design thursday: baby petree's nursery fabrics

guess what! the custom drapes and crib skirt for baby petree are in!!! and i could not be happier with the results! i know the pictures don't do it justice, but i was pressed for time and my iphone was just so handy vs. walking 10 steps for the real camera! i promise more pictures (with the real camera) when we get a little further along.

1. i started off with an inspiration picture of the kind of crib skirt i wanted and then did a drawing for the curtains. then it was time to shop for fabrics. and shop some more. and maybe just a bit more. but we found the right stuff, baby!

2. the next shot is of me putting everything together in one spot to see what it will look like.

3. & 4. the finished goods are in!

5. the curtains are hung with care.

6. husband holds up the crib skirt to try and picture what it will look like.

7. i was trying to get a good shot of the floor, ceiling, and curtains....the lighting was not working for me.

they look really amazing in person! a lady name shana down at the rabbit's lair did all the sewing. if you have any custom projects you need done i would highly recommend her.

i'm hoping that the ceiling will be all finished up next week so i can get some good pics of it and do a "how to" post on striped ceilings on a textured surface. hear that husband? the ceiling is calling your name to finish it. it would like its time in the spotlight next week. :)

happy thursday, dear readers!

DIY: Jewelry Board

i don't know about all y'all (oh yes, i just typed that) but i own a fair amount of jewelry. yet, i'm not really sure what i own because it has lived in a giant tangled mess, in a giant cardboard box over the last several (ahem, 5, ahem) years. it's not like i haven't wanted to something with it. i've just never really been sure what to do. i definitely wasn't going out to buy a giant jewelry armoir. and my two jewelry boxes were not enough. so, when husband inherited some lovely peg board a while back i started formulating a plan. 

the plan originally consisted of spray painting a lovely stencil on the pegboard, but it still looked like, well, like pegboard. and that in my bedroom? i think not. so i was back to square one. 

this past weekend we worked in our bedroom instead of in the nursery. we got curtains put up, a new laundry hamper and a dresser moved to make room for the co-sleeper. and then i looked down and the giant cardboard box, we shall call him seymore, was looking up at me. i informed seymore that we had had a good run of it, but that it was time to part.

i had recently seen this big corkboard in a magazine and fallen in love with it. i did not however fall in love with the price of it.

via ballard designs 

with that as my inspiration i set out to make my own for $50 or less.

i -- perhaps i'll start saying we since husband was a very integral part in this project -- we started with the plain old peg board. isn't she a beaut!

then we used some industrial strength adhesive to glue the cork on the board. husband doesn't mess around with his adhesives!

 

after letting the adhesive cure, we covered the board in duck cloth. i cut the cloth down to size.

 

then we stapled it with the staple gun. yes, i know you didn't get to see the fun stapling process, but i would hold the fabric tight and husband would staple. it took all of our hands. 

after that we flipped the board over and stuck the furniture tacks around the edges. what? no pictures? no, i was too busy being incredibly picky about the spacing of the tacks to pick up the camera. then it all went out the window 'cause i was tired of standing.  so, what you will want to do is space out your tacks, then come back with a hammer and tap them into the board.

after we stuck the tacks around the edges we secured a heavy duty picture wire to the back for hanging it on the wall.

after that we hung it on the wall and i used some more furniture tacks to start hanging my necklaces. 

and there you have it, folks! that's it. it's that easy. i haven't made it completely through seymore yet, but i'm working on it.

our weekend in 5

1. a lazy morning with a toasted onion bagel with onion & chive shmear and some coffee. why can't every morning be like that?

2. husband treated me to my first mani & pedi since i found out i was pregnant. yes, i waited this long. i'm only slightly paranoid about fumes and staff infections.

3.saturday night we celebrated my friend amanda's birthday. it was a great time...until the heartburn and the backaches hit. i'm just a giant ball of fun!

4. our windows now have accessories! we got new curtains and i must say, i didn't know what pur room was missing until we hung those bad boys up.

5. a little peek at a DIY Design Thursday project!

Happy Monday!

design thursday - a crib for baby petree

we did it! we decided on a crib! it has been ordered and everything. it might not arrive before she does, but that is fine since she will be spending her first few months in a co-sleeper next to me.

we have decided not to do a bumper in the crib. have you guys read all the studies out there about infant deaths and bumpers? i just don't know what to believe about it all - but i decided it didn't hurt to do without so why chance it. what do you guys think - to bumper or not to bumper?

design thursday - side project

because the nursery wasn't enough of a challenge for us, we decided to do a little side project.

remember these base boards we tore out of the nursery?

well i wasn't about to let them go to waste.

you see, we have these lovely giant sheet mirrors in our bathrooms. i mean don't get me wrong, the giant mirror part is nice. the lacking character part is rather boring. so, we took those baseboards and framed the mirror in our guest bathroom with them.

 

we still need to touch up the paint on the wall, but it's almost done!

the bones of baby petree's nursery part 1

for baby petree's nursery i wanted something that would grow with her and not be too themeish, too girly, or too baby. i also knew i wanted a space that would be a a good base for my ever changing design tastes. {please note this is not a step-by-step of my actual design process- it has been edited for content and formatted to fit for blogging :)}

so, i started by sketching out some ideas...

then, i found some great labor! we measured, we made several trips to the depot and then we painted.

 

while the painting was taking place in the nursery. outside in the garage, there was a lot of cutting going on to prepare for the next step. installing the wainscoting.

ok, i don't want to overwhelm you so the rest will be put into part 2. Happy Monday!

design thursday - background

i actually went to school for interior design. no-- seriously-- i did. i even graduated with a bachelor of  interior design.  right about the time i graduated is when the economy decided to tank. a lot of local design firms were downsizing and some didn't make it -- closing all together.

i was lucky to find a job in the commercial design field, working on remodels of a big box store. needless to say i found it a tad-bit stifling creatively and soon found myself with a constant case of the monday's. however, a year and a half into that job i was able to find another design position at a different firm. or so i thought. this position was a graphic design job masquarding as an interior design job. it wasn't a terrible job, but the economy reared it's ugly head again and i was soon laid off.

so, there i was. almost three years into the "real world" and the field in which i had gotten a degree had left a bad taste in my mouth.

now, another year later and i'm ready to climb back on that horse. well, maybe not quite ready for the horse. perhaps i'll start out with a mini-pony or a carrousel horse?  anyways, i'm ready to take baby steps to get back in the design field. so, look for more frequent design thursday posts and if you, or anybody you know, would like some design help (interior or graphic) let me know!

don't worry, i didn't forget about the sneak peek of the nursery. that will come tonight.  happy design thursday, y'all!