A New Helper Tower and Metal Cafe Chairs - eek!

We have been crafting, building and doing kids projects by the truckload at our house. I think we are in serious withdrawals from the constant work of re-habbing our old 1950's house which is still in escrow or 'house purgatory' as we like to call it. I regret a thing or two about buying our old house, but I always loved working on it - repainting the walls over and over, ripping up all the flooring, cabinets on and on. I think though we've found the fix while we're renting in building projects. Ana White is brilliant and her free woodworking plans are awesome and easy and we are flying through them, I think up to seven now! 

I have always wanted a helper tower for the girls and now thanks to Ana and $15 we have one ;) I do all the finishing and Joe does all the wood cutting etc. and this is just finished with some sample satin orange paint with polyurethane on top. 

Lilly really likes it the most. 

Oh and for the longest time I wanted some metal cafe chairs and I finally bought these from Overstock.com. They had super reviews but I just couldn't imagine that they would be great for $50 each but they are awesome! Substantial, stack-able and both retro and modern at the same time. I can't imagine them not working for us somewhere no matter what our next home set up is like. Now of course I want another set of four in red so I can use both sets and host an outdoor dinner like Nie Nie. 

We sold our black hutch on Craigslist and put up some Ikea kitchen bars and shelf over the girl's little table. The little bins above it have napkins, silverware, small straws and cloth placemats so Ava can set her place at whatever table we are eating at. She really likes the process. We try to sneak in some Montessori style where we can ;) Oh and the clips for hanging the artwork are also from Ikea, they are curtain clips that fit the $1.99 kitchen bars perfectly.

These are my awesome set of chapatti rolling pins Joe gave me for my birthday. I just used long galvanized nails to hang them.

Ah having a little space to eat in the kitchen is so nice! Our other dining space is all carpeted and it was becoming such a stress with Lilly to eat there three times a day! 

To The (play) Market

(photo: Lilly forgot she was dressed up and just kept on playing)

I am always looking for ways to re-create the type of environment Ava would encounter in a preschool in our home. I think staying at home is so valuable for her but I also don’t want her watching T.V. all day. We have a classroom style calendar on the back of our pantry door in the kitchen, we have lots of Montessori style learning centers and of course the playroom is pretty cool. The concept of a ‘store’ though seemed like something Ava would really enjoy and there are obviously millions of teaching moments built in! Plus we already had copious amounts of wooden, felt, and crocheted food as well as an adorable shopping cart and a DIY play kitchen to cook it all up in. So I started with a $40 craigslist Pottery Barn Kids Market (fyi PBK doesn't sell the wood markets anymore but Melissa and Doug’s is pretty nice or these plans are good as well to make your own).

(photo - haha I don't even know what this face is about)

I made a new canopy, we took the back off the market so Ava could access the shelves from both sides, we added wheels so it can be pushed against the wall when not in use, we made the stationary chalkboard panel into a door and then filled it up with food and bins!

(photo - here you can see the door aka the 'fridge' and how our 10 month old is about to vandalize the market by dumping every single item on the floor something that makes our three year old wish she could ban her from shopping!)

Ava’s grandparents gave her an awesome Learning Resources cash register. I can’t say enough good things about it. She also got a Learning Resources phone that can be programmed to play a message when she dials our phone number correctly (btw it took her about a week to learn my 9 digit cell number). Both add big time to the play value of the market. We of course take phone orders and credit cards.

(photo: one of the cutest things about this particular market is the back part of the counter that has a little plexi window, we use it for baked goods)

I am planning a kit to flip it into a flower market and a kit for an ice cream shop for Christmas! I am pinning away ideas over on pinterest! I think I will also add some custom grocery bags and a logo to the top eventually.

(photo we still love, love, love the DIY play kitchen we made Ava two years ago and it is so fun with the market. I am still planning to upgrade the oven with a light and rack but otherwise the plan has worked out great and I wouldn't change a thing.)

Kitcheny Windows

Our rental kitchen needed some 'kitcheny' window treatments, so I came up with these. 

The white in the rental house felt a little stark to me at first. We are allowed to paint but most of ceilings in the house are very high so we have only done an accent wall in the playroom and in the girl's room. After living here for almost four months though I am starting to see the white walls as part of a really good challenge. Sometimes paint can seem like decorating and styling but it really isn't. 

The rocking chair and little Ikea table seem to be working there for now so I am leaving them alone even if they are a little odd. It is so nice to have a place for Ava to sit while I am cooking or a place to feed and rock Lilly while Ava has her afternoon snack. 

Sewing details: I ordered two yards of an Amy Butler fabric called 'Lotus Pond Tangerine' from and eBay seller. I even lined the back with some unbleached cotton I had that I pieced together, which made the valances so much nicer. They were so easy - well except that for some reason when I did the top seam I let it get all crazy and then I waited a week or so before ripping the top seams and re-stitching them (ugh). If you want more of a tutorial let me know - but really you can easily sew a rectangle!

We made a bed!

Alright well just a headboard - but a king sized headboard. 

We used this plan for the reclaimed wood look headboard from Ana-White and these dimension mods for a king. We used lots of tips from Create and Delegate who made the same headboard last year. You can click on the photos below to see it larger. The bed plans were inspired by the Mason Headboard from Pottery Barn. All of Ana's plans are super easy and many of them (including the one we used) require wood cuts that you could have done at the hardware store or in our case do at home with something simple like a compound miter saw. 

The Construction Details: The plans were perfect and we had no complaints there. The finish came out a tad bit darker than I had planned but it probably works better with the other furniture. It also looks a bit darker in the photos (especially in the one below) than it is in reality. We purchased the least expensive pine available at Lowe's. The only other materials were screws, finish nails, glue, wood filler, sand paper and two cans of stain. We didn't use pocket hole screws or a jig, instead we used a countersink bit and just filled the holes. Also we added some supports down the back using the scrap wood that aren't part of the plans.  After construction we filled the parts that didn't line up correctly because of the cheap wood we used. Then Ava and I used different tools and hammers to bang it up like crazy. My favorite tool was a textured hammer it made the edges look great. Next we sanded it like crazy with a power sander. Finally we finished it in three coats of stain applied with wide foam brushes. The first two coats were done with 'Minwax Wood Finish' in 'Dark Walnut' after each coat I used a rag to wipe the stain and wiped the most from the center of the boards. The final coat was 'Minwax Polyshades' in 'Antique Walnut Satin' and it was pretty stressful because is dries so fast and can get so gummy and drippy. In the end we found that one person applying it and one person following behind with another foam brush to make sure it was even worked best. If I was doing it again I might have used a Polyshade in 'Early American' to warm up the base 'Dark Walnut' with a little red. 

We haven't hung any art yet but there are some other fun details in this room. 

This table was an antique from my husband's parents that we re-finished before we got married. The knobs are from Anthropologie and I made a slipcover for the little stool below the table last year. 

The tall mirror in between the windows was an amazing find from American Signature Furniture. The edges are antiqued and it is 7ft tall. The curtains are shower curtains I found on clearance at Target same with the bedding. 

We have had all of the other furniture for five years or so. My mercury glass collection is on top of the armoire. 

worth sharing 2

  

Imogene's Antlers and these free downloadable paper dolls would be the sweetest gift for a little girl. (Thanks Design Mom and Silly Eagle Books for the idea!)

You should check out Silly Eagle Books because you will really like her! (or I do anyway)

Ava is going to LOVE tracing animal projections - we have been working on the idea of tracing and she is figuring it out - such a smart girl. 

The word from the boss is that we are headed toward a Go Diego Go third birthday party this summer (ugh) so I have been looking for some cute ideas but finding nothing - I am thinking maybe I will just make Ava a rescue pack, have a Diego cake and then just do lots of girly orange and blue. Seriously why can't she just want a cat party like this one - I NEED to make those little cat carrier party favors.

Shop for earrings and this doll and especially this singing bird in a cage at DarlyBird. How cute would an easter basket with things from DarlyBird be?! 

I want to stencil an accent wall with something from here!

Good people SWEAR by the CeraVe line of skincare and it is really affordable. The ladies I know that use it talk about it as if it were a religion. My moisturizer is almost out and I think I am going to pick some up. I love the title of the most popular review of it on Amazon: "more effective than steroids, immune suppressants, or light treatments" ... like a religion.

Finally, I haven't tried it yet but I really needed this advice for removing white heat marks from furniture. 

Lilly's Room - The New Nursery

Long wait right? But introducing Lilly's nursery (we went with yellow). First few photos taken by BlueRayne Photography during Lilly's newborn photo session at our home.

Then here are mine - not as good but closer up ;)

Corner by closet with land of nod bench, vintage dresses & hangers, most accessories from land of nod and piggy bank was a gift. Peg shelf $8 from Michaels. 

I made this pennant with vintage handkerchiefs. The doll triptych is from PBK - $14.95! Yay!

Some fun to the left of the dress up cabinet which is actually an old computer cabinet to which I added some thin strips of wood across the front insets and painted it. More on this fun project later. Flowers left Land of Nod. Basket PBK via Ebay. Mirror Land of Nod matches the rug. 

The picture could be better but these are three framed 3 little bears cards from Sarah Jane Studios. 

Pennant close-up. 

A shot with the rug. ABC art to the left from TJ Maxx and fairy art to the right also PBK ($10 yay!) - personalized by me. Mobile PBK.

The table and lamp are vintage along with the quilt hanging off the changing table to the right. The lamp shade is Pottery Barn Teen. The prints are from here. 

There you have it!

Ava's New Bedroom - Toddler Bedroom

This is Ava's old room - it changed a bit from these over almost two years - this is from before she was born hence the bassinet (that went in our room) in the middle of the room, etc. But you get the idea. Lots of pink, lots of Penelope from Pottery Barn Kids - I might have made more stuff for Ava's room but we have a big generous family that sent lots of furniture and PBK accessories ;) I think we got a package everyday for three months before she was born. (note: you can always click on a photo to see it larger)

*OLD ROOM*

*NEW ROOM*

The new room has the same basic accessories but new furniture and bigger bedding. We are all LOVING the full sized bed with nice new mattress. A place for guests plus it is so much easier for one person to lay with Ava when she is having a tough night than to take her to our bed where it is uncomfortable and she is super restless. 

Still not done in the new room - lining on the closet curtains; make a flag garland to go over the closet; finding a big message board to go over the play kitchen; moving the curtains and rods - waiting to find out the sex of #2 before we move those though.

See besides really needing curtains up, I need something over the famous kitchen...I think a big message board will be perfect, we can fill it with art and pictures of family. I love the cute steps that go to her bed and seriously how much do you wish you had that tent in your room when you were growing up!

Once the curtains are lined and I make a really cute flag pennant the closet will be adorable. Most of her toys are organized in her closet on shelves so the curtains are better than a door. 

Ava is setting up the cutest lunch for her dolls 'Chloe' and 'Mary'... it is so fun to watch her pretend with her dolls, even though she isn't always very nice to them ;)

Those pink frames over the dresser are so cute because they have pockets in the back where you can slide kids art without taking them down. 

At some point when I wasn't looking Ava started watching some Qik videos of herself on the iPhone... she can seriously do more than I can with it...thanks to the Cupcake app I think...

Glass Knob Heaven - For a Steal!

First, thanks to everyone for all the nice comments and emails about last night's post. Tonight we had homemade beef stew, James Taylor vinyl, and Slatkin for BBW Margarita Candles for dinner ;) I didn't think Ava would notice but she said the candles were 'waving' and that we should all 'dance and sing to song, dance, dance' when we turned on the record player. After dinner we danced in the living room and played face up memory 10 times. But it did feel special and even Joseph thought it was really nice.

On to tonight's post!

When I was in Pottery Barn Kids last I noticed that they sell separate designer glass and ceramic knobs so you can 'upgrade' their furniture. This seems funny considering you are buying new, pricey furniture from them and it should come with any knob set you want! Still it is a really good idea and I have done this to thrift store antiques we painted several times. We also had all glass knobs in our kitchen before we re-did it. However, I have a great 'secret' source for glass and ceramic knobs that are cheap - especially considering a glass pottery barn knob is $10!

www.dlawlesshardware.com
Free shipping on orders over $50, plus they sell lots of similar replica items.

Peacock Blue Glass Knob $1.86

Antique Lemon Yellow Glass Knob $2.67

Antique Milk Blue Glass Drawer Pull $4.41

Ceramic Knob Light Mocha Ceramic Knob $1.87