Adrienne's Nursery

One more "Before and After" before we move for you all :)  This has to be my favorite room in the house....but I'm a little biased.  Adri's room is by far the room that has gotten the most thought and planning.  I love her little nursery.  I have spent a lot of time in there.  Seriously.  There were some nights I was just waiting until she could sleep through the night.  Honestly though, there are some nights now that I want to go in and have a quick little cuddle with my girl.

From the moment we found out we were having a girl my mind was spinning with ideas for a nursery.  Seriously, that day we went and picked out paint colors.  I absolutely love the color pink, so I was in heaven.  Her nursery used to be our home office (pictured below).  I'm so embarrased that this was our office.  Seriously scary, right?  You'd think I would have snapped a shot of it clean at least.  Oh well, note to my 4 year younger self, right?

So we planned and planned and finally picked our colors.....Dazzleberry Pink and Cotton Candy Blue.  How could we not pick those colors for the name alone, right?

Here's the itty-bitty nursery with it emptied out:

And painted:

And with the new flooring (and proud daddy) all ready for some furniture:

I was so proud of the furniture finds in this room.  I Craigslisted for months, scouring the Twin Cities trying to find the perfect pieces for the nursery.  The rocker I got for $10.00 -- yes, $10.00.  It was barely used and the lady who sold it to me said her little boy was never into rocking.....crazy child! :)  I bought a little footstool off of Amazon for another $10.00.  I made the pillows with the left over fabric from the crib skirt and window valance.  Perfection.   And we have seriously gotten our use out of that rocking chair.

Then I found this dresser (it also has a mirror) and I knew it would make the perfect changing table (I was totally copying Young House Love for this).

I loved the idea of being able to use the changing table as a dresser in a few years.  Plus, the nursery is a really, really small room, and we didn't have space for both a changer and dresser.  I painted the base white, painted the drawer pulls and stained the top a lovely dark walnut.

 I also made drawer liners (out of wrapping paper and contact paper) and made it even more girly :)

I seriously love this dresser now.

/> And then came all the details for little Adrienne's room:

I am so sad to leave this room behind.  There was so much planning that went into it in anticipation of the best thing that has ever happened to us.  But I know our new house will hold many new memories and exciting moments.

Linking up to these parties :)

Oh Sectional!

So last week I told you about the perfect little sectional we found to go in our living room .....

Since falling in love with it, I've been looking at different sectionals and their coffee tables/ottomans.  Here are some that I love.....but I'm not sure what would look the best or be the most functional:


I love this ottoman (room designed by Candice Olsen), even though it's not a sectional around it, it's a pretty "square" room

I love this round coffee table with a nice square sectional...plus it looks like has drawers (courtesy of The Sweet Life Studio).

Here's another one that is kind of  interesting....two small square tables side by side...hmmmm (via bassett furniture)

Maybe an ottoman with some storage inside?? (from decorpad)

Here's a more modern round coffee table (west elm)

And here is my favorite idea (just different fabric on top and make it square).  I love that it's functional with storage under neath and comfy on top with a cushion and fabric:

What do you think???

 

Sectioned Out

One of the things we'd like to do in our house is get rid of our GINORMOUS oversized furniture in the living room.  Although it's a super comfy set, it's just taking up WAY too much space for the amount of seating it offers.  Plus my feet don't touch the ground when I sit on it -- which isn't really comfy. :)

  If anyone has craigslist selling tips for us -- do tell!!

 Over the past weekend we decided to go furniture shopping.  Normally we do the same old Hom Furniture, Ashley Furniture walk-through (which we did this time too).  But everything looked the same and so BLAH!  Then we stopped in at Schniederman's Furniture, a Minnesota family owned furniture store with 5 stores in our area.  I've found the furniture store I'll shop at for the rest of my life!  They have gorgeous pieces!  Anyhow, we had gone to look for furniture for a different spot in the house and came across this (except we'd like some green pillows to have with it):

Mirage Chocolate Sectional by Fusion

It looks even better in person -- but OH MY!  I LOVE this!  And it's comfortable too!  Could a couch be any better than that?  And we found a bright fun chair to go with our new found love:

Lane Furniture Julia High Leg Recliner

The one we like comes in a slightly different pattern (Kevin even picked out a floral pattern!), but it's the same chair.....which is also a recliner!  These pieces actually allow the same (maybe even more) seating in our living room and they're much smaller so I can put other furniture pieces in the room too!  WIN-WIN!

What do you think?  Personally, I'm a fan of white couches -- but let's just say in our house it would not be a wise decision.  :)

 

"Built-In" Shelves

I'm linking this up to Sandra's Buildher's Party today: (you should join in the fun too!!)

On Monday you all got to see my "new" bathroom (thank you all for your beyond-sweet comments -- I love reading them!!).

And as I promised, today I'm going to show you how I did my built in shelves and bench.  

I initially was just going to do some shelves, but then I decided a bench might be kind of cool, too.  And I don't know about you, but I am constantly seeking out new storage solutions and trying to find the best and most organized ways to store all the things we keep around the house.  That's why I knew I wanted to add storage underneath the bench too.  At first I thought a place for baskets would be the best solution but I've been getting a little to "baskety" lately with my decor, so I opted for a hinged bench seat -- which, as it turns out, I L-O-V-E.

So here we are at the pre-shelf stage.  You'll notice that I had already removed the trim that was in my little shelf "nook." 

I then measured my space:  

The width of the area was the length I needed to cut the boards I used for the top of the shelves. 

The depth of the shelves is entirely up to you.  I used a 1x12 board, so my shelves are a foot deep.  

Knowing that my shelves will be 12" deep, I cut a 1x2 board to be 12", which will be the shelf "brace."  

Above you can see my "braces" that I used for the shelves.  The walls are primed at this point....and because I wanted to save some time, I splurged for primed MDF for my braces -- just makes life easier. :)  You'll want to make sure each board is level with it's "partner" as well.  I used my the hubby's trusty air nailer and nailed them to the walls:

Next it was time to add my shelf tops.  I'm going to warn you; our "nook" is not completely square, so the back is slighly narrower than the front of the area, so you will see there are gaps -- don't worry, we'll get them all filled in. :)

Can you see those gaps on the sides I was talking about?  Annoying -- but it's any easy fix, and I'll guess that most houses have some area that isn't completely "square" -- so it's good to know these tricks.  I nailed the tops to the braces as well.

Next step is to add my 3" trim.  I chose 3" trim because I needed to make sure that the trim covered the braces AND the top of the board.  So, if my board is 1" (actually it's 3/4") and I used a 2" brace, I was going to need a 3" piece of trim or bigger.

I attached the trim with my air nailer as well -- can you see the nail holes to prove it?  Now it's time to paint!  I taped off my shelf area at the end of my shelves -- I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do a "built in" look, so you decide where you want the white to start and end.

Here's what the underneath of your shelves should look like:

 Alright, now it's time to fill in those gaps!  I used some silicone caulk in bright white that we had around the house.  Then I put my dad-taught caulking skills to work.  Although my dad's the pro at this, I think I did a pretty good job.  I ran a bead of caulk along the gap and then took a damp paper towel and lightly wiped away the excess.  I ran the paper towel across a few times in order to get all the extra caulk out and make sure my seal was smooth.  I think it's better to go over it a few times than to gouge out a bunch of caulk and have to start over. I did this to all my shelves so they look like this:

Much better, right?!?  Now that the shelves are done, here's the low down on that upholstered bench.  For my bench I used 1x3" boards for the "legs", or supports for the seat.  I decided to make my bench  26" high, so I cut eight 26" long pieces.  And as you can see in the picture below, I placed the boards in an "L" shaped in the corners so that they hold up the seat of the bench.  I used the nailer to attach these to the walls and to each other on the front.  I also laid a piece of 1x3" board across the bottom so that I had a place to attach my hinges. (Sorry no pictures of that!!)

I then cut a 1" thick piece of plywood to fit on the top.  You want it to rest on all the posts, so measure carefully.  I attached 2" foam to the top and then I covered it with my fabric.  I found my foam and fabric at a fabric overstock outlet -- which is totally the way to go if you have one near you.  

Then I used just basic hinges and attached the bottom of the board for the seat to the top of the 1x3" board I laid across the top.

I glued a white-painted piece of plywood behind the two boards on the front to make the "face" of my bench.  You can also see above that I cut the original trim and butted it up to the bench I made.

So the tools and materials you will need for this project are as follows:

Air Nailer and 1 1/2" nails
White Silicone Caulk
Miter Saw
Upholstry Stapler
Tape Measure

1 x 2" board for shelf braces
1 x 12" board for shelf tops
1 x 3" board for "legs" of bench and back hing support
Plywood for bench top and bench face

3" Decorative Trim
Hinges
Fabric
Foam for bench
Paint and Primer

For a cost breakdown, go here.

Linking up to:

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