Kid's room: Double E monogram wall art

I never thought I would be one of those people who names their kids all with the same first initial, let alone the same first and middle initial for both kids, but here I am! Elise Elliott and Etta Emily. It's kind of fun. And not many people have the same initial for their first and middle name. (That was something I really wanted to repeat whether we chose an E name or not for baby #2.)

Anyhow, as soon as we settled on Etta Emily, I knew I wanted to incorporate the double Es somewhere in their shared room. Last summer, I found two E's at an antique mall for $1.25 each. They are made of some type of plastic and are fairly heavy. I don't always have an immediate plan for the things I buy, but if they are cheap enough, I buy them anyway, and they usually become useful later.

I painted the E's a bright pink with craft paint, and then set out to find something to mount them to. I came up short at home, but found this "stunning" piece of "art" in the clearance aisle at Home Goods for $4.50. It's no 

70 cents, but it was the right size (12" x 16") and sturdy enough to hold the weight of the Es on it. A simple piece of lumber would have also worked, but this was halfway finished already.

When I got it home, I realized that the backside was even more perfect than the front. I could make sort of an open shadow box. (And I wouldn't even have to mar the true love print.)

It did have a few staples into the backside of the frame where the joints came together. I used wood filler to smooth those out, then sanded and repainted the entire frame with a couple of coats of white paint. I made sure to tape off the inside of the frame because I didn't want random paint splotches showing through the fabric on my final product.

After not finding anything that would work in my fabric stash, I found this pink scale cotton print at Hancock Fabrics. I bought a half yard, but only ended up using about a fat quarter. The piece I had cut was about $2. Cheaper than paper.

After ironing all the wrinkles out, I used Mod Podge to adhere it to the back of the frame. (For those unfamiliar with how to decoupage with fabric, this post explains how. Don't be intimidated. It's one of my favorite things to do.) After the Mod Podge was completely dry, I used hot glue to stick on the Es. Quick finish!

And it's just the hit of pink we needed on the wall above the crib!

The Jenny Lind nightmare and the make-do headboard

So you might have noticed in the shared kids bedroom reveal that something was missing. Something I told you I started working on way back in February.

Remember Jenny? Jenny Lind?

I got this headboard and footboard out of my parents' basement, but once upon a time, it was in my great grandmother's house. The finish was not good, so I decided to paint it and make it a fun big girl bed for Elise.

I briefly wondered if I should try and put the bed together to make sure everything was OK before I got started, as older beds can be slightly different dimensions than modern mattresses. But I was pregnant and that sounded like a lot of extra hassle. So instead, I got to work and figured whatever happened, we'd be able to make it work. This, my friends, is called foreshadowing.

It took me about 4-5 hours to sand both the headboard and the footboard. Thanks to some unseasonably warm and sunny February days, I was able to do 90 percent of the sanding outside. I used one of those foam sanding blocks; they are so much easier to use than regular sandpaper, especially when sanding something with a lot of curves and details like this. I'm a fan.

I was excited to get a custom-mixed enamel paint, but after a quick trip to Sherwin Williams, I learned that they couldn't mix enamel in a deep pinky red because they don't have a base for it. My options? Go with regular latex paint or pick a different color of enamel. I left the store with their advice so I could think about it.

I didn't want to use semi-gloss in this situation, so I decided just to get some flat paint mixed and then follow up with polyurethane. More coats, more work, but I could get the color I wanted AND that hard glossy finish. I ended up buying the paint at Lowes, though, because I didn't really want to make a special trip back to Sherwin Williams.

Then it was time to paint! I started out with my favorite stainblocking primer (Kilz Premium Latex) and followed up with a coat of flat gray paint in hopes that would cut the number of coats of pink I needed. Painting deep saturated colors on top of pure white primer is a lot of work.

It was around the second coat of pink paint (in total, my fourth coat) that I began hating this project. Why did I have to choose such a saturated pink? Why couldn't I have just used white enamel and have been done in two coats? Because my girl wanted a pink bed. And although I'm sure I could have talked her out of it, I wanted her to have a pink bed too. After the fourth coat of pink, I decided it was good enough to stop. The middle of a project can suck the soul out of you sometimes.

(Spray paint would have been a good option here, but being pregnant and winter, it wasn't going to happen that way.)

And then I went and had a baby and the bed sat in the basement for over a month. But near the end of April, I picked the brush back up and gave it two coats of polyurethane to finish it off. The shine! So pretty.

Then it was time to put the bed together. Sorry, no photos of this process. You'll soon find out why. My dad brought over the metal rails and the box spring just wasn't fitting. He thought maybe he had more longer rails still in his basement and maybe he picked up the wrong ones. Fast forward a couple of weeks, he brings a collection of six rails over. Dan and I struggled to get everything assembled and we discovered the first pair was way too long. Like six inches too long. We try a second pair, they were again too short. Like an inch too short. We try a third pair that seemed just about right and we put the box spring in and the whole thing was crazy wobbly, not to mention crazy high.

I don't think this old bed was intended for use with a box spring. It probably had some sort of platform missing. Anyhow, it wasn't working with the box spring. And it wouldn't work with just an unsupported mattress either. So we took it all apart again.

I talked to my dad and we decided that maybe we could just attach the headboard and footboard to a modern metal bed frame. Wait, make that just the headboard. The metal bedframe wouldn't be long enough to be able to attach the footboard as that end is usually open. OK, I thought, I'll sacrifice the footboard.

When he went to attach the headboard to the metal frame, the heights didn't line up well. The legs were all spindly where the metal frame would attach. There wasn't a flat surface where the two should meet. Not only that, but the headboard is slightly warped. (I noticed that before, but didn't realize it was going to be an issue.)

So now I have a beautiful but useless pink Jenny Lind headboard and footboard taking up space in my basement. All that time wasted! Eight coats of primer, paint and poly! Kills me.

I put so many hours into this project, I'm not ready to quit them just yet. I'm hanging onto them until I figure out if there's anything else that can be done with them. I've seen benches, etc. made from beds and cribs, so maybe they still have a future.

But what's the new plan for Elise's bed? We ended up using a plain metal bed frame to get everything up off the floor. At this time, I'm not ready to spend a lot of money on another headboard. The cheapest new ones I liked were still over $100. And after this debacle, I'm more than a little scared to go the vintage route.

For now, Elise's make-do "headboard" is two giant throw pillows from Home Goods. It is what it is, but I think it kind of works? It is a kid's bed after all.

I also think that it might be wise to wait until Etta's eventually out of the crib and then just buy two matching beds. The long-term plan is to move them upstairs in a few years and matching beds would look so good. Plus it gives me a few years to casually shop for a deal. And maybe my new-found fear of vintage beds will wear off a little.

Any ideas of what I could do with my useless headboard and footboard?

Decorating a shared bedroom for two little girls

This post is long overdue. In fact, I think my last post about this room's transformation was before Etta was born in March. The room's been sort of done for a while. There were a few hangups, and I kept thinking I was going to make a couple of more things for it. Reality says, probably not, so here it is!

I had to do some major decluttering in here. Not only with the practical stuff like clothes, but also a lot of accessories and decor. I removed everything we weren't using and anything that didn't feel especially special. This room has always had a few too many things in it, so I was glad to get it under control. There's still a lot of "stuff" in here, but there's more breathing room now.

This room is small, like maybe 12' x 12' including the closets, and there are three windows and FOUR doors to contend with. The furniture placement took a bit of finessing. The architecture of the room is such that the twin bed is too long to fit on ANY of the walls and leave enough clearance for the doors to open. I know it looks like it would fit lengthwise in that inset with the windows between the closets, but it's literally two inches too narrow. Ugh.

If you're wondering how things are going with the two kids sleeping in the same room, we really haven't tested those waters yet. Etta is a fabulous sleeper. (I am so thankful, and seriously marveling at how this girl can be so easy when the other one was the complete opposite.) We may try her in the crib pretty soon.

I feel like this room has really come together this time around. I liked it before, but there was a transition period after we took the crib out where the layout didn't seem to work as well. A larger rug under most of the furniture seemed to solve that. the touches of pink don't hurt either. It's so happy!

See the first incarnation of Elise's bedroom here >>

Shared kids room update

I've gotten kind of a late start with transforming Elise's bedroom into a shared room for her and the new baby. Now at 33 weeks, I'm under the gun. It's time to get this place in order. Bear with me; these aren't super pretty photos.

The accessories and artwork are a complete mess right now. I need to do some major decluttering to simplify this tiny room. And I'm replacing the rug with something larger. (I've had the new one for several months already, but I haven't showed it here yet.)

The crib is mostly up. A couple of the screws were stripped, so we have to get replacements. Nothing's ever easy, is it?

We've also shuffled some of the furniture around and moved the bulky laminate bookcase out. It was underutilized and kind of a waste of space in such a small room.

Elise's mattress and box spring have been on the floor for nearly a year. I started her big girl bed out that way to keep it lower to the ground, but (knock on wood) she's never fallen out.

So I got my hands on this family antique Jenny Lind style headboard and footboard. It's been stashed in my parents' basement for years. The finish is flaking off, but I am so in love with this bed! It's too far gone to use as is. Refinishing is out mainly because it would be so so much work (also the wrong time of year for that kind of project). A paint job in a bright and happy color it will be! More to come!

Nursery plans (or non-plans?)

A few people have asked me what I'm going to do for the new baby's nursery, and while I would love to put together a new room from scratch, um... we don't have the room. Let me explain.

We have a three bedroom house with two bedrooms on the first floor and a large one on the second that we are currently using as a playroom. It's something we accepted when we bought the house, but now as a parent, I see fault with the layout.

Ideally, Elise would move upstairs and the new baby would take over the first floor room she currently occupies, but I don't think Elise is old enough to be so far away from us yet. And that means we will be rocking the shared kid bedroom for a while. The baby will probably be in our room at night for the first few months anyway.

Some of you moms are probably laughing or wincing at the thought of two small children in the same room. I'm a little skeptical myself, especially given Elise's sleepless newborn experience. However, this really is the only solution for us right now, so we're going to give it a go. And if it doesn't work, we will figure something else out.

So no new nursery to decorate for me. But I am going to be making a few small changes to the shared room just to satisfy my own motherly decorating desires. Oh yeah, and to fit in a crib and a twin bed in a small 12'x12' room with three windows and four doors. I think I've got it all figured out in my head, but sometimes reality is a different thing.