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!

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.