Affordable DIY Nursery Wall Decor

When I was looking for nursery inspiration my favorite place to look was Project Nursery.  The gallery has 100s of real nurseries. There were so many neat ideas.  Here are a few I thought would be really neat for an infant or toddler room (click on the picture to view more pictures):

Number Wall Art - what a great DIY idea!  So cute and easy,  Buy letters and spray paint... how hard can that be.

Vintage Frame Wall Gallery - Another super easy DIY project.  Collect old frames from your home, thrift stores, rummage sales, etc. and spray paint. I love this look and am working on putting a vintage frame gallery in our room

A bookshelf wall - This is a great way to add color to any room plus you get to display those great kids books.

Awesome storage for all those baby goodies.  I love being organized! Such a great idea to help organize plus make a room look super cute and colorful.

Fabric Collage - What an easy, cheap, and simple project, especially if you already have a ton of fabric scraps at home.  If not, get embroidery hoops and fabric scraps from your local fabric store and hang... sounds pretty simple. :) 

Art/Picture gallery - Another great way to add color to a room.  This could be cheap or expensive depending on your prints.  If you are an artist you could easily create your own art and purchase frames at a variety of different stores.  If not, there are great ideas at Etsy and Piecemaker Studio.

Pompoms - Who would have thought party decorations could be used as room decor.  I love this idea.  Etsy has a ton of colors and sizes or if you feel really creative you could create your own.

These are just a few of the great ideas out there.  Not everything cost a ton of money just sometimes it takes a little creativity. 

Future DIY Projects

I love scouring Pinterest and the Internet for my next project. Here are a few ideas I can't wait to take on (to go to the website click on the picture):

White wash our fireplace: 

A little homemade art for our master bathroom (our very small master bathroom):

Create a gallery wall:

Install a kitchen back splash:

Make a tufted headboard:

I can't wait to get started and show you what I come up with.

To go to the website click on the picture.

Our Football Weekend:

My family weekends consist of mostly football.  Sadly we plan our weekends around it.  Friday nights we usually walk over to the football fields next to us and watch "Friday Night Lights".  Saturdays, Chris and I play in a Coed Football League...we absolutely love it.  Plus we get to see our wonderful friends (which seems rare these days).  Saturdays also consist of lots of college football.  Sundays, the Vikes play...this is a very stressful day since the Vikes often get our hopes up then they come crashing down.  Chris spends lots of time yelling at the TV :) and I spend lots of time shushing him and rolling my eyes. When the Vikes aren't on Chris usually spends his time flipping through the other games to track his fantasy players....this usually ends with more yelling...haha.

I grew up in a football home since my father has coached football for 27 years.  Our life was often put on hold because football was such a big part of his life.  It was on our TV 24/7...literally.  My father would watch game tapes over and over again.  At times it was pretty brutal especially for a girl.  It was almost an obsession for him.  I hated it! And this obsession isn't just my fathers he has my mother brainwashed too...haha.  You walk into our house when my father isn't home and there will be a football game on.   It's not just his life but it has become hers.  She's his biggest fan and supporter.

It's funny how things work out.  Now that I have my own family I look forward to our football weekends.  Of course it's not quite the obsession as my fathers but it's something I am now proud of. I love my father's passion for the game and see the same in my husband.  That's maybe why I adore my husband so much. Now here we are already passing it on to our little guy....

Hopefully one day we will be lucky enough to see him play football and maybe his daddy can even coach. :)

Painting stripes on curtains

After posting Bram's nursery pictures I decided I wanted to do something with the curtains. I've seen so many pictures on Pinterest of people stenciling or painting stripes on curtains...I figured I could do that. Plus I knew Chris wouldn't approve of me buying new ones so I decided I would try my hand at painting stripes.

I decided on stripes over stenciling because I wanted to copy Bram's sheets.  Here's a close up of the sheets (Bram at 20 weeks old):

Blue Steel

What I used:

4 inch roller

2 White Window panels from target

1 ½ inch blue painters tape

Paint samples from Lowes

Pencil
Garbage bags (since I didn't have any plastic sheeting) to catch the paint if it went thru the fabric

The paint colors I chose:

To begin I took the blue painters tape and marked the first line right above the hem. I did this for both the top and bottom, then measured with my yard stick 2 inches and made 4 or 5 very small marks along the fabric. I then took the yard stick and placed it on the small marks so I could place my next line. Since I am a perfectionist the yard stick helped make it easier and faster to create a straight line. Make sure there are no bumps or folds in your fabric. Once I got my second stripe down I measured 4 inches to make my next line, then 2 inches to make the last line.

Time to paint :)

I used more paint then I was expecting. I actually finished and even scraped the bottom of my paint can. The fabric really absorbed the paint. Make sure you put it on evenly and if your paint color is dark you may need to apply 2 coats. I painted the green lines first and then let it dry before applying the blue paint. 

Once all paint was dry I removed the tape and Viola...:)

I was pleasantly surprised!!

Ohhhh and this is what I woke up to this morning... I think he likes the curtains too.  :)

Learning to Capture my Family

One of my favorite hobbies is photography.  I love taking and editing pictures.  I have a lot to learn yet but it's something I really enjoy and want badly to be good at it.  


Here is my favorite model...:)

 

My little guy is actually pretty sick in these photos....if you look close you can see all the snot crusted on his face :). 

If anyone knows of some great photography tips or websites please let me know.  I am always looking to learn and improve.

Loving me some Etsy

I discovered Etsy three years ago when I was planning my wedding. I had no idea there was such an amazing site for people to sell and buy items besides Ebay. I became addicted to looking at people's shops for inspiration and for buying fun products; especially the handmade ones. Here are some of the items I purchased for my little man's room.  To go to their shop click on the picture.

Vintage Blue by Sophia

All We Need is Origami

.

Wandering Starfish

Gumball Grenade

Please check out their amazing shops!!

Lattice wall with NO stencil.

My husband happened to be traveling the week I decided to take on my first big DIY project...well big for me. I asked my friend, Michelle for help. I don't think she knew what she got herself into. I am a perfectionist and hate screwing up. Sometimes I would rather not do a project if I can't do it perfectly. Why risk it looking ugly, right??

So the 2 day project began. The tools we used were a blue chalk reel, ruler, pencil, 2 inch blue painters tape, ladder and paint. How hard could this be? We started by creating a huge X in the center of the wall, going from one side to the next. I was on the ladder and she was below; so I measured and marked the high spots while she measured and marked the low spots. Once we had our mark we would take the chalk line and each hold our end on the marks, then snapped the chalk line. In the beginning we were not good with the snapping. Many times we weren't even close to our marks so we had to snap again, sometimes re-doing it 3 or 4 times. I think Michelle thought I was a nut job but she's an awesome girl with a ton of patience so she stuck with me. Once the mark was correct we would follow the blue chalk line with the painters tape.  Next we measured 12 inches (the inspiration room measured 16 inches apart) from the previous tape edge to make the next line and so on and so on.

Our first day ending point (ignore the heaping pile of junk below it):

I wish I would have gotten a picture of how messy we were.  We were covered in blue chalk. 

The second day went a lot smoother and faster:

Here is the end product after I painted the room with 2 coats. I am definitely proud of this project. I thinks it's really unique and adds so much to the room.

My First Proud DIY Moment

One of my first projects we worked on in our house and probably one of my most proud moments is getting Bram's room ready. I searched long and hard for a room that inspired me. I love finding an inspirational room to get some amazing ideas from. My inspiration room came from: 

Isn't it darling!!

 

I saw the lattice design and was instantly inspired, plus I knew I only wanted a color theme.  The whole room was so amazing, I set out to copy it and add a few details of my own. Here is what I came up with:

I am proud of it.  Of course it's not exactly like the inspiration room and I still would love a few more things but I am pretty happy with the results. 

I will add more details tomorrow.

Meet....

My little man Bram. 

We think he's pretty cute :)

And then there's this guy...Percy.

Yup, he's smiling.  Pretty cute, huh!!

And finally the Mr. and Mrs.

One of our honeymoon pictures (2 years ago and 20lbs lighter:) ).

Until next time...

My first blog post....

I am beginning this blog because I am a new stay at home mom who has too many thoughts and projects that I can't even begin to write out. I love DIY projects however I am FAR from crafty or creative. I am here today to show you my trial and error attempts at DIY, Pinterest Projects and recreating recipes and to keep my family and friends updated with our lives. I am a perfectionist which to me is a huge downfall when attempting DIY because nothing is ever quite up to par for me. This blog is truly for those people who don't think they have a creative bone in their body. Hopefully you enjoy, possibly even laugh at my quirkiness, and fall in love with my little family.

A little more about me: I am also an in-home daycare provider to 2 other amazing children. They make Bram and my day so special. Watching each of them grow each day and interact is such a blessing. I think it is really important for children to grow up around other children. They learn from each other and become more independent.

Secondly, I am a consultant for Rodan + Field's skincare line. It is an amazing skincare line created by the creators of Proactiv. I have been a big user of Proactiv for about five years. However it often left my face very dry and so when I was introduced to this product I was instantly hooked. When I tell you I saw results right away, I truly DID!! It is remarkable. I am proud to represent a company I  believe in. Please view my page if anyone is interested in purchasing any of the products or becoming a consultant: https://lmairs.myrandf.com/

Lastly I am a wife and mother. My true passions for life. I have been so blessed with such a kind and wonderful husband and the cutest little son and dog ever. :). I spend most of my days when I am not working just enjoying my time with them.

Enjoy!