Home Decor - 2/32 - The Idea Room

Boy’s Room Reveal

We finally got around to re-doing my oldest son’s bedroom and adding some fun boys room decor. He and his younger brother have shared a room since the time the younger one was 18 months old. My second and third children are 19 months apart in age, so my son was forced out of the crib and into his brother’s room.

As they got older, and bigger we decided to turn the guest bedroom into our oldest son’s room. It didn’t make a lot of sense to keep a room empty for guests when our two boy’s were crammed in one room on top of one another. So we just moved him over into that room but had essentially left it the same…with yellow walls and a flowered bedspread.

He has been in the room for over a year and a half now. And I will tell you what…this kid is not a little boy anymore. He has grown over 9 inches in the last year or so, taller than my height of 5 foot 9 inches and quickly gaining on my husband’s 6 foot 4 inches.

He will be turning 15 here very soon and I think I am having a bit of a “mom meltdown”! Where has the time gone? In three very short years he could be out of the house and serving a mission for our church or off to college. THREE years!?! I have only THREE summers left with this kid before things change. Three years goes by so fast!

So, I made it a priority to get his room finished so that he could actually enjoy it while he is still around…sniff, sniff!

We put the other furniture in storage (the headboard and dresser which were ones that my parents had bought for me when I was a teenager) and made a headboard out of some old pallet wood. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some pictures of this process. I will share a full tutorial for how we made it here shortly. Best part…the headboard cost us NOTHING but a little elbow grease! You can’t beat that!

We picked up some shelves at Lowes and some décor at Hobby Lobby to add some color to his room. My son’s favorite color was orange. He wanted orange walls…I did not. Orange is my least favorite color. So we made a compromise…I got my gray walls and we found him this fun orange bedspread at Target. It is still there right now if you are interested. And…I actually really love the bedspread…and so does he!

We picked up these awesome gray lockers at the NPS store in Salt Lake City (a salvage and freight recovery company that sells used industrial and office items at a great price). We picked these babies up for $25. They had a dent on the side, but it popped right back out with a good hit with a mallet. There were a bit difficult to maneuver into our basement and through a freakishly weird hallway. We barely got them in with a fraction of an 1/8 inch to spare.

This kid loves maps and geography so I knew I wanted to work that element into the room somehow. I found a map on Amazon for $1 (with a $3 shipping fee haha), but it was perfect.

We bought it and then put it onto some of our left over pallet wood from the headboard. For the Wood Pallet Map Tutorial click here: Wood Pallet Map Tutorial

I am so happy with how it turned out. I was inspired by a picture I found on the internet and will share that with you when I share the tutorial. It is one of my favorite parts about his new room.

This kid LOVES to be around the water. He is on the High School swim team and just this past week started playing Water Polo with the High School team. He is still in Jr. High here but is a freshman (Jr. High is 7th through 9th grade) and is allowed to play on the High School teams. It keeps us busy, but we are enjoying watching him become a man-child ;)!

We didn’t want to buy him a new dresser since most of his clothes are stored in his closet. But we found a great deal on a tool chest drawer set over Christmas at Sears and are using that as a dresser. I figure he will be able to take it with him when he moves out. He is pretty handy and helps quite a bit on the projects we do around the house.

I am so happy this is finally finished. And, now that his room is finished, we have moved on to repainting and refreshing my younger son’s room to make it his own. And at 12, it might be time to get rid of those Mickey Mouse sheets…!

February 19, 2013 · Filed under: Boys, Home Decor, Home Remodeling, Kids Tagged with boy room ideas, boys headboards, boys rooms, orange rooms, teenager, teenager room ideas

Christmas Vintage DIY Crate

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This month, as part of the Lowe’s Creative Blogger team, we were given the challenge to create some Holiday décor items. I always enjoy these challenges because it gives me an opportunity to finally get some of these projects that are constantly swirling around my head, out of my head and in my home.

And I am especially excited about this project…a vintage DIY crate! I have actually spent some time looking around for some of these crates but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted and so I had toyed with the idea of making my own. But wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

So with this month’s #LowesCreator challenge, I decided that this would be the perfect time to try my hand at making a “vintage” crate.

I picked up some tounge and groove pine boards at Lowe’s and cut off the “tounges” and “grooves” by simply running the boards through our saw. I picked these boards because they are really thin and inexpensive.

For the front and back of the crate, I cut 6 of these boards so that I had:

6 boards that measured 3.5 inches by 24 inches.

They are 1/4 inch thick.

Then I made 6 more boards that measured 3.5 inches by 7.5 inches for the sides of the crate.

Then I cut a piece of a pine board 7 x 24 inches. This is the bottom of the crate.

Then to make the corner supports of the box, I cut 4—7 inch pieces a of 1.5 x 1.5 board.

What…You don’t work in your pajamas? :) My little girl takes pretty good pictures…don’t you think?

Then you will need to nail your crate together. I didn’t use any wood glue on this project, but you can if you want.

I started with the bottom and one of the front pieces and nailed them together. Then I nailed on the back piece to the bottom.

Then you can nail on both sides. Be careful to hold your box exactly where you want it so that it maintains a nice rectangular shape.

Then I nailed the corner supports in and finished nailing the other two front planks to the corner supports. I chose to leave a tiny space in between each plank to give it a more vintage feel.

After the front is nailed, I added the side planks so that I could match them up with the front. When nailing these on, be sure to keep your corner pieces straight. This is very important to the overall finish of your vintage crate.

Then finally, you will nail the back planks on. This crate is made so that the sides of the crate planks actually show on the front and the back of the crate. I thought this would help with the overall vintage look. Now your crate is done! Yay!!

To add a label I simply printed out this old vintage stamp that I found in the online Silhouette store. I transferred it over onto the wood with the old trick of drawing on the back of the design in pencil and then coloring over the top of it so that it ends up on the wood. Pretty high tech!

Then you simply need to draw the design with a black Sharpie.

Throw a layer of stain on your crate ( I used a walnut colored stain)…and you have a beautiful vintage DIY crate!

I was surprised at how easy this crate was to build. And was really happy with the overall results. I love being able to make something JUST the way I want.

I added some pine branches and a berry garland to glam it up and threw in a couple of candles. As always be super careful when using candles. And…since I took these pictures, I actually threw a string of white battery powered Christmas lights to give it some more holiday sparkle.

When the holidays are over, I can replace what is in the crate so it can be in my home all year long.

Be sure to check out Lowes Creative Ideas and sign up for their free newsletter which is full of creative goodness.

*I was given a Lowe’s gift card for the supplies to make this crate. However all opinions and statements are mine.

November 27, 2012 · Filed under: Christmas Decor, DIY Tutorials, Home Decor, Lowes Creative Blogger Tagged with build a wood box, build a wood crate, Christmas decor, DIY christmas decor, DIY crate, DIY wood box, make a crate vintage, vintage crate, wood box

Monogrammed Table Runner

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Last week I shared with you the simple Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece that I recently made for our Thanksgiving Feast. I also shared how to Build Your Own Box for the centerpiece. Did I mention that Thanksgiving is at my house for the FIRST time with our entire family?!! I have the centerpiece covered now but it needed a little something extra, so I decided to make a simple Monogrammed DIY Table Runner.

I have ALWAYS wanted a table runner and FINALLY had the perfect excuse to make one. It could not be easier. If you can sew a straight line, this project is for you!

I bought 2 yards of burlap, but any heavier fabric like linen or muslin will work too. Then measured and cut two pieces…14 in x 88 inches.

My table (which actually has not been built yet…long story…more on that later) is going to measure 60 inches square. I wanted the runner to hang over the edge of the table, 14 inches, on each end. So that meant that I needed a total length of 88 inches (60 inches for the table + 14 inches +14 inches = 88 inches).

Since everyone has different sized tables, you will need to figure out what length and width you would like your runner to be and plan accordingly. You can also make a table runner that just lays on the table and doesn’t hang over the edge like I show in some of the final pictures.

Then I took the two pieces and pinned them together with the wrong side of the material facing each other. Then sew some black (or another color) bias tape around the entire table runner. Now some people freak out about sewing on bias tape.

*Here is a little trick that I do that makes it a LOT easier to work with. I don’t actually pin mine on. I sew slowly and put it in the correct place and sew it on as I go. It makes it so much easier for me and it doesn’t pucker. Also, make sure to put the side of the bias tape that is slightly wider on the bottom so you are sure to catch it with the thread.

Then I made a simple stencil with my Silhouette Cameo and some vinyl. I cut out two of them to stencil a monogram on each end of the table runner.

This is another project that you could whip up in an hour or during naptime pretty easily. Now…here is where I fess up to a little secret…I actually have NOT finished this table runner completely. Gasp!

My sewing machine suddenly just quit working MID Project!! Gah! So I have to get it fixed or run up to my mom’s and finish it before Thanksgiving. BUT—I wanted you to be able to make one if you wanted too and give you enough time to get it done before the big holiday rush. So don’t look TOO closely ;)!! You can see the pins in a couple of places which I just put in there to hold the bias tape on for pictures! #keepingitrealpeople

But even halfway finished, I am really excited about how it turned out! I love how simple it is but it adds a little extra “umph” to your Holiday setting!

Oh…and as I alluded to above, we currently do not have a kitchen table that fits our entire family. We have a square table that seats 6 and now that the baby is no longer a baby in a high chair (she’s 5!!) we have to pull out an extra chair to fit us all around. My boys are both now full sized adults and we are running out of room (and food)!

We have searched high and low for a table that would fit our odd space and our family. What we have found is way out of our budget…so…we are going to build one. I KNOW!! Think we can do it before Thanksgiving? We will see. Life gets crazy so we are going to have to play this one by ear and see how it goes…!

Linking up here: Not Just a Housewife