DIY Curtains in a Boy's Room {Alex's Room}

Although Alex has been "living" in his room for the past 18 months, I was debating (with myself) about the curtain situation.  I originally planned on a valance but after putting short curtains in Elizabeth's room, I knew this was the right option for Alex's as well.  

Here is the room where we last left off - 

I have celular shades from Home Depot in there now.  This is a great off the shelf option that happened to fit perfectly but they can also cut them to fit your window.  They have light filtering and room darkening.  I went with light filtering since we don't always remember to put them up in the morning.  Heck, the kid sometimes leaves the house without underwear unbeknownst to me!

Now fast forward a year later, and the curtains are in progress.  I had a bunch of leftover fabric from the living room pillow project a while ago.  I believe I originally bought this fabric for Alex's room but then got sidetracked with the pillows.  Thankfully I still had plenty.  I have enough for another room too - not sure what I was thinking when I bought this pile of fabric!!

A few late night sewing sessions ensued...

Handy Hubby took one for the team by installing the rods the night before he left for a bachelor party in Vegas.

Cheering section:

Now we are here and I LOVE it.  

The curtain rods with globe finials are from Pottery Barn Kids.  I bought one for cheap from my neighbor and then purchased a second on clearance.  I think I paid about $35 for both - a great deal!

The pattern mixing in this room makes me so happy.  It's cheerful and fun, just like my little guy.

He is listening to his music (likely the Disney Cars soundtrack!) here - not facing the wall for now reason!

A quick before and after because we all love before and after...

                     

The room feels cozier and finished now.  A bare window always makes me feel like the room is waiting for something.  

What do you think?  Do you like the crazy mix of patterns?

Behind Closed Doors {Magnet Wall}

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have had a little inkling that I had a magnet wall planned for the house.  I have been intrigued with magnet walls for a long time but Elizabeth's room was the perfect place to give it a go.  She previously had a disaster of a bulletin board behind her door.  It was a hot mess. I didn't take a true before picture but here is the area right before I took down the bulletin board and (cute) frog barrette holder.  She won't wear barrettes any more (wah!!).

My friend Colleen recommended some magnetic paint that she found on Amazon with good reviews.  It seemed better than the Rustoleum version which I heard is stinky and doesn't work all that well.  after reading all of the reviews, I learned that I had to paint at least 4 coats using a foam roller to limit texturizing the wall.  This stuff is THICK so be sure to stir it well.  I gathered my supplies and started a couple of coats just before we started painting the walls.  

Soon, the wall looked like this.

After a few more (and some paint on the other walls...

After I tested it with 4 coats, I realized it would definitely need a couple more.  I called it quits after our full day of painting.  Sunday morning, I rolled on two more coats before painting the whole wall blue.  Fortunately, two coats of the blue paint covered it beautifully.

Another Amazon review tip was to use strong magnets (also known as neodymium magnets or rare earth magnets) if you want to hold paper up.  They are easily found on Amazon.  I picked up some of these pushpin style magnets to hold up her masterpieces.  Just two of these little guys held up her oversized "getting to know you" school poster.  

She also received a set of magnetic poetry for kids for Christmas (I may have tipped off Grandpa) which has been fun for all of us to play with, especially Handy Hubby...

You can see the slight texture in the paint in the picture above.  It was tough not to have texture but super thin coats seemed to be the way to go.  I just wrapped my roller in a grocery bag between quotes (I waited about an hour or so between layers).  

So, that's the secret behind the door.  I love that when you take all of the magnets off, you cannot even tell it's a magnetic wall.  In the long term, it will be a great place to hang certificates, photographs, and other childhood memorabilia that deserves display.  Perhaps the best part is that only she really sees it since you have to close the door to see the wall - it cannot be seen from the hallway.  

Any fun projects at your house this weekend?

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Reveal}

I cannot wait to share the pictures of my daughter's room.  Although I was skeptical about changing the color, I am so glad we did.  I think I like it even more than her original room!  So, without further ado...

And a before and after...

Sorry about the wonky color in the pictures - I took the photos at various times of the day and night.  

We ended up keeping all of the hard furniture, ottoman, and bean bag. I even kept her duvet cover but just used the white background side instead of the pink.  She has so much pink stuff, it just made sense to keep some of it and perhaps phase it out as she gets older.  We an easily do that now that the big stuff is changed out.  

I ended up changing out the curtains as well.  Although I liked the embroidered sheers, I decided that something more substantial would look better.  These are basic panels from Ikea - total cost $32 for four panels.  I hemmed them to just below the window frames because I was so tired of them getting caught in her bed linens.  They stay neat now without my intervention!

What do you think?  Did you like the pink more?  I know... it's a tough call!

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Rug}

When I started thinking about Elizabeth's room redesign, I first thought we could just paint and all would be fine, but alas... no.

The bedding was not going to work, and then it quickly became clear that the rug was not going to work.  There was not a speck of blue in either and the contrast would be too obvious.  Bummer.  Bedding I knew I could replace for under $100 and then sell her old stuff.  I achieved both of those goals so net net I only paid about $25 for Elizabeth's new blue bedding.  I'll show you the new bedding in all its glory week, promise.

But, the rug was a bigger problem.  

First, finding a rug with blue in it that is neither too gray or too teal/green was a more difficult prospect than I expected.  I definitely wanted a pattern and I didn't want it to be too light (she is 6 after all).  Given the chance, Elizabeth would have chosen a light blue shag rug but, as I said before, 6 year olds get to advise but not pick.  I pick.  I promised her it would be cozy like her current rug but not shag.

After a bit of trial and error, and several trips to HomeGoods (no luck there - what has happened to their selections anyway?!).  I found one rug on Joss & Main but it arrived with large dirty footprints all over it.  And it was too green, so that went back.  Then I found the great trellis rugs on Overstock.  They have a TON of varieties, but I liked this one...

I had a 10% off coupon before Christmas so it came out to about $160.  Really not bad considering the quality. I first thought I would pick the blue but then I started to wonder if I should go with something more neutral and settled on the slate.  It has a tan background and the blue was less prominent so it wouldn't be an issue if it was slightly off from the other blues in the room.

It arrived and I fell in love.  The blue is perfect with the walls and the background will not show any dirt.  Woohoo!

If the pile wasn't so high on the trellis, I would order one in another color for the living room!  The best part... doesn't shed. Elizabeth's old Pottery Barn Kids rug shed like CRAZY.  There were tumbleweed wool balls rolling down my hallway for the first 6 months!  Crazy annoying for someone who despises vacuuming (and thus only Roombas).  But, it was in perfect condition so I was able to sell it for $125 on Craigslist.  I swear, there is a resale premium on anything Pottery Barn!  So, the new rug netted out at less than $50.  Handy Hubby does not enjoy my redecorating math because it does not include the value of his time. Hah!

So, that's the new rug. Pretty, isn't it?  

Elizabeth's Room Evolves... AGAIN! {Paint}

I was looking back at the blog archives and saw that almost exactly 2 years ago we made some changes to my daughter's room to make it more her for the longer term.  Now here we are 2 years later with some more drastic changes.  Fortunately the cost was relatively reasonable overall, but I'll break that down a bit later.

After a lot of thought, I decided that we would paint her fabulously pink room blue.  At first I was sad and then I started to get excited just as I usually do about decorating projects. So, Handy Hubby woke up to his worst nightmare last Saturday morning: me in my painting clothes.  Haha.  He tried to roll over and go back to sleep but then fairly quickly came to his senses and got out of bed. After breakfast, we sanded down the putty covered holes we had covered the night before, taped off the baseboards, and moved the smaller furniture and rug out of the room, and put down drop cloths.  Actually, Elizabeth sanded most of holes - she earned her new room makeover!

We also removed her cherry blossom wall decal which was not quite as easy as I had hoped.  

Elizabeth pulled most of it down and then I scraped the residue off with a putty knife. Then I washed the wall with low-odor paint thinner to get any remaining residue off.  It took about 30-45 minutes total but you can not tell it was there. 

Then I cut-in while Handy Hubby rolled the paint - Sherwin Williams Emerald matte paint in Hinting Blue.  After lunch we rolled a second coat and then we had this.  

The paint wasn't quite dry in the picture above so it looks a little spotty but it dried nicely.  We probably could have done just one coat on the sheetrock walls but the plaster walls absorb paint like nothing else so that definitely needed two coats.  By 3 p.m., we were pretty much done.

I really love the color!  It's not very bold and in the sunlight, it's a bit washed out and beachy which I like.  I really hope she likes it for at least 5 years or Handy Hubby is going to lose his mind!

Lots more details to come.

How do I pick paint colors?

Unfortunately there is no magic answer to how I have picked paint colors in our house.  Although I have a few basic principles, I do not have a consistent methodology.

I generally start with a fabric or a solid idea for a neutral that will go with a lot of different fabrics.  If you have, or plan to have, a dominant fabric in the room, then it's best to pick the wall color from the fabric.  If you do the opposite, you'll never get the color just right unless you happen to be really lucky. 

I tend to choose vibrant neutrals - no real tans or beiges.  I have some bright creams (such as in our master bedroom) and one taupe (in the basement guest room).  Our main house color is straw yellow and that extends from the attic stairs to the basement family room.  

But, for Elizabeth's room, we broke free from the neutrals with a pretty pink (Quaint Peche by Duron). As you may have read a few weeks ago, she proclaimed her distaste for pink and really wanted her room to be blue.  I loved her pink and green room but had to admit that it really was no longer "her" and needed a little updating to get her to the tween years.  I hope. 

I started with a new quilt.  I needed some pink in it because I didn't want to lose everything in her room that was pink.  I found this Cynthia Rowley quilt.  You can still find it on eBay.  It's adorable - still young and fun but not too babyish.

Next I grabbed a bunch of paint samples at my local paint store.  Dropped them all on the bed and narrowed down my choices to two.  I wanted to be careful that the blue wasn't too purple or periwinkle because that was not the look we were going for.  Definitely wanted pale blue.  Well, I wanted pale blue and she wanted saturated blue.  I won.  Six year olds do not pick paint colors in this house.  I bought 2 sample quarts from my paint store and then Handy Hubby slapped them up on the wall for me.  My main tip with sampling is to do it unless you are really brave or the room is tiny so repainting won't kill you.  My other tip for sampling is to paint a large swatch on more than one wall because the colors will look different from different angles and in different lights. 

This picture isn't a very accurate reflection of the colors unfortunately - I snapped this at night so the lighting was horrible.  We went with the color on the left (SW Hinting Blue) instead of the one on the right (can't remember the name).  The one on the right had too much purple/periwinkle going on, although it was slightly closer to the quilt color.  Hinting Blue also looks great with the quilt but it's a color that both Elizabeth and I liked a lot.  Not sure how many times that's going to happen in the course of our lives!

So the color is picked!  Now on to painting...

Happy New Year!  

Elizabeth's Closet Makeover

Elizabeth closet needed yet another makeover.  It was long overdue especially since it generally looked like this most of the time.  Holy cow.

Obviously it wasn't working so something had to be done.  I first pulled almost everything out.  Sorted out things that don't fit any longer and passed along a pile of barely worn shoes to our next door neighbor (a budding mini-fashionista!).  The hanging closet "organizer" wasn't really organizing anything and really was not working for this space.  These can be good for baby's rooms but just don't work well for older children - at least in my opinion.

Next I bought her a shoe cubby from Target and put that together.  I returned all of the shoes that still fit into the cubbies.  Thankfully there were enough spaces!!  I then adjusted the shelves (love Elfa!) so the boxes and baskets would fit in a more organized way.  Finally, I cleaned out all of the baskets which held pajamas and bathing suits and put those back in.  I was able to relocate the sweaters and sweatshirts to her new dresser.  

We even had a basket leftover which we used for slippers (easy to grab and throw in at the end of the day).  We even had room for her baby doll crib (filled with stuffed animal friends!).

The big tub of clothes on the second to the top shelf is all of her winter clothes.  The other bins on the top shelf hold summer clothes that are too big (my little girl is so skinny so it's hard to predict what size is going to work), and the other holds holiday clothes and pajamas - Halloween and Christmas.

I still keep her dresses hung high because I get her clothes out every day.  Amazingly for a 6-year old girl, she really doesn't care what she wears - therefore she generally matches whereas many of her friends don't!

Here's the proud owner.

2 weeks later, the closet still looks the same!  Sounds like a victory in organization!

Elizabeth's Room: Second Dresser Makeover

I have struggled for a few months with what to do with Elizabeth's room. She has a nice sized room so has plenty of room for everything she needs.  Handy Hubby built her a large bookshelf with loads of space for all of her books and knickknacks (Handy Hubby calls this category her "her little junk").  She has her bed, nightstand, and chair.  She also has a dresser which was handed down to us from Jim's grandmother.

I toyed with putting a desk in her room but since we finished the den right next door, we figure we'll just wait and see whether she does her homework in there or whether she'll do it at the kitchen counter. I'm thinking the latter until she's in middle school then all bets are off.

So, I started thinking about another dresser since her main dresser is really not big enough with only 3 drawers.  Also, the long wall was not really filled.  I looked for a dresser for four months. I wanted to keep the one she has but add a wider one with more drawers. I scoured Craigslist and yard sales. I even emailed Cassie to keep an eye out for me.  Nothing.  Then a few weeks ago, I found this beauty on Craigslist for $50 and only 3 miles away - huge bonus in Northern Virginia!  

Yeah... not so beautiful but good potential and generally in decent shape.  I started by removing the hardware and sanding the body and drawers as much as possible.  Then I realized the bizarre little face plates on the top drawers were plastic and could be popped off easily.  I also removed the bling on the bottom.  Then two coats of white paint (Sherwin Williams Toque White).  I planned to get new hardware but decided to take a thrifty route and try spray painting the existing hardware in Krylon watermelon.  

I think it works with her other dresser and looks really great with her striped nightstand.

I'm still working on some other rearranging in her room.  Hopefully I can show you the whole thing later this week.

Any great cheap furniture finds recently?

Linking to:  Primitive and Proper, Miss Mustard Seed

Alex's Big Boy Room: Source List

So, after yesterday's big reveal post, here's the (hopefully) comprehensive source list, and some additional information on some of the details. The room is by no means "done" (is any room ever done?), but it's fully functional and the main pieces are in place. Window treatments are next on the list I think.

I hope you find this helpful but maybe not since I have had a lot of the pieces for quite a while and I tend to buy at deep-discount stores (Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Ross, etc.) so it's hard to find the same piece a second time but you never know!

Source List - Alex's Room

Paint - Walls (top) - Serious Gray by Sherwin Williams in flat mixed in HGTV paint (no VOCs and available at SW stores); board & batten molding and trim - Duron Toque White 7003 mixed in Sherwin Williams Harmony (no VOCs) paint in semi-gloss.  More on the trim work here.

Furniture (bed, leather chair, night stand, white cabinet, dresser, and bookshelf) - hand-me-downs or purchased second hand at Goodwill or on Craigslist. Most will undergo some sort of makeover in the next few months... or year... more to come obviously!

Madras Plaid Quilt - TJ Maxx
Pirate Pillow Sham - TJ Maxx
"Alex" Pillow - Little Bit Funky Etsy Shop
Comforter - Tommy Hilfiger
Sheets - Tommy Hilfiger Carson Patriotic Lobster

Dog Prints by Daniel Kessler - Purchased at Eastern Market in Washington, D.C.

Poster over the Bed - National Book Festival (available on eBay occasionally) - off the shelf frame from Michael's.

Cordless Cellular Shades - Lowe's (love these!)

Madras Plaid Pillow - Macy's

Fleece Blanket - Ross

Pepsi Box - Yard sale

Caboose Print - B&O Rail Museum

Table Lamps - Stiffel 

"A" & "M" Letters - Marshalls

Bear - Build a Bear (Elizabeth's gift to Alex when he was born)

Leather "A" - Marshall's

Metal Milk Sign - A.C. Moore ($1 on clearance!) - Wilson is my maiden name so it was meant to be!

Closet - Elfa (Container Store)

Rug - Land of Nod

Overhead Light - Seagull Lighting

Please let me know if you need sources for anything else!

Linking to: From My Porch to Yours