Cork, Hooks and Beadboard

I hate clutter.  The desk between our kitchen and keeping room has become a catch-all for crap:  purses, jackets, backpacks, papers, diaper bag, etc.  It's been driving me crazy and I've finally had enough.  This past weekend we set out to gather supplies at Lowes.  We tore down our existing corkboard and started a new one with hooks.  As a side note let me just say that there are few things more satisfying than ripping stuff off the wall.

Step 1 was applying the bead-board.  We decided to put this up on the bottom so bags wouldn't be scraping the walls.  We bought a sheet at Lowe's and had them cut it to the size we needed.  Casey put it up with Liquid Nails.

Step 2 was framing out the beadboard.  Casey used leftover wood that we had from a previous project and cut it down to the size we needed.

Step 3:  I got in on the action by filling in the nail holes with wood filler and getting it ready to be painted.

Then we got started on the actual cork-board which we learned is a process when you do it the right way (i.e. not the way we did it the first time).

Step 4:  We had a piece of our beadboard cut to fit above the beadboard below.  This served at the foundation for the cork-board.  We just flipped it over to the opposite unfinished side.  It saved us from having to buy additional fiber board.  We used contact cement on our cork to stick it to the wood board.  To do this we had to do multiple coats on both the cork and the wood board.

Step 5:  After the contact cement dried for about 15 minutes we attached the cork to the wood board, pushing it down firmly to aviod any air pockets.  

Step 6:  We added an additional layer of cork on top so more contact cement went on the first layer of cork and the second layer of cork as well.  

We couldn't find a solid sheet of cork that was thick and big enough for us so we bought a few square 4 pack packages of cork and then an additional solid sheet of cork to go on top of the cork squares.  That way we could get the thickness we wanted but still have the look of a solid sheet of cork.

Step 6:  More contact cement on top of layer number 2 of the cork and the solid large thin sheet of cork.  After it dried we carefully laid the solid sheet on top of the second layer of cork.  Are you getting this?  We have fiber board, layer #1 of cork squares, layer #2 of cork squares, and solid sheet of thin cork.  Whew.

Step 7:  After our three layers of cork were assembled (and we were officially loopy from the smell of the contact cement) we were ready to put the corkboard up.  Casey put it up with more liquid nails.

Step 8:  Painting was next.  We opted to paint most of the trim around the corkboard before we nailed it to the wall so we wouldn't get paint on our cork.  We are sloppy painters.

Step 9:  Casey nailed the trim around the cork board and we did a little touch-up painted and voila!

We didn't waste much time before we junked it up.  Organized chaos.  The current theme of our lives.

Nursery Preview

I've been meaning to put pictures up of Finley's room.  I really have.  I've just been waiting to do a couple of more things to the room and let's face it, I just haven't gotten around to doing it.

Once again, our friend Camille took some beautiful pictures of us when I was pregers.  She took some of the nursery so I'm posting a couple for a little preview of the room.  I promise I'll get a complete blog up of the room soon.  I promise.

Click here to go to Camille's blog to see more pictures.

Stenciling. Aka: What In the World Was I Thinking?

I got a wild hair to stencil our half bath.  Just to mix it up.  I think I started this project three or four months ago.  The mess in our bathroom has been ridiculous.  The whole stenciling thing didn't seem hard.  I ordered the stencil online, got it in the mail, and went to work.  It was more tedious than I thought.  And messier.  It's not for the faint of heart.

I am pleased with the results though.  Not too shabby and definitely more fun than plain beige walls.

 If you do decide to take the plunge and ignore my warnings, here are some tips that helped me out along the way:

1.)  Find the right brush.  I used a few little brush art brushes that I already owned but I'm sure there is a better one that I could have used.  I went through several and found that the stiffer the better.

2.)  Load the paint on the brush and use a paper towel to get most of the paint off by swirling the brush around in circular motions.  If you skip this step, your paint will go on too thick and run under the stencil.  I did this and still had some paint runnage.  Beware.

3.)  Hold that stencil down baby!  Another trick to keep the paint from seeping under the stencil.

 4.)  I found, through trial and error, the neatest method to be brushing from the outside edge of the stencil to the inside.  Again, keeps the pattern nice and neat.

I had to go back over everything and do some hand touching up.  We re-did our artwork for the walls too.  I bought frames for cheep at Michael's and painted them all this goldish-silver color to make them look uniform and more expensive.  We also made the subway signs above the toilet by followimg this tutorial.  It was super easy.

Now I want to live in our bathroom.

Hudson's Big-Boy Room

If you've been following Hudson's escapades, you know that he has been in his "big boy room" for a little while now.  We just got the whole room completed this week.  I've been working on getting some finishing touches done.  In other words, I've been dragging my feet.

Here was the before:

Obviously this was after paint and trim, which made a huge difference.  I had my favorite trim man put in some big thick trim.

Isn't he a keeper?

Here are the afters:

We are super happy with the results.  This guys likes it too.

RESOURCES:

 The Big Stuff
Wall Paint:  Sherwin Williams in Lime 
Headboard:  Pallets that we scored for free.  We sanded them down and stained them in Minwax Americana then did a coat of clear finishing wax.
Nightstand:  Ikea.  Click here to see how I did the transformation.
 Dresser:  His old changing table.  We got it from Rattles and Rhymes.
Bedding:  Serena and Lily.  This was our splurge.  I cringe at the price.  I figured I could make up for it by saving in other areas.
Chairs:  Ikea.  I really didn't want to spend much on a chair so we found this one for super duper cheep and I added the nail heads from Lowes to make it look a little more expensive. 
Side Table:  A Pottery Barn leftover from his nursery.

The Small Stuff

Lamp Set:  Home Goods (I was going to paint them yellow but liked the color in the room and decided to leave them as is).

Pillow:  Anthropologie.

Lamp:  Another nursery leftover.  Initially from Walmart.  I just added the new ribbon trim with a hot glue gun to match this room.

Light (ceiling):  Ikea.  I painted the navy stripe on to coordinate with the bedding.

Toy/Book Storage Bins:  Antiques from Scott Antique Market.  We added the wheels on the bottom so Hud could roll them around if he wanted.  They are from Lowes.  $3 for a pack of 2.
Poof used as an Ottoman:  Yet another nursery transfer but I bought it at Target a couple of years back.
Lamp on Nightstand:  Home Goods (my new favorite lamp source... can you tell?).  It was silver but I liked the shape so I painted it in chalkboard paint and recovered the lampshade in burlap.
Wall Collage:  "H" was another nursery transfer I painted to match the new room (from Hobby Lobby).  Frames from Michaels. Antique turtle shell from Scott's.  Deer antlers from Casey's collection.  Vintage-looking signs from World Market.
Growth Chart:  Tree Ink Press shop on Etsy.
Coat Hooks:  Hobby Lobby (another half off deal).
Face Jug Pottery:  Custom Turkey Creek Pottery.

Driftwood Candle Holder:  Anthropologie.

Hamper:  Target (again, from nursery).

Hudson's Nightstand

We have been hard at work (sporadically anyway) on Hudson's big boy room and it's finally almost finished.  One of the big projects that I decided to tackle was the nightstand.  We found this cheepy from Ikea for a mere $30.  You can't beat that (believe me.... I tried).  

In my very extensive nightly home-blog searching I've been inspired by Miss Mustard Seed to make my first attempt in refinishing a piece of furniture.  I especially loved her Union Jack dresser but it didn't really fit the look I was going for.

I went with something a little smaller and not as complicated for my first time out.

I started by painting our cheep Ikea purchase Sherwin Williams Daisy yellow (two coats plus a primer).

Next I rubbed on a coat of Minwax dark finishing paste.  I wiped it off right away.  It left enough behind to make the brush strokes stand out and darken the paint a little.

 After the wax dried, I did a little distressing.  I lightly sanded the whole thing and really gave the edges a good scrubbing.  Then I did another coat of the dark wax so it could set in the edges where I had just sanded (which didn't work as well as I would have liked).

Then painted the numbers on.  Instead of going out and buying a stencil (which I'm sure would have been easier), I just made my own in Microsoft Word.  I just traced the numbers that I printed out and painted them on.

Once they were dry I lightly sanded over them to make them look worn. Then I did a final coat of clear wax to seal the numbers on.

The final touch was the new knobs which I got for half off at Hobby Lobby.

I was pretty nervous about how it would turn out but I'm actually pretty pleased with it!

 Not to shabby for a little $30 Ikea purchase.  Stay tuned for more room pictures.

Pergola

The handyman strikes again!  Our patio gets major sun in the afternoon and evening.  It's almost unbearable to sit out there, especially in 90+ degree weather.

We decided to build a pergola to add a little shade.  Casey decided that he could tackle this himself.  I was a little doubtful but of course he came through.  He started it on Saturday and now it's basically finished!

Beautiful!  Just imagine lots of ivy. 

The Playroom Results

We finally finished Hudson's playroom.... well, pretty much.  My little corner of the room still needs a little work but the "playroom" part is complete.  Remember the before:

Here's some afters:

Casey built the bookshelves himself (yay hubby).  I did some crafty things to contribute.  Here's the rundown.

* Red Bins on bookshelves: The Land of Nod.  So lightweight and durable.  Perfect for a playroom for our wild child.  

* Owl and raccoon Bookends: Etsy 

* Gold Custom Sign:  Etsy.  We had them do the lyrics to "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles.  It was the song that was on the radio when we got in the car to bring Hudson home from the hospital.

* Curtains:  Ikea  

* Fabric For All Pillows and Window Header:  Lewis and Sheron Textiles

* Wooden Letters and Frames:  Hobby Lobby

* Ceiling Lights:  Ikea

Casey made the header above the window using styrofoam with a wood frame.  We wrapped it in batting and then with the fabric.  I made the floor pillow and the throw pillows and painted the frames and letters using craft paint in True Red and then we sprayed them with polyurethane to make them super shiny.  We made color copies of some of Hudson's favorite books and blew them up to fit into the frames.

Casey made my desk way back.  It was one of his first big projects.  He made the cork-board too.  We bought the cork at Michael's and he glued it to the wall and framed it using some extra trim that he had.

Eventually there will be more shelves behind the desk and less mess.

Now we are on to the next project:  Hudson's new bedroom and then the new baby's nursery.  Whew.

Boy Oh Boy (er um, Girl)...

Boy oh boy are we in trouble.  I've always said that girl stuff is so much cuter.  One day into knowing that we are having a girl and I've already bought two outfits and am looking at bedding.  Expensive bedding.  But it's just so darn cute.

Lulu DK

Lulu DK

Rosenberry Rooms

Rosenberry Room

Rosenberry Rooms

Serena and Lily

Rosenberry Rooms

Don't worry, I can't bring myself to pay $600 for baby bedding but oh the cuteness.  I can't stand it.  And that's just bedding!  Don't get me started on clothes.  I will say that looking at girl clothes seems so wrong after years of buying boy clothes.  I'm still in the habit of veering over the the boy side.  I'm sure it's something I will adapt to quickly.