Upholstered Bed: A Sneak Peek

This is sadly just a teaser - I was hoping to have the bed for our Little Man's new room done by now, but it's going to be at least another week, I think. Here's where we're at so far... I bought and assembled the Ikea bed frame, like so:

Then upholstered it with foam batting and fabric:

I blame Miss Wigglepants (aka the Bump) for making me scatter brained and unable to calculate simple measurements, which is why the foot of the bed still doesn't even have foam on yet (I bought 5" too little - doh).

Also, I hate the fabric - I was trying to be thrifty, and the wool felt I used echoes the blue in the rug but it's just not working - it's too loud and it looks cheap. Happily, it was only $5 for all the yardage I needed, so it's not a big deal now that I have to recover it. Want to know what I've chosen as its replacement?

It's Dwell Studio Square Lattice Hydrangea, and I wanted it the moment I first laid eyes on it - it's super soft, the colors echo those in the rug and the bedding, and the geometric print is fun but not too childish. The only reason I didn't bring it home right away was because JoAnn's were selling it for $35 a yard, making it a steep $175 for the yardage I needed. It only dawned on me when I went back today that I should probably check online - sure enough, it's only $16 a yard on fabric.com - I can handle $80 total.

So now I'm just waiting for the fabric to arrive and the mattress we bought over the weekend to be delivered. Oh, and I still have to make another trip to JoAnn's for the foam batting. Once all that is here, it shouldn't take long at all to finish it up, so it's all coming together, even if it is a slower process than I'd like.

Big Boy Room Progress

Just a quick update on how the Big Boy Room is coming along...

This is where it started (with the Little Man admiring his baby pics on the computer):

 We moved the desk out and shifted some of the furniture around:

Then we patched all the holes in the walls, painted, and assembled an Expedit.

I love the new color - it's soft and calm and it makes the whole room much lighter (remember that there is no natural light in here - the two high windows open to the kitchen/living room). We've since moved the bookshelf out and sold the futon. I quite liked the cherry wood tones that the bookcase brought in, but I'm paranoid about having a bookcase that high in a toddler bedroom, so it had to go. Maybe I'll bring the wood back with frames or a lower piece of furniture.

The growth chart has arrived (see it in the design board here) and it is just as awesome as I was hoping, so I'll share more pics soon. I've also spent an inordinate amount of time rearranging the closet to make room for S's things and get all our not-remotely-child-proof tools and DIY supplies out of there - not an easy task but it is much more organized now! If I'd thought about it, I would have taken before and after pics, but I didn't, so you'll just have to take my word that it's a vast improvement! The next priority is getting the new bed assembled (we bought the frame last weekend) and getting a new mattress in there.

Here's the to-do list as it stands now:
- Paint walls
- New rug
- Hang paper lanterns
- Add accent stripes to walls
- Replace futon with full-size bed
- Add storage
- Hang art
- Hang shelves
- Add spice rack bookshelves
- DIY beanbag for reading area
- Update lighting
- Consider new bedding options

I think that's it!

If you're celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I hope you have a good one. We are keeping low-key with just the three of us (well, four if you count the bump) and going out for dinner, so sadly no exciting Thanksgiving decor from me this year. Christmas, on the other hand...

The Big Boy Bed: We May Have A Winner

I was recently perusing Ikea Hackers when I stumbled upon this bed, which I rather love.

{Original source}

And it started out as one of these:

{Fjellse Bed Frame, Ikea - $49.99}

$50 for the bed frame, a sheet of plywood, batting, fabric, a bunch of staples and a few screws and we may have ourselves a winner, people. My original plan was just to make a headboard with a basic metal mattress frame, but then I'd have to use a bed skirt, and I kinda hate them. I really can't think of a better idea than this seemingly simple Ikea hack - it looks great and it'll be much harder for the Little Man to injure himself on it with all that padding.

In other news, my Caitlin Wilson fabric samples have arrived and I am in love with this one in particular.

{Mint Fleur Chinoise Fabric by Caitlin Wilson}

The others were gorgeous too, but this one has subtle gold flecks which aren't obvious in the photo - it is rather divine. It's going in the nursery, as I've mentioned, so now I just have to figure out what to use it for (at present, I'm leaning towards a crib skirt and maybe a lumbar pillow for the rocker). So it's all go, at last. :)

Sorting The Spice Drawer

Our kitchen has been in need of a bit of organizing TLC for a while, so today - in the first of what should be a few kitchen organisation posts - I'm showing off my new spice jar storage.

This was my second attempt at better sorting my spices. Originally, they were all thrown in a drawer, in mismatched bottles and jars, and it was a right royal mess (I don't have a photo, but I'm sure you can picture it). Then I stumbled on these little beauties at Ikea...

{Rationell Variera insert for spice jars, $3.99}

The most obvious choice to fill the drawer inserts were these little jars, and they were the right price at $1.50 each...

{Droppar Spice Jar, $2.99/2 pack}

I was so excited to have it organized (no picture again, sorry), I did a little dance. Sadly, it didn't last long. The Droppar jars are proper rubbish. The tops don't screw on, which might be fine if they were upright all the time. Laying on the spice jar insert though, they came loose and I ended up with a drawer peppered with spices (see what I did there - peppered - ha...anyway, moving on...).

They were also too small, so I couldn't decant full jars and ended up with extras. It had all gone Pete Tong, and my drawer ended up looking like this (you might not be able to appreciate the mess entirely, but I assure you it was pants)...

I looked for alternative jars to fit the inserts with no luck- mainly because I still didn't want to spend a lot. Then I found these at the Container Store...

{Quattro Sagioni Spice Jar, $1.49}

Pretty, dishwasher safe, cheap and, at 6oz, big enough to hold the contents of pretty much any store-bought spice jar. No, they don't fit in the spice drawer insert, but when I popped them in the drawer, I could actually fit 14 of these babies into less space than I could fit 10 jars Ikea-style. Even with everything back in the drawer, there was extra space!

After that, my little jars just needed labeling. I almost went with these free printable ones from Martha Stewart (download the PDF here):

But I don't have a color printer, and it would have been a faff to get them printed elsewhere. Then I came across this photo on Pinterest where Frugal Decor Mom decanted her spices into baby food jars and painted the tops with chalk board paint.

{Frugal Decor Mom via Lizzie R on Pinterest}

I still had some chalk board paint left over from my chalk board frame, so this was perfect! I gave all the lids a couple of coats of primer first (Zinsser Bull's Eye 123, in case you're wondering).

Side note - I might have been able to get away with just one coat of primer, had I not left my newly-painted lids outside to dry and run out to the shop. When I left home, it was sunny and gorgeous. When I pulled into the Target car park, it looked like this:

Gah. Despite a soaking, the primer did okay, but I thought a second coat after that was probably a safe bet. I followed it (on a drier day) with a couple of coats of Rustoleum chalk board paint...

I wanted to be able to write cleanly on the new lids, and regular chalk just wasn't going to cut it, so I ordered a chalk pen from Amazon and used that to label each one.

While I was at it, I decided to find a new home for the cling wrap, aluminium foil and freezer bags, inspired by another Pinterest picture. Now they're living in a magazine file in one of the lower cabinets instead.

As a result, we went from a big mess, to this:

Then this:

And finally this:

I'd like the Ziplock bags to be prettier (ideas, anyone?), but still, it's so much better - there's even room for the butter dish in that drawer now (hooray for more counter space). Did I mention that sorting makes me happy? :)

Sharing this post:
DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff
Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick
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Keep C.A.L.M. and Organize On @ A Thoughtful Place

Big Boy Room Update

As I've mentioned, the Little Man's new big boy bedroom is finally painted, and today we assembled an Expedit to add storage for all his toys. Now that I'm ready to start pulling the rest of the room together, I went back to my original design board and gave it an update. Here's the latest:

I dropped some of the accessories from my original design, and lost the dresser (which is going to stay in the nursery) and the mirror (which I just stole and hung in our living area instead).

I'm going to DIY an upholstered headboard in this fabric (as long as I still like it when I see the swatch):

{Richloom Indoor/Outdoor Cambria Sky at Fabric.com}

Then I'm thinking a bold yellow Ikat for the duvet cover:

{Premier Prints Chipper Slub Corn Yellow at Fabric.com}

Of course, I already have the rug, which was my starting point for the whole room:

{Colorful Stripes Rug at Rosenberry Rooms}

I've discovered some etsy gems that might have to work their way into this room, like this canvas growth chart (which I just ordered):

{The Brimfield Growth Chart by Kim's Sister on etsy}

And I'd like to DIY something similar to this cute wall panel, only ours would obviously have to be a corgi...

{French Bulldog Appliqued Wall Panel by oliverbludesigns on etsy}

Speaking of DIY, I'm planning to jump on the Ikea spice rack bookshelf bandwagon - there's a little wall space between the door and the closet that would be perfect for these:

{Original source unknown}

I already made some transportation-themed art - read more on these here:

And I'm thinking a little reading corner with a comfy beanbag in either or both of these fabrics would be great:

{Waverly Cross Section Charcoal on Fabric.com}

{Peacock Cream Circle Ikat by Domesticate on Spoonflower}

Finally, a few finishing touches - I love this construction-themed pillow, and S absolutely would too:

{Digger Throw Pillow at Land of Nod}

And I'm still debating whether this industrial lamp would be worth the $72 price tag - it's more than I would like to spend but it sure is purdy:

{Fisherman Table Lamp at Pottery Barn Kids}

I'm rather excited about shopping now! Check out these and other boys' room ideas at Big Boy Room via Lizzie R on Pinterest.

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Caitlin Wilson Textiles

So far, I've posted not one but two nursery design boards (see them both via my Design Boards tab). I thought I was set, then I came across these fabrics, just released by Caitlin Wilson Textiles...

Now I am totally thrown. I was planning a soft pink/green/baby blue and/or turquoise scheme, like so (just in case you haven't seen this board enough yet)...

...but now the whole coral/turquoise/navy idea is calling me. That fabric is just gorgeous. Swoon.

I could probably work this color way (Mint Coral Chinoise) in to my original design, but I do think it would be stunning paired with navy rather than green. Sod it, I'm ordering swatches. Like right now.

While I wait on those, I have been working on the Little Man's new bedroom. Actually, I haven't, but my lovely Daddy has, for which I am incredibly grateful. He spent all day yesterday painting it so, after five months of procrastinating (albeit with good reason), it is now well on the way to being a finished room. Huzzah. And I've just been perusing etsy for pretty things to adorn it, so I'll give you an update on that soon.