Kids Room Creations

New Projects!

2011-02-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day, my husband brought these home. The chair was one that I had been talking about earlier in the week, bugged that I didn't buy it, and he went out sneakily and found just the one I was talking about. He also found this great little vanity- so excited when I finally have time to work on them! Any ideas?

The New Guest Room...

2011-02-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

I spent a few days this last week redoing our guest room- nothing huge on changes, but I used new bedding, and made a great new headboard. I found the books at thrift stores, and glued them to a thin board. It took a bit to get them in the right placement, but it was maybe a few hours total of work. (The rest was waiting for the glue to dry.)

I found the original idea here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-book-headboard/

Another quick sign...

2011-01-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

I made this one for my Mom for Christmas. It is hanging in their cabin, right in the front room. Total cost: $3 for the board from Home Depot. (They even cut it to the right length for me.)

The quote is by President Thomas S. Monson, Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Here is the link to the talk that this is from, even if you are not religious, it is a great article.

(And just as a bit of a brag, my Mom painted that picture of the Wise Man in the background...that's some talent.) :)

Last Minute Holiday Shirt...

2010-12-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Today was "holiday shirt" day at school. I thought Michael would be good with just wearing a red or green shirt, but he wasn't. So, instead of rushing to the store to buy a shirt, I used one of the Savers purchases ($2) and painted it with regular craft acrylics. I only painted the basic outline of the snowman, and Michael did almost all of the rest. Pretty cute and easy.

Trash to Treasure...

2010-12-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

When I found this guy on the side of the road, my niece asked my son why I was picking it up. He simply said, "My mom likes garbage. She's an artist." I'd like to defend it by saying that I KNEW it wasn't garbage...at least not to me. :)

So here's what he looked like when I got him off the side of the road. Bird poop, dirt, basically gross. I could see the potential though, especially loving the eaten away parts of the mirror. I've been wanting to make something similar to these, and this was the perfect opportunity.

I started off with a good wash. This is not super fun for me, because of the location of our hose knob. See how creepy Indiana Jones-ish it is? Every time I turn it on, I think of that part where she has to stick her hand in that big hole full of bugs. Gross. :) ANYWAY, back to the redo...

I picked this fabric because of the muted-but-still-bold floral print, and I loved the gray background, even though I wouldn't be using much of the gray. I cut out each "bunch" of flowers, piecing them together on the back of the mirror.

Enter the Mod Podge...

I did one thick layer on the back of the mirror, laying the fabric on top and smoothing it flat.

And then one good thick layer on top of the fabric.

When I flipped it over, I got a little nervous...it looked gross.

Dispite the disappointing first glance, I kept on with the repairs. I used some wood filler for a few holes and cracks, and then used some great chair glue on the side pieces that were pulling apart a bit.

If you do much furniture repair, I'd highly recommend this glue for chairs. You can use the syringe to get it down into cracks and it really holds well. I used it for all of my dining room chairs that were really lose and wobbly, and they are nice and sturdy now.

Now comes in the paint. I got a little impatient on this part- trying to paint around the clamps. I wouldn't recommend it.

Here I took a little break on the mirror to refinish this hope chest my mom gave me. It was hers before my dad and she got married- close to 50 years old. :)

Now it matches my kitchen cabinets, and will sit by the entryway as a bench.

All nice and red (Cherry Cobbler by BEHR) I did a bit of sanding/distressing here, not too much, but enough to notice.

In comes the glaze. This isn't my usual glaze, but I ran out and this is what I had on hand. I mixed it so it was a light gray color.

Once everything was all finished. I still have a varnish coat to add, but overall it's finished. I love it. Not so trashy anymore, wouldn't you agree? :) Total cost for this project: $3.23 for the fabric. Everything else I had already. Always fun to do cheap projects!

*Notice this little bat flying in the tree in the last picture? Yeah, that's from Halloween- he's all tangled up there, so I think it'll be up there for a while. :)

Painting a Quote...

2010-12-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

I thought this might be a useful tutorial for some of you out there that are into the whole DIY thing. Maybe about 5 years ago, when I was deep into my painting business, I told my husband that I would paint a quote for him. It took until his birthday this year to get it done.

Here's how to get started. First of all, find a board. I bought this old cabinet door from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. (Check out if you have one in your area- they are great for misc. home things.) Also, think about your final product. I bought this one because I wanted it to look like it had a "frame." If I were doing something different, I might prefer a simple board without a border. (Apologies for the iPhone photos- I couldn't find my camera for the first few pictures.)

Paint it whatever base color you prefer. Because this will eventually end up in the "Man Cave," I wanted to it to be nice and manly. Black and cream were the colors I used. Also, this base doesn't have to be this high-gloss, it's just what I already had on hand. I was actually going to just use some craft paint left over, but thought this might "distress" a bit better.

Next, print out the quote that you want in whatever font you like. This gets a little tricky, but it's basically tracing with a paint brush. I use carbon paper and transfer an outline of the letters to the board. You can see that my letters aren't exactly like the font, but close enough to look unified. (And if you look closely, you'll notice a typo that I made- but I fixed it in the end.) :) This is just a regular craft acrylic, nothing fancy.

Now, once the nice board is all finished, take it out to the garage, grab your sand paper and go to town. I really thought that I was ruining this thing with how distressed it was getting, but I just kept going. I also used a hammer, wire brush, razor cutter, nail punch, and steel wool. Yep. Distressed. :)

This is how I presented it to him, thinking that it was great and perfect, but those little sandpaper lines over the text really bothered me, as did the difference in finish (some shiny parts, some flat)

So, I finished it off with one coat of water based satin finish poly. (Minwax Polycrylic is my favorite) This will also help it last years and years. (Maybe by then I'll find more time to make another one.) :)

Total price for this gift? A whopping $1 for the cabinet door.

My last two paid orders...

2010-11-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

Kids Room Creations is officially in retirement. :) I was able to finish and package 5 orders before we left for Thanksgiving break. So relieved to be finished with that part of my life. I love painting though, and have MANY projects in mind. Just not of the nursery letter sort. :)

The new Laundry Room...

2010-11-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the pictures of the laundry room redo. I just finally finished the last wall of painting after about a week long break.

BEFORE

AFTER

Glaze- Left side without, right side with...

This is my first jigsaw cut out all by myself. We hardly ever use this sink other than to hold dirty clothes, so I thought it would be more useful as a counter space.

The "rug" is actually two sections of carpet remnants from the house down the street. I used some Gorilla Tape and stuck it together. Now my toes aren't so cold when I'm folding...

I got this washboard on CL for $10- it's an authentic old one, and I thought it would be a fun decoration. The quote on there is by E.B. White. It says, "We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry." I'm trying to be positive about the awfulness of laundry. :) The washboard is to remind me that it could be worse. :)

Little picture frames that I got at Goodwill for 50¢ each. I still need some good pictures for them. Suggestions?

I also got this mirror at Goodwill for $5. It was in awful shape, but looks great now with new knobs and red paint.

Make your own rug!

2010-10-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

The house down the street was recarpeting their home...I kept seeing rolls of scraps left by the street, and I kept racking my brain for a reason to stop and collect them. I just couldn't think of anything that I could use a small (close to 1.5' width) section of carpet for...

Fast forward to the next afternoon, and it finally hits me- A RUG! My laundry room is pretty long and skinny, so I thought I would just tape them together. Luckily they were still there, and when I went to pick them up, I found that they were NICE carpet. Super high quality and a great color.

Anyway, here's what I did:

Find two rolls that are similar in width. Not sure why these were so nicely cut, but I only had to cut down the length of both sections of carpet.

Then I used Gorilla Tape (Super great and strong, a little pricey at $8/roll, but that's cheaper than a new rug!) Super easy, and I'm sure that somewhere out there someone is recarpeting their home and will have lots of scraps left!

See, this is a picture of the seam- unless you are looking right at it, you really can't tell that it is two pieces of carpet instead of one big remnant.

And there ya go! I actually taped down each corner of the rug, just because I was worried about the door catching on it. This is the "before" picture of my laundry room. I'm finished redoing it, and will post the photos soon. Think red and yellow. :)

Refinishing a Bookshelf...

2010-10-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I've learned a few tricks over the last few projects that I've worked on. One thing that I have realized, is that I really dislike stain. I LOVE the look, but the process of sanding down everything to bare wood (which is required for staining) is such a pain. I refinished our kitchen cabinets this summer, and it took FOREVER- but turned out amazing of course. (see it here on my other blog)

Anyway, this little bookshelf wasn't too bad, and I think it turned out great. It went from a little country shelf to a nice sleek city shelf. It matches well with the other little red accent tables I have around the dining and quiet room. (Someone asked me once why it is called the quiet room- I fed our last baby in there often, and would make the kids be quiet if they were in there with me so the baby wouldn't get distracted. So the name stuck when my son started referring to it as the quiet room- it's really a little sitting room I guess.)

On projects like this, it pays to have a couple of good quality control checkers. :)

Maia's been making all sorts of funny faces in pictures lately. Notice the bare wood ? That's really what the photo was focusing on. :)

I think Ruby is the happiest when she's nice and grubby from the garage. My kind of girl. :)

Nice dark stain (matches our kitchen cabinets) and red- perfect for her new home against the new blue wall.

I'm filling her up with all classic and/or books that I love. I just filled it up with things that I sort of like, knowing that I will switch things out. We have quite a large amount of books on other shelves, but this one is mine...although my husband's John Grisham collection is already taking up the entire bottom shelf. Any suggestions that should be on my cute little shelf? She's small, so I have to be very picky.

Those are cute kids, but not ours...they are cousins. Not that it matters, I guess.

I also FINALLY decided what to do with this table- it had just a plain middle- where you could see down into the top drawer. (It was one of my best Craigslist finds of all time- next to my dining room table- only $30 and it's a nice piece!)

Anyway, I painted the inside red to match the other pieces in the area, used a bit of polycrylic to harden up the inside, and then used some of my star collection. Those will eventually all be hung on the wall with many many more that I have yet to find. :) (The mirror one is my favorite for sure.)

What would you have done with a table like this? I'd love to hear some other ideas!

My weekend...

2010-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I (with some help from the husband) painted our house.

On Friday afternoon I picked up 4 different sample colors- all a gray tone- to try out and see which one I liked the best.

After obsessing about it all day long, I went to Home Depot to buy the 3 gallons I needed, and wouldn't you know, I completely switched colors! I bought an entirely different (non-tested) color! My husband expects that kind of stuff from me- I guess I just didn't want to let him down. :)

Anyway, It went from neutral to a nice blue-gray. It's a nice mellow color that seems to change depending on the lighting. (Martha Stewart Slipstream)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I also redid this cute little side table that I had attempted to paint red before, but as you can see, it definitely turned out purple...I used the same Behr Cherry Cobbler paint as before- on this table.

Little Red...

2010-10-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

This was a super rushed refinish- I had people over on Thursday and really wanted this piece to be redone. I luckily had started priming on Wednesday afternoon, but the rest of the painting (and not drying) was done in about a 2-hour period. (Thank goodness for nap time on Thursday!)

The table had little glass inserts that were nice, but the kids kept pulling them out and I was constantly worried about them breaking. Plus, I think it kind of dated the piece.

Primed

Painted red- (Cherry Cobbler by Behr- what is it with me and food colors?? All of the chair colors were food names too!)

At this point, I added some wood planks that I had cut to size. They were a bit taller than the recessed area where they sat, so I sanded the edges into kind of a beveled edge- which helped the look a lot. I'm also thinking about adding some kind of a detail to those little sections- any suggestions?

Glazing- I wanted a nice black glaze for this one, and what I usually use is a darker gray, so I got my glazing liquid and some black acrylic paint and went at it. Turned out great for what I wanted!

It was still a tiny bit tacky when I put it in place about 15 minutes before people got to my house. Luckily no one set anything on it. :) Anyone else rush projects like I do?

In other weekend news, while listening to General Conference, I'm going to be painting our house. Right now, it looks like this:

A little dated, and a little too orange for my preference. You can see that little swatch of color by the window that is a nice gray-blue. (Light French Gray by Behr) I hope it looks nice when I'm done!

A fun Halloween Wreath...

2010-09-17T13:53:00.001-07:00

I know it's a little early to be already decorated for Halloween, but this year I decided it was my favorite holiday to decorate, and I jumped on it. :)

This is a fun idea I've seen floating around on a few blogs, and I thought I would share what I had done. The middle "Boo" part was bought at Joann's for 40% off (I think it was about $6-8), I bought a metal wire floral ring at Hobby Lobby ($4) and 2 feather boas ($6 each, I should have bought them when I had coupons but I didn't want to wait)

Just add whatever decoration you find to the center (or don't add a center and it would still look great!) and hot glue the boa to the wire frame. Super simple and I think it looks so fun and fancy!

Packing up the paints...

2010-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Kids Room Creations was a way for me to make a little extra money while my husband went to work and I stayed home with the kids- but it has turned into more than that. I have grown to love working with customers, sharing my creativity with others, and helping complete a bedroom for some random child. Over the past 6 years I have grown quite attached to being a business owner.

Staying home with 4 kids leaves your brain a little mushy after a while. I feel like I'm an intelligent girl, but at times, I certainly don't feel it. So, I have made a very quick decision to go back to school and get my Masters Degree. Someday I'll need it when my kids are all grown and I go back to teaching. Someday. So I am planning ahead for that day.

I am packing up my paints.

My New Dining Room Table.

2010-09-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

After months of searching, I finally found the style of table that I was looking for on Craigslist. $65 and a trip to Pahrump later, I brought home this beauty:

It was in awful shape. Super dirty and dusty, and even had some dried up jelly on the table top. I started the process by pulling off the layers (and I mean layers) of dirty upholstery and cushioning. That included the 100+ nails on each of the chairs.

Notice the 3 layers of fabric??

This was the nails from 3 of the 6 chairs...

Once they were bare, I took some super great chair glue and helped the stability of the chairs. It has this syringe that fits into the tiny cracks of the chair to spread the glue. Some were pretty lose, so I added some grabber screws to help even more.

Next came the sanding and priming. This photo was actually after I had tried staining the top. The grain of the wood was terrible, so the stain looked awful. That's when I went to plan B and painted the top.

Next was the painting. I didn't really take photos of this, but I used a nice ash blue for the base, and a chocolate brown for the top. Also, don't be tempted to cheat on the bottom of the table. I almost convinced myself that no one would notice, but once I looked at the underside, I had to paint it...see the difference?

Now comes the fun part with the antiquing...This was my best friend for this project. There's a lot of types of antiquing glaze, but this is a great one.

See on this panel how the black streaks the table top? Not really going for wood grain, just a nice dimension to the plain brown top.

The other purpose for this step was to help bring out the nice details of the table. I made sure to really get the glaze into the grooves and curves. (If you've never used this, it just goes on with a brush, and then you use a wet cloth to wipe it mostly off, but it stays in the recessed areas and gives everything a little more of an antiqued look.)

See the difference with the antiquing glaze?

No glaze...

Next came the chairs. I initially had planned the chairs to be all different colors, but then got scared that it would be a little crazy, so I went with all blue. Once they were all painted I thought I was all finished except for the upholstery. But that would have been too easy...

Once I started to reupholster them, I realized that the springs were in terrible shape, and no matter how much cushion I put on, they were felt underneath. So, next came the fun of getting the chairs completely bare of the springs inside. I had planned to have my Dad cut some wood for the base of the chairs that I could upholster and just screw to the top of the chairs. I also noticed that the hundreds of nail holes would be seen this way, so I had to come up with a way to cover them.

Somewhere during this part of the process I decided to go back to my original idea of having all of the chairs different colors. I figured if I were doing all of this work, I wanted it to be what I wanted, and not a "tamed" version of what I had in mind.

In comes the trim! I just hot glued this on. I knew that I was going to be painting over it anyway, so I wasn't worried about it falling off at all...

The wood frame for the base of the chairs...

Ta-Da!

Notice what the trim looks like now with the antiquing glaze on the paint...it adds a fun detail that wasn't there originally.

My new dining room...

My dad had just built in that window bench, and I still need to find a fabric for the cushion...

Vanity Redo...

2010-08-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

I was driving home about a week ago, and on the side of the road I saw this baby, along with some chairs. The little hand written sign said "Vanity $5, Chairs, $2 each." I was so amazingly happy that I had left 3 out of my 4 kids home on that errand, so I rang the doorbell where a super cute little old lady came out and told me that she had this vanity and chairs for over 40 years. CRAZY! I gladly paid her the money, folded down my seats and tucked my find safely in the back.

After getting it home and doing a little more inspection, it looked like it was 40 years old- if not more. There was multiple layers of chipping paint, green mildewy stuff (under the mirror you can see it) and all sorts of rust on all of the hardware. I almost gave up knowing that it would be a ton of work. That was until Emma, my 7 year old, saw it. She fell in love immediately, and I knew that I would be in for a big job.

Hi, Maia!

(See the other chairs stacked up- she had 6 of them! I'm glad my husband understands my need to refinish things.)

Anyway, after lots of scraping, sanding, priming, and painting, here she is:

Emma picked out the colors, and she had the final say in the fabric for the chair as well. I used acrylic paint in the lighter pink, and then used a glazing medium to create my own glaze for the darker pink. I have discovered that I don't like spray paint for furniture much. It might be that I'm so used to the acrylic from painting, but I find that I can get a much better finish by brushing instead of spraying.

These little additions were left overs that were in my tool box- they used to be ends of a curtain rod...I think. You can't really tell on the picture, but they are painted silver with some super cute glitter. Just a little added bling. :)

I LOVE this fabric. It was in the clearance section of the fabric store- only $2.99/yard for upholstery fabric. Super great steal. I bought some to add some little throw pillows to Em's bed- if she ever actually sleeps there.

This little guy was found at the D.I. for $1. I did this before I finished the vanity or I probably would have used the same colors, but it works well in the room anyway. This is where spray paint is very handy. Primer, two coats of watermelon pink Krylon, and we're good to go.

Another Hair Bow Holder...

2010-08-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

Using your Children's Art...

2010-08-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

When I was little, I remember my mom asking my little brother to draw some of his "monsters." He was way creative, and of course came up with the greatest little guys. Anyway, my Mom took these drawings, traced them onto fabric, painted them, and eventually made a great blanket for his new room out of them.

I was wanting some robots for my little nephew, Max. His dad is a great designer, so I knew they had to be something great. Of course if I drew robots, they would be boxy and button-y, and drawn by an almost 30-year old. In comes my little Michael. I paid him 25¢ for each of these drawings, and I couldn't have been happier about them. They are cute, and look like a robot should look!

Anyway, a few little tricks about using children's artwork for other things- First, only have them draw using a thin-line pen. This allows all of the little details to be seen, which would get lost if they were using markers or even crayons. Also, by using a pen, you can color the object in whatever colors are needed for the project. Second, tear the paper into the size that you need and tell them to draw each thing the same size. This cuts down on having to resize the artwork. And lastly, don't give your child any hints or directions as to how the thing should look. (This only works if your child already knows how to draw something, of course.)

Canvas Letters

Hair Bow Holder...

2010-08-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Just a cute little hair bow holder. Made with a 5x7 piece of masonite and ribbon. Instead of just gluing the ribbon to the back, I drilled holes in this one to make it come through the front. Cute!

I will be adding these to my inventory soon, but if you would like to preorder one for $15 (they will be $25) Let me know! I need a couple more examples!

Giveaway!

2010-08-11T07:29:00.001-07:00

I'm hosting a giveaway for a set of 6- 8" letters from my Kids Room Creations website.

Go to FabulousFunFinds to enter! She has a full week of a ton of giveaways to celebrate switching to a new domain. Always fun! Share the news!

Little Builder

2010-08-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

A bulletin board facelift...

2010-08-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

During the kitchen redo, I thought that I definitely needed to give a new look to our boring old bulletin board. Here's the how to so you can do it yourself!

You'll need:

1. Detailed frame- look at thrift stores and garage sales. People throw away great frames. Mine was a really ugly gold one before it was primed
2. Spray Paint- both a primer and whatever color you love
3. Antiquing glaze- buy this at the hardware store in the decorative painting section. Some have tintable glazes which are super fun, but this was just a plain black one.

First of all, prime your frame.

While that is drying, measure out your old bulletin board and cut it to fit the new frame opening.

Spray paint the frame with a color.

When that is dry, take a brush and apply the glaze in all of the grooves and cracks. This frame had some fun little bumps that I tried to bring out, so make sure to get it into all of the little nooks and crannies.

I usually wait a few minutes to give the glaze some time to dry a bit, then take a damp cloth and wipe the frame. Remove as much or as little of the glaze as you like, but make sure to leave it in the little grooves.

Add your cork and there ya go- a nice new bulletin board!

Our Family Peggies...

2010-07-04T19:19:00.001-07:00

I've seen these cute little peg dolls around the internet, always loving them, but hating the price tag. (Custom ones go for upwards of $60 for a family of 4!) So, I happened to notice the little pegs in the wood section at JoAnn's for about $8 for 6 pegs. That's much more my budget, plus I got to put them all in outfits that we'd wear!

I made them for Maia. She loves them already- lining them up and having them talk to each other. A new take on the saying "A family that plays together..."

Are you interested in purchasing a family set of peggies? See my shop here. Kids Room Creations

Not just letters...

2010-06-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

I've really started to love painting things other than letters- there's something amazing that happens when you find an old rundown piece of furniture and give it an entirely new look just by repainting it. It makes me happy.

With that in mind, I've been looking at our kitchen cabinets lately. They are old. About 20 years now. They are ugly; a golden orangey varnish that is worn. So, of course I decide that with all of my extra time I should restain them. I tried it out in our little bathroom (same ugly cabinets) just to see how much work it would be involved, and although it was a BIG project for one little cabinet, the results were just amazing.

It's still in the process, but I'm working on it. My poor family will be living with mediocre meals the next few weeks. But at least the kitchen will be beautiful! :)

(My little Ruby- don't worry, it's not plugged in.)

A 1-Hour Redo

2010-06-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

This file cabinet is in my studio- I keep canvas and ribbon in them, just random stuff that I need close, but hidden so I don't feel too cluttered. I used it brown for a year or so now, but every time I looked at it I disliked it. My dad thinks I'm a wood hater- I just always want to paint things, and this is why! I LOVE the new color and the new feel to the room. I even spray painted my wire pen holders the same blue so they match. Nice!

It was very easy- a quick spray coat of primer (no sanding) and once that was dry, a coat of the blue. Also, notice the hardware is silver now? Yep- spray paint. I love it.

Play Kitchen...

2010-06-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

**This is a duplicate post from my other blog Redpunzel- just in case you've seen it before. :)

So I know I've been slacking on my hair posts this week, and this is the reason why. As I said before, we had Emma's birthday party today, so I had to get this project finished this week, which took all of my extra time. I thought that since most all of you are moms of little kids you might appreciate this idea and maybe make one of your own- Also, just a disclaimer, this idea was not original. I was inspired by Sutton Grace and her cute little kitchen redo.

So, here's the process- start out by finding a good entertainment center. I had to find one that was big enough for Emma, but not too huge. I still had trouble finding a place to put this in our house where it wasn't in the way. I really lucked out as I had just told my husband about my idea and he emailed me that same day saying that a co-worker had a nice oak one she didn't want anymore. It was destined to be my little kitchen. :)

Start by removing all hardware and priming the piece.

This is the primer I used, and I was really impressed with it- super easy to clean up, and really nice coverage.

Paint the main color of the kitchen- you cant really see here, but the sides and top are all this blue color, as well as the insides of the cabinets.

Here shows the counter tops and cupboard doors painted purple.

It comes in handy when you're using powertools for the first time to have someone there as backup that can handle the need-to-be-exact-or-the-project-is-ruined cuts. Here my Dad helped me do the circle for the sink. (It's actually an old stainless steel dog bowl that we had around)

Next we cut some pieces of 1/4" MDF for the fridge and oven doors. I wanted them to be lightweight but still a little tough, and this is what I had in my garage. I purchased the handles and the oven knobs (closet rod hangers) at the Habitat for Humanity Restore here in Las Vegas, which is a really fun store for building materials.

I was searching for a faucet, but didn't want to spend a ton of money on one, and eventually I gave in and bought this one. It was labeled as a "Laundry Room Faucet" at Lowes, and was about $17 or so- the most expensive purchase for the project. I tried to epoxy this as well, but it was kind of loose, so I got a little tough with it by adding a couple grabber screws in the front.

I debated on the color of the fridge and oven for a while, and eventually decided on spray painting them silver to look like stainless steel. I already had these attached (not thinking ahead as usual) so I put a sheet behind the doors, but over the rest of the project before I painted. I still got some on the blue around the hinges, but that was easy to retouch.

I found this acrylic sheeting at Lowes, and thought it was perfect for the oven door. It has that film that comes off, and it's nice and clear. I just used an epoxy to glue this into place, as I didn't want too many screws for little body parts to scratch on.

I used a high-gloss black paint for the burners. (and inside the oven as well.) This was another thing I searched for something circle that would look nice as a burner, but then I just decided that I would paint them on. I think it looks good, and if they ever get scratched up, I can just retouch them without having to replace anything.

Make sure to watch your paint bucket carefully. Little babies are sneaky.

The fridge and oven didn't stay closed completely, so I added these little magnetic closures.

Painted on the controls for the stove

Retouch any scuffed or scratched parts

Professionally hang some frames for your little one to draw some photos for (I say professionally because it took me 3 tries to get them in the right spot. Luckily the other nail holes are behind the frames.) :)

Surprise your little birthday girl with the project in the garage that she couldn't see for 4 days, and you've got one happy little bug. Emma's wanted a kitchen for a long time, but I didn't want to buy a cheap plastic one again. (We've already had 2 in her lifetime that somehow got broken) This was the perfect alternative. Reusing something old, and making something that will actually last for a long time.

I found all of the dishes and other accessories at Walmart. I eventually want to make a bunch of felt foods, but that project will have to wait for a few weeks. I'm a little tired. :)

Not quite an Heirloom...

2010-06-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law gave me this little board a couple years into our marriage- it was made by my husband's uncle when he was little, so it's about 25 years old or so. I loved the idea of it, but unfortunately, I just didn't love the style so it's been in our garage for a long while. I finally had a little down time, so here's what I did to help.

(Just a side note, Family Home Evening is one night a week, Monday for us, that we spend as a family. We usually have a little church lesson along with singing and other fun activities. Some weeks we do game nights, or swimming nights, whatever it is, we do it as a family. It's a great time.)

Before:

After:

Here's the list of what I did:

1. Removed all letters and the house

2. Sanded the board down to raw wood (Since I was restaining it)

3. Primed and spray painted the letters

4. Stained the main portion of the board

5. Painted the edge of the board with an antique white acrylic (Same used for lettering)

6. Painted stars

7. Painted House

8. Glued it all back together!

I thought it might be fun to show the detail of the stars, which are my favorite part. This is the same process that you'd use on any piece of furniture- big or tiny. :)

Start by painting the base coat. I did a nice light yellow- almost a cream color. One new thing that I love is the custom mixed sample colors at the hardware stores. Great colors for these types of projects for only $3 or so.

Next, I did a brighter yellow around all of the edges- don't worry about this being exact at all.

Now with a wet brush, do little circular motions to mix the edge color. I also dipped the brush again and rubbed right in the center so it would get more of the yellow off of the center where the names would be.

I didn't take a picture of this step, but do a little bit of sanding on the edge of the stars before adding the antiquing glaze. Let this dry for just a couple minutes, and then use a damp rag to wipe the majority of the glaze off.

Cute little antiqued stars!

I used beading supplies to hang the stars- wire and tube clamps. I also made little charms for each name.

Eden and a mess!

2010-06-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

I'm working on quite a few orders right now, as you can see from my
work table. (I even had to move from my studio to our dining room
table to have more room!)

Eden is a set for a customer who ordered letters about 5 years ago for
her first daughter. I think this fabric is so fun and whimsical!

Some Household Projects...

2010-04-30T13:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I get a little itch to paint something other than letters. (not sometimes, most of the time, I guess.) I always tell people that I'd much paint than do laundry. :) Here are some projects that I've done in the last few days:

A cute little box for my sister:

A piano bench for my little Emma. She just started piano lessons, so she's excited about it all. (this started life as a dull, damaged, mostly dark brown bench.)

A pair of leather shoes for a friend of the family who loves Abby from Sesame Street:

And finally a picture frame that will eventually become a magnet board when I get out to get some metal for the inside. I'm loving this antiquing glaze- fun stuff!

Back in the Game!

2010-04-15T13:11:00.001-07:00

So I'm going to try and blog a little better...hopefully. :)

This is one I just finished. Super cute additions with the blocks and butterfly. ($45 for the set of 3- butterfly can be any shape.) Email if you have any questions!

Too Long...

2009-09-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been much too long since I've done any kind of an update.

First of all, thanks to everyone who has been asking about my new little girl, Ruby Maxine. She's doing great- just 10 weeks old this past Thursday. She is growing nice and huge a little too fast for my liking. :) Here's a quick photo from her blessing this past week:

Second, the new website is STILL in the works. It is looking super great though, it is just taking me much longer to do the photo resizing and all. Hopefully I can get it up within the month, but for now my good ol' site will have to keep working for me. :)

Third, my all-time favorite set of letters that I have painted. These were painted for my Mom, (The Maxine Ruby was named after) She's been an art teacher for close to 20 years, and has always been doing some kind of painting or drawing since she was little. She's the one I get any smidge of talent from. :) Anyway, my mom is now working in the administration part of education, so she asked me to paint these for her office, and when she retires in a year or two, she'll take them to her art studio. Nice.

Not so Simple Simon...

2009-04-02T10:28:00.001-07:00

I really liked working on this set- I usually am matching cute flowers or trucks or something, and for this one, Simon's mom told me to do something "fun and funky" with her colors. I did have a bit of guidance from another set of letters that she liked, but I got to adapt the patterns to the canvas, which was really fun and different.

A Very Productive Weekend...

2009-03-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

So I've needed to get caught up on some work since the move, so I finally got down to business this weekend and painted four orders. (Usually I only do about 2 a week, so this was a lot of work!) My kids and husband probably didn't appreciate the lack of my presence around the house, but it had to be done. :)

Here are some examples. Hopefully this doesn't ruin the surprise if these customers haven't already received them! I love how Lana turned out- the pink with the blue really made it stand out. Cameron was super cute with the little dots and sea animals; they were really fun to paint. Brady was one of my favorites because of the clean simple lines and super cute airplanes. Finally, Ava Rose has got to be one of my new current favorites. There is something about yellow and pink, and with the bold flower blossoms, it made me want to paint a set for my new little girl exactly the same! (And I don't even have that border in the room!) :)

I hope you all love the work, and let me know if you have any suggestions for the blog. I need some inspiration from others. :)

Moving Stinks...

2009-03-02T09:58:00.001-08:00

So we decided to make a change and move. Not far- just within Las Vegas- but packing up three kids, three dogs, and two adults, along with all of the junk, was not fun. We are finally getting settled into the house, trying to get back into a regular routine, but I will not be wanting to move anytime soon.

We did find out some fun news a couple of weeks ago- I am having another little girl. So our final family tally will be 3 girls and 1 boy. At least our little boy was excited that he didn't have to share any of his Transformers. :) Our family will be nice and complete in late June.

Here's an example of a set I did just before we packed up everything. They were painted to match a group of fabrics from the bedding set, and they turned out really cute, I think. (Sorry for the quick snapshots-)

Hope everyone is having a good March so far! My resolve this month is to post at least once a week, so we'll see how I do. :) I'm playing a lot of catch-up right now to make up for my lost painting time during the move, so if I don't post, you'll know how I'm spending my time instead!

Ireland!

2009-01-14T17:41:00.001-08:00

I actually painted this canvas about 2 years ago, but I have never had a chance to use it as an example. I was just going through my photo gallery and thought I should put it on the blog. It was a super fun one to paint- bright and colorful, and perfectly Irish. :)

New Website in Progress!

2009-01-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

With the holidays finally over with, I am finally working on my website redesign. I've been planning on it for about a year (or maybe two?!?) but it's finally in progress. The design is great- super big gallery images, new fancy product options, and just an overall new look. We're still working on the colors and getting all of the information in, but it should be up and running in a month or two. YIPEE!

Credit goes to my older brother, Mike Davie, who is a super great webdesigner. If you're in need of a website or advertising, check him out at BackwardM (Or even if you just want to look at his fun doodles!) :)

Finished!

2008-11-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Just a little update. :)

At Work...

2008-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to post a "work in progress" photo for a little while, so I pulled out my camera and snapped this one really quick about 5 minutes ago. This name is being painted to match a set from Pottery Barn, which has a lot of the oranges and reds, and a few different types of flowers. Super cute. I still have a little more work to do, but so far so good! Have a good night!

Busy Bee...

2008-11-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I worked on 4 orders- nice and busy. I love it when I get into a good painting "groove." (Plus, it's nice when the kids cooperate!)I was really proud of this set that I finished to go into a "vintage surfer" bedroom. There was no set design, just a few ideas thrown around, so I hope that John's family loved the final product!

Re-Do!

2008-10-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

Like when we were all younger, and something didn't go our way, I am simply calling for a re-do of my blog! :)

I haven't been the best at keeping updated with the blog, as it is just one of many things I am trying to cram into my schedule. If there were only a few more hours in the day! So, I have deleted everything, and am starting over with a clean slate. I am also working with my brother on a redesign of the entire website. I want it to be nice and elegant, without being too stiff. Plus, it will have larger images and a much more user-friendly ordering page.

For my first post, I wanted to show Gracie. This is one that, although I painted it a while ago, it is still one of my favorites. It was painted on 10" Whimsical letters, to coordinate with a simple bedding set that had lots of flowers. So cute and feminine! Keep checking back and leave me some comments. Any product ideas, questions, anything! Thanks so much!