth/interest.


Then he carved out/sanded any rough edges.

We were ready to go!  (This is where you'll start if you have a pre-made wooden letter.)

1.  I added a coat of white primer...

2....then a coat of the aqua blue after that dried. 
 
3.  (And a second coat of aqua after that one dried).
 
4. Then I went to work sanding down the paint a bit.

5. I focused on distressing the edges where the letter might naturally wear down more.

It looked pretty good at this point, but I still wasn't happy with it, so I decided to use a little throwback from middle school history projects:  tea staining.  I wasn't sure if it would work/last, but I figured it was worth a try. 

6.  I steeped two large bags of earl grey--though I'm pretty sure the flavor doesn't matter as long as it's black tea, I do love the fragrance--in boiling water until the water was cool enough for me to reach in and grab the bags.  I then proceeded to squeeze out the tea bags and rub the leaves on the letter.  (It's kind of messy, so you'll want something underneath as you work.)  I left the tea grounds and drips on the letter overnight.

7.  In the morning, I wiped the clumps of tea off and scrubbed at any places that were too dark.  The letter had the perfect "vintage" tinge to it.

I used it as a centerpiece for Jayme's shower (post and MANY more photos coming soon!)...

And now it's hanging in their nursery, above a darling vintage print I found while thrifting. 

Pretty simple and really pretty.  I had so much fun surprising her with a gift that Q and I had made completely from scratch.  Hope I've inspired you to do some of your own DIY's!

xo
Amanda

Baby C's Nursery: DIY Project #2

Andrew and I bought a house last August.  It makes us feel like grown-ups to own our own place.  Funny thing is, the only furniture that we've actually purchased for it is a sofa and recliner for the living room.  We have been super blessed to have all the rest of our furniture either gifted to us or handed down from family members.  Needless to say, baby's room will most likely not be getting a brand-spankin-new-perfectly-matching bedroom set.  And I kinda like it that way.  I want the room to feel warm and homey and a bit quirky.  The dresser that currently is in the nursery is chock-full of the hubby and I's sweatshirts and sweaters and all the other clothes that don't fit in the child-size dressers in our bedroom.  So sorry Baby C...mommy and daddy will most likely be keeping our clothes in there.  But the least I could do was pretty up the dresser to make it more suited for your room!

This dresser was a gift from my parents (when the particle-board, build-it-yourself dresser we got at Walmart finally bit the dust).  At first I wanted to paint it white...but then I thought, why not make it a little more special?

So we chose a pale aqua color that fits the original color scheme (pastel yellow, purple and aqua) of the room.  The first step was to sand the dresser--not to the point where it was completely void of color, just enough to take the shine off and rough it up a bit.  Lucky for me, my dad is a collector of all power tools and I borrowed a small electric hand sander--super easy to use and made my life SO much easier!  It created a lot of dust though....so this job is best done outdoors (or in a very well-ventilated room).  [The grooves in the door were simply sanded by hand with a scrap of sandpaper).

Next I primed it all.  I used Kilz 2 Latex paint (a water based, acrylic) and applied it with a mini-roller to make it extra smooth.  As you can see in the photos, it didn't completely cover up the original finish that was left...but adding the color overtop will do the trick (but if I was really paranoid person I might have put another coat on).  I let this dry for a couple days (24 hours would be sufficient!).

Last comes the fun part!  Slap on the color.  For my perfect shade of "pale aqua" I chose Olympic's "Serendipity" in a satin finish.  Not too shiny, not too matte.  I also used a roller for this part.  

I decided to replace the original brass handles with silver ones--love how they match the sort of 50's vibe of the aqua color.  (Be sure to measure the distance between screws for your handles--this dresser didn't have the standard 3" distance so it was kind of difficult to find handles that fit).  And now we have a sweet little dresser, perfect for Baby C's room!  I still might add a little floral design on the door to make it even more special.  But for now, I'll just give it bit of pizazz by setting a vintage pitcher full of zinnias on top. :)

Until next time,

xo

Jayme

P.S.  The walls are the same color in these photos....weird huh?  It's just the lighting the makes it look like I painted them a darker shade of yellow.

Baby C's Nursery: DIY Project #1

 Ever since I can remember, I've always made home-made cards for people--thank you notes, birthday cards, anniversary cards, etc. It's gotten to the point where everyone knows that's my M.O. and I'd almost rather skip the card altogether if I don't have time to make it myself.

SO being such a crafty gal...I really feel like I should (and I WANT to!) have as much homemade decor in the baby girl's (Baby C...and sorry folks, the "C" is for the first letter of my last name--NOT a hint to her first name!) nursery.  Not to mention, it will save us a lot of moola.  AND make her room one of a kind!

Project #1 was inspired by a photo I found when skimming nurseries on Ohdeeoh.

I love the tissue paper pom poms hanging from the ceiling--they add another level of interest to the room (a fun carpet on the floor... cute pictures and shelves on the walls....but why not give some attention to the ceiling?).

My first real task was deciding on a color scheme for the room.  I'm not really a pink person (I don't mind the color--I do wear pink and I'm sure the baby girl will have plenty pink outfits in her wardrobe--it's just not my absolute favorite) so I chose purple, aqua and yellow.  My nursery theme is garden-ish--flowers, bunnies, frogs, butterflies, etc.  So I'm calling the pom poms "flowers."

Next, I found a similar project online that was for tissue paper flower napkin rings/embellishments and simply did it on a larger scale.  Here's how:

1.  You'll need 8 sheets of tissue paper (if you're not buying in bulk, most packs of solid colors actually have 8 sheets per pack, which is nice).  Unfold and line up all the edges.

2.  On the SHORTER edge (I tried using the longer edge for my first attempt--because the creases were already there...but it ends up being too long and floppy) do an accordion fold.

3.  Smooth out your folds so the creases are nice and crisp.

4.  Cut each corner (you can cut to a round end or make into a point...the point is a little easier : ) 

5.  Make your cuts on both ends of the tissue paper stack.

6.  Fold stack in half, to mark the middle.

7.  Use about a 4 inch piece of wire (floral wire would work best--I didn't have any so I scrounged around the house and found an old piece of ribbon with wire edges and just cut the wire off the ribbon) and twist around the middle.

8. Fan out the stack of paper a bit.

9.  Begin pulling individual sheets up (be VERY careful!  I tore quite a few on my first try...).

10.  Pull from each end and begin to shape the flower/pom pom.

11.  After half are pulled, turn over and pull from the other side.

12.  Mess with it a bit until you get the shape you want.

Voila!  A lovely, inexpensive, eye-catching addition to your baby's nursery!  Loop some string or invisible fishing line around the wire in the middle and hang from the ceiling.  Mine will probably go in a corner, all hanging at different lengths.

Stay tuned for more DIY's!  Happy Labor Day Weekend.

xo

Jayme