No pain, no gain, no nap.

So, here's the update: Ty's been out of town all week and with the generous help of my Mom, I've survived the week AND made huge progress on the baby's nursery (I promise to reveal his name, for those of you who don't know, next week).  Yesterday, she and I tackled the crib skirt, hung his book shelves and brain-stormed what would come next.

At the end of an exhausting day this is where we got with the crib skirt:

*excuse the crappy iphone photo... i'm exhausted to climb the stairs with my DSLR.

elmo courtesy of Nash. 

IKEA Ribba Shelves

Today, Mom hammered out the repairs on the slipcover that goes on the rocker. It's not naked anymore!!  Whoop! We also hung the mirror (pictures to come as I wrap up the loose ends of that wall) and mulled over the pendant light that now hangs above the dresser; to wind with yellow chain or with black.... hrm.........

I don't have plans to work on the nursery over the weekend but more to lay out what's next. I am in the process of sorting through many decisions:

• rug: grey? yellow from IKEA that used to live in my foyer?
• red frames, one on either side of mirror with Mommy-original drawings?
• hang wooden airplanes from fish line above crib
• one large shelf for knick-knacks? where?
• blackout curtains
• changing pad
• chain for pendant light cord

But, for now, I think more would've happened... or maybe I just wouldn't be so tired if it weren't for this little munchkin and his lack of napping:

He looks all innocent here. Don't let him fool you :p

Nursery Update

So... ***sigh***... long day. My mom (a.k.a. "world's best seamstress") came by today to help work on the curtains. I'll have her post her own run-down of how this went to help you DIY'ers. My brain hurts thinking about how long we worked on them today and she'd already spent a day on them 2 weeks ago.

But, from the moment Nash went down for a nap until 4:00pm we (she) sewed away.

Anyways, we had a little help from Nash:

And then he'd get distracted. Here's where I found him (note him trying to take a picture of me):

Back to the room... Here's where we stand: tomorrow I have hopes of starting on his crib skirt which is an important part of the decor; it's where the color scheme comes together.  My mom is insisting I sew this.  For those of you who don't know - I. don't. sew. So, that's a work in-progress. Also, I'm working on getting some interesting lighting up. My house isn't filled with, what I call, "custom lighting". Everything is in the realm of lamps.  So, for the nursery, I'm looking to bring it to another level with some light pieces. I'm hoping to get this pendant light I bought from IKEA up over the edge of the dresser to assist in nighttime diaper changes and a floor lamp next to the rocker. In time. Also, the rocker is naked! The slipcover we used, while getting through those late nights with Nash, needs some repair. Hopefully, we'll see that in there this week too. I'm also chewing on some rug options and some art options... oh and the shelves.  They've been purchased but just need some TLC to get them up on the wall.  More to come, but here we are as of 8:01pm tonight.  :)

Tips.. Tips... and Tips

Mkay, friends. In the last 3 days I've gotten 1 FB message, 2 texts and a phone call asking me questions about projects that you guys are doing. LOVE <3 that I can help. However, I am not an expert and am taking things step-by-step and often bouncing ideas/questions off my family, my local Home Depot paint guru (who now recognizes me and asks about my projects.. yah, it's that bad), and the internet. So, after a lengthy email to my girlfriend who is also pregnant taking on her own DIY project, I decided to do some research to find some tips/helpful do's and don'ts of painting wood furniture. I hope this helps. Take a look (via http://asoftplace.net/):

Do what YOU like. I’m not telling you to paint grandma’s priceless armoire, but what good does it do to live with a piece of furniture that you don’t like just because someone says, “But it’s WOOD”?

Start small. Pick something inexpensive and small to practice on. A old wood chair is a perfect first project.

Clean it really well. A good scrubbing with soap and water will do a long way for creating a surface that will hold paint. If it’s really greasy or grimy, there are products you can use to clean it better but I’ve never used them.

Evaluate the surface. If its slick and shiny, you’re going to need to sand or use a liquid deglosser (liquid sandpaper). If not, you can skip the sanding step.

You may not need to prime. I only prime if it’s a piece that will get heavy use. If it’s just going to get looked at vs. sat on, jumped off and banged around, I usually won’t prime.

If you’re using a dark color, get a tinted primer (in black or grey). It makes getting an even finish so much easier.

If you want a really durable finish, you can use an oil-based primer with a latex paint. Just don’t use latex paint over oil-based PAINT. That will make you a big ole mess.

Take care of any drips or streaks when they happen. When I’m spray painting, I keep a foam brush handy to wipe away and runs or drips.

If you miss one, wait for the paint to dry REALLY well and sand it away then repaint.

Be patient! This is the hardest step for me. Letting your piece dry well between coats will go a long way toward avoiding problems in the finish like bubbles and crackling.

From Attic Space to Guest Space

For 3 weeks I've been working slowly on developing a guest room space that could double as a ping pong room. Yes. You read that right. Over our garage space there are 2 rooms: 1) the "gameroom" where there's a television, the Wii, our old sectional couch and a wingback recliner (don't forget the 'forgotten' toys) and 2) the empty room. For almost 3 years this room has had nothing in it but random pieces of luggage, odd boxes of junk, a stray blanket, a lonely NERF dart and a wiffle ball. Ty and the boys have used that space to romp around and, well, put dents in. For Christmas Santa brought Witt a ping pong table. I bit my tongue as I was newly pregnant in December and knew the day of room'ical' chairs would happen.  So, now 12 weeks before I'm due (assuming he goes full term) begins the move of Witten to the guest room and the guest room to the empty room to open up the baby's room which was Witt's. Here has been the catch: how do you develop a space comfortable enough for guests to enjoy their stay but keep the ping pong table from being a nuisance but rather a piece of furniture that belongs? BWHAHAHAHA. Men.

Have I mentioned I could care less about the ping pong table? Seriously? ping pong?

Ty and I have a plethora of crap. So, I decided the shabby chic route was the way to go; incorporate things that don't match -- on purpose.

The only new things that have been purchased for this room is:

• duvet from Pottery Barn 
• euro shams from Anthropologie

Everything else was stashed in our attic spaces. Thank goodness for hoarders. 

Here it is (without the ping pong table in view):

Before --

After--

My lovely new family member

This morning I woke up with a wild hair - buy a mirror for the baby's room. I'm going for something like this but more masculine, different color scheme and obviously a different shape.  But, I just love the idea of mirror above the crib instead of the commonplace trio of photos, the canvas print or his name.

Here's my inspiration:

(got this from a great baby nursery style website: Lay Baby Lay)

Anyhow, that wild hair... oh yah... well, sitting doing some design research during Nash's naptime I started cruising Craigslist. I don't LOVE Craigslist like some people do. It's rather daunting to me and I find there to be SO MUCH junk to sift through that I just can't handle it some days. But, today was a different day. I just searched 'bamboo', 'mirror', and 'wall' and tada! there she was my little bundle of joy:

I patiently emailed the seller and no response. So, I texted them and they responded and for $100 (so I thought) I sealed the deal and then impatiently drove to Highland Park T-O-D-A-Y to get it. Can I just say? If all my Craigslist purchases culminated in HP, I'll Craigslist all day! Once I arrived the seller started to re-nig (<-- is that how you say it?) on the prospect of selling it. Are you kidding me?! I used gas at $3.78 a gallon to pop my craigslist cherry and you want to "change your mind"?! I want that friggin' mirror, woman!!! So I upped what I would pay by $20 and there she sits... comfortably awaiting my painting decision. More to come as I get to that project. Hhahahah

CRAZY. NESTING. FOOL.

So, while I'm in FULL nesting mode on the baby's nursery, I'm also working on developing a "ping pong"/guest room. Did I mention that I'm trying to finish the guest room by Friday?! Goodness me. Well, I've decided to go the shabby chic route eliminating the stress of that "matchy matchy" factor and hopefully, along the way, save some money by pulling pieces from our storage/attic space.

Meet one of my husband's pre-marriage purchases... moulding frame shelves in W-H-I-T-E:

**Note them quietly sitting on top of the green cabinet I'm supposed to be re-doing for the foyer. This is where you start rolling in laughter at the mere thought of me doing, yet, another project. Yah, I'm laughing too... hardy hardy har. 

Back to the shelves..............

Well, after I put Nash down for the night I got a wild hair about these shelves. See, I was going to purchase this from IKEA to hang above the bed:

But, at $140.00 I decided to attempt to give these shelves another life for free. That $140.00 can stretch so far in the baby's room. 

Remember the brown paint I used on the elephant hooks? I decided to use that to give the shelves a glazed look. It was a shot in the dark, but the shelves have lived in the attic for almost 4 years and I was done using the paint for my other projects. Deep breath... 

Here's what I did... I first sanded lightly and cleaned off both shelves (making sure they were dry before I carried on). Then, I used the brush that it came with, to brush on enough paint that I could still work with... I wanted to rub it in, not completely coat the surface. It was really important that I keep all my strokes going in the same way on the larger areas. The paint dries very fast and will begin to peel if you're not careful.

I feel like the key to this was keeping it darker in the creases and cracks of the moulding.

I was able to work on the second shelf while the first dried and hit them both again to give them one more layer. Here's after the 1st layer of paint:

Still felt like they needed another. So, after the second coat and a clear satin coat to seal the paint, here's an up-close look at a finished shelf:

Not too shabby for a random project that took me 45 mins after a long day and a pipe dream, hey? :)

Pottery Barn wanna-be bed - Almost Done.

So, having a few quiet hours to myself Saturday morning, I gathered up my coffee and my ratty clothes and ventured outside determined to make leeway on Nash's bed. What a perfect day to paint outside!! It was great. I had 2 solid hours to hit it hard. Fortunately, the wood putty wasn't too hard to sand. I went ahead and busted out the belt sander it help make the seem between the wood of the bed and the putty nice and smooth. I'm so pumped how it turned out:

Here's the biggest gash recovered from years of neglect:

Happy with my progress, I gave the pieces some time to dry and cure in the warm sun. They spent this morning out too. Still a little tacky, I don't think I'll revisit them until Tuesday-naptime. After a once over, I noticed a few blemishes as a result of my rusty paint ability. So, I lightly sanded them down and will wipe the whole bed clean for coat number 3 on Tuesday. After which, all the pieces will get a spray paint, clear, satin coating to help ward against 2.5 year old wear and tear. Here's what they look like painted:

Final look once it's assembled and made... in a few weeks, I'm sure :)

Last post of the day: "Apple".

I will be M.I.A. tomorrow being the ever-supportive wife and attending my husband's quarterly meeting.  It's an ambitious endeavor... that is, to gather myself (showered, dressed and with makeup), gather a 2 year old and his overnight gear and meet my Dad in Flower Mound to deliver Nash to them by 8:15/8:30a. I think I can... I think I can... I think I can... oh wait. I have no choice. ;P

But, before I turn off my laptop and snuggle down in my sheets to enjoy the leftovers of the hail storm, I wanted to boast with joy that -- NASH ATE FRUIT TODAY --

No, no, wait... he actually took an apple from my hand and went to town. As I said to a friend, "pigs are flying at my house today". And so they were... here's the proof:

Wait! yes, I am doing multiple projects at once. Crazy? no. Happy? yes.

I've had a twin bed in the garage for a month. It's lived next to the bench who lives upstairs now. See it here. So, now it's lonely and needs some TLC. I'm working on giving it a Pottery Barn kids feel like this:

I decided, in a moment of crazy pregnant-ness, to start standing it. Step 1. So, with Nash (a.k.a. my little helper) in tow, we gathered ourselves, our sunscreen, and our M&Ms and headed out to the garage:

Let's be honest... he was little help, but he was too cute to not snap a few shots while we were enjoying the weather. That middle pic was my "panic pic" as from looking up from sanding, I couldn't find him.  That's him "helping". Big help, huh?

My first step in my bed re-do was to sand it all over and add wood putty to the huge gouges it had along some of the corners. 

this is with wood putty:

this is a pre-sanding pic of one of the rails:

I can honestly say I'm not eager to move Nash into a big bed, but it needs to be refinished and be ready for when I am. Since expecting to be productive after the baby arrives is merely a laughing matter, I figure knocking it out now and putting it in storage is the best idea. And so this weekend I forge forth with my projects, interjecting small steps in bringing them to greatness as my weekend progresses. 

A Lovely Bunch of Newly Upholstered Furniture

Let me start by saying that I. LOVE. REUPHOLSTERING. Shew, I feel better. It's a new found addiction, but hey, it could be worse. I'm loving my new found ability to channel my nesting and am trying to savor every moment because I know it's fleeting.

I think I'm going to start naming my reupholstery projects.  Let's name the forest green chair... Gretchen. I don't know why. I guess she reminds me of a Gretchen (and, yes, it quite possibly could be that of the influence of RHofOC - I shrug). Introducing....

I'm so pumped, but as I delve into it today I see I have my work cut out for me. However, Gretchen will not defeat me. I got comfy in front of tv with my recorded shows from the previous night, my flathead screwdriver, my needle-nose pliers, and my Fanta. Yes, I said "FANTA".  Sigh... I didn't get very far. 

After over an hour of plucking out staples from the cardboard binding, the lining and the first layer of staples from the green fabric, I only got this far:

and got out ALL THESE STAPLES! yikes!

I intend on tackling it some more this weekend, but I'm thinking I'll be hitting Nash's "big boy" bed first. More to come on that.

Baby's Nursery -- The BEFORE

So, in the spirit of moving forward in my nursery planning and the never-ending moving of the rooms upstairs, I wanted to show you that indeed I am progressing! After we moved Witt's room to the guest room (shew! it's finished!), I transferred all the guest room closet junk to the center of the soon-to-be baby's room. OMG. Nash meet Mess. Mess meet Nash (sorry for the cruddy iphone pic):

THANK GOODNESS my Mom came to tackle it with me. After almost 2 hours of sitting on the floor, sticking down temperamental shelf paper, sifting through bins of Nash's baby clothes, I present to you.... the baby's room - STEP 1:

The room is still blue. I (we) haven't tackled the paint job and I haven't found someone I can swindle to do it for $100. So, for now, it stays blue. Note the bench (again... insert my swoon) and that yellow pouf. Awww... so sweet and can't wait to rest my tired feet on it while rocking. 

Let's talk rug -- So, meet my old foyer rug:

I had an epiphany before my Mom's arrival that the base colors match and the pattern would work because it won't fight the stripes that are in the crib skirt. Rugs have been a challenge for me as I want it big enough to encompass the room, but not too thick to fight the "shag" carpet we have throughout upstairs. Here's the problem: the checkered pattern you see just left of the tassels is navy blue and does not work. I'll come back to this next week with my Mom's BRILLIANT remedy for this. :)

Here's a close-up of my sweet bench (lonely as it may be right now - it will find it's rhythm soon) and a look at the closet. For those of you who know me... it will not stay like this long. 

More to come! But, for now, this Mommy-to-be-again is happy seeing things move along nicely. Big hugs and thanks to my Mama for her help XOXO

PRECIOUS. Ohmygoodness.......

Had to share. Can't wait for birthday number 3!
http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/2011/04/lil-monster-2nd-birthday-party.html

My first attempt at re-upholstery

Super score at Home Goods had me reeling for weeks with the prospect of having a "custom" piece of furniture for the baby's room. It sat for almost 1 month in my garage glaring at me every time I stepped into my car as if to be screaming, "faux ostrich... vinyl... lattice print fabric". Oh the possibilities!
I've never (EVER) re-upholstered a piece of furniture... I was awful at covering my books in middle school <--- no faith in my present ability at bringing new pieces of, the ever-elusive, upholstered item back to life.  My Mom, on the other hand, had mastered this craft previously and reassured me that it was a piece of cake.

And, so I proudly introduce our new furniture family member:

I LOVE... let me repeat... I LOVE this piece of furniture and mainly because I did 85% of it myself. I was fortunate to have the help of my Mom and her experience and my Dad (and his plethora of tools no one has ever heard of at my disposal... well, that and his expertise). 

Here's the steps I took in taking on the project:

What you don't see is the ripping off of the old fabric (stock up on Advil or a bottle of wine prior to doing so) and a description of each step. Message me if you are up for taking on your own project and I am happy to walk you through it myself. 

Curls...err...Frizz Be Gone!

For those of you who don't know, I struggle with Nash's hair. Who would've thunk it? He has so little, right?! So, today my sweet friend, Kaleena, came over to do my hair and help me remedy Nash's frizz.  I had to share... he looks like a little man now.

Mid-cut:

 Before (yikes!) and After:
**excuse the poor iphone pic quality

 Love those lips :)

Easy peasy lemon squeezy or rub-a-dub... however you look at it.

Antique Brass-looking Elephant Hooks

This project couldn't have been easier. After located some cheap, plastic elephant room decor I decided to paint them metallic gold and rub dark paint on them to create the "vintage" look that I was after in a true brass piece. 

First, I found a large box to enclose my over-spray from the spray paint. Since my project wasn't large enough to deal with a drop cloth, ventilation, etc., I was able to isolate my project to an over-sized box, open the one garage and knock it out. I wiped clean the elephants and laid them flat in the box.

Next, I went at spraying each elephant until I felt they were coated evenly. Then peeled myself away from the project and let them dry. 3 hours later I returned to get the scoop by way of using the excuse of going to the recycling bin.... smart, right? ;p DRY! Whoop!

Again, I set up my area... opening the garage, grabbing an old (smooth textured) towel and the monitor (thank goodness for nap time!). This is when I used the Glidden Dark Brown paint sample:

Where to begin from here? I'd never done this so jumping right it, I covered with a generous amount along the top of it's head and along all the deep creases:

Now is when I took my rag and, in a circular motion, worked the paint into the creases and crevices. It will appear that most comes off... if too much comes off for your liking, reapply. 

After going through all three elephants, did a once-over all three to see where I felt more might be needed.  Each got almost two coats of brown paint. I LOVE THEM! The only thing I can think of they need is a layer of clear coat to seal in the brown paint.  That might be debatable, so for now, I'll leave them happily to dry in my garage. :)

I'm not the only project F-R-E-A-K:

My friend Nicole... known her since high school (eons ago *ahem*) and I've come to learn in the short few weeks since we've re-connected on Facebook that we've more in common than our desire for FB digging. I started following her blog and... I am at peace. She is a die-hard project DIY'r herself! There is more than just me :)

I particularly love this one: http://www.planetjupiterblog.com/2011/02/call-me-creative.html

Super Find Elephant Bookends... or wait... Hooks?

I've been on the hunt for some playful brass hooks that can be used for the baby's room. Unable/unwilling to spend money on any, I stumbled across these little guys at Hobby Lobby yesterday for $4.00 EACH! Love that place for their sales. I also scored an AWESOME PB looking basket for the abundancy of toys in the living room. I swoon...

Unfortunately, at a second take, they aren't heavy enough to support the weight of even 1, Good Night Moon.  So, instead, I've decided to make them into hooks (which is they're original purpose; to be hung). Problem: these little guys aren't brass nor do they look of the sort.  What to do.... SPRAY PAINT! But... I want them to have some vintage quality to them. So, I've purchased Rust-Oleum brand metallic gold spray paint and a sample canister of dark brown latex paint to bring on a rubbed look to the cracks and crevices.  To see how I did this go here.  After all day of patience, painting and rubbing in the dark paint here's my finished product: