Marlee's Baby Room

It might have been the day after I found out I was going to be a Gramma to a little girl that I decided to give up my den, a decision that I was happy to make since I wasn't using the room anymore.
 Now my little Marlee has her own room at Grammy and Grandpa's house.
 
Here's how it started:

First I had to cover up the red walls

That took a couple coats of primer and paint... it was bittersweet... I loved my red walls... and it was a lot of painting to get them the right shade of red...

Once the red walls were painted pink and I started adding the special touches.

The theme was flowers and butterflies.

  
 

I had so much fun doing this room.....

Love the green ceiling with the pink!!!!

And all the pretty flowers!!

 

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

 

I made curtains....

and a cornice box

 

 I painted my cabinets and little dresser to match the room...

notice the night light.....

the toybox (scored from work, someone throwing it away)..

and the wicker blinds were also painted

The best part... was her crib... I painted it black... and it came out great...

how about that light switch cover!!!

Here's a little video tour...

with a special shout out to my niece Amy who helped at the crucial time..

putting it all together...

just in time for the reveal at the

baby shower for mama,

I loved this project...

one of my favorites...

for my favorite grand daughter!!

My little sweetheart ! ! !

The Den and Daybed

When I first thought of blogging about all my projects I thought at the very least I'll have preserved my memories and pictures of all my work.  I haven't had the best of luck lately with my computers.  I thought maybe if I blog, and include the most important pics, they will be saved in cyberspace somewhere.  So I really wanted to blog about what was once my den... and about the daybed I made... only I can't find pics of me building it.... I am missing pics... I know I had to take pics... Why wouldn't I have taken pics????  But where are they?  idk... so... this blog , I'll probably change a million times before I actually post it... I'm not getting to tell my story the way I wanted to... the existing pics are going to have to work... and not well... but, its all I have to work with.... so here goes....

The Ottoman

It all started with an ottoman... after watching Design on a Dime... my former favorite show on HGTV... I decided I wanted to build an ottoman...

Actually, I wanted to build two of them so I created a spreadsheet for my cut list.. color coded (which I currently can't find a copy of)... lol... I'm such a geek...

So off I went to Home Depot to get my wood.  I bought particle board since I was going to upholster them and I had them make all my cuts.  I even brought my spreadsheet with me!

I painted them...

then I built and

upholstered them...I can't believe I don't have pics to show you....

 and liked them so much I made a bench

I didn't know I had it in me... i was very proud of myself... I still love the bench the most... and the storage they all provide.... can you believe I store my KitchenAid food processor in one of the ottomans!! 

oh and they made a great step stool when we put up my handmade cornice box! 

 I only wish I had more pictures to show how easy they were to make..Right now they are acting as a coffee table in front of my love seat... still love them...

 

And the bench looks great at the bottom of my bed!!!

They're Finally Done!!!

On January 6, 2012

It all started with a pile of wood....

I used the plan for Ana White's Nesting Tables...
but I modified it a bit... 

I used a 1x6 cut in to three equal sized boards for the large table top

Cut my 2x2s and 2x4s to size...
we all know whats next...
 Pocket holes and screws...

a day or so later on January 8th....there's a frame... not yet attached to the table..but still being put to the test... if there is a surface available... I will pile things on it!

THEN

 20 days later....

"Look what I did today!"

was posted on my Facebook

on Jan 28, 2012

20 days... is only the beginning of my procrastination.

I was very excited to get these two built...

so excited that I had to make the others...

the very next day...

Can you believe it... ???

But... as I said...that was only the beginning... once I "finished" the tables I took a little break ....

Not too bad... just a few weeks this time... and I started the trim...

the original plan called for quarter round.. which I bought... and had the hardest time using... So off to the Depot I went and found an alternative!!!

This is what I found...

and this

So I started with a round of the leaf trim, but I knew I needed something more and I couldn't decide how to add it... there were a few different looks

I like this look... but with the nesting tables it would have been too busy.

This one was blah....

I finally decided on this one

So now I'm off to the garage to make lots of cuts and lots of scrap... lol...

See how handy the tables are already!!

and viola!!  here they are... 

23
DAYS LATER


DONE....but not yet done...


Still need painting...


Tick Toc... Tick Toc...


Ok...It's May now... 


 let's get this over with... 




First I needed to fill in some gaps here and there... I had some help.... Isn't she adorable??

Such a good little helper...

couple coats of
ultra bright white....

Thought of painting the trim green... and I tried... and at first it looked ok

but then I had to ruin it all... my wipe on, rub off techique isn't very good...

it just wasn't happening

soooooooooooo


back to all white they went....

Done...

They're Finally Done....

The Nesting Tables Are Done!!!

Phew!!!!

4 months and 7 days later...

here they are...

in all their glory!!! woo hoo!

: )

The Library

I love to read... and my son loves to read...it's only fitting that his daughter should love to read as well. And I love buying books... it's my thing... I give books for gifts... I can't count how many books I've gifted over the years. When my son was very little I started him in a couple book clubs... and I still have every one of them. Now they are Marlee's! So I wanted to make her a place to read them.
So here it goes...

I had some old Ikea ottomans that I had picked up at work... for a while they sat in Marlee's room with no purpose... then they acted as a safety net in case she rolled too far from her bed... but really no purpose, because she never did.. so I decided I would repurpose them.. 

And her wasted closet space

So I took down the shelf, and the closet rod hardware and patched the wall

Then I painted the wall ultra bright white and lightened up her wall color and added the band of pink .

Now here's the scoop on the bench... or as Marlee calls it .. her "couch".

I had a bunch of scrap boards from Marlee's kitchen set and various other projects so I decided instead of buying a solid piece of wood I would Kreg them together and that's exactly what I did

Six boards later and I have the perfect sized bench.

I bought some foam pillow forms from Walmart and they were the perfect size!

Trial run in the closet to see how it fits... looks good to me!



So now I upholstered the bench seat...with $20 worth of pillow forms and  with fabric I already had... just made it in some spots.. nice snug covering..

Then I attached the dismantled ottomans to the bench top.

Strategically stapled and pleated the fabric across the base

 

And gained all this storage!!

Next came the book ledges.... I had planned to make two for each side wall in the closet... that's where I started ...

So I started making the cuts... lots of cuts...

 

And drilling the holes

and painting...and sanding and painting....

and screwing....

and I have shelves...

I won't bore you with the details of hanging the shelves... but now my little Marlee has a library....

and more books than I can display... so right after the reveal it was time for more shelves!

I cut all my wood again...

Had a little accident with the stop collar slipping on my bit... oops!!!

All the other steps later... we have more book shelves...

With left over wood, I made shelves for displaying her girls....

and she has told me more than once....

I don't like them there Grammy....

oh well !!! 

 lol... she'll grow into it...

I have a feeling I'll be making more shelves soon.... or cancelling her book club membership!!!

 

Here's where you can find how to make these shelves too... Thanks Ana!!

 

http://ana-white.com/2010/10/plans/ten-dollar-ledges