Tag: diy

Creating A Colorful Playroom

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When you have a little one that starts to roll and become mobile, the small activity mat that you’ve used for the past few months suddenly becomes ridiculously small! A larger play space is a must. Living in a cape-cod-style house, we don’t have very many open spaces for Wyatt to move around and play in. Luckily, we had a guest room that wasn’t getting much use so we decided that converting the room into a playroom would be a much better use of that space. It took me a bit to agree to give up our guest space, but it would be another room for me to decorate — yay!
 
Unlike Wyatt’s neutral Woodland Nursery, I wanted this space to be colorful and fun. I first started looking for a play mat with the colors and look I wanted for the room. I found this adorable reversible foam mat on Amazon (I purchased the large size). The quality is amazing and it is very easy to clean. One side is filled with colorful animals and letters, and the other has a pattern on it similar to a trendy rug. Both sides of the mat look amazing in the space — it’s fun AND classy, all in one!

For the windows, I wanted a sheer, neutral curtain. I added these sheer white and beige curtains from Ikea. They have a simple pattern on them that matched our neutral walls, and they set the stage for all of the other colorful items.

Storage

For all things kid stuff, I purchased the white FLYSTA cube shelf from Ikea. For the bottom row toy storage, I found these neutral cube storage bins. To match, this cloth basket was a great find for all of Wyatt’s stuffed animals.

Art

I’m a big fan of finding digital wall art through Etsy so that I can customize the size and frame, or hang them how I’d like. I chose this adorable set of wall art because it matched the colors and style of the play mat. The digital download includes art for the days of the week, shapes, the alphabet, numbers, weather, and the continents. I printed two larger poster prints (20×30 inches) for over the cube shelf and two smaller poster prints (16×20 inches) for a smaller wall space near the door.

My original plan was to purchase magnetic poster frames for each print, just as I did for the woodland print in Wyatt’s nursery. However, I could not find the exact stain/color that would match the darker handles of the cloth basket and cube shelf bins. Yes, I’m a perfectionist! So, I decided I would make my own.

I found small wood trim that I cut into 20 inch and 16 inch pieces (the lengths of each poster size). Four pieces were needed for each poster, so I cut eight of the 20 inch and eight of the 16 inch. I found a wood stain (Honey Classic Wood Stain by Varathane) from Home Depot that matched the handles of the basket and cube bins, and I stained the wood and some twine for hanging. Once the wood was dry, I used craft glue to adhere two pieces to the front of the posters. I glued the bottom-back piece on and used a clamp to make sure the front and back were secure. The top-back piece looked a little different; I cut small grooves on the inside, about 2 inches from the edge, so that the twine could fit nicely between the wood and back of the poster. After letting everything dry in the clamps, they were ready to hang!

Ruler Growth Chart

To fill some empty wall space, I created this DIY “ruler.” When I saw this idea online, I thought it would be a fun and usable piece of art to track Wyatt’s height over the years. It was such an easy DIY and I loved that I would be able to customize it to coordinate with the rest of the play room.
 
I bought an 8 inch x 6 foot board that I stained with the same shade (Honey) that I used for the poster frames. After the stain dried, I used these ruler stencils to paint on the numbers and hash marks with a shade of white acrylic paint. It’s such a fun addition to the wall art in this space!

Teepee

Of course, no playroom is complete without a teepee! To personalize it for Wyatt, I bought a blank wood sign from Hobby Lobby, stained it with the Honey stain, and used my trusty Cricut to create Wyatt’s name with white vinyl.

I also wanted to add some accessories to the teepee to add some color and to coordinate it with the rest of the room. For inside the teepee, I placed a white fuzzy blanket for comfort. I also added four throw pillows with pillow covers from Ikea that matched the colors of the animals and letters on the mat perfectly (gold, teal, polka dot, rust).

I also made a cute felt ball garland for the front of the teepee. I found an awesome Etsy shop that sells custom felt balls in almost any color! I ordered 100 felt balls in the colors terracotta, mustard, mint, and almond. Using a thick needle, I threaded string through the felt balls to create a 10 foot garland.

Ta-Da!

The finished teepee looks so comfortable and cozy, our pups seem to think so too! This space has been such a bonus as Wyatt has learned to crawl and sit up on his own. The bright, coordinating colors are so fun, and it’s a space that he can grow into as he gets older!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you found some inspiration!

DIY Stocking Tags

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As a child, one of my Christmas morning memories was seeing our stockings overflow with several tiny, wrapped gifts. My family’s red and white striped stockings had our names embroidered on them, and each year my brother and I would excitedly take them out of the Christmas decor box and hang each of them in their own special place. On Christmas morning, we ran toward our stockings of goodies first before opening our other gifts. 

Now that I have my own home and Christmas decor to deck the halls, I’ve discovered I love to add details to stockings to incorporate them into my decor themes and to personalize them for each member of the family like I had as a child. Yes, even the dogs get their own stockings! These simple red and white stockings that I purchased from Hobby Lobby would fit perfectly with a variety of Christmas decor styles, and are simple enough to go with any personalization you choose.

While searching for inspiration for my own personalized stocking tags, I had seen several varieties of wooden name tags with the names written in beautiful calligraphy. Although I loved the look of those, I am not a calligrapher by any means and I wanted to create something with a similar wooden look myself.

Instead, on one of my many Hobby Lobby runs I stumbled upon and purchased these little wooden letters for $1.49. Unfortunately, the specific ones I used have been discontinued, but here are similar wooden letters for the same price.

To add some Christmas flair and dimension to the stocking tags, I found tiny Christmas floral stems with berries and pinecones. I also picked out some neutral, rustic-looking ribbon to attach to the top of the letters so they can hang from the stocking hooks.

To achieve a darker wooden look, I used some of the wood stain we had from other DIY projects (Varathane Premium Fast Dry Wood Stain in Dark Walnut). To apply, I dipped a small section of a rag into the stain and spread the stain over the front of each letter. To give the letters a more rustic look, I intentionally used a lighter hand with the rag so that some of the areas are uneven and unstained. If you are looking to make a tag with a pop of color, acrylic paints would work great with these letters as well.

When the stain was dry, I used a glue gun to attach the floral to the top of each letter. Since the floral stems have wire in them, they are easy to bend over the top of the letters and maneuver the stem down the back. It’s okay that the back looks unfinished and messy, the tags lay nicely against the stocking so only the front is seen.

Lastly, I added a small loop of ribbon to the top so that the completed letters could hang near the top of each stocking. 

Now, each person and pup in the family has their own personalized stocking. These were so affordable and easy to make that it will be quick to add a fifth one for our Baby Boy next Christmas. I love how easy, functional, and cute these are!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy decking your own halls and stockings for the Holidays!

DIY Entryway Bench

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I have always strived to have nicely organized spaces in our home, and our entryway is no exception. Since we’ve been in our house, the space by the front door has been a hot spot for piles of shoes and guests’ belongings. Some of these things have even been “toys” for our puppy, Leo! To resolve that issue, I had been searching for a piece of furniture that could help organize shoes, and to be a place for guests to set their belongings. Anytime I’d shop, I always kept my eye open for a bench or storage cabinet, but I didn’t see anything that I loved that could fit in our cozy entryway space. 

Then, while browsing Pinterest, I found pictures and plans for the perfect DIY wood bench! My husband is extremely handy with woodworking, so I was excited that we would be able to make that a project of ours. The best part is that the materials are super affordable! 

The plans for the bench came from Cara, from @neverskipbrunch. You can find her original blog post and detailed YouTube video with instructions for assembly here.

Keep reading to see how we finished our bench, and how we styled it in our home!

What You’ll Need

Assembly

My husband is the real handyman around here, so having me articulate the specific assembly instructions would be quite comical and unproductive. As I mentioned above, specific assembly instructions can be found at Never Skip Brunch Blog.

Finishing

Once all of the bench pieces were assembled, I sanded all sides to eliminate the rough edges and make the wood smooth for the paint. I used 120 grit sand paper with an orbital sander.

Next, it was time to paint! I used a standard paintbrush and applied two coats of paint. I used the shade Snowbound, a primer/paint from Valspar. I chose this paint color over a wood stain (used in the plans I found) because the wall decor in our entryway are all distressed beige-white colors.

After the paint dried, my favorite part was next – giving the bench a distressed/antique look! I distressed it by hand using 40 grit sandpaper so I could control the amount of paint that was sanded off.

Ta-dah!! She’s finished! I love how the distressed look turned out and how it fits perfectly in our entryway space.  Next up styling!

To fix the shoe pile, I purchased a pair of wicker baskets to place under the bench. Now, shoes are put away and can’t be destroyed by the pup! On top of the bench I added a 12×20 pillow and an 18×18 pillow with decorative neutral pillow covers. I plan to switch up the pillow cases to match the seasons and holidays. I can even envision a small Christmas tree beside the bench during Christmas! Our guests not only love the look of this newly styled space, but love the functionality of it while entering and leaving our home. 

Thanks for stopping by to read about our latest DIY project! Until next time, friends!