Sarah's Big Girl Room

Sarah is almost 3!!

....less than 2 weeks away and this summer it was time to transform her room from a baby girl's room with a toddler bed to a big girl bed with some girl decor.

Here were my Inspiration Ideas:

I believe these were both from Pottery Barn.

I knew that I wanted a covered headboard. Sarah is so "wild" that any wooden headboard was certain to be accident central and I didn't even consider a footboard with the certainly that she'd be jumping off of it and was certain to be impaled - also a guaranteed trip to the hospital.

I found a twin size headboard on craigslist for $20 and recovered it with chocolate velvet and added the pink chenille buttons and trim.

Then I found some patchwork type fabric with all her room colors at the most fantastic fabric store in Atlanta, Forsyth Fabrics with my fabric lover friend, Ariel! I trimmed the comforter in a brown dot and lime green sheet I found. I took the same pink chenille I used on the headboard to make the fronts of the bedskirt. The pillow sham is a mix of the brown dot and a lime green. The lime green is also between the pink panels of the bedskirt.

Once the bed was finished, it was time to work on the tree. I had been searching for the look I wanted for awhile. Since we are renting our house, painting wasn't an option. I had to find something that would give me the girly tree I was looking for without paint. I saw some vinyl that was okay, but it either was too wispy or just looked like a dead tree. One day while at The Dollar Tree I was a brown bark shelf liner paper. I realized I could use that - umm $2/roll was also a HUGE motivator!

It literally was as easy as drawing a tree outline on the backside of the shelf liner paper and then cutting it out. I made the tree trunk in several sections and simply taped all the pieces up with blue painters tape. I continued to add pieces, move pieces, trim pieces until I got the look I wanted. Once I thought I was mostly happy with it, I removed each section with the blue painters tape, pulled off the adhesive backing and put it back in place.

It looked like a winter tree with some slight hint of girliness. I knew I wanted to add flowers, so I got to work making them. I found the idea off the following blog:  dearlillieblog.blogspot.com

They are not difficult to make, but there is a technique with making sure you gather them tightly after you sew them and then roll them loosly - if you want them to be full.

They're made from crepe paper - party streamers. I mixed light pink and hot pink flowers.

Once I had the flowers made, I took light green crepe paper and cut out leaves. I sewed the leaves together and gathered them so they would roll up. Then I used sticky tack to "glue" the flowers on the branches and onto the wall.

I can't promise that it will help your daughter sleep better, but Sarah sure sleeps well under her "flower tree."

Sarah's new Big Girl Room

Bookshelf with Commitment Issues

Wow! I can't believe it's been since the first of the year since I posted something. Time goes so fast. Even though I haven't posted, I have been busy doing things with the family and some DIY projects.

I might have mentioned the bookcase that I've needed to finish for like 10 years. I really struggled with making a commitment to the bookcase. Does that sound crazy? Since we move so often, it has been in so many different rooms and since we don't know when we're actually going to settle somewhere, I hated to "tie" it down. Sounds like some kind of crazy relationship issue!! I wanted to go with a bit of color but without limiting it's future. So, here's my compromise.

I started by sanding down the entire piece, moving from a low grit paper to a higher grit to make it feel as smooth as a baby's butt. Once it was all sanded and smooth, I wiped it down with a tac cloth. This is really important to remove any lint or traces of dust so they don't get stuck in your finish. Once it was all wiped down and clean, I started applying the maple color stain. I only did one coat of the stain because I didn't want it to be too dark. I was trying to bridge between darker and lighter wood that would be in the room. Again, with my commitment issue...I wanted it to be able to work wherever it ended up.

As I stained it, I would do a small section and then use a clean rag to wipe with the grain until the entire piece had been covered in stain. The most difficult part was getting the underneath of the shelves. It was hard to get to without bumping what had already been stained. The rest was a breeze. After it was stained, I moved the piece into my bathroom. Sounds wierd? Well, my bathroom has an empty wall and the bookcase needed a place to rest and dry before I put on the clear coat. The following day, I wiped down the piece with the tac cloth and put on the clear finish. I used a polyurethane product that came with the purchase of the bookshelf. It required a 24-hr drying time between coats. Before I applied the 2nd coat of poly, I lightly sanded the entire bookshelf and wiped it down again with the tac cloth. Here it is stained and with 2 coats of poly. 

Remember I mentioned I wanted some color? I had seen several built-in bookshelves that were painted in the back to either match the wall or to stand out against it. It was the look I wanted, but didn't want to permanently make the bookshelf my color of blue. I was going for a sky blue with lime green accessories. So, I bought a sheet of hardboard from Lowes and they cut it in a couple pieces so I could travel home with it. Then I got my jig saw and cut the pieces to fit between the shelves.

I didn't want to have to include any type of adhesive, because again it would be permanent, so I made sure  the backing was a SUPER tight fit. Once I made sure all the pieces would fit, I took my craft paint (yep, from Hobby Lobby) and put a light coat on the hardboard. Since the hardboard is so dark and my craft paint is a light paint, some of the brown from the hardboard showed through, which was the exact "weathered" look I wanted. Once the hardboard backings were painted and dry I pushed them inside the shelves. They were super tight, so it was an effort to get them in. With a few accessories and a few more left to purchase, here is the end result.