The Playroom: After Photos

Welcome to our PLAYROOM:

I will let the photos do most of the talking. Of course, there are always a few finishing touches that I would like to add to the room.

-A rug
-Finish the play kitchen
-Art above the newest little dressers

But, for now, it's done. And a very fun place for all of us to enjoy.

Sources

Storage shelving: Expedits from Ikea
Baskets:
::: yellow polka dots: Land of Nod
::: yellow gingham: Land of Nod
::: black rugby stripe: The Container Store
Navy Glider: Thrifted
Crocheted Blanket: Thrifted
Blue Photo Frame: gift
Royal Aero Hot Air Balloon: eBay
Train Table: DIY
Play Tent: DIY (Fabric from Tonic Living)
Chalk Board on Fireplace: DIY
Rainbow hooks: Land of Nod
Penant Bunting: DIY - wool felt from Treehouse Kid and Craft
White Wooden Table: Handed Down
Stumps: DIY (We had someone cut them for us and finished them ourselves).
Hot Air Balloon Light fixture: antique/gift

And there you have it. I'm so happy to have this space organized and put together before # 3 arrives. I anticipate many hours of play and nursing a newborn in the glider this summer.




I linked up to The Weekend Wrap Up!

Laundry x 3 - An Ikea Rast Makeover

I gave you an iPhone in-progress photo of the laundry basket dresser that is seriously changing my day-to-day life. It's actually allowed me to stay up on washing, drying, folding, and dare, I say it, putting away the clean clothes. This is a first. I have wondered for several years now how people keep up with laundry (I think I could write my own rendition of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, and it would go..."Every time I get ahead, it's taking off another dirty shirt....").

Well, now I know the secret. You have to find an organization system that works for you and your laundry needs, and then have a little bit of diligence. This revelation came just in time, too, since we will have a third little one's clothes to add to the mix any day! Now that I have all of these neatly folded clean clothes, we needed a place to put them.

So we picked up 3 Rast dressers from Ikea, which look like this:

And I gave them a little makeover. Now they are housing THREE little ones' clothes.

I really like how accessible they are to little ones; Dmitri and Damon put away all of their own clothes when we fold laundry together. Dmitri has been dressing himself for a while now, and this little dresser makes it super easy for him to get his clothes.

They were reasonably priced and they are solid wood. However, they are pretty small, so as the children grow, we will probably have to find something a bit bigger. But for now, they are perfect.

Sources
Dressers x 3 - Ikea Rast dresser - $34.99 each
Knobs - Hobby Lobby (18 knobs cost me $30 with tax)
Stain - Minwax Dark Walnut (leftover)

I also put a beeswax polish on top. I originally planned to paint the light wood part bright yellow, but now I am second guessing myself - I really like the wood on wood tone. I will give it a little bit more time and decide. (Opinions?)

The wall above these dressers is the last uncharted territory in the playroom. More playroom photos will be coming soon; I'm ridiculously excited about how it's turning out.

And there is still time to guess whether dresser # 3 will be housing little boy or little girl clothes!

Grey Scale Ombre Wall: MyColor™ inspired by Pantone® Painting Party

I am very excited to be participating in the MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® Painting Party that begins today at noon EST.

 About the Paint Party:

A group of DIY bloggers, including myself, have completed projects using MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® paint. Now we are revealing our work and giving you the opportunity to win some paint for your own DIY projects! I painted a grey-scale ombre wall, which was a little crazy and challenging, but a lot of fun. You can check out more details below. Be sure to jump to the other blogs in the party for even more inspiration - there are some really talented people taking part!

Win Some Paint:

If you’d like a chance to win a sample of MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® for your own project, simply comment on my post and share how you’d use MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® in your next project. Feel free to comment on the other blogs in the party too – they’ll all be giving away samples! For a second chance to win, tweet your project ideas to @MyColorPaints using hashtag #PassItOn. You can also like the MyColor™ inspired by Pantone® Facebook page to get access to the schedule for today’s parties as well as more paint parties going on this month! For another entry, share your project ideas on the Facebook page!

Participants that You Won't Want to Miss:

·  Kristen @ Kristen F. Davis Designs *Go Back to the Beginning!*

·  Caroline @ The Feminist Housewife *You Are Here!*

·  Julie @ Belle Maison *Continue to this Blog Next!*

·  Denise @ Pink Postcard

·  Suzan @ Simply Vintageous

·  Shannon @ Shannon Berrey Design Blog

Without further ado, my ombre wall!

While I love grey, our playroom is a large room, and the grey on such a large scale was a little underwhelming. I wanted to add a focal point to add definition and interest to the room. Here is a before shot of the wall that I painted, after I had cleared away the furniture:

And the after:

And the process:

1. I taped off the trim, fireplace, and the corners of the wall with painters tape.
2. I measured the wall and marked with a pencil where I wanted what colors to go.
3. Cut in! I ended up painting the entire wall with a brush. I started at the top with my lightest color.
4. Paint color number 2 below color number 1.
5. Blend, blend, blend. I used a mixture of a dry paint brush, and a dry rag to blend the two colors together. I went section by section, painting the second color, then blending, before moving on to the next section.
6. Repeat. And again. And again.
7. Touch up any spots that are uneven. You can always paint back over it with lighter or darker!

-I used the paint colors Lunar Rock, Cloudburst, and Phantom by MyColor inspired by Pantone. I also blended Cloudburst and Phantom for the second darkest shade of grey.

Total Time Spent: ~ 6-7 hours

I was really nervous about how this would turn out. I really went out on a limb, and there were moments when I had my doubts. But it looks really awesome, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's dramatic, but that is what I was going for.

I really liked the MyColor paint. It was very low odor, and I got amazing coverage. I couldn't believe that I could paint part of the wall black with only one coat! Not to mention, I was painting on plaster.
MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® reached out to me to participate in the MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® Painting Party. My post represents my honest experience with MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® paint. I am not being paid for my answers, but I did receive MyColor™ inspired by Pantone^® paint to use for this project.

 And this is what I look like painting on a 10 foot ladder at 1 AM....

Don't forget to enter the giveaway and visit the other participants!

Tweet Tweet: Bird Mobile DIY

This is a bird & branch mobile that is now perched above our playtent...

This little project was a lot of fun, and hand-sewing the little birds was surprisingly satisfying. I used the pattern from Spool, which made it super simple. I think it would be especially cute over a crib. Maybe I will move it over one, one day. So far, we have survived two children without setting up our crib. The fabrics are mostly Amy Butler.

The best part is how much Dmitri loves the little birdies.

DIY Play Tent

I have been trying to look around our house with a child's eye view lately, and I have been thinking about what it would be like to be less than three feet tall and live in a home with 10 foot ceilings. One of the homeschool curriculums that I have looked at recommended making a space that would feel cozy and den-like for a child to relax and play in. One of my own favorite memories was building play forts as a child! When I saw this tent tutorial on Ana White's website, I thought that Dmitri would love it! I also felt that form could meet function, and that I could make a tent that was child-friendly and fun, yet I would not be embarrassed to set up in my living room. I was lucky to have leftover fabric from my master bedroom curtains, and I used a drop cloth for the sides. Here it is:

From the front

 A side view

Dmitri loves it!

 Peeking out

Sookie does not want to miss out on the action! Also, her favorite sleeping chair is inside...

Total cost: about $20 (we already had the paint & some of the fabric on hand)

Total time: 3-4 hours 

Tools required: Drill/Electric screwdriver, Wrench, Staple gun, Iron (or sewing machine if you would prefer not to use stitch-witchery...as for me, I find any excuse to skip a needle and thread!)

I hope that the boys get to enjoy the little child-sized magical space of their own.

P.S. I linked up at the Weekend Wrap Up! 

+Update+

I have been asked about how I did the front of the tent...After I measured and cut the fabric into a triangle, I cut a slit down the middle of the bottom for the opening. I then "hemmed" the bottom and both sides of the slit with stitch-witchery (the iron-able hemming tape). I stapled the sides to the inside of the tent. And badabing. That's it! Does that make sense? Feel free to ask more questions. I usually respond via email, unless your email is set to a "no-reply".

Change [my mind]: Nursery Curtains

Curtains were one of the first things that I tackled in the nursery, other than paint. I picked them out, hung them up, liked them decently well, only to grow tired of them and realize that they really were not doing much for the room. You may remember them:

Blah. Blah. Blah.

However, they were pretty expensive. So, I listed those things on eBay (hoping to at least re-coop some of the money to invest in something else.). Not only did I sell them, I even made a profit. Which were not my intentions at all, but that's hardly something to complain about! And I bought these:

They have every color that I'm using in the nursery: yellow, orange, red, and grey!

They add a little more color to the room, and I'm liking that a lot better! I plan to line them with blackout lining to help reduce noise and light for nap times, and to make the pattern more visible. But since neither of the little ones are sleeping in there currently, it's not too high on the priority list. I'd really like to finish up the nursery/playroom considering that we now have TWO kiddos...slowly but surely.

The curtains are from here: Urban Outfitters: Tree of Life Curtains

Nursery Bookshelves

We love to read, and our love of books is something that we hope to pass on to our children. It was important to us to create a reading area in the nursery/playroom that was accessible to little minds and fingers! So we crafted floating bookshelves for the room:

We tried to use as much scrap wood as possible for the construction.

 A mini Poang chair (a Christmas gift from Dmitri's "Tia")

The view from the entrance

The shelves are constructed out of 1 x 4's and trim, most of which we had leftover from building our bed. David cut the mini-brackets with a jig saw, and we used leftover white paint. The total out of pocket was $6!

This is the first part of the nursery that I feel I can officially say is "finished"! And considering I'm full-term, it's nice to have something complete. Hopefully we might can fit in a few more projects before baby # 2 arrives, but we'll see!

For more nursery posts click here!

I linked up at The Weekend Wrap Up Party!