I'm baaaack... and a Nautical Dresser

Hi friends!!!  I am so happy to be posting this morning. I am finally finished with my pressing commitment. I had a deadline and got it done literally in the nick of time. I did not realize how much this was weighing on me and I feel like such a huge burden is lifted. Work is going good and the kids are super happy so I am definitely feeling more balanced.

Before I get into my latest revamp I have to say that I while I love you guys for not wanting to embarrass me, the next time I call Mod Podge Modge Podge, over and over again, please correct me.  I have been an avid user of M.P. for at least two years and I cannot believe in all the posts I have written and all the posts I have read, I was calling it MODGE PODGE. I changed my latest post, but I know there are several previous posts that I need the change. I might leave them as a reminder when my head gets momentarily too big that I am a complete idiot.

Ok... so back to furniture. While I have been away from blogland I have still been working on some projects. I am almost done with the Max and Emerson's room and they are loving it. Honestly, I love it too. We read to them at night and sometimes I just like to hang out in there longer than need be. It is fresh, crisp, and peaceful. It really makes me want to paint my whole house that fresh gray color.

One of my last projects for the new room is a new dresser for Max. I found this one online and thought it would perfect for an Anthro makeover.

I wanted to turn that into this ...

I looove this dresser from Anthropologie, but at almost $1000.00 I would have to make it myself. After starting the sanding portion, I realized that this was not going to happen, and if it were, it was going to take a lot more time and materials. Since Max was literally picking his clothes up off the floor for several weeks at this point, time was not a luxury I had. So I thought I would proceed with the nautical theme... and this is what I ended up with this...

I wanted the top to be a deep dark blue so I mixed some of the navy blue I had from the nautical desk with some black acrylic paint and it came out to be the perfect color for the top.

I used primer and then followed with a homemade white chalk paint all over.  I added some red stripes down the drawer fronts using the red from the desk makeover.

I distressed it with a 60 grit sandpaper, smoothed it with a 200 grit, then added a clear glaze spray. I knew that if I didn't apply some gloss those fronts by the handles would end up being a grimy mess after a few weeks of dirty fingers. Plus I wanted the top to be rich and shiny, which usually I don't like but I thought it was right for this.

Max loves it of course, I don't know if they would actually tell me if they hated a piece but so far they seemed to love everything.

Have you guys ever started a project with one thing in mind and ended up with something totally different?

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Between Naps on the Porch
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Domestically Speaking
Embracing Change
It's Overflowing
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Organize & Decorate Everything
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You're Talking Too Much

Creating Character- Fabric Backed Cubby Shelves

Recently I shared a post at my B.F.F's sisters page over at Created by DonnaK {P.S.- if you don't have a sister that is a B.F.F, get one immediately. If that is not possible grab a B.F.F and make her your sister}. I am sure my awesome readers went on over there to check it out and gave her some blog love, but if not... check it out here...

One of my main goals in decorating is building character using easy and cheap methods. I live in a home that severely lacks character, charm, coziness... or anything else that may start with a 'C'. It is very builder grade and fairly new so I have been trying to learn how to create my own charm. Since we moved into our home I have learned that there are many inexpensive ways to add character to your home without breaking your budget. Some little tricks I have found along the way are...

Adding quarter round to your base boards to create a customized look.

Using punches of color throughout your home for added warmth.

Decorating with hints of your personal style or things that represent you and your family.

Mounting board and batten or bead board for added dimension.

Another way to build character is by making changes to basic things you may have laying around your home. Adding fabric to the back of cubby shelves {circa 1999} is a super easy and inexpensive way to shake things up and add some color. What you will need for the project is...

*Different sized cubby shelves {I know they sell they at Target and Wal Mart for a decent price, but since these things hit their peak a few years back I see them all over at thrift stores and garage sales}

*Thumb tacks

*Different colored and patterned fabric pieces {I had some leftover from another project and I bought some of the fabric squares from Jo Ann Fabrics They are about $2 smackers for a 12 x 12 piece}

*Hammer

*Pencil

*Measuring tape

First, measure your cubbies and cut out your pieces of fabric. I actually just traced around the cubby with a pencil and cut along my pencil line.

Pull the fabric taut and inset a thumb tack in a corner... you may need to tap it with the hammer. Place a tack in each of the four corners using proper spacing as to not split the wood or let the tack show. Then as you pull your fabric taut place more tacks at halfway points in between each set of tacks. Depending on your fabric you may need to insert more tacks all the way around the square.

Last, You will need to trim off any excess fabric that may hang out of the edges- that is if you are terrible at measuring like I am! Finally, cut out notches out where your screws will go and you are ready to hang.

Mount your freshened up shelves and display all the fun things that encapsulate the room, you, and your family. These went into the twins new room so I threw in some things they like and some nauticaly looking things. And YES! Nauticaly is a word... 

nau-ti-cal-y /nôtikəly/- Decor consisting of or concerning sailors or navigation {frequently used in the world of blogging where they tend to make up their own words as they see fit}.

synonyms- martimey,  mariney, or sailorish

 

Oh- and I also finally created a new Facebook page. Be sure to check it out via the button on my sidebar.

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Naptime Review

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Under the Table and Dreaming

You're Talking Too Much

Board and Batten Tutorial

Wow, it has been a long day. I have been working on finishing up this project allll weekend. The finishing part took a lot of time, but it was so worth it in the end. I think I always say that about my projects. My husband took the little ones to a party today so I could stay at home and finish the board and batten and clean up around here... isn't he precious {you probably can't hear the sarcasm in my typing, but it's there}? Actually since summer hit the kids are going a little bit stir crazy so it was nice not to have to worry about them for a few hours while I worked. Needless to say it is now done, and it looks amazing. Even my husband "swooned" over it... well that might be a slight exaggeration, but he likes it... a lot.

The first thing we did before we did ANYTHING was take our measurements. We also needed to decide the desired height of the board and batten. I love the look like of a lot of height and I since I was compromising on this by not doing the pallet wall, I wanted ours pretty high. We ended up going 4.5 ft high, I think if it would have been our bedroom I would have went higher. The taller height adds a little more sophistication. I have seen the high B & B around the blog-o-sphere and I lurve it. Check out this board and batten from The Yellow Cape Cod. Board and batten is a great way to add charm and character to an otherwise boring room.

In addition to deciding how high we wanted it to go, we also needed to decide how many feet were going to be in between the the vertical battens. Many people use MDF or bead board in between or underneath their battens. I did not see the point and wanted to keep this budget friendly so we did not use either of those for the twins room, we instead chose to paint the walls the same color or the trim. If you do want to use the MDF or other materials you will have to measure for that as well.

Before you set out for the fun part {the shopping} measure, measure and remeasure. I think we measured three times and I still had to go back to the store for a few more more pine boards.

My supplies for this project were:
Brad nailer {This is the first time I have used a brad nailer. If you do not have one yet, researching before you buy is very important}
Table saw {We have one on hand so that's what we used, but I think a miter saw would work as well}
Caulk {lots of caulk}
1 x 3 inch pine boards (for batten- trim on bottom, vertical battens every 2 - 3 feet, and top trim}
1 x 2 inch pine {for top ledge}
Primer
White paint

After you measure {and measure and measure and measure again}, and purchase all your goodies, you will need to remove your existing baseboards. Unless your current base boards will accommodate your batten, but most trim is too thin to allow the batten to sit on top.

Next patch any damage caused by removing the old trim, we had a lot of issues with this.

Now attach your bottom batten pieces {the 1 x 3} all the way around the room with your brad nailer. Now here is where you need PAY ATTENTION- I highly recommend you purchase pre primed pieces of wood OR paint before you install. We did not and it was a HUGE pain in the butt. My reasoning was I was in a big ole' hurry and overly anxious to get started I was going to have to paint again after we nailed the boards so why do it twice. If nothing else prime and and paint the bottom trim batten. My husband took care of nailing the base boards, but he measured all the pieces and cut them with his table saw so he had everything ready instead of running up and down the stairs 200 times. He used the studs as markers to place the brad nails.

Map out {you should have had a rough idea already} the spacing and distance of the battens. Once again, we used our studs as our guide here {I like to let my studs guide- hee hee- bad joke... I know}. Pre cut your pieces with your saw and install them.

After you have all your vertical pieces installed its time to mount your top horizontal batten piece that will go all the way across the room. We left lots of space in between our vertical pieces, it depends on your taste and how much board you want to buy.

After this is all done lay your ledge pieces {1 x 2} flat on top of previously mounted horizontal pieces. Use your brad nailers to mount these as well by nailing into the top of the ledge. You can use a wider sized ledge to be able to store bigger things. 1 x 2 is perfect for framed artwork or smaller decorative pieces.

Now caulk, patch any holes, and get ready to paint!!

Gotta love little helpers!

LCD Tips for this project:

* As I said previously, I highly recommend painting and priming the boards before you mount. This is what I had to do to prevent paint from getting on the carpet... and I still managed to get paint on the carpet.

* Also, plan to use lots of caulk to fill in gaps and seal the trim. I also used it after I painted to fill in any smaller holes.

* Look into a decorative moulding piece to put under the ledge piece. I did not do it, but I have seen it done and it adds a lot of charm.

* Use good primer if you purchase the raw wood {the wood seems porous and sucks it right up} and use a glossier paint on the batten and the walls in between for easy clean up. I typically use an eggshell or satin paint, but since this is for the twins' room I want to be able to wipe away any smudges or potential crayon incidents.

* Invest in a good paint brush and have the smaller rollers on hand to roll over your brush strokes.

* Spend time with swatches in the room to find the perfect color of paint to make your new board and batten pop! We loooove the color we chose. It is prefect with the B & B and is the perfect gray to compliment the nautical them.

The kids love it, the hubs loves it, and I love it. What do you guys think?

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Watch Out Martha

Board and Batten

Now that the master bedroom makeover is finally complete I can concentrate fully on the twins' room makeover. They are super excited, but with summer here its another slow project. Its seems that recently all of our weekends are filled with obligations so when we do we get some free time we want to be on the beach or bbq'ing with friends.

I thought that the pallet wood walls that I keep seeing pop up on Pinterest and all over blogland would be perfect for the nautical theme we are going for, but if we decide to move I wanted to make sure we did something that would have a more general appeal. So we decided that a simple and inexpensive substitute would be to add some board and batten. This project actually went pretty smooth during the first, and while the hubs did most of the work he seemed to really be enjoying it. However, I am doing the painting and it's not fun. After all is said and done I will post a tutorial {with some tips on what NOT to do}, but in the meantime I will just show you a bit of our progress.

Look at my precious boys working away. Stay tuned, I hope to have this project done by this weekend.

Kids Nautical Desk- Revised

Hey bloggy world friends! The desk poll is now closed and thanks SO much to everyone who voted. It truly was a huge help in my final decision making process. The winning choice was to take the desktop to the bare wood, with only a hint of color. I have to be honest, this was one of my favorite choices, I was glad it won, especially after seeing good ole' Martha's example. The second place was also one of favorites, which was add a design like stripes or a stencil.

Since the "bare wood" won, and I loved the idea it was a no brainer and I got to work right away. Unfortunately, once I started it was not working out well. The wood was very orange no matter how much I sanded, and the more I sanded, the worse it got. It just was not the picture I had in my head {don't you hate it when that happens?}. So onto winner number two it was, and I am so glad it worked out the way it did. Isn't that the great part of D.I.Y... accidents and mistakes becoming something amazing.

So here is my final product....

I used the white homemade chalk paint that I used for the bulk of the piece and some painters tape to add the stripes. The first stripe was about an inch. Then I left an inch between the original stripe and the next one. The second stripe was close to two and half inches wide.

Then I used some number stencils that I got from Lowe's to add the number five. They are a basic set that you can find at pretty much any hardware store.

Then I used a 60 grit sandpaper  to distress it up, and went back over it with a 220 grit to smooth it out.

How cute is that little banner? Goes perfect with the motif of the room, dontcha' think? I found that little guy on Esty. Thank the Lord for Etsy am I right?! I probably could have made my own, but I just did not have the energy and this one is so cute and well made. There are a ton of nautical banners out there, but this one is adorable and at a great price. You can find it at Betty & Barclay.

After I let the desk dry completely, I used a clear spray coating to seal everything up. I wanted to use something that would protect the desk and that would let me easily wipe up after messes and the abuse this desk will take. However, I did not want it to be too shiny and take away from that vintage chippy look, and the spray worked great for all that. I finished up by using a a high grit sanding block to smooth it out and take away some sheen.

I lined the drawers by using my Modge Podge/ scrap book paper method that I used on my nightstand makeover.

And the kiddos seem to love it already.

Lets check out a before in case y'all forgot.

Thanks again for all the votes and great advice!!! 

Linked to:
At the Picket Fence
Between Naps on the Porch
Boogie Board Cottage 
Classy Clutter
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Farmhouse Porch
Funk Junk Interiors
Embracing Change
Liz Marie Blog
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Miss Mustard Seed
My Romantic Home
My Simple Home Life
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Savvy Southern Style

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Tatertots and Jello
The 36th Avenue
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Under the Table and Dreaming
You're Talking too Much

Nautical Childs Desk... and a Poll!!!

I purchased this desk for the twin's new room. It was the perfect size for their room, it has great lines, and would hold a major distressing well.  Here is what it looked like before...

Don't you love that hardware??

And here it is after...

Those are all the parts that I loooove. It was exactly what I had in mind for their room, don't you love it when that happens??

Now for the parts I don't love so much....

So in world of DIY, restyling, and refurbishing if you don't love it right away it probably means you will end up hating it right?

I can't seem to decide. So here is where the poll comes in... and I REALLY need your help here. Spread the word and have EVERYone you know and in the blogosphere vote so I can pick one. The choices are...

 Leave it as is... 

Remove all paint and repaint one color...

Source

Modge Podge something awesome like a map on the top....

Source

Take it down to the bare wood with a hint of color

Source

Add some stripes or a stencil to top only...

Source

So check out my poll thats over to the right of the page and vote vote vote so you can help me decide... because I can't!!!