Tufted Upholstered Headboard

We've been married over 10 years, and have never bought or owned a headboard! I finally decided to just make one. Why I waited this long, I'll never know! It only took three days of nap time working to finish, and under $100 to make, but what a difference it makes to our room!

I build the frame using plywood, 1x6 and 1x4 boards.

I then used two layers of egg crate padding, batting, and finally the upholstery fabric. I stapled it to the back of the frame, making box folds at the corners.

When that was done I tufted it with buttons I covered with the upholstery fabric.

I love how it turned out and what a simple impact it has on the room.

A Simple Guest Room

We've rearranged the boys room configuration, and are left with a guest room. We had guests coming so I pulled a few things together to make a simple guest room spending not even a dime.

The duvet was from my middle boy's old bed, the curtains from my old craft room, I sewed up some pillows from fabric remnants, the chairs were hand-me-downs from my husband's grandmother. and the room was pretty much done.

Our Last Nursery

While pregnant with our last baby, we were in the midst of building a new home, selling our old home, and living with in-laws in between. That yearning to nest was replaced with packing and dreaming. We closed on our home on a Friday, moved in on Saturday, and baby came the next day, Sunday. The last thing I wanted to do after just having a baby, and readjusting to having a newborn schedule, was unpack and decorate, yet all I wanted was to feel settled and at home. It was a balance I was trying to figure out.

 Eventually, things came together, and it is now one of my favorite rooms in the house- not necessarily because it is the most decorated, but because of the sentiment behind the room. This was our last baby, thus, this is the last nursery. The last crib, the last rocker . . . So every time I walk in the room, I take in the details, the tiny elements, the sweetness. I just laid my baby (okay, he's 21 months, but he will always be my baby) down for a nap. Placing his heavy body down in his crib, I am realizing that these baby moments are fleeting. That the transition to a big boy room is pending, though I joke that I may keep him in a crib until he is FIVE! I've already started accumulating items for his big boy room, but for now I want to cherish the nursery.

There are scatterings of mountain and woodland animals throughout the room- miniatures, stuffies, prints . . .

My mom always makes each new grand baby a blanket. I knew I wanted a striped blanket like one I saw on The Purl Bee. We picked out colors and my mom remastered her knitting skills and made my babe this fun, modern, and super soft blanket. It is definitely a treasure.

The art prints above the crib came from The Caravan Shoppe. Super easy to buy, download, then print. Instant gratification! The rest of the art and wall decor was made by yours truly. Digital designs, an embroidered fox constellation, faux pewter initial, photos, and even some fun felt arrows.

My dad had some antlers laying around, and I asked if his grandson could inherit them- he can't say no to his grand babies! I wanted a playful modern take on an antler mount so I cut a triangle and painted it bright blue for the background.

Some scrap pallet wood I had leftover from another project got repurposed into a wall banner. That along with the dreamcatcher were my wishes for sweet dreams for our little one. The dreamcatcher was made using left over yarn from the blanket my mom knit.

Sitting rocking my baby, during the day with the sun pouring in, or in the wee hours of the night, were treasured this time around especially.

For his first birthday, my dad made some wood cuts. His name was on top of his cake, and later added to his collage wall because I couldn't part with it.

The mobile was a labor of love while I was pregnant. 10 crochet little stars in white and natural yarn, later joined, stuffed, and hung from a ring of twigs gathered from our yard. Every night as I put him to bed we sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as I make the stars dance above him. He loves it, and I cherish those moments.

Sources:
Crib & Dresser- BuyBuy Baby
Rocker- Target
Side Table- Homegoods
Striped rug- Crate & Barrel
Curtains- Ikea
Curtain Rod- Target
Basket- Target
White Frames- Ikea
Tribal B&W Pillow- Ikea
Watercolored Animal Prints- Caravan Shoppe
Large Stuffed Fox- Anthropologie (similar)
Raccoon & Fox- Jellycat
Knit Raccoon- Blabla Kids

Our Entry & Playroom

I have started the dreaded packing process and the first things to get packed up are those little touches that have made this house into our home. The pictures, the accents, and the cheery words. Kind of like the one you find when you first walk in our home- a cheery HELLO that always welcomed you. See the HELLO post here. I decided to finally post pictures of the other areas of our home so that I could reminisce from time to time on our first home. To onto the Entry & Playroom mini tour.

After saying "Hello" you will see my craft room (you can see a sliver of it in this picture.)

There is a long wall in the entryway. A wall so long that it was hard to find something to fit the space.

 I considered a super long bench for a while, but determined that a table would give me more decorating surfaces, and that idea won. Finding a long entry table in the style that I wanted, was proving to be expensive, so I built my own using salvaged balusters, and some wood from the home improvement store. See the full post here. The window is also salvaged, and was originally a window on SMU's campus. I did a post about the lamp here. The heart state prints are ones I made that show where we were all born.

Just beyond the craft room entry way and across from that long wall, is our playroom.

I made the curtains using Premier Prints Suzani print in the Titan Birch color. I was looking for a fabric that helped tie in the hand-me-down chairs that we inherited from my husbands grandmother. It's a heavy weight nubby fabric, and I love it in there.

I had wanted a piano to fill in that big nook, and found this one on craigslist. I wanted one in a dark non-glossy wood, that I wouldn't mind the kids banging around on. This one fit the bill and I love tinkering around on it (and wish I had kept up with lessons in my youth...)

This is the cleanest you'll see the playroom. We live in that room and books, cars, and games are always spread across the floor. The Ikea Expedit bookcase does a great job at wrangling in the toys. I bought the canvas bins at The Container Store, and designed labels for each one. Even my 18 month old helps put the toys away in their proper bins thanks to the pictures on each label. 

The pendant light is from Crate & Barrel and came as a surprise from my husband- I guess he does pay attention when I browse through their catalogs.

Being open to the entry and house, I didn't want the room to be decorated too kid-like. I stuck to a fun print for the curtains, and neutral colors all around to balance our the overload of toys. It's simple and I love the way it turned out.

My Daughter's Bedroom

I posted the boys shared room a while back, and figured it was about time to post a few pictures of my daughter's room. I didn't really have a theme in mind- so it's a combination of girly pinks and greens, horse lover, shabby, and playful elements.

I made her bedding back when she was turning two and moving into a twin bed from the crib. See the original quilt post HERE. When we moved into this home, I could finally decorate a room, since before she was sharing it with baby brother.

I painted the back walls of this built in shelf area pink (Martha Stewart Living, Hollyhock Pink MSL007) to set it apart (and to compromise with my daughter since she wanted the whole room painted pink!)

Her blessing dress was the same dress me and my two sisters wore. It is too beautiful with so much history and sentiment behind it. We love seeing it each day.

The mirrors are cheap Ikea mirrors that were originally raw pine or dark stained wood. I gathered 9 from my unused home decor box and decided to paint them with wide stripes. I used extra pink paint from the shelves wall- so they coordinate perfectly.

I made the little dream catcher back when she was a baby. You can see details from the original post on it HERE.

I got her bed frame at a yard sale. That thing seemed like 100 years old, the rails were attached with some heavy-duty iron mechanism. I stripped the paint (I think there were at least 6 different colors on it from over the years.) It took some time, but it made the new antique white paint much smoother.

Her room is definitely girly and pink, but it was a lot of fun to put together. I mostly wanted it to be a room that SHE loved, and she does so it makes it all worth it!

Some art prints info from her room:

I Love to See the Temple- Have Joy designs on Etsy

Country Barn photo- Spencer Johnson on Etsy

A Room for Two Brothers

Since both of my boys celebrated their birthdays last month, I decided it was time to share some pictures of their room. It's completed for now. Of course, I have more that I'd like to do with it, but I think it's at a good stopping point while I focus on other projects around the home.

Here is the picture I took of their room a month before the house was completed.

And here it is a month later, just days before we closed. It was a beige 12'x12' box. The perfect blank canvas.

At that point, big brother had the room entirely to himself, and this is what it looked like until we morphed it into his transitionary big boy room. We didn't know if the coming baby was a boy or girl, so I didn't want to do anything permanent.

After little brother's arrival, I started to mentally rearrange their room. I wanted it to be a playful, yet clean space for two brothers.

The twin bed that big brother sleeps on, has a match in the attic just waiting for little brother to be ready for it. I can't wait to have their matching beds lined up along the wall under their matching jute monograms.

The rocker has seen better days. It may soon become replaced with a little reading/ play corner. 

This just shows the room from different angles to give a feel for how things are laid out. I have had so much fun putting their room together. I didn't do any super difficult projects or techniques, but I love how simple and crisp things are. I will do a separate post showing all of the fun little details scattered about, and maybe a few how-to posts.

Sources:

World Map print- Ink of Me via Etsy

Pirate Kitty print- Sass & Peril

Green stripe paint color- Behr, Grass Cloth 400D-5

HELLO Entry Signage

We have lived in our home for 2 1/2 years now, and up until this week, our entry wall has been bare. I always wanted an entry that was cheery and inviting, but plain beige walls, were not the most welcoming sight. I thought about simply cutting a board and painting or doing vinyl that said "Welcome" but that was too typical for me. So I came up with this instead:

I just bought unfinished wood letters, painted them white, and distressed the edges a smidge.

Then, using Command's picture hanging strips (the velcro-like ones) I mounted them on the wall. The strips make the letters pop away from the wall just a tad, adding a little more dimension, which I love.

Hopefully now, when people come over, they will feel happily welcomed into our home!

What do you have in your entry?