Kids Room Ideas

Last week I shared how we were working on finishing up some projects in Silas' room and how much I was loving it.  This little room has so many fun little touches.  With his pallet shelf all completed it was time to officially recover his "couch" as he calls it.

His "couch" was originally a project we did for the Pinterest challenge a couple of years ago.  It was actually an ottoman we made for our living room but Silas came to love and use it so much it eventually migrated to his room.  Its the perfect size for him to play on, read books, watch a show, etc.  He loves that its just his size.  

So when I set to recover it I looked for a fabric that would work well with everything else we were putting in his room.  I love to look at the clearance section at big stores for "fabrics" - for example, curtains, shower curtains (which is what I originally used for this), sheets, table cloths -anything!  I came across a set of sheets at Target in the clearance section and was sold.  So yes, I used a flat sheet to recover.  I think the set was $7.78.  If you buy fabric ever you know that trying to find a fabric you love for a price like that is amazing.  Plus, since it was a set I got a fitted sheet to use on his bed as a bonus.  I love this kind of stuff.

I love the mix of patterns from the fabric to the rug.  So fun.  

Each little project just brings a feeling of completion to his room and is driving me to get it all done.  I'm determined to get my list completed in his space before I move on to other things.  One thing at a time!

Painted Interior Cabinets: Pinterest Challenge Spring Edition

The Pinterest Challenge (Spring Edition)  is here!  It's time to join in on the pinterest project party fun.  Last challenge I was a guest host (still crazy to me) and put together a diy fabric ottoman.  The Pinterest challenge is just a fun way of getting all of us to stop pinning and actually doing!  I love it.  This time around Sherry and Katie have two new awesome co-hosts Emily and Renee.  Make sure you stop by their blogs to check out their projects and link up with them!

Ok, so on to my pinterest project - painting the interior kitchen cabinets.  Here is my "pinspiration" - I'm  sure lots of you have seen this cute photo and even pinned it yourself.

This project is from Elsie and Emma over at A Beautiful Mess.  Isn't is so cute and fun?  I want my cabinets to look like this.  Challenge accepted.

Ok - first confession.  I'm not as finished as I would have liked to have been.  I do have the painting completed just not the cabinets filled yet.   But, I'm getting ahead of myself - let's take a look back (way back) to the original state of our kitchen cabinets when we moved it.

Not pretty.  Almost immediately the first thing we did was paint our kitchen cabinets.  We love them now.  They are obviously not new but way better.  We have debated so many times on what to do with this kitchen.  Do we gut the whole thing, leave the cabinets and just replace the countertop - the questions loom.  The longer we live here the more we lean towards not gutting the whole thing.  We do however want to replace the the countertops, add a backsplash, take down that weird middle piece over the window, etc.  We just don't want to over upgrade our small house.  So, those questions are for another day.

Here's the secret behind those painted cabinets - they are totally crazy half primed on the inside.

This was one of those - I'll get to it one day things.  Well, the one day has finally come.  

Here's a glimpse at the bottom cabinet - that shelf is old and grody.  Don't freak - I had it covered with shelf liner but removed it to clean and paint.

So, the color choice.  I wanted something fun but not too crazy and something that would be a pretty contrast/background for my dishes and kitchen gadgets.  This pretty navy/indigo color by valspar wonderfully named "Jazz Club" totally won.  I also loved the quality of this paint - it went on really smooth and nice.  I did do two coats but my cabinets were totally weird and half primed so I went into this knowing that would be the case.

I love using a foam cabinet roller when painting cabinets - the interior was no different.

This is my first coat before edging it all out.  Its a little brighter here (this is during the drying phase).  Paint almost always dries a little darker - and this paint is no exception.

The actual painting of the interior of the cabinets was actually really easy and quick.  The worst part about this project was pulling everything out and having your kitchen all over your house while you are in the middle of this.  

So after two quick and easy coats we have this.  I.love.it.  I love this color, I love that our cabinets feel finished now, I can't wait to re-stock them and organize them - I could go on.

Oh, here's the bottom shelf.  I love the pop of navy down there.  Now I need to find a really fun and pretty cabinet liner for the bottom.

I go by and just open the cabinets up for no reason now to just see the insides.  This totally makes me want to replace a few doors with glass doors so I can easily see inside.

I still have some white touch ups I need to do and of course - actually filling the cabinets back up.  But for now I'm in love.

Thanks so much to Katie, Sherry, Emily and Renee for hosting the pinterest challenge!  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Winter Pinterest Challenge: A Fabric Ottoman

Ok, today is the day - time to share our Pinterest Challenge projects!  I'm so excited to see what everyone has done!  We totally took on something we have never tried before so let me get to sharing..

At first I was totally focused on doing some sort of organization type project - since we have been all about that around here lately.  But then, we got a wild whim and decided to just try something we have never done - build a piece of furniture....a fabric ottoman to be exact.  It was actually a lot of fun, not too difficult, we learned a lot and I enjoyed working on the project together with Justin.  This was totally a tag-team effort...with a lot of the effort being on Justin's end of things :).  Someone has to pick out fabric though right?

So here are my pinspiring pinspirations...

I totally love both of these!  The first one is from West Elm and its awesome but I don't have $400 to spend on an ottoman right now.  I love the idea of using an old coffee table for the base of the ottoman done by Meredith from the Not So Newlywed blog but we didn't have a coffee table or have time to try and find something that would work for our room.   So, we just decided to build it from scratch. I feel like we kind of just made this up as we went along but somehow it worked out - thank goodness.  I would not say our method was perfect or the outcome was perfection but like I said, it was fun tackling something new together.

Here is what we did:

First we determined the size we wanted to build our ottoman...I needed visual aid for sizes and laying out tape on the floor totally helped me.

Next we purchased our materials and began measuring and cutting. We bought a heavy duty piece of reinforced plywood and measured and cut it to the right size (this was going to be our base).  We made ours 3'x3'.  We used a laser level to get our edge straight and Justin cut everything off.

Then we used two by fours and cut those into smaller square blocks to add a little extra height and stability to the legs and base and nailed those to the plywood.

Next came the cutting and glueing of the foam down to our plywood.  We bought our foam at Joanne fabrics.  We laughed because they cut it for you at the store with what looks like an electric turkey carving knife.  So when we got home the best we could mimic was a bread knife - and it worked.  After the foam was glued down we covered it with fabric batting - stapling it around the entire base and then covered that with our fabric.  I just used a staple gun and made sure everything was pulled tight and even and that the fabric was straight.  Oh, the fabric I used for this project is actually a shower curtain that I found at Target!  I loved the ikat print so I went with it and its a pretty durable fabric as well.

I think one of the toughest parts of this project was keeping Silas from jumping/sitting on it while we were working.  He was so excited and enjoyed helping.  I think all of his cars and animals also had an adventure on it during the building process.  I have a feeling this ottoman will be used for many more car and train expeditions.

Ok, back to the project - we nailed another block to the corners base to give it more height, drilled in the holes for the legs and screwed the legs in.  We were getting close to being finished.  Next, we added a piece of trim around all of the edges to just finish it out a bit.

Finally, I remembered that I needed to paint the legs - so I actually did this last, which worked out fine.  It might would have been slightly easier to do this before you screw them in.

We love the result!  We also love that it only took us a day - and that was including shopping for all of the materials.

We have small house and limited seating so adding a few more spots to sit when we have a big crowd is nice.  Our students come over a lot and usually end up on the floor so we are hoping this will give us a few more spots for group time, bible studies and whatever else. Plus Silas has been calling it his big chair so it has already gotten plenty of action.  We loved the feeling of accomplishment after we finished.  Justin declared that he was going to build a sofa next - I said maybe we should try something like shelves.  This has definitely got us ready for the next project!

Don't forget to check out Katie, Sherry and Michelle today!  They have some awesome projects they are sharing - you don't want to miss them!!

Now comes the part where you share your amazing projects too!

- If you have already blogged about it just link up your projects below! 

1.  Click on the "add your link" button

2.  Add the url of your specific post

3. Type in the name or description of your project in the "name" blank

We'd love for you to link back over to our projects within your own post- (here's Sherry's, Katie's and Michelle's)

*Also remember to link back to your inspiration project found on pinterest and to link back to the original source so they also get some love too!

We can't wait to see the amazing projects you guys have been working on!

Winter Pinterest Challenge: A.K.A. - Is this real life?

Ok, so I don't even know how this happened you guys - but yours truly is co-hosting The Pinterest Challenge - Winter Edition.  What?!!?!!  - yeah that was my first response too.  Seriously, I am super excited and over the moon about being asked by the amazing Katie & Sherry to be one the co-hosts.  So, yeah that's me down there along with Michelle (the other co-host)- who is also extremely fabulous- and we are pumped.  Not only do I love both of their blogs (and have now found a new favorite blog by Michelle) but Pinterest is pretty much addicting... so I'm all in.  Oh, and as far as "winter" goes, we may be quickly approaching March but it snowed in NC last weekend people and that's a sure sign of winter here - so we are going with it..its winter.

The Pinterest Challenge (not sponsored by Pinterest or anyone else) was created by Katie to give us all a little kick in the booty to stop pinning and start doing!  Lets be honest, we all have probably pinned thousands of awesome ideas but have maybe attempted about 3 of them - whoops.  I simply love this challenge and have had so much fun participating in the past.  So far I have made a little striped silhouette and re-purposed an old board into a kitchen chalkboard.

The fantastic projects on Pinterest have also helped to spur on my big "get organized or get out" kick that I've been on lately.  There is so much organizational goodness to be had - and I go crazy pinning anything organizational related.  Lately, I've been organizing my junk drawer, our beside drawers, our mini office space and our laundry room.  So I'm thinking this time that my project will have to do with - you guessed it - organizing - since its where I'm at right now....and I'll leave it at that (I might still be narrowing it down).

So here are some challenge details -

 - Find a project you have pinned on pinterest - it can be anything!  Big or small it doesn't matter - its all about doing.

- Now, slowly step away from the computer and get to work making your own version of your pinspiring project! Make sure you include the pin and original source so the creator will get credit as well.

- Come back next Wednesday - February 27th and share it with all of us!  Then, we can all get even more pin-tastic ideas to pin and do!

Sound like a plan?! Yay! The challenge has been officially issued. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!  Sherry, Katie, Michelle and I will be sharing our projects too so make sure you come back and link up with us!  Have fun!

Pinterest Challenge: A Kitchen Chalkboard

It's that time of year again to take on one of our favorite pinterest projects that we have been dying to actually complete.  Thanks so much to Sherry, Katie and their co-hosts Sarah and Carmel for hosting this awesome and fun challenge for all of us bloggers out there!

So I have a little confession to make, I really like chalkboards, and I really love chalkboard paint - like really love.  I mean, how many awesome chalkboard pinterest projects are out there?  I could peruse pinterest for hours just checking out all of the creative things people have painted with chalkboard paint and I haven't seen one yet that I didn't love.  Since moving in I have really wanted to do a chalkboard for our kitchen and I came across a really beautiful diyed chalkboard from Sarah at Clover Lane that I absolutely loved. Check it out:

So pretty right?  She actually painted her chalkboard paint directly onto the wall and then framed it herself.  Love that.  

We have a pretty small kitchen plus a chair molding and different things going on so I couldn't quite figure out how I could do this.  Then, sometimes you just so happen to be cleaning out your overstuffed shed (for the third time) and remember that you had come across a great piece of framed wood that you were saving for a someday I will make this into something pretty project and it just clicks - this is like the perfect chalkboard waiting to happen, such a great score.

I have no idea what this was/is, it was just left here by the previous owners and I couldn't throw it away.

I decided to use the chalkboard paint in spray paint form (only because I already owned some) and then to spray paint the molding a teal (only because I had some of that too).

But, first it needed a good priming...

This was some old, dry wood and it took a mighty good helping of primer.  I ended up giving it two good coats and then some touch up with a third, I just felt like it needed a good base.  After that, I spray painted the trim teal and let it dry.  Next, I taped off the trim really well so I could spray the center with the chalkboard paint (each received two coats).  And then a few days later of spray painting in between fifteen other projects and naps, I had this!

I absolutely love it and Justin has declared to me that He loves a chalkboard in a kitchen so we are all about this chalkboard right now.

This guy did replace my little memo board I made a while back but don't weep for him because it got a new life once again and has found a new home...more on that soon.

My freebie chalkboard has already come into good use for our weekly Monday dinner nights with our friends.  They insisted that we use the board for our menu each week (we were hitting the carbs hard this week/we ate what we had left in our fridge and pantry/who am I kidding we eat carbs all the time like its going out of style)...

So, that's my little pinterest project!  Can't wait to check out everyone else's! Make sure you head on over to the link up and see all of the amazing projects!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you have a fantastic day!

Also Linking Up Here!

A Striped Silhouette

I have a fun project to share with you today!  So ever since I saw all of the adorable silhouette projects on pinterest I have been dying to make one of my own of my sweet little boy.  The thing is, I just haven't set the time aside to sit down and do it and instead, I've just been pinning and imagining a sweet little silhouette of Silas in my head.  Then, along comes the Pinterest Challenge and lights a fire under my behind.  So today I'm joining the ranks of great bloggers across the Nation who are taking on their pinning addiction and actually doing one of those really fun projects.  

Let me just tell you that this was one of those projects that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and was super easy - and this is speaking from a person who is terrified of painting anything on a canvas with a tiny paintbrush.  I'm loving the finished product:

First, let me share my inspiration - here is my original Pin from the lovely Christina, aren't these adorable?

So, after checking out her lovely tutorial - I set off to decide what my silhouette would look like.  I decided to paint stripes on my canvas, mainly because I wanted to hang this up in my living room and it's in desperate need of some sort of color and pattern.

First thing was painting the stripes - now, I debated here on whether or not to paint the entire canvas white first and honestly- if I had to redo it I probably would.  But, since I tend to be impatient when working on any craft project I decided against it and went straight for the stripes.

I just used 1" painters tape and totally eyeballed the whole thing (because I'm impatient and didn't want to spend time measuring).

Once my stripes were taped on I used a little craft paint and painted over the canvas - I ended up painting two coats for better coverage.  

Then I got nervous because I was so convinced I would pull away the tape and reveal a giant mess.  But, to my surprise, it wasn't! And, actually looked pretty good.  It wasn't perfect - but the small imperfections are barely noticeable (especially when hanging up).  Next, I sighed a breath of relief knowing that I would not have to start over.

Ok, now for the silhouette part.  I needed a good profile picture of Silas to pull this off so I caught him at a good time when he was enthralled with Phineas and Ferb and took a quick shot of him before he realized what was going on - otherwise I would have never have gotten him to stand still for that long.  To enlarge it, I didn't use any fancy software I just uploaded it to my computer, pulled the picture into a page file and increased the size to fit a legal size document and printed it - simple.

Next I just cut out his profile, found the place I wanted it to go on my canvas and used a few pieces of painters tape to keep it still while I traced it.

And, then I had this:

This next part was the second scariest part for me because for some reason black paint makes me nervous plus I hate using a small paint brush, I'm just not skilled with it.  But, I just took in nice and slow around the traced line, using my paintbrush to outline the entire silhouette with my black paint.

These were the brushes I used, in case you were wondering.  I used the foam brush to fill in the larger area.

After a while my confidence in skinny paintbrush using was increasing and I was able to pull away with this - (this was my first coat and I did end up applying a second). whew.

And now he has a little spot in our living room to call home.

So cute right?

I love the stripes and the pop of color but the thing I love the most is my cute little Silas and this project just makes me smile every time I walk into this room.

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I'm joining up with the Pinterest Challenge and heading over to check out all of the other great projects that will be linked up!  Make sure you check out the awesome hosts projects: Sherry, Katie, Cassie & Erin.  

This project was so easy and fun and has totally inspired to get to working on more pinterest projects I have been procrastinating about.  So what about you?  Any pinterest projects looming in your pin boards that you are ready to tackle?  Have a great Wednesday!

Linking Up Here:

Thirty Handmade Days