Brecken's Nursery: Chipboard Letters

The letters over Brecken's bed was the last project I had left and actually only got it done a few weeks ago. But I am very glad all the details in his nursery are done!

I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up the letters of his name in Chipboard letters. They were on a half off sale, so I got all the letters for $7. I painted all the letters with some leftover light gray paint from his room. I wanted to cover the letters with the same material as the pillow, crib skirt and book slings because I had some leftover. I put the letters upside down on the fabric and traced the letters onto the fabric. I then cut out the traced letter from the fabric.

I then used my favorite craft tool: Modge Podge, to attach the fabric to the chipboard letter. I not only glued the bottom of the fabric to the chipboard letter, but also gave a nice couple coats to the top as well. I let them dry between coats, but this ensured that the fabric was bonded to the letter and gave it a nice shiny look.

I then had a piece of thick foam board that I cut a large rectangle out that I could use as the background for the letters. I covered the foam in leftover gray fabric from the chair. I glued all the fabric down except for the corners. I then used strong glue to bond the letters to the fabric covered board. With the corners of the board that I left uncovered, I nailed the board to the wall. Then I tucked the leftover fabric to cover the corners between the wall and board so you could not tell where I nailed it in. It looks nice but I have no idea how I will get that board down! :)

Brecken's Nursery: Frame Makeover

There was a large wall in Brecken's Room that needed some kind of wall hanging. I already had my two painted canvases so I needed something that was a bit different. I went to Goodwill and bought some old & (ugly! Do you seen the one with the dolls in it?) frames. I then bought white, golden yellow, blue and dark gray spray paint to makeover the frames.

They turned out pretty awesome. I then put a variety of photos and mementos in the frames. Two of the frames feature a picture of Todd and I as babies with our parents. We then have a picture of us with Brecken in another.

 

 Another frame has the lyrics of "Jesus Loves Me"

One particular frame was pretty big and had a sturdy piece of cardboard as part of its backing. I decided I wanted to use this as a chalkboard. I had some leftover chalkboard paint so I painted the piece of cardboard with it. It turned out pretty cool.

 Other frames have Brecken's footprints from the hospital, his ultrasound photo, a mirror, a piece of artwork a friend made, a photo of our dog Bella, and a newborn photo of Brecken.

One of the frames I bought did not have a back on it. I picked up a chipboard letter "P" and a pack of buttons.

 

I covered the letter in white tissue paper and glued the yellow, dark gray, and light gray buttons on it with a hot glue gun. I tied on a piece of white ribbon to the letter. I put two nails in the wall for the hollow frame to sit on and then tied the ribbon to these nails to give the letter the illusion of floating.

Brecken's Nursery: Custom Made Art

When it came to the artwork, I knew what I wanted but I knew I wouldn't be able to find what I had in mind. I love making my own art - it is cheap and (most of the time) fun. I used canvases I had around the house, cut out printed letters, paint and alot of Modge Podge.

I absolutely love this piece of art and it turned out exactly what I was thinking. I love this little song and the lyrics are perfect for nursery decor. The colors of the nursery are in the song: sunshine yellow and grey. So perfect! I know it probably wasn't the proper paint to paint on a canvas, but I used leftover paint from the stripes to paint the dark gray so that all the colors matched.

I got the inspiration for this print from a piece of artwork I saw at Target. I loved the print because an alphabet print is the perfect nursery decor but it also sneaks the words "I love you" in perfectly. The Target print was cute but was not the right colors for his nursery. Obviously I couldn't have unmatching colors in the nursery! :)

Brecken's Nursery: Book Slings

I had an empty wall in Brecken's Room and I was thinking about doing a bookcase there, but realized with it being a small room, I didn't want it to seem cluttered and too full. I had seen this idea for book slings on a blog at this link. If you go to that link, you will find the full tutorial to make these book slings. They are fairly easy to make and look really cool! I used extra yellow chevron fabric that I used for the crib skirt and a pillow to make these. They really add alot to this small wall and can store Brecken's favorite books. It is alot less cumbersome than a large bookshelf.

Brecken's Nursery: Chair Makeover

I picked up the hideous brown chair at Goodwill for $15. It is pretty comfy, just pretty ugly.

 I went to the fabric store and picked up about seven yards of fabric to recover the chair and fashion a slipcover of sorts. I bought the gray fabric on an awesome sale and paid about $30 for all seven yards. So that makes what I spent on the chair a whopping $45. Don't ask me how I fashioned this "slipcover" - I did not use a sewing machine - I used a mix of cutting, stuffing in cracks, fabric glue and pins. It wasn't the most conventional way to slipcover a chair but it works! You may have seen the chair before on the blog. It is the perfect place to take Brecken's monthly photos.

Brecken's Nursery: Lanterns & Puffs

When I was looking for nursery inspiration photos for the baby, even before I knew we were having a boy, I fell in love with pictures of hanging works of art consisting of lanterns and "puffs" as I call the tissue paper balls. Whether it was a boy or girl, I was bound to have one of these works of arts. Once I found out it was a boy, I started to plan the yellow and gray nursery and this was one key element I was going to have. 

 

 I had two unused white lanterns in my house that I had in college and I ordered a pack of tealish blue Martha Stewart lanterns off of Amazon to help tie in some different textures into the mobile. I then made yellow and blue puffs from tissue paper. I attached clear fishing line to all the puffs and lanterns so I could hang them.

I also made a dot garland from gray paper. I used a circle punch to make the dots then used my sewing machine to tie them together.

I had a board laying around my house so I drilled holes into the board. Then I strung the fishing line through the holes to hang the puffs and lanterns, using a strong tape to attach them to the top of the board. I then drilled the board of puffs and lanterns to ceiling. I later used a staple gun to reinforce the fishing line to the board.

Brecken's Nursery: This Little Light of Mine

I have had this adorable yellow lamp since I was 11. It was in my bedroom at my parent's house growing up, in my college dorms and apartments, and in our "den" at our house. It has gotten alot of use and I wanted to use it still in Baby's Room - but is wasn't the right shade of yellow. Nothing a little paint can't fix! 

Here is the newly made over lamp: 

I painted it the same shade of gray as the dark gray on the striped wall with some leftover paint. I got a new lampshade at Target for $12.99 so it was a fairly cheap lamp makeover. I still have the little yellow lampshade and I am sure I will utilize this for another project down the line!