Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Something New


There's been a new addition to Eme's gallery wall in her bedroom.  It was created yesterday by the little lady herself.  Caleb was painting yesterday morning and I figured it was time to introduce Emerson to the world of fine arts.  She actually did a pretty good job-- only tried to eat paint twice. 


She watched her big brother very carefully, studied his technique, and created her first masterpiece.  I decided that it needed to be displayed in her room-- it's the pink and blue number there at the bottom.

I just love that my kids love to paint and create.


And if you've been reading my blog for a while you will notice that the dresser is new in there too.


Previously, we had a white change table with open shelving... but Emerson was getting too long to lay down on it and the baskets/open shelves were becoming a nightmare to keep neat and tidy.  Plus-- Eme has A LOT of clothes.  I don't buy that many for her, but she gets quite a few hand-me-downs from some other stylish little girls.  Storage needed.


I searched for a used dresser that I could transform with paint but I kept running into two problems.  The first problem was the height of the dressers-- I still wanted to be able to use it as a change table (for Eme and any other future kids) and not just anything would work.  My husband is TALL (as in 6'7" tall) so a dresser that's too low wasn't going to cut it.  And secondly, most old dressers have drawers that do not glide in and out easily.  They are sticky and difficult to open.  One thing I love about the drawers in Caleb's room is the fact that he can easily open and close the drawers to find his own clothing and put away his folded laundry.  The drawer glides in Ikea's dressers make my life a whole lot easier-- so I decided to purchase an Ikea Hemnes dresser-- it's got the storage I need, it's the perfect change table height, and it is easy for the kids to use.  Perfect.  I love the white one, but with the white paneling in Eme's room I felt that I needed something else to break up all the white.  So I chose the gray-brown finish-- one day down the road I can always spray it another color-- but for now I'm loving the gray-brown.

Of course, it needed a little something special-- so I traded in the boring ikea knobs for some brass ring pulls from Lee Valley.  Emerson love her new dresser.


SIDENOTE-- yes, Emerson is wearing her boots-- indoors.  I have yet to find a child who loves footwear as much as this little lady.  She carries her boots and shoes around the house ALL day long begging for me put them on her feet.  I find her shoes hiding in every nook and cranny of the house-- and when I hide her shoes, she starts trying to wear mine!  Ah well, guess she takes after her mama-- boots, shoes, sandals-- I love em too :)

Probably because she loves to look at all her clothes and carry them around the house-- pajamas anyone?


Okay so for now-- easy drawer access is kinda working against me-- but one day, when Emerson is able to put away all her own laundry-- I'll be laughing.

15 comments:

Team AC said...

she is just SO cute... love her little hairstyle there!
~Corinna

Anonymous said...

That's my adorable little granddaughter. Grandma T

Sarah @ Cozy.Cottage.Cute. said...

Cute storage. Lovin' that gallery wall. Sooooo pretty!

Anonymous said...

The last picture is so adorable. What a cute little girl!

"Auntie" B

InteriorGroupie said...

This post is so cute for so many reasons! I love the artwork, the dresser looks amazing and little Emerson is a fashionista! love it

christine, just bella said...

We've got that dresser in Alice's nursery and I love it! The storage is awesome and even though I'm not super tall (5'6) I love that I don't have to hunch over to change her.

And I love, love, love your gallery wall. The gold touches are so awesome.

Melissa Wiebe said...

so cute! i love kid paintings! i can't wait to hang a few of ella's around our house. i also have the same dresser in black in ella's room, love it!

http://www.onesweetchair.blogspot.com/2011/03/ellas-room.html

Trev and Rebekah said...

Super cute. It's been way too long since I've seen that little girl...not so little anymore!

What kind of paint do you use for the kids to paint with?

Lindsey said...

What is the name of the blue color on the walls? Love it!

Elissa said...

Rebekah, I'm not exactly sure what kind of paint I use-- I usually just get whatever is washable and cheap at walmart! Lindsey, the wall color is Benjamin Moore's Woodlawn Blue. It's one of my favorites :)

Megan {The Brick Bungalow} said...

I know this is an old post but I just recently found your blog via 6th Street Design School and after the home tour, I had to look more into your kids' rooms! My daughter is almost 3 and I can totally relate to the shoe issue! I love them too and would buy her a pair every time we go shopping if possible. She has dressy boots she loves to wear with ALL skirts and dresses, winter boots, rain boots, sandals, tennis shoes, jellys ('cause c'mon, I was a child of the 80's and had to have my daughter have some too!), and anything else shoe related.

Great dresser... love the gray brown color with all the light colors in her room! The gallery wall is gorgeous with the mixes of white and gold and her and your son's artwork. Very nice! I, too, have my daughter painting. I limit her colors to those that would look good mixed and let her go crazy. She's hopefully going to paint me a big one for my newly remodeled bedroom tomorrow!

Thanks for sharing so many beautiful images!

Megan @ thependletonhouse.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

What color did you paint the dresser? Or is it a stain, I love it!

Elissa said...

I didn't paint/stain it-- it's an ikea dresser in the grey/brown finish... I really like the color!

ceebee said...

Just wondering where you got all your frames? They are so cute! Looking for some for my nursery too. So beautifully put together :)

Tess said...

I love the knobs. What size did you go with?