Tag: decor

The boys’ updated room {ta-da!}

Finally! We are (almost, nearly) finished with the boys’ room makeover. Since there wasn’t going to be on a vacation this summer, I figured, why not spend that money on sometime more tangible. And the boys’ room was ripe for a makeover. The last time I did anything substantial to their room was 7 years ago when their beds were built.

Now. If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself NOT to paint the room dark navy and the beds dark gray. (Well, one would hope I’d use my time travel for more important purposes, but trust me, this weekend there was nothing more important.)

Let’s get to the good stuff first…before and after pictures. I admit, their room was in quite a state when I took the before pictures. But if I’d waited for them to clean it up just so I could take before pictures, well, I wouldn’t have paint in my hair right now.

Okay, so I didn’t do a great job taking pics of the same angles, but you get the idea. Here are a few more:

Here is what we did:

  • painted the walls Alabaster (Sherwin Williams) and the trim (beds included) ultra reflective white (SW.) I wish I’d gone with Behr paint, but SW was having a sale. I feel like the good Behr paint covers better and is about the same price as Sherwin Williams Cashmere on sale. Oh well.
    Aside: on the advice of a friend, I got a paint sprayer and it really helped the primer go on quickly. And it was fun. But I didn’t want to put expensive paint in it (it has to be thinned) so it didn’t get as much use as I would have hoped. But it’s nice to have.
  • got these LED lights. This was basically what the room was designed around. They wanted light walls to show off the LED lights better. Ha!
  • got a rug from Amazon. It’s soft and squishy and was super cheap. We don’t do rugs in our house, so I didn’t want to spend a ton in case it didn’t work out.
  • removed all of the posters and (sniff, sniff) stickers from the walls. The original theme of the room (when the boys were 3, mind you) was “under the sea” so there were sea creatures everywhere. Linus was particularly sad to have to remove these Easter stickers he got from his preK-4 teacher.
  • took down the ratty “curtains” that have been up forever (really just pieces of fleece on clips) and got light blocking 2.5″ faux wood blinds.
  • put a set of their cubicles that were next to the old dresser into the closet instead. IMG_7192
  • bought a new dresser! Real furniture! The one that was there before was a hand me down from a friend. I really think this was the first piece of furniture I’ve ever bought that didn’t have to be put together. (I mean, I love IKEA, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted something a bit more grown up, and that I could see in person first.)
  • used some of the 46 zillion soccer jerseys the boys have to decorate the wall behind the dresser. Hung their team scarves on the walls around one of the windows.
    img_7312
  • moved the TV and Xbox to the dresser so the desk can be used for school, since it will be at least partially virtual this year.
  • got a butterfly chair from Target to make it more comfortable to rot their brains.

There are still a few things left to do, but I am burned out, so they’ll have to wait a bit.

  • install hooks on the back of the door for coats and jackets
  • re-hang a shelf with hooks in the desk nook for all of their medals and whatnot
  • hang the soccer team photo

I think that’s it? Overall, we are all very happy with the updated room. But I swear, I am never painting again.

My DIY Christmas mantle

Last year, we spent the holidays in the UK, and it was magical and wonderful and fantastic and everything else positive (minus of course the last day when Miles barfed everywhere and I got to put one of those tiny washer/dryer combos to the test) (and why did I have to ruin that sentence with barf talk? Just Keeping It Real, folks.) but this year, we’re staying home. Which is fine, I guess (kicks the dirt sadly) but I reasoned if we were going to be in stinky old Louisiana for Christmas, I’d better decorate the house so we’d feel more festive.

So I turned my attention to the mantle. I started buying garlands to hang over it when they appeared at Michael’s last month. I dug out the boys’ stockings (though I still need to fix the one Ziggy chewed up two years ago.) But I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do on the mantle itself.

 

That’s freaking festive right there.

 

Then I remembered my mom’s Christmas village set that she didn’t really use anymore. But then I was reminded she’d asked me years ago if I wanted it, and I said no, and so she sent it to my sister. Okay, plan B.

I was perusing Facebook one day and came across a papercraft village that I could make with my Silhouette. Not too hard, and since it was mostly made of cardstock, cheap! (Just the way I like it.) I bought the templates and started cutting. And gluing. And folding. And after a few nights of watching movies over Thanksgiving break, it was done!

 

It doesn’t get much cuter than that.

 

If you plan to create your own cardstock village, I have some advice.

  • Use 80 lb cardstock. I made the bases with 110 lb and it didn’t’ cut as easily.
  • Get some strong, 1/4″ wide double sided tape like this. At first I used glue dots, and that was a disaster. The red backing on the tape makes it easy to see to remove.
  • The instructions on the 3dcuts.com website say to take waxed paper to the back of each window so the tea lights don’t show through. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Transparent Scotch tape worked perfectly and was much easier than cutting tiny squares of waxed paper. (Make sure it’s the foggy kind of tape, not the crystal clear kind.)
  • Okay, so my village looks more like it’s in a cloud than in snow. Whatever.
  • My little sign is the same size as the houses. But it’s cute so I don’t care.
  • Aren’t the trees great? They’re from the dollar spot at Target.

 

Awww, all lit up.

 

Wait, but that’s not all! The pièce de résistance is my autographed It’s a Wonderful Life poster.

Yes, that’s right! I said AUTOGRAPHED.

Thank you, 16-year-old self for being obsessed with Jimmy Stewart!

Next year, expect to see MORE GARLANDS and MORE TINY BUILDINGS! Wooooo!

Decorating the stairwell

When we were in Virginia, we spent a very very fun day at the King’s Dominion theme park. I told the boys they could get one souvenir each, and after passing a caricature artist, Oliver declared that’s what he wanted. So at the end of the day, just before we left, we stopped and Oliver sat for his portrait.

Well. After that, I couldn’t resist having the other two get their portraits as well. (And yeah, this meant I had to buy second souvenirs for all three.)

I finally got around to buying frames for the pictures and hanging them…(well, I say finally but let’s face it, it took me less than six months so it’s really quite fast for me.)

Hard to get pics in the stairwell, but here they are! Love them so much.