Pinterest Challenge- Chalkboard Globe

We have visitors this weekend and somehow my suggestion of turning the weekend into a nursery painting party didn't appeal to them.  Oh well.  In spite of that lack of enthusiasm I still plan on completing a project that I mentioned a couple of days ago...chalkboard painting a globe that I found at a garage sale for $1.  (Globe seen in this post.)

via Pinterest

The Young House Love blog (a long with a few other blogs) came up with the idea to complete a project that you have pinned on your Pinterest board instead of just dreaming about them.  They've come up with a challenge that I hope to meet head on.  My "Around the Craft Room" board is here and you can see that I have a number of projects that I would like to complete (or at least start).

You can see my other boards here.  I even started a board of my Modern Mantle projects.  You can follow any or all of my boards when you sign up for free with Pinterest.

Big Boy Bed!

I had been looking for a vintage wood headboard at garage sales all summer long and finally snagged a fantastic deal about a month ago.  I purchased a headboard and footboard for $1.  The only problem was that no support rails were included.  We stopped at a local Thrift Store a couple of days ago and found the needed rails for $10.  Hence, the late completion date even though my son's room has been painted for a month now.

My $1 bed find!

Steps to refinishing our vintage wood bed:

1. Find a bed (seemed like a long process for me, but paid off in cheapness!)
2. Sand bed to pull of smooth stain/varnish finish and make a decent surface to paint.
3. Prime bed.
4. Paint bed (this step will most likely need to occur more than once).
5. Put it all together!

Paint/Primer Application

Logan (sans shirt) likes to help!

Step 5 took us the longest amount of time after we realized that our existing bed rails would not work and that we needed to buy a different kind.  Then, we realized that our box spring was a little too wide.  Argh, but we decided to do without the box spring anyway so that the bed wouldn't be too high.  My husband made wood slat supports to act as the platform for the mattress and they fit perfectly in the rails.  Until...my husband testing it by sitting on the bed and the rails spread a bit, thereby dropping the newly created slats.  At that point he created additional support by using a threaded rod to pin the rails together at their midpoint.  We've got some highbrow engineering going on in this bed!

Everything now works perfectly and Logan spent an excited night barely sleeping on his big boy bed.

Logan's Bedroom- It's Finished

We were working hard to complete Phase 1 of my son's bedroom update before our Family Reunion during July 4th.  Everything was ready for the packed house, except for Logan's bed, we just completed that last night.  So, now I can share the images with you!

My goal was to paint over the pink walls (shown below) that were left over from the previous owner and create a room that my son could grow into and not grow out of.  I chose a medium brown tone that I knew could play up with brightly colored accessories.

Before Photo

I had used these book illustrations in Logan's old nursery and decided to add to them to create a vintage feel over this new bed.  The aluminum picture frames were, also, a holdover from the old nursery (at the old house).

The first thing I did after deciding on the wall color was picking cushions for the bench over the mechanical duct.  I found these great outdoor cushions at Walmart and bought three.  When I took them home I realized that I had about 6 inches of extra cushion, so I jumped on the sewing machine and trimmed one of them down.  I used that one in the middle section to make everything symmetrical and I don't think it's noticeable.  These cushions created my color scheme for the rest of the room as I finished picking accessories and curtains.

I bought the "Go Jump in the Lake" print/distressed board from an online Etsy retailer called Go Jump in the Lake.  We live right by Lake Michigan and I thought the slogan was appropriate.

I found this metal and wood children's desk at the Bethesda Resale Shop, locally, for $3 and we already had the small chair.  I have ideas about painting the globe with chalkboard paint, similar to here.

You can see a close-up shot of the paper lanterns (from Logan's 1st Birthday party here) and the model airplane (from his old nursery here).

My favorite thing about this room was being able to use so many items from the old room and changing everything up with pops of color.  My total expenses for the room ended up being around $150 and that's not too shabby.

Wall Art-Number Theory

I stopped by Hobby Lobby over the weekend, with my son in tow.  We had fun running though the giant store and looking at the random items for sale.  It really is a crafters paradise.  My goal for this trip, however, was to find cheap wall frames for the nursery.  I have a few projects in mind to create some art for the space, but it makes sense to buy the frame first and create later.

I managed to pick up a number of 11x14 aluminum frames with glass, but had to order the pre-cut mats online here (it was actually their Ebay store).  Let me say that I hate how expensive mat board and pre-cut mats are.  I have the tools to cut my own, but it doesn't really save me any money.

Now that I had the vessel, I decided to start the art.  I had a few inspiration photos and I keep seeing fun alphabet and numbers posters everywhere, so I created my own.

I was really happy with how my attempt worked out.  I used a AutoCAD template that I created 3 years ago for my other son's nursery and incorporated it into the piece.  It brings me a bit of nostalgia and ties the rooms together.  I pulled the colors off of the rug that arrived two days ago and created the whole thing in Photoshop.  The hardest part was deciding which fonts to use for the numbers.

Final Ideas for the Nursery

My tweaking of the nursery is almost done.  Now I just need to actually implement the decoration!

Here's my revised color board with the rundown of all the elements...

Things have changed a bit, except for the wall color. 

Purchased:

• Rug- Dash and Albert
• Front Facing book shelves- Ennospace
• Manzanita Branch and origami paper for Paper Cranes
• Curtains w/ rod at ceiling
• Storage bins at diaper console
• Replacement fan with light (From Menards)
• Old Book Mobile (hardback book purchased used)
• Roller Coaster Photo and Frame
• 6 Aluminum picture frames and mats (from Hobby Lobby)

Things already owned:

• Crib-Walmart Parklane 3-in-1
• Ladder Bookcase
• Changing Table (actually a high entertainment center)
• Eames Rocking Chair
• Side Table (garage sale find)

Things yet to purchase:

• Sconce
• Fitted Sheet
• Wall Color- Will use a low VOC Glidden paint  color matched to Behr Harbor 520
• Ceiling Color- Glidden Stone White GLC30

Everything is ready to start.  I'm hoping we can prep. and paint within the next week or so.  Did I mention that the baby is not due until November, I like to plan ahead, way ahead.

Now I Know-It's a Boy!

Now that I know that we are having a boy, I can get serious about the nursery.  I have been anxious to get started, to say the least!  I have been busy revising my idea board for the nursery, but I just keep coming up with more ideas so I really need to get myself in line.  My main concern is making sure items/colors don't clash and that I am doing things in the most cost effective way as possible.  (I'm cheap.)

Here's an example:

I saw this great seller on Etsy, Sylvia Photography Shop, and I got inspired with her photography.  She has this great shot of a Ferris Wheel that I was lusting after, then I realized that my husband took a photo of a wooden roller coaster 6 years ago that could create the same photographic effect. My results are below.

You can see the inspiration here.  My husband clued me into the fact the background uses a bokeh effect.  I manipulated the background and tweaked the photo using Photoshop. I'm going to order a large 20X16 glossy print and frame it to be installed in the new nursery. (Maybe over the rocking chair?)

Billiards Room Updated!

After a few months of having an empty Billiards Room, we finally have the pool table set up and ready to play.  You can see our lame attempt at filling this empty room in the photo below.

Things have really come together in this room and I really like the final result:

My Grandparents moved into a smaller apartment and gave away a lot of their possessions.  I was pleased to receive these signed illustrations by Thomas Shaddock.  The frames add some real character to the prints.  For years they hung above my Grandparents Living Room couch, so I enjoy remembering growing up and visiting them!

A few more items to note include the emblematic object that my husband created in his Freshman year of Architecture School.  So nicely done, that I need to showcase it.  The green chair is an original Eames fiberglass chair that we found in really bad shape and had refinished at an Autobody Shop.

 PS:  Do you like the name Billiards Room?  I decided that we needed to name our rooms based off of the Clue game.  Now I need a Conservatory!

Forever on a Poster

After watching Antiques Roadshow for years and seeing the many images forever immortalized on posters, I am excited to say that one of my husband's architectural masterpieces is getting it's own poster!

You can read the article about the park here.  It's a great place to take a walk and soak in some of Lake Michigan's beauty.  We tend to take all of our visitor's to the park at some point to "show off" the building!

I'm very proud of him and love that his building is being placed among a great history of South Shore posters.

Spicing up our Entry

Our front door was bare and needed something, anything.  It was so bare I never took a picture of it, so you will only see the after.

I wanted to have some low square pots with an eclectic mix of plants.  A few weeks ago we ran over to Walmart and found these square metal looking (actually plastic) pots for $25 each.  Their selection of plants was pretty decent, too, so we went ahead and purchased our medley of greenery.  I knew I wanted a variety of height and color that needed only partial sunlight:

• Magenta Impatiens
• Magenta Dragon Tree
• Asparagus Fern
• Coleus

Be assured this is not the end of our front door-scaping though.  I have a few ideas that I still want to implement.  I've been keeping my eye out for a larger doormat in magenta appropriate colors, but I haven't had any luck yet.  Some sort of decorative, but not country-fied/cheesy, door ornament is needed as well to make up for all the beige/tan at the front door.

Homemade Birthday Card

This is months late in posting, but I didn't want to miss sharing my homemade Birthday card for my husband.  I tend to make my own cards for Nathan as I think it lends a personal touch to the celebration.  This year I decided to draw a retro robot; my husband is very mechanically inclined and I thought this would be very fitting for him.  My son really liked the card too and kept trying to hold it and color it before I even got a chance to give it to Nathan. 

My trick for making my own cards is to find a random envelope and cut cardstock  with a fold to fit inside said envelope.  I, then, decorate as desired.  Sometimes I look up photos for inspiration and sketch my design in pencil with a final draft in pen, marker, or colored pencil.  Besides being cheaper than a store-bought card, the recipient know that thought and feeling went into it.  Nathan actually framed one of my cards and hung it next to his work computer.

Family Reunion Extravaganza (and T-Shirts)

My husband's family had a reunion over the Fourth of July weekend and we hosted it this year.  It is appropriately named the "Great Witte Gathering" and meets every other year in different locales across the Midwest.

Nathan and I hosted it this year and had a whopping 45 people hanging out and relaxing for the 3-day weekend.  For the past few reunions I have been lucky enough to design the shirts for this event.

I always have a lot of fun coming up with a theme.  This year was pretty easy as the colors were patriotic and I drew popcorn using AutoCAD and Photoshop to convey the "Pop into Valpo" theme.  As you may not know, we live in Valparaiso, Indiana which was home to Orville Redenbacher and still hosts the annual Popcornfest and Parade.  It wasn't a big leap to utilize that idea for the reunion!


A few things that are a must for our reunion is a group photo in which we were our reunion t-shirt. We take many photos of this group shot as the little ones tend to fidget.

GWG 2011

We, also, have a a skit night at every reunion.  Every family puts together a little performance that may involve a song, poem, play, or whatever.  They usually involve a bit of humor, too, and every gets a kick out of it.  Our skit was a reading and performance rendition of "An Ordinary Day" by Ken Nesbitt.  We had masks and props to act out what was happening in the poem.  Quick, easy, and a bit silly, so it fit us perfectly.

Another addition to this reunion was a home made Family Feud game.  (Seen below).  Each  family had, previously, filled out answers to our survey questions that were general, Bible, or family related and we compiled them into the top answers for our game.  Each team/family participated  in different rounds until the top teams faced off.  The winning team won a giant bag of gummi bears from a local candy company.

We had a great turn out this year with only 3 people not being able to attend.  It's great to reconnect with family that lives far away and see how we've grown over the years.