Making a Headboard

I've been sleeping well lately... enjoying my new headboard :)  This week Doug finished making the legs and late one night (it was actually that day... the one with the hotdogs and the hockey game) that I heard the sound of power tools coming from the basement.  Doug was putting the finishing touches on the frame so we could move it upstairs.  I just love our late night projects :)

Our inspiration was the Colette bed from Crate & Barrel.  I love the way it looks, but not the price tag.  Seriously. If I had an extra 2 g's kicking around I'd renovate my kitchen... not buy a bed.  I knew we could make a lookalike for quite a bit less.  So I showed the picture to Doug and asked if he could build the frame for me... he was up for the challenge.  A couple of weekends ago Doug and I worked into the wee hours of the night to upholster the headboard.  We had fun.  At one point Doug may or may not have asked me to shoot him with the stapler.  Apparently he wanted to know what it felt like.  But as he was standing all the way across the garage facing the wall waiting for the blow he decided that he really didn't need to know.  Even though it was late and we were acting way too immature, we still managed to get er done.  I think it turned out great!

Here are some of the details.  I decided to go for a warm grayish sand colored linen.  I like the texture and warmth that it brings to the room.  My pictures really don't do the color justice-- the lighting situation in there is terrible (it's currently exposed hanging wires from where to old ugly fan used to be-- another story for another day) and really, I'm not an expert photographer :)  Our old Ikea Hemnes had served us well for many years (and will continue to work in the guest room)... but I like the way that our room is beginning to move away from being all matchy-matchy.  Nowadays it's all about mixing it up!!

We used nailhead trim in a brushed gold to define and outline the edge.  I'm really liking the way it highlights the curve of the headboard.

Now that it's done I can happily say that DIY-ing your own headboard is a much better deal than purchasing a ready made one for $2000 (duh).  Here's the breakdown of the costs:

• lumber to build frame-- free-- Doug used some scraps from the garage
• 3/8" sheet of plywood to cover the surface-- $13.50
• 1/2" foam-- got on a 50% off sale at Fabricland-- 4 meters at $3.50 a meter
• batting-- $10.00
• inexpensive fabric to line headboard before upholstering with the more expensive linen-- 2 meters at $3.50 per meter
• linen-- 2 yards at $20.00 a yard-- purchased at Fabricana
• nailhead trim kit-- $20.00
• lumber, stain, and hardware to build and attach legs to bed-- free-- it was already in the garage

Grand total?  $104.50.  I like this price tag a whole lot better than the $2000 one.

That's all I have for now!  Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend.  I plan to spend the weekend reflecting on the importance of Easter to me-- the cross, the resurrection, and God's goodness.  I also plan to spend some time outside in the yard (come on sun!!), maybe have an Easter egg hunt or two, and I'm definitely going to have lots of quality time with these three...

I know you're all thinking-- how did I get Caleb to sit still for the camera?

Easy.  Bribery.

One of those days

Just keeping in real here tonight.  Can I tell you about yesterday?  It was one of those days...

The day began with Doug coming into our room.  He woke me up with the following question, "uh, hun... how do you get blood stains out of the couch?"  Great.  Apparently Caleb had a nose bleed first thing in the morning.  I gave some instructions and rolled over.  By the time I woke up there were no stains to be found... yay!

Mid morning... it looks like a nice sunny morning.  I decide to take the kids to the park.  I'll admit... I don't love the park... but I decided to pack them up and take them anyways.  We got there... within minutes sunny skies turned to black ominous skies.  It hailed.  We ran for the car.  I decided to redeem the morning by driving all the way across town to a Starbucks with a drive-thru.  One grande soy vanilla latte please.  I proceeded to drive around town in the hail and rain drinking my latte while the kids sat quietly in the back of the car.

Afternoon... Doug called and told me he'll be working late tonight.  Awesome.  I'm feeling totally uninspired to make dinner... so I ask Caleb what he wants to eat.  Hotdogs and noodles.  Sure, why not.  I make hotdogs and noodles for dinner and watch my usually picky dinner eater hoover hotdogs like he hadn't eaten in days.  Three times during dinner Caleb stopped and profusely thanked me for the delicious dinner.  All I could think about was dinner last week when I had to force him to swallow the steak he kept gagging over.

Then I decided to give Emerson a few small bits of noodles to gum on.  She proceed to gag on one tiny piece and threw up her ENTIRE dinner all over herself and my kitchen.  I then spent the next half hour cleaning up puke, spaghetti sauce smears, and sticky dried on noodles.  My kitchen smelled like hotdogs.  Then I bathed and pajama-ed (new word... you heard it here first folks) the kids.  Then I saw myself in the mirror... oh gosh.

Then Doug came home earlier than expected... yay!  We packed up the kids and and spent the evening with friends... watching the Canucks get slaughtered (I don't really care too much about that one... but it seemed to fit with the rest of the day :)

Today?  New day.  Wanna know what made it great?

This little Easter lamb.

Caleb teaching Emerson some of his favorite Boowa and Kwala songs on the computer.  They sat there together for quite a while... Caleb singing... Emerson stone faced.

And then I found this gem on my camera.

The three little baskets

I love Superstore because...

• Caleb gets a free snack (cookies at the bakery)
• Caleb gets a free lunch.  I let him sample every deli meat imaginable before selecting the usual... turkey for me, ham for Caleb, and hungarian salami or some other equally manly lunchmeat for Doug.  We've been eating a lot of sandwiches around here lately.
• the carts are big enough to hold Caleb, Emerson in her carseat, and all my groceries.
• The ramp.  I always stand on the cart and ride part way down the ramp.  I should feel shame... but it's just too much fun.
• There are just way too many things that entertain my kids in that store-- case in point-- announcements over the loudspeaker.  The voice from the sky amazes and baffles Caleb every time.
• There are other people there that entertain my children as I'm pushing the cart along.
• I can shop for clothes... for the kids and for myself.  Not for Doug... nothing in the store-- or any store for that matter-- fits him.  We shop online for him :)
• And finally... I can usually find something fun for the house :)

Sidenote... I totally acknowledge the fact that I seem to blog about Superstore alot (see here and here).  Fact is... I spend a lot of time there... for the above reasons.

Back to the point of this post... a few days ago I spotted these awesome canvas storage baskets... a set of 3 for $19!!  I had been looking for some sort of attractive storage solution for Emerson's growing collection of toys, so I threw them in my cart and took them home.

The smallest one holds her living room toys.

The medium sized basket is for the ever growing collection of junk that accumulates in the kitchen.  Collect and conceal... that seems to be my M.O. when it comes to kitchen clutter.

The largest basket had yet to find its calling... until this morning.  When I was in the shower Caleb decided to pack for our trip to visit Nana and Papa.  He was quite excited to show me what he had packed for the trip.  Toys, books, his Wii remotes, a random box stolen from my bedside table, and believe it or not... his toothbrush AND toothpaste.  We've taught him well Auntie Trish :)

I was given strict instructions to not touch it.  Apparently everything in there will be needed on the trip.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that we're not leaving for Nana and Papa's until July.

The basket is still packed sitting in the living room :)

Pre-Easter Fun

Let me first start by thanking those that participated in the "paint the table" poll.  I loved reading everyone's feedback-- unfortunately I am still hopelessly undecided :)  In the next few days I'm going to try and decide where the table will reside in the house-- that will hopefully make the decision making process a bit easier!

Well, over the past few days we've done a few Easter-ish things.  First up, I decided to bake paska.  I try to make it every year at Easter.  This year, however, I tried my hand at dairy free paska!  Instead of milk, cream, and butter I used soy milk and dairy free margarine.  I tweaked my mom's fantastic paska recipe-- it's truly the best recipe ever.  I'm totally unbiased when I say that :)  The verdict?  Still delicious.  Really though, what doesn't taste delicious when topped with icing and sprinkles?

Emerson had her first taste of paska.  She loved it.  I've been giving her bits of bread and rice lately and she will sit for the longest time trying to pick the pieces up.  So cute... she's still very unsuccessful.  What we have noticed is that she definitely uses her left hand more than the right.  Look's like we're two for two in the lefty department!  Doug is rejoicing.  If the kids get his height and my lefty-ness we're going to have some killer volleyball players on our hands :)

On Saturday I had three extra chickies at my house.  To keep them busy we had an Easter candy/craft party.  We made these cute little chicks.  The kids had scissors, glue, and paper flying everywhere.  If I had an extra set of hands Emerson would have been able to make one too... she unfortunately had to sit on the sidelines in her Exersaucer watching the other kids craft it up.  I don't think she really minded all that much.  In the end, the candy/craft party was a smashing success... the kids liked the craft and had some pretty great sugar highs going on.  They all crashed just in time for nap time... perfect.

These little munchkins got to do a bit of paska taste testing for me.

They approved.

Not White

So I have this side table sitting in my downstairs guest room.  I picked it up (correction.  Doug picked it up for me) at MCC a couple of months ago.  I think it's got good bones.  It's solid wood, the drawers slide in and out like a dream, and it's the perfect height for a bedside table.  Did I mention that it was only $15 bucks?  Side note, everything I seem to buy from MCC has the $15 price tag... strange, no?  Anyways, I don't love the color.  I want to paint it.  My first thought was white, of course.  I already have white paint at home... easy.  Lately, however, I've been thinking that a different color could be more fun.

(Please don't look at the headboard... it's still not finished!!)

So over the past few weeks, I've been on the lookout for some colorful table inspiration.  Here are some of my favorites.  

I like yellow.  I really like this little number... especially the ring pulls.  

I actually really like a lot things in the room that this yellow table resides in, you should really click on the link and check it out.

Little Green Notebook

This bright yellow table caught my eye at Home Sense a while back.  Yes, I take pictures in Home Sense.  It's become one of my favorite past times since acquiring my new phone.  It may not be as fun as buying things, but it's cheaper... if I can't take it home with me I might as well take a picture :)

I love this green.  And that mirror...

Young House Love

How about these cheerful blue ones?  I like the glossy finish.

Little Green Notebook

And this grey blue number caught my eye.  That table looks so familiar.  I'm pretty sure everyone's grandma has a table like this in their basement.  If you have one, you really should paint it :)

Rambling Renovators

And of course, I'm loving this pink table.  Seriously, I would have never thought that I would be attracted to a hot pink dining room table, but it's awesome.

Life in the Fun Lane

So now... what to do?  What to choose?
What's your pick?

Almost there...

My daughter is almost 8 months old and I'm still decorating her nursery-- I really need to pick up the pace.  Soon she'll grow out of her crib  *tear* and I'll have to start all over again.  Well, I finally got around to putting something up on the bare wall above her change table.  I was stalling on this one, because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  Finally I decided to just find things around the house and create a cute little gallery wall.  And here it is... an almost free mini gallery wall for Eme's room...

I know you're all thinking... almost free?  How did you manage to pull that one off?  Well I happen to be a bit of a picture frame junkie.  I don't buy expensive ones... I have a problem with buying cheap ones.  Over the year's I've developed quite the stash.  I find cute little frames at MCC for $2.00 or $3.00 a piece, I find them in the as is section of Ikea... and let me tell you, there's a reason why they're so cheap.  They always need some major care-- sanding, painting, new mattes, new hanging hardware... lots of TLC.  In this arrangement of frames the only one that was purchased for full price was the big one.  I had it sitting around in my stash for a couple of months so it got to make its way into the collection.

Next I had to find some really cheap stuff to put into those frames.  Here's what I found.

To the left... a painting Caleb did during our at home morning art class.  And at the bottom, some super cute butterfly stickers I found at Walmart.  They were seriously 8 for $4.00.  I have a few left over if anyone wants to make their own butterfly art.  The two pictures in the middle are some pictures I had blown up and printed at London Drugs in black and white.

To the right... more butterfly art.  And the hot little pink number is a free printable from here.  I got the idea from 6th Street Design School.  I just downloaded the image and printed it off on my own printer.  The blog has other free images you could use as art for kid's rooms-- just click on the "freebie" label and print until your heart's content!

And now, some lessons learned from the process of creating this gallery wall:

1.  A painting project is NEVER as easy as you think it will be.  It is way harder.  It will take way longer than you anticipate.

2.  Always prime first.  Especially if you're using really cheap "gold" frames.

3.  Never spray paint in sub-zero conditions.  The finish will crackle as it dries.

4.  Oil paint can cover anything and make it look great.  I tried latex paint first.  The finish kept chipping and scratched really easily.  I finally switched to oil paint it finally gave me a nice glossy durable finish.

5.  My husband is a genius with a tape measure.  I never hang pictures in this house because Doug can do it 100 times faster than me and does a way better job.  For this one, he just took a quick glance at the arrangement I had on the floor, asked me where I wanted it on the wall and within a matter of minutes had the wall of frames hung PERFECTLY-- only using his tape measure and some quick math.

6.  Never start to hang a picture wall in your child's room 5 minutes before bedtime.  As fast as Doug is, Emerson was in quite a cranky state by the time we had finished up in her room.

7.  And lastly, never assume that your child will appreciate all the effort you put into her room...

Since I already had the frames this gallery wall was pretty cheap to create.  I paid $4.00 for the butterfly stickers and $7.00 to have the two pictures printed.  Grand total?  $11.00.  Not bad.  I may add more pictures to the wall over time and switch up the art in the frames, but it certainly does the trick for now.

Well hello there...

Don't you just love it when your friend who is babysitting your kids also happens to be a photographer?

I sure do :)

Distracted

I can't stop playing with this app on my phone.  Even the world's worst photographer can take cool pictures with Instagram.  I had fun with my phone while sewing yesterday.  Remember the cheap sheet set that I hacked for Emerson's room?  Well I've left the pillow case and the original fitted sheet intact, but managed to make the crib sheet (see here) and now a couple of throw pillows (my specialty) out of the flat sheet.  With a bit of maneuvering I think I could probably make one more thing out of the leftover fabric... I just can't let it go to waste!


I made the covers to fit the Ikea inserts... my favorites.  But I made the covers fit a bit snugger than the pre-made covers you pick up from Ikea... I don't like mine to be baggy... I like a tight fit!   I also decided to do two new things this time around.  First up, instead of putting in zippers I made envelope pillow covers.  Way easy... especially since I was able to use the edges of the sheets that were already pre-hemmed.


And since this material is pretty lightweight and has the tendency to fray easily I decided to try out the serge stitch option on my new sewing machine.  It worked like a dream...



Eme received her first sewing lesson...


The pillow in her chair looks so fresh and pretty for spring.

I'm getting tempted to put those pillows in my room for a while...

A little cheese for you and me...

Confession time... my favorite way to eat cheese is on nachos.  This is also Doug's favorite snack.  Over the past year or two we've gotten into the (bad) habit of eating nachos as an evening snack a couple of times a week :)  Doug makes them the best... I've blessed him to be the official nacho maker in our relationship.

But now as you know, I'm living a dairy free life for my little lady.  At least for now.  That means no more nachos for me.  Sad face.

As I was searching etsy for some cute inexpensive artwork I came across this little number.  I am SO tempted to buy it for Eme's room as a reminder of how much her momma does love her :)

(If you can't find your glasses... it says-- I love you more than cheese)

Then I found this one and told Doug that I was going to buy it for him.  "Don't you dare..." was the response I got.

(this one says-- You are the nachos to my cheese)

So there you have it... a little cheese.  These prints come from ecceprints... there are lots of other cute prints that would be fun for a kids room... or maybe your room if you're so inclined.  Go check it out!

Just another thing to check off my list...

Yesterday I took a break from the usual list of projects I've got going on around here-- the DIY-organizing-experimenting-creating kind of projects  I tend to get myself into. Instead I checked another item off of a list of sorts I've been working on for a while.  Yesterday I had minor hand surgery to have a piece of glass removed from my hand.  If you know what the past few years have held for me, then you'll be able to guess how it got there!  That little piece of glass has been annoying and irritating me for years now.  Well, surgery was a success!  It wasn't fun.  I won't tell you all the gory and squeamish details, but I will say that I definitely grabbed a much needed coffee at Starbucks on my way out-- thank heavens for Starbucks in hospitals!  I needed a moment, and a coffee, before driving myself home.  I also brought this souvenir home with me for bragging rights.

The picture doesn't really show you how big it is... let's just say it is bigger than the piece removed from my wrist and smaller than the chuck I found in my ear.

The surgery itself was not all that significant.  What is significant about yesterday's step is that I'm now done with accident related surgery-- I've officially informed my surgeons and doctors that I'm calling it quits!  I am currently on a waitlist for ACL reconstructive knee surgery, but that's a totally different story :)  Am I done because I feel and look like I did before the accident four years ago?  Absolutely not.  Nope, I'm done because I've decided that the new me is okay.  I'm comfortable with the new me.  Let me recap the past few years a little bit for you.  A while back I had to  come to terms with the fact that my shoulder will never function or feel the same as it did 4 years ago-- there's no surgery that will fix it.  A few months ago I finally came to the conclusion that no amount of plastic surgery would make my shoulder look like a shoulder... and somewhere along the way I've realized that I'm comfortable with the way I look today.  In fact, I wish I could have felt this comfortable about myself 10 years ago!  Does this mean that I'm going to go out in public wearing a sleeveless top anytime soon?  Nope... probably never.  But it does mean that I'm okay with a few of my new realities.  I'm comfortable with the fact that I will never wear a shoulder-revealing bathing suit at a public pool or beach-- that's why I brought Hawaii to my backyard in the form of an above ground pool-- yeah baby.  I'm comfortable with the fact that my +35 degree weather attire is a tank top paired with a cardigan sweater-- I have a cardi party going on in my closet... let me tell you.  I comfortable with inquisitive children's questions about the scars on my arms and hands-- although I will admit that I have told a few particularly cheeky kids that I got the scars because I disobeyed my momma ;)  There will still be moments of uncomfortable-ness... but that's okay.  So while yesterday wasn't the best of days, it was one more step forward.  And that's a good feeling.

One more step in this journey... done.  Many more to come.

And, I will be taking a few days off from any sewing, painting, crafting projects because quite frankly this is real pain in the hand :)

Weekend Marathon

Happy Monday everyone!  This past weekend was awesome, even though it felt a bit like a marathon with running errands, fixing our broken dryer, craigslist pickups, family fun, and other goodness.  We had way too many projects on the go, but we had fun doing them.  Here's a recap.

Doug took Caleb to recycle our cans and bottles.  Caleb gets to keep the money if he helps out-- he usually stashes it in his piggy bank.  This time around Doug decided to give him some instant gratification and took him straight to Walmart where he was allowed to buy a new toy with his money.  Right off the bat Caleb saw a $79.99 lego set and knew it was the one.  I drink a lot of Coke zero... but not that much!  He was a bit brokenhearted when he realized that it was beyond his budget, but the $6.00 lego police car kit made him pretty happy in the end.
 

Just a typical Saturday at lunch time around our house.  Lunch time got even MORE interesting when I tripped and spilt and entire bowl of sweet potato baby food all over the table, floor, Caleb, his new lego pieces and instructions....

Speaking of baby food, Emerson is quite enjoying my homemade creations.  As of today, her repertoire consists of:

• brown rice cereal-- tolerable
• pears-- her fav-- she makes the "mmmmm" sound with every bite
• apples-- yummy
• sweet potatoes and yams-- tolerable.  Enjoyable when mixed with a bit of apple juice
• avocado-- it's a good thing
• peas-- repulsive, but we're working on it
• carrots-- so so
• prunes-- pretty good... and let's just say... necessary ;)
• eating my bib?  I do it everyday

And, my closet craigslist fundraiser has now financed a closet organization project in Caleb's room.  I saw this ikea toy storage system for sale on craigslist for $20.  If you were to purchase the system brand new at Ikea (see here) you're looking at spending $129.  So Doug ran out to pick it up and we're going to paint it and turn it into a toy/clothes/games storage system for Caleb's closet.  This weekend my motto became... 'no closet left untouched'...


And... I had another project on the go.  Doug and I stayed up way too late working on a new upholstered headboard for our room.  It's not quite finished yet (Doug still need to makes the legs and we need to staple the cambric on the back) but it will soon be finished and installed... hopefully.

I thought I'd leave you with a teaser until it's finished and ready to have it's picture taken...

If you want to DIY yourself some built-in's... do it this weekend!

So I noticed on Ikea's site that Billy bookcases are on sale this weekend only!!  Instead of $69 bucks for one shelving unit, they are selling them for $49 each (black and white only).  I think they were cheaper for a one time sale over Christmas, but this is still a pretty good deal.  If you want to DIY yourself some bookcases like ours, now is the time to get started!!

I mentioned in an earlier post that the jury was still out as to whether or not it was worth it for us to customize the billy's or if it would have been better to build them ourselves.  In the end, since we ended up doing so much custom work (adding crown, building up the base, cutting part of one shelving unit down so that it would fit around the bumped out wall, adding an end panel to the one side, replacing the backing with beadboard... whew!) Doug felt that it would have been easier to do it from scratch.  But, if you're going to do a more simplified built in version, I think it would be worth it, and easy to do!  Wanna a bit more inspiration?  Check some of these ones out.

Painting out the back in a fun color looks awesome.  I wish I was brave enough to try this in my house...



In both of these cases, they just attached the shelves to the wall, trimmed out the top and sides with flat stock and painted it out in a similar shade of white to make it look like one unit, not three.

Both images are from House and Home

Man, these pictures of perfectly styled bookcases make me want to head downstairs and start tinkering with ours... if only I had nice stuff to put on them.

Or... if you didn't want to do an entire wall of built in shelves, you could always pick up one shelf and customize it to make it extra special.  The DIY experts at Young House Love  did it in the office of their old house (see the transformation here).  Isn't this cute?

Here are a few more ideas if you feel like hacking a Billy...

both images from here

If you're looking for a weekend project, I just found one for you.  You're welcome :)  If anyone out there decides to attempt such a project, please send me a picture!!  I would love to see...