Watermelon Pink!

It's been awhile since I've blogged about the redo of my daughter's room. Mostly because it's been awhile since I've actually done anything! Finding the time is hard around here and I was waiting for two major items. One was a new bed and the other was a dresser and night stand.

The bed we purchased this weekend. The dresser and night stand had been in our shed for the past while waiting for me to do a makeover on them.

This dresser set is one that my parents owned before I was born. I won't tell you how old that was but let's just say that Elvis was still the King! It had a dark brown stain on it and brass hardware. I took the set with me when I moved out on my own and about 11 years ago I sanded them down to their natural wood and they remained that way until yesterday.

Now, when I sanded them and varnished them the first time I swore I would never redo a piece of furniture again! It sucked. Really. I do not have the patience for all the sanding. BUT, I knew that this time would be different. For starters, I was going for a shabby chic sort of style so making mistakes is a bonus. I wanted it scuffed and worn looking. Since they'd already been sanded to their natural wood I didn't have to do much sanding at all.

I got really lazy with the paint. Now I may be a painter but I can't stand painting furniture! Again, no patience and no time! So I bought spray paint. Really! Krylon spray paint. Two colors, watermelon and ivory. The only pink and off white that Canadian Tire carried! Grand total of about $16!

I started out by doing a pretty shoddy job of spraying everything in the ivory color. It took about 10 minutes to dry then I sanded around the edges and areas I wanted to have the natural wood showing through. Then I sprayed it all in the watermelon. When that was dry I again did some sanding to let some of the ivory and natural wood show through. The entire project took about an hour and I am SO happy with how they turned out!

I've ordered these knobs (what a steal they were!) and can't wait for them to arrive!

At this point her room is about 90% finished and I can't wait to show it off! Stay tuned!

Before:


After:

Paint and Pom Poms

It was hard, but I was able to do it! I waited the 72 hours for the wall paper to dry fully before I broke out the paint!

Let me start by saying that now that the painting is done in my daughter's room I am even MORE happy with that textured, paintable wall paper! I thought it would soak up the paint and I'd have to do a whole bunch of coats to get in all the little grooves but boy, was I wrong! ONE coat of paint! That's it! I had to do two on all the other walls, but the paint went on that wall paper so nicely.

The colour I chose was Behr's River's Edge and I love it!



Painting done it's now on to the good stuff! I have lots to do and it will most likely get done slowly as I'm still hunting for some items but I started with the pom poms! I bought these months ago from Pom Love on Etsy and I've been dying to get them up!





They weren't difficult at all to open up , although I could use a bit more patience as I tore a couple of pieces here in there in my haste! I am very happy with how they look and more importantly - so is my daughter! She calls them her flowers! My only regret is that I wish I would have bought a white one and one less light aqua one as it's so close to the wall colour, but when I bought the poms I didn't know what paint colour I was doing!

Speaking of flowers - I found these the other day and knew they'd be perfect! You'll never guess where I found them! The Safeway floral department! I was in the produce section picking out a green pepper and glanced over. They were $5! Can't go wrong there and I think they look great!



Lots more to come. I'm not going to show you the WHOLE room yet! I hung up her new curtains but I think they're a little bit brighter than I wanted so I need to wash them a few times to fade them!

Can't wait to show you all the letters I will be doing for her!

Time for a change!

People say to me all the time, "your kids must have the most fantastic rooms!" It's obvious why one would think such a thing but the reality brings back the old saying, "the cobbler's kids have no shoes."

Although I have spent time on their rooms and they both have wall letters spelling their names and a few other various items I've painted I've never really taken the time to really plan them and make them magazine worthy! Time is ALWAYS an issue for me!

My son who is the oldest did get a new "big boy" room when his little sister came along but it still needs a few finishing pieces that I just never get around to. But, for the most part, his room is pretty awesome and he does like to show it off.

Now, my poor daughter. That is what sparked this blog post! Her room was never made for her. It was my old office turned nursery. Before kids when I was still starting out in my mural business I painted a Finding Nemo mural on the wall in my office. When I got pregnant for the first time we didn't find out what we were having so we left the mural and turned the room into a nursery with gender-neutral colouring to match the Nemo theme.

My kids are only 19 months apart so my son wasn't long in the Nemo room before it was time for him to move. Again, we didn't find out what we were having and kept the fish for baby number two!

Well, my daughter is now 2 1/2 and it's time for a change! Nemo and his friends have got to go and we need to change this space into something a little more girlie, a little more "Devyn!" The letters I painted for her, although nice, were painted solely to match the colors in the room. Her growth chart I did because I needed a girl theme growth chart for a trade show! I did have a bow holder for her room but, bad mommy, I sold it to save myself time saying I would make her a new one soon.

So, I'm going to start from scratch! Get rid of the mural. Repaint. Begin with a blank canvas and document it here to share with you! (You'll all help hold me accountable for finishing!)

Here's a peak at the Before (right now) pictures:








I know what you're thinking! What kid wouldn't LOVE this room, right? And she does like it. But, It's been the same way for 6 years and I really do want to make a room just for her.

To give you a little sneak peak into the direction I'm headed, I bought these beautiful water colour prints from This Little Piggy Prints on Etsy and they are what we're starting with. The rest of the room will come together based on these.


Can't wait to get started!