Harris' Nursery

It's been far too long since I've written a post! Life has been very busy but Harris and I are starting to get into a rhythm and routine (and starting to sleep a little more at night!). When it snowed a few days ago and Tim and I were stuck inside, we decided to finish up a few things in the nursery. Yes, Harris  is almost 12 weeks old and the nursery still isn't finished. But hey, he's not even sleeping in there yet. Soon!

So I thought I would show a few pictures and let you know what's left to do.

Here's what you see when you walk in the door. The crib was a hand-me-down from Tim's sister and it's perfect! The glider was left behind from one of Tim's roommates a while ago and we bought the ottoman on the way back from a UGA game for $15. I recovered spray-painted them white and recovered them in a neutral stripe (which already has tons of spit-up stains - ew).

I got this super cute origami mobile from a very talented Etsy seller. Best part? We bartered! One of my costumes for one of her mobiles! And Harris LOVES staring at it! And behind the crib is the quilt I made Harris - my first quilt!

More pictures...

And yes, Harris just hung out on the couch while I cleaned up the room and took the pictures. And as soon as I was finished, he threw a fit. ;-)

The other wall...

Our built in bookcase holds all of Harris' items that we don't need everyday. Plus a few cute toys and books.

This is a sign I saw on Pinterest and wanted to make. We finally got in hung up a few days ago! I love it! I cut the boards to size, stained them to match the top of the dresser and then painted the verse on (after tracing the letters of course). 

This dresser was a gift from one of Tim's aunts. I stripped the top,  and stained it and then painted the rest white. And then spray-painted the original hardware with oil-rubbed bronze. LOVE it! It holds all of Harris' clothes, burp cloths (so many!), blankets, and such.

So that's the nursery so far. I still have a few things I want to do before it's actually completely finished. 

TO DO:

#1 - Put pictures in frames. I'm a terrible mother.

#2 - Stain and paint this little end table to match the dresser. I'm waiting for slightly warmer weather.

#3 - Remove the printing from this wipes container. I read about removing printing from plastic using acetone nail polish remover. And yes, I want it completely white because I am my mother. 

#4 - Put anti-slip things under the rugs we got from Ikea. We pretend like these two rugs (way cheaper!) are one big rug - which is much easier when they stay in place. 

#5 - Hang room-darkening curtains so we can start having Harris nap in the nursery.

#6 - Move the video monitor from our room to the nursery so that we can watch him nap. 

First Nursery Project - DONE!

With Baby Carson approximately 27 weeks away (say WHAT?!?!), it was time to get started on some nursery projects! Our goal is to spend as little as possible on preparing the nursery which means plenty of DIY projects! YAY!

First up, a glider.

So Tim had this for when he and the roommates were living together. Don't ask me why 4 bachelors need a glider. Apparently a former roommate had it and didn't want to take it with him when he left. So it sat in our Great Room (or Catch All Room it should be called) for forever. Since we already had it and it was free, it became the first project!

Tools needed:
Rustoleum White Satin spray paint (2 cans) ~ $10
Sandpaper  - had on hand
Fabric - $12 for 6 yards (used about 3 yards)

So this poor rocker was pretty dirty. Sitting for at least a year doesn't do good things for fabric. Add some lovely stains and it just HAD to be reupholstered.

I started by taking the cushions off (the arm pieces snapped on) and threw them all in the washer. Better already.

I lightly sanded the entire piece (or at least the parts I could easily reach)...

and then wiped it down to remove sanding dust and other dirt.

Then I started spray painting. I did a VERY light first coat and then sprayed a second and third light coat. I've learned the hard way not to do thick coats of spray paint. Some of the angles were hard to get so I sprayed as much as I could, brought it inside to dry for a few days, then turned it upside down and spray the remainder.

While it was drying the second time (letting paint cure is the key to not having it scrap off!), I worked on the cushions which I had let air dry for a few days. I ripped the fabric off the seat cushion (after marking where the few pleats were...

... and then used it for the pattern on the new fabric.

For the seat, I just remade the cover just like the one I had taken off - pleats and all.

For the back cushion, I just made a slip cover by tracing around the entire piece on the new fabric. I made sure to remove the velcro that attaches it to the spokes and add it to the new slip cover.

The arm pieces, I slip covered too (with pleats too!) and just cut holes for the snaps to come through. All the snaps are pretty hidden so I wasn't too worried about perfection.

(And yes, I already nicked the arm. It barely fits through a doorway!)

The stripes match on the seat cushion in front but seat and the back cushion don't line up. Oh well.

I'm loving how it turned out!!!

Next project: a Bible verse sign to hang in the nursery!

New (to us) Headboard - Before and After

Two and a half months since my last post?! Good heavens!

Well, I finally have something to post about. Tim's sweet Aunt Sue asked us if we wanted a dresser, armoire, and headboard that belonged to her husband's father (or something like that) who was moving in with them. Free furniture? Yes, please! And it was BEAUTIFUL wood! YAY! I've got grand plans for the dresser and armoire but haven't tackled them yet. The headboard seemed more do-able so I started it first. Here's the before:

Loved the lines but light colored wood (with a heavy varnish) didn't really match anything in our house. What color should I do it? White of course! (My mom would be proud.) 

I took the headboard outside and spray primed it (I was too lazy to sand it), and then sprayed it white in a satin sheen. I forgot to take pictures of course but you can imagine me spraying while yelling at the curious dogs to stay away. Fun. 

Once inside, I took sandpaper and scuffed up all the edges and the center carving to bring out the lines. But strangely, some parts of the wood showed through darker than others.

No problem. I dipped a q-tip in some Dark Walnut stain and "painted" the raw wood that I wanted to be darker then wiped away the excess with a damp cloth. Much better.

I'm SO please with how the headboard turned out! Looks fantastic under the deer head that Joanna made. Now a few more pictures...

Sewing Room

We finally get to reveal the Sewing Room we've been working on for so long! There are still some finishing touches that I'd like to do but it's close enough to reveal. There are a lot of pictures so keep scrolling for the finished room.

So there is a building on our property (well, the property that our landlord owns - about 30 feet from our house) that looks like this:

Tim thinks Friday the 13th was filmed there.

As you might imagine, it is officially condemned. But do they tear it down? Nooooo. Just let it rot. Anyways, Tim and I peeked inside and despite the floor and ceiling caving in, there was furniture in there. Why our landlords don't care about wasting furniture, I don't know. Anyways, they let us use some of the furniture that was originally in our house (a couple of dresser/buffet things) so we figured they wouldn't mind if we used the bookshelf that was in the creepy house. But the backing on it was falling off so we took that off. This is what it looked like:

A fresh coat of paint helped immensely. We found some old (and I mean really old!) baseboard in the pantry:

I sanded it,

And then took all the rusty nails out. It's a surprise I didn't get tetanus. 

Tim added them to the bookcase...

And I painted them white too. Then filled in all the cracks with nail putty.

Oh, then Tim added new legs to the table he had already made to make it taller. Yup, we just bought 4x4 and painted it. We're cheap.

And now the table is awesome. Ready to see?

The view as you enter the room...

Off to the right there is a shipping station. 

Beside the table is a magazine rack (that we got as a wedding present - thanks Vance and Jenny Bell!) that I'm using to hold all my boxes, wrapping paper, tissue paper, and such. 

The finished bookcase! We added beadboard from Lowe's to the back. I like it so much I might ask our landlords if we can buy it when we leave. 

My fabulous new sewing table that Tim made. (Oh, and Tim made me that "C" for Christmas. It holds thread.)

Oh! We wanted a plexiglass top so the raw wood wouldn't catch on fabric. Tim got a spare piece from Chick-fil-A that they'd had in storage for three years. He re-cut it and it looks fabulous!

Then I have an ironing station. We stole those shelves from Tim's parents' house.

I still haven't organized the cabinet yet. Eventually, folks. 

Oh! and I found these glass containers at the Salvation Army. $1.85 for three.

A quick coat of red spray paint (leftover from when Tim painted the rocking chairs on the front step) and they look fabulous as bookends for my patterns.

Oh, and these? Squares of cardboard cut from USPS mailing boxes and covered in wrapping paper and then hung with Command strips.

I'm sure I have other tidbits that I didn't mention. Feel free to ask for more details!