Tag Archives: Nursery

DIY clay animal busts

Posted in Baby Michael, Crafts, DIY, Homemade by

A few months ago I received a large rhino head by accident from Zulily. (It was supposed to be pair of raven bookends for my Dad’s birthday…)

Maddie isn't sure what to do with this surprise delivery

Maddie isn’t sure what to do with this surprise delivery

Of course I wanted to spray paint the head white and the horn gold and hang it in the nursery, but Brandon put the kibosh on it pretty quickly. (He likes the natural coloring of the rhino.) I’ve kept my eyes peeled for an additional rhino or other animal busts on my trips to Marshall’s and HomeGoods, but never found anything that I had to have.

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest and Etsy and stumbled across several great items, but they were all more than I wanted to spend, so I decided to make my own!

I looked everywhere for Crayola Model Magic, which apparently doesn’t exist anymore. So, after intense staffmember consultation and debate, I landed on DAS modeling clay from the University Bookstore. I also bought several unfinished plaques from JoAnn’s (similar to this one, the in-store selection is hit or miss and I lucked out).

The sculpting reminded me of my childhood and high school art classes and I really enjoyed it. Some of the ideas came from my head, while some came from the internet. I sculpted the busts around foil balls (so they were lighter when hung) and followed the instructions and let them air dry for several weeks. (Mainly out of laziness.)

Once they were dry I spray painted them a glossy white and Brandon used leftover stain to make the plaques a uniform color. I used ample hot glue to adhere the busts to the plaques– and voila! they were beautiful! I originally tried to adhere them with super glue and that didn’t work out. Hot glue was the way to go.

My clay animal busts

My clay animal busts

To finish off the projects, I hot glued a “D” hook on each plaque.

Hanging the busts

Hanging the busts

Here they are in relation to the nursery wall. I’m really pleased with how the nursery turned out. And look at that little two-week old Michael! He’s grown so much since then!

Michael and his friends, showing off his clay animal busts. (Sort of)

Michael and his friends, showing off his clay animal busts. (Sort of)

Happy crafting!

 

 

Michael’s ombre dresser

Posted in Around the house, Baby Michael, Crafts by

I recently posted an update on our soon-to-be-out-of-the-womb-baby Michael’s nursery and his new ombre dresser was definitely the star. (Just wait until you see the whale mobile! It’s even better!)

Here's the ombre dresser and changing table area.

Here’s the ombre dresser and changing table area.

I thought I’d share a quick tutorial, since this was one of the easiest transformations that I’ve done.

First, take before photos. I don’t take enough before photos.

We're thinking crib on this wall!

We’re thinking crib on this wall!

It looked good before but it looks better now!

It looked good before but it looks better now!

Before photo of the dresser

Before photo of the dresser

Find your color. I spent a lot of time in the paint sections at Lowe’s, Home Depot, and McLendon’s inspecting swatches. I finally found one that I really liked from Dutch Boy, swatch E19, with:

Ombre dresser paint swatch

Ombre dresser paint swatch

Moonlit Sky (E19-1), Twilight Navy (E19-2), Highland Mist (E19-3), and Well-worn Denim (E19-4)

Get your paint. I only painted the face of the dresser drawers, so I didn’t need much. In fact, all I needed was a sample size. I found these particular samples at Lowe’s. Sample sizes are 8 ounces and I used far less than half of each. I wanted to get the samples in “glossy,” but they only have them in eggshell. Eggshell turned out just fine for the $2.99 price tag. {McLendon’s had Dutch Boy paint samples but they were $8.99 for the same size. WAY too much for the little amount of paint that I needed!}

Paint samples

Paint samples

Prep. I labeled all of my shelves in the order that they sat into the dresser, so I didn’t get them mixed up or have to repaint over and over again. I unfolded a plastic sheet in my spray painting area outside and set up shop. I used sponge crafting brushes and painted right from the container. I used four brushes and threw them all out when I was finished.

Drawers, drawers, drawers!

Drawers, drawers, drawers!

Paint. Paint and paint and paint. My dresser was already “primed” (painted white), so we just needed one coat and some minor touch ups. It was a warm day and we let the drawers dry overnight.

Painted dresser drawers!

Painted dresser drawers!

Finish. After the paint was dry, we took the drawers back in the house and screwed in the new hardware, these pulls from Target. You’ll note that this is a six-pack and we have eight drawers. I was able to find a near perfect match with pulls from Home Depot, thankfully.

Let’s look at this beauty one more time. Ah: I love it! And, in case you were wondering, it’s completely full of diapers, wipes, blankets, outfits, and accessories for Baby Michael. Just four more weeks until his due date!

Here's the ombre dresser and changing table area.

Here’s the ombre dresser and changing table area.

50 days to go!

Posted in Around the house, Baby Michael, Crafts, DIY, Homemade, Photos, Uncategorized by

About 50 days ago I blogged my master to-do list for the baby’s room.

Well, time has flown by and over the weekend we hit the 50 days until D-day mark. We also spent a lot of time wrapping up some of the nursery projects.

Here’s a update of where we are, and what we still have left to do before the little guy comes in just about seven weeks. (Or sooner?!)

UPDATED master to do list: 

  • Remove the mattress and bed frame. Wrap for transport to the cabin. Transported to the cabin over the Fourth, where I won an award for my quinoa salad!
  • Apologize to Maddie for stealing her favorite napping spot. She still sleeps in there, and has made do with the bassinet. She’s in for a rude awakening when that bassinet is full with an infant!
  • Wash sheets, take comforter to dry cleaners.
  • Remove ball lights.
  • Clean out and remove the bookshelf side table.
  • Vacuum and dust thoroughly!
  • Buy paint and paint the room. We’re debating between Behr’s Sparrow and Anonymous. Which one is your favorite? We went with Sparrow. It’s very pretty and so serene!
  • Secure baseboards. Touch up with paint if necessary.
  • Hang curtain rods and curtains.
  • Place the art on the shelves and think about where wall art will be placed We still have some art to frame, but it’s we’re running out of space!
  • Empty Brandon’s clothes from the dresser. He’s all moved into the master bedroom! It only took 5 years…
  • Replant and move Brandon’s terrarium. It looks so good! I realized that I never posted about it. I’ll add that to the list of blogs to work on!
  • Assemble new rocking chair. Assembled! And we’ve used it several times. We have this pouf on order to complete the look!
  • Grab crib from home-home and set it up. It’s grabbed, but it turns out my sister busted one of the rungs when she was a kid. It’s in Dad’s shop now, getting repaired. We’ve got the mattress and lots of sheets for it!
  • Finish whale mobile. It’s almost ready. I just need to find the embroidery floss in my rather cluttered craft room. Maybe this weekend I’ll finish it!
  • Finish painting ceramic fish and lampshade. Painted. Now I just have to find a spot for the fish and put the lampshade on the lamp.
  • Measure dresser, cut whitewood (or other kind of cheap wood) to create a top. (We’re making something like this, but only the top.) We a went a different direction; one that I’m really pleased with the direction we went! See the photo of Michael’s new ombre dresser below!
  • Sand and paint dresser, replace drawer pulls. Painted. Pulls replaced! See photo and let me know what you think!
  • Sand and stain dresser top, elephant rocker, side table, trophy bases and book boxes. Rocker and side table sanding/staining are still on the to do list, but the trophy bases and book boxes are done and look great.
  • Spray paint the ceramic animal heads, adhere them to the wood trophy bases. They’re painted and now they need to be adhered. I’m debating between using super glue and hot glue. Anyone have any recommendations?
  • Make rope basket “zoo” for stuffed animals. It’s a great idea and project, but I could not find the rope anywhere. Then I went to Homegoods and found an adorable bin for far less than it would’ve been to make the rope basket.

Some new to do’s, in addition to the ones not crossed out above:

  • Get sun from home-home, hang in the corner of the room. Michael and I will grow up with the sun in our rooms, made by my Aunt Peggy!
  • Buy laundry hamper.
  • Clean out ‘candle drawer’ in the kitchen, so we have a place for all of his bottles and supplies. (Yes, we have a candle drawer.)
  • Clean out the bathroom a bit, making room for all of Michael’s new stuff.

And what you really came here for… updated photos!

Here's our super-sized rocker and the photo area. I imagine I'll be spending some quality time here soon!

Here’s our super-sized rocker and the photo area. I’ll be spending some quality time here soon!

Here's the ombre dresser and changing table area.

Here’s the ombre dresser and changing table area.

A close up of the "zoo" bin for Michael's stuffed animals.

A close up of the “zoo” bin for Michael’s stuffed animals.

Here is one of our rolling apple crates for books. Brandon did such a great job sanding and staining them! We both did a good job on the wheels.

Here is one of our rolling apple crates for books. Brandon did such a great job sanding and staining them! We both did a good job on the wheels.

Here's the latest on the whale mobile. It's looking great and will be finished soon!

Here’s the latest on the whale mobile. It’s looking great and will be finished soon!

I hope you enjoyed our nursery update. There will be more photos as we keep finishing projects in the next (less than!!) 50 days!

100 days until the big day!

Posted in Around the house, Baby Michael, Crafts, DIY, Homemade by

Wow. Where did the time go!? It feels like I’ve been both pregnant forever but also pregnant for just a few days, when in reality, the clock is quickly ticking down and there are only 100 days remaining until Baby Michael’s anticipated arrival! (I think he’ll be early, so maybe it’s even fewer than 100 days!)

Brandon is done with spring quarter today, so starting this weekend our attention will be focused on the little man’s new room. It’s always best to start with some sketches, some inspiration and a list. So, here we go!

What do you think of my masterful sketching? We’ll see how true-to-life this ends up being:

Sketching out the room

Sketching out the room

And the master to do list: 

  • Remove the mattress and bed frame. Wrap for transport to the cabin.
  • Apologize to Maddie for stealing her favorite napping spot.
  • Wash sheets, take comforter to dry cleaners.
  • Remove ball lights.
  • Clean out and remove the bookshelf side table.
  • Vacuum and dust thoroughly!
  • Buy paint and paint the room. We’re debating between Behr’s Sparrow and Anonymous. Which one is your favorite?
  • Secure baseboards. Touch up with paint if necessary.
  • Hang curtain rods and curtains.
  • Place the art on the shelves and think about where wall art will be placed
  • Empty Brandon’s clothes from the dresser.
  • Replant and move Brandon’s terrarium.
  • Assemble new rocking chair.
  • Grab crib from home-home and set it up.
  • Finish whale mobile.
  • Finish painting ceramic fish and lampshade.
  • Measure dresser, cut whitewood (or other kind of cheap wood) to create a top. (We’re making something like this, but only the top.)
  • Sand and paint dresser, replace drawer pulls.
  • Sand and stain dresser top, elephant rocker, side table, trophy bases and book boxes.
  • Spray paint the ceramic animal heads, adhere them to the wood trophy bases.
  • Make rope basket “zoo” for stuffed animals.

That’s about it. Totally doable, right? Maybe not in a single weekend, but we’ve got 100 days!

Here are some before photos.

The rocker will likely be on this wall. Ball lights will be gone. Pictures are already gone.

The rocker will likely be on this wall. Ball lights will be gone. Pictures are already gone.


We're thinking dresser, changing pad and toys on this wall

We’re thinking dresser, changing pad and toys on this wall


We're thinking crib on this wall!

We’re thinking crib on this wall!


Closet wall. Not much will change here except many of the clothes will change!

Closet wall. Not much will change here except many of the clothes will change!

Let the magic begin! Happy Friday!!