promises i don’t intend to keep.

there are two quilts that are in my head that won’t get out until i make (made) them.
two quilts and that’s it. okay, maybe three because i’d love to try making something like this chevron quilt from e tells tales one day.

oh—and a fourth because i promised my sis-in-law i’d make her a very hungry caterpillar quilt when they have a baby. but for that one—i won’t hold my breath.

okay, so three—potentially four—quilts in my head and once they’re done i’m done. i lay down my quilting…er, needle or thread or ruler or whatever item of quilting pariphelnalia makes sense in this metaphor (simile?) for good.
i give you my word as a spaniard.

(no good. i’ve known too many spaniards.)

but here’s the thing: i’ve no need to take up quilting. i’ve got my sewing and my crocheting and sometimes my knitting, plus home projects and oh yeah those five kneebiters that require occasional mothering.
i’m good. for realsies.

but since we did the girls’ room elliot’s crib has been lurking there in the corner—mocking me with it’s mismatched and unmatching linens. the sore thumb in an otherwise pretty room. and i had enough scrap fabric from the pillows and curtains i made that i set it all aside way-back-when with the vaguely formed idea of stitching it up into a little quilt for the crib.
no new purchases, no more $$ spent, still a coordinated look. win-win-win all the way around, right?

so it’s been seven months now since the room was done, and elliot is officially a crib resident (having given up her claim to our closet) and it was high time to get it done.
so i did.

a simple random width striped quilt, with a plain black border.

maybe it doesn’t even really count as a quilt?

i don’t know. i’m not a quilter, remember? i’m just dabbling. sticking a toe in the frigid waters of the Quiltic before deciding it’s not for me.

what i do know is that i’m happy with how it looks. it’s sweet and bright and it was very easy.

i did buy 1/2 yard of this french print fabric. because i saw it after we were all done and laughed at how perfectly it coordinated with their room. although i’m glad i didn’t see it when we were actually fabric shopping, because i may have been sorely tempted to buy it and it’s a little too “theme-y” for the look we wanted in there.
but a little bit goes a long way.

leftover scraps from the pillows, plus a piece of red and white stripe from IKEA’s as-is department—snagged for $5 on one of our epic shopping trips.

for the backing i snagged a white sheet from our linen closet—a leftover from our queen-sized bed days. simple. clean. cheap.

i bought 2 yards of natural cotton batting. standing there in the batting section of joann’s i couldn’t do it—could not bring myself to buy that horrible poly fluffy stuff to wrap my baby in. no matter that probably every other comforter we own is filled with that nonsense—i had to go around the corner to the stuff that actually looked like it should be in a blanket and not a recycling bin. and when i finished the blanket’s last stitches and held it out to elliot—look at the blanket mommy made you—and she ran over and stood there waiting for me to wrap her up in it as if she KNEW, which i did—and then she laid quietly in my arms, in that blanket i made for her. and in that moment i knew none of my children could ever again lay in a blanket that didn’t come from my sewing machine. it would be a hug from their mother that blanketed them in the night—figuratively, and literally.

so there it is. one down, and once i finish the others i officially give up quilting. pinky swear.

i did try to take some photos of this quilt. pictures in my head of a cheerful elliot peeking over the top of her crib where her new quilt hangs jauntily. but the elliot in my reality knows how to tell time and was 100% certain it was NOT TIME FOR A NAP.

and she would not be swayed, no matter how many funny faces i made at her or how many other sisters i threw into the crib with her.

sisters with leftover face paint who just joined in the clamor rather than assuage the crying.

and that left one option:

lone quilt shots…

and a baby more than happy on mommy’s bed, and away from the blasted crib.

oh yes…quite content.

wow.

it’s been a big week for this little blog.

first, the fine john and sherry of young house love featured our girls’ room.

there i was, minding my own business, getting my old navy shopping groove on, and my phone dinged that i had an email. it was a comment from someone congratulating us on the feature post over at YHL.

WHAAAA??!?!? in the next few hours my blog got more traffic than it has literally seen since i started it over 2 years ago. it was IN.SANE. the comments and questions and emails and requests for more details lead me to second what john and sherry always say—they really do have the BEST readers! (i had a few people even find rug ideas for the girls’ room and email me links! as in—more than one person took time to search out something for ME, who they’ve NEVER MET! for realsies!)

then i got a second surprise--

 

DO YOU SEE THAT??????????

THAT IS MY GIRLS’ ROOM ON APARTMENT THERAPY.

ON.
APARTMENT.
THERAPY.

this, for you non-homeimprovement-blog-reader-types, is a BIG DEAL.

and just when i thought my head had exploded all it could possibly explode, i got a tweet from these guys:

apparently, i was wrong. one’s head can explode over and over and over.

just so i can type it out in black and white for me and for you and for my mother: that’s my girls’ room, on canadian house and home blog.

i knew i loved those canadians. ;)

so at the very real risk of sounding like i think i just won an academy award, i have a list of thank you’s i need to get out.

thank you john and sherry for being so kind to feature other people’s work on your popular blog (yeah, we’re totally on a first name basis now. probably we’re gonna be besties soon. i think my five monkeys will just eat up their little clara.)

thank you apartment therapy for just being the uber-awesome apartment therapy. and mentioning me. i can die happy.

thank you canadian house and home featuring my girls’ room as one of your “stylish kids’ rooms”.

thank you to krista of kiki’s list. it was the gorgeous room she created for her daughter lou that provided the inspiration for my own red and white striped ceiling and aqua walls. she saw my completed girls’ room on pinterest a couple of weeks ago, and sent me a lovely email. and then she put a post up on her blog about it!

i also have to mention and thank, once again, august fields for her boys’ bunk room, the inspiration for our double bunks.

thank you india.

thank you providence.

(!)

and finally,

a HUGE THANK YOU
to all the
readers, browsers, commenters, emailers & friends
who have visited over the past few days.
if you have asked me a question or for more detail—i will ABSOLUTELY be getting back to you within the next few days! in the meantime, you can check my “details” post here that has some basics, or this post all about the bunk beds themselves.

harlequin painted dresser tutorial

i never even got the chance to share this.

i bought this dresser at the thrift shop, refinished it and put it in the girls’ room. and before i even showed it on the blog we changed gears and redid the girls’ room…rendering my hard work unnecessary.

you know why i never showed it on the blog? because the room was never CLEAN enough for me to take good pictures of it! sad, but true.

and as we cleaned the rooms out on day 1 of construction, it STILL wasn’t clean enough for me to take pictures.

i still love it though, and wanted to share. so i pushed things to the side and snapped a couple of shots quickly.

some really, really lousy pictures.

sorry about that.

but i still love how this dresser turned out, and couldn’t part with it. so i gave it a new home in my sewing corner, holding thread and ribbon and fabrics and lace and interfacing.

somewhere i lost my photo of the untouched dresser. it has good bones, and was just a sad off-white color. the top was a stained laminate, and the knobs are wood. basically it was a deal i couldn’t pass up—especially not for $19!

i started by removing all the drawers and cleaning the whole thing, inside and out.

i took the knobs off the drawers…

and was super proud of my handy knob painter that i made up:

you may see this as a box with wooden skewers…

i see it as a time and finger saver.

(i also see it as a strange modern art installation. anyone?)

anyway, everything got three coats of spray paint: the first two white

and then i veerrry lightly misted it with a cream color, just to tone down the white a touch.

then two good coats of clear protectant.

once it was all dry i replaced the drawers.

and began lightly marking a diamond pattern across the front. i started from the center, since i wanted the diamonds centered on the drawers and it was easier that way.

you can barrrrely see the lines i drew in this shot:

then i mixed these two paints 50/50:

(decorart metallics in champagne gold, and jo-ann craft paint in ivory)

and brushed the paint in my diamond shapes:

 

then i dabbed all over with a dry rag to get rid of the paint marks and lighten it all up.

next i took a gold paint pen and filled in all the little routed details on the drawers and base.

 

i didn’t tape off anything, i wanted to keep it loose and organic. not perfect.

i let that all dry…

(this picture is most accurate in terms of color, versus the ones taken in the house which have a pink cast i couldn’t fully erase)

and then gave it a very light sanding to further break up the painting and smooth the whole thing.

initially i thought the knobs would be cute with pink centers.

i did about 5 before i realized it was no good.

so i switched to black centers and edges.

muuuch better. :)

and when it was all dry and back together and in their room it looked really cute.

for about 2 months.

 

it’s okay though. because i have plenty of use for it in my sewing area! and at $19 for the dresser, plus 2 cans of spray paint (i had all the rest), it was totally worth it for less than $30!

girls’ room part V: “the details”

click HERE to read the initial plans

click HERE to see my “inspiration photos”

click HERE to read part I of the construction tale

click HERE to read part II of the construction tale

click HERE to read part III of the construction tale

click HERE to read part IV of the construction tale “the reveal”

this is it. i've milked it for all it's worth, and now i present the final "girls' room" post...and a boring one it is, at that. ;)
just a list of supplies and resources we used, in case anyone is curious.


PAINT



ceiling: behr “firecracker” and behr “silky white”
walls: behr “balmy seas”
trim/woodwork: behr “silky white”
(all from the home depot)

LIGHTING
 

chandeliers: IKEA “kristaller” ($39.99 each)
dresser lighting: the home depot ($19.97)
bed lighting: the home depot ($15.97 each)

DRESSERS



dressers: IKEA “malm” ($89.99 each)
knobs: liberty hammercraft round knob (.98 each)

TEXTILES


duvets: IKEA “alvine trad” (normally $19.99 each, we paid $6.99 each)
window curtains: better homes & gardens @ walmart ($7.97/panel)
closet curtains: handmade
bed curtains: handmade
bed pillows: handmade
(all fabrics purchased at jo-ann’s, backed with sheets from IKEA)

any other questions? drop me a line either in the comments or email me at reds123 (at) comcast (dot) net!
thanks!

diy canvas art tutorial

so the plan was for me to just buckle down and order a large canvas print of the girls.

it was something i wanted for their room, i had really cute pictures to use, and i was just going to STOP BEING SO CHEAP AND ORDER IT FOR CRYIN’ OUT LOUD.

you know what they say—the best laid plans of mice…and thrifty bloggers.

i tried. i really did. i had the thing uploaded, options picked, sitting in my virtual shopping cart for THREE days. i kept going back and looking at it—pointer finger hovering over the tiny tap necessary to complete my purchase.

and i couldn’t do it.

couldn’t bring myself to spend the $70.

instead i started googling things like “DIY photo canvas”. and the next thing you know, there we were:

+

+

then

let it dry for 24 hours, then

let that dry a good 48 hours (i wanted to be sure it was TOTALLY dry), then

 

and then

and finally,

 

so.

there it is.

it’s not exactly the crisp, clean, modern photo i initially imagined. i knew going in that it would be virtually impossible to get a piece of paper that size glued to the canvas completely wrinkle free, so i decided to work with it.

embrace the imperfections.

embrace the $50 still in my pocket, more likely.

it’s a more rustic, weathered look. and i think i like it, but i’m not totally sure. (actually, the more i look at these pictures of a picture, the happier i am with it)

what do you think?
let me know in the comments. and also, is this the picture you voted for?
seriously…up until the LAST SECOND of ordering i was wavering on which one to get.

the process was easy enough—and something that could easily be done on a smaller scale for super cheap (and smaller paper would be easier to pull tight and keep wrinkle free)

overall i have to say i’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. and this is definitely a project i want to experiment with some more!