Extreme Makeover- Lauren’s Room Edition

Happy Spring everyone! I hope the weather is cooperating wherever you are today! Ours is so beautiful! I have to enjoy it now, because I know this summer is going to be very hot!

Last summer, Lauren was getting ready to move out to an apartment to go to college in another town.  This was a very difficult time for me. We always spent lots of time together and I knew this wouldn’t happen as often. I was excited for her and knew this was what was supposed to happen in life, but it was still a hard time as a mom. So to help myself in the process, I planned how I was going to redecorate her bedroom.  I knew I still wanted to keep it for her, because she would still be home quite a bit, but I couldn’t go any longer with this….pink!

Pink room

Sorry for the cat-it was the only picture I could find of the pink walls! Remember, this was before I was blogging!

Her room was soooo full of stuff! We went through every item in her drawers, closet, shelves, everything! The room she was moving into was furnished, so I would still have the furniture, but everything else was taken down or removed. Lauren was sad to see the pink go, but I just had to have something a little more soothing. I knew I was moving my scrapbooking stuff in here and there was no way I was going to be able to work with that pink staring at me all the time!

Laurens Room

Tada!

The first step was to primer and paint all the trim. The trim was the same as the hallway, which you can see here. This included all the baseboards, door and door frame, closet door and frame, and the windows and frames. I spent two weekends just on the trim! Finally, I could do the walls. I used Concepts paint from Orchard Supply, semi-gloss in Simply White. Ahhh! Love the simplicity!

Laurens Room 4

The bed

The full-size bed was my mom’s sisters bed from when she was a girl. My cousin had it for awhile and repainted it, but now it is ours. I could use another paint job, but I kind of like the chipped look. I purchased the white comforter, green pillowcase and little white and green pillow from thrift stores. The pink boho bedspread was Lauren’s from before but she got a new one for Christmas.

Laurens Room 2

I ordered the curtains from Zulily and the blue pillowcases are from Walmart. Lauren found the pink and white dog fabric awhile ago and I made it into a large bolster pillow. I wanted to keep a little bit of pink for Lauren so she would still feel at home (although she still complains about the pink walls being gone!)

Laurens Room 7

Old changing table

There was actually a larger dresser in here, but my other daughter, Haley, wanted it, so this was the changing table from when the girls were babies. It was brown and I repainted it white and added new handles. The smaller size was a better fit too.

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Love this little detail

I really like how this turned out! My younger daughter used this box to store her American Girl shoes and accessories in. It was a bright blue and had yellow stars for knobs. I painted it navy blue with white drawers and found these compass knobs at Hobby Lobby. I loved how it went with the maps that I hung above the bed.

Laurens Room 8

Compass knobs

I added this metal tree from Hobby Lobby, the little wooden box, a blue bottle and a little girl with her blankie, because my girls had blankies too.

Laurens Room 9

Some little extras

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Sitting spot

Opposite the dresser is a little sitting spot.  I added an old chair from my grandpa, a Target ottoman found at Goodwill, Lauren’s old nightstand and a polka-dot basket from HomeGoods. The blanket I got for Christmas, the pink dog from Target and the whale pillow I made from a t-shirt soften up the chair.

Laurens Room 14

The wall hangings include a metal star, a pink framed chalkboard with a giant ‘L’ and a great print from one of my favorite bloggers, Karianne at Thistlewood Farms. You can find your own print here.

Laurens Room 15

You are a Rockstar!

I think all of us need to hear these words once in awhile!

Across the room, next to the door, are some bookshelves we installed when Lauren was younger.  I left them painted green, for now, and just restyled them. I added some old suitcases that I keep fabric in, and some other odds and ends.

Laurens Room 16

Laurens Room 18

Some of Lauren’s favorite things.

On this side are a couple of pictures of best friends, her Harry Potter books and James Herriot books, a small tea set from Holland and a Disneyland snowglobe. I also added a replica golf cart to remind her of her golfing days!

Laurens Room 17

Old pink bead lamp

Isn’t this lamp awesome! It used to hang in a hair dresser shop. I got it from a yard sale and it was full of sticky hairspray.  I took some cleaning to get it to look good, but I love how funky it is!

Laurens Room 26

Star light, star bright

I also added these hanging stars above the shelves.  Lauren decoupaged the middle one with lots of pieces from an old book. It took her a long time, but it looks great!

The last piece of space is filled up with this old teacher desk. Haley and I picked this up from a Freecycle ad.

Laurens Room 23

Old school desk

As soon as I saw the color, I knew I had to have it! I touched it up a bit, but not much. It sat on my porch for almost 2 years before I finally got to use it.  I knew I wanted it for crafts and scrapbooking because it has such a large work surface.  The drawers are really deep and I can keep my paper and other scrapbooking supplies in them.

Laurens Room 20

Ribbon!

I use this plant stand for a ribbon holder. It’s so nice to be able to see what I have available.  I also have a couple of jars of buttons.

Laurens Room 21

More ribbon!

The blue jars on top are filled with the small scraps of ribbon. I won these jars from a blogger and I love them!  I had to find a way to show them off!

Laurens Room 25

Odds and ends

These are just some extra little pieces. The basket holds miscellaneous stuff. I painted the little drawers sitting in the back and was going to add words to the front, but I didn’t have enough sticker letters and then couldn’t find the same ones in the store. So, it’s still sitting there from before Christmas! I will get to it sometime!

Laurens Room 19

I hung this bulletin board above the desk and added some of my favorite people and things so that I can be inspired each time I look at it-my girls, my parents, a couple of my pets and funny card and an inspirational saying.

Laurens Room 27

I hope you enjoyed this little tour! I had fun decorating and it helped fill my time. I enjoy making it look nice for when Lauren comes home and stays for a bit. I think this room has become a beauty after its makeover!

Sunshine and Blessings

Pin Art

Well…I’m bringing you another craft that I found on Pinterest.  Today, I’m bringing you some pin art.

And I don’t mean using pens, I used push pins.  I’m going to give you a brief description of how I did it and what I made from my pin art.

Items Needed

Black Poster board

Push Pins (they can be gold or silver depending on what you want)

A Pencil

An Exacto Knife

I started by cutting the poster board to the size I wanted.  Originally I wanted my board to be certain size to fit inside a frame.  But, because of the absence of an exacto  knife in my apartment, I had to use scissors…Not the best choice for trying to cut a poster board.  So, in my failed attempt, I tried something else.

A wonderful kitchen knife!

I decided to change my plans for the size of the board.  I measured the poster board and cut it into three equal 10 inch by 20 inch pieces.  And using my handy dandy kitchen knife, I cut the boards to use for my projects.

I then text some friends to ask them for a word or phrase that was inspirational to them. I got some responses and was then able to actually start the project.

To start the next part, I drew on the poster board with a pencil to get my design on the board.  Don’t be afraid to erase and try again if you don’t like how it looked.  I also wrote in cursive to make the word or phrase more elegant.

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And now the pinning begins!  I bought a box of 300 gold tacks from the Dollar Tree to get started.  I slowly put the pins along the pencil lines that I drew to get the pins where I wanted.  Also, if you don’t like where the pins are placed, take them out carefully and replace them where you can’t see the hole you first made.

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Now, inevitably, you will run out of tacks.  Fortunately, 300 tacks only cost $1, so it wasn’t too expensive.

And…here are some of the finished products!

pin art  dream big

This was created for my friend and co-worker Jessica who found inspiration in this Norman Vaughan quote.

pin art just go

This one was for one of my roommates, Bailey. It is now hanging above her window.

pin art hope

My roommate Lydia loved this simple word that inspires her everyday.

pin art friends

I had pins left over, so I found this quote in Google about friendship and decided to make this for my apartment living room.

Now…you may notice that I didn’t make one for myself…and my last roommate still hasn’t told me her word or phrase.  But I had more fun making these for other people and not myself.  Now if only my roommate Hannah will tell me her word or phrase so I can create some artwork for her!

Do you have a word or phrase that is inspirational to you that you would make artwork out of?  Let us know in the comments below!

sparkle

My Beachy Spring Decorating

We are having some very lovely weather here in Central California. Unfortunately, we need rain and snow in the mountains very badly.  Could all of you in the snowy places, send us some?  Thanks!  Anyways, the sunshine makes me want to decorate for spring. Lighten things up and dream of some beach time!

Springtime!

Springtime!

I love decorating with seashells. They are neutral, plus have interesting shapes and I can fit them in anywhere. They go especially well with all my turquoise. I am trying to slowly go to a more neutral color scheme, so my shells will still fit in perfectly.

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My style

This shelf is in my dining/computer area. I have had it a very long time.  It used to be that wonderful hunter green, until it got a fresh coat of paint. I also changed out the hooks for some old doorknobs. That glass one took a lot of glue and drying time to get it to stay! IMG_2586

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Old doorknobs

Lauren decoupaged this frame with old book pages, I have had the turquoise jar for a long time, the ‘S’ came from Michaels and the little glass bowl holds a bunch of old keys. IMG_2583

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Simple and neutral

Here we have a spindle I covered with twine, an adorable picture of the girls when they were small and a jar given to me by Haley.

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KIrkland bottle

This cute little bird drawing in the seashell frame was drawn by Lauren when she was in grade school. She didn’t like it, but I thought it was perfect! I have had it framed in different areas of the house ever since.

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Such a sweet little picture

I bought this small crate from the Railroad Museum in Sacramento when the girls were young and we visited the museum with my sister, who lived in Sacramento at the time.  I have a small sea urchin bowl on top and a seashell and jar inside.  I won a 6 pack of these wonderful turquoise Ball jars from another blog. I filled it partway with sand and added a few small sand-dollars. IMG_2581 Underneath the shelf I have a white metal record-player table.  Remember those! Really big CD’s! I have an old turquoise bucket that is actually an ice-cream maker bucket from my grandma.  I have no idea how old this thing is.  But the color is perfect! I’m sure Grandma new thought it would be used this way! I filled it with branches and flowers from my yard. I love the blossoms! IMG_2588 Well, that’s the start of spring decorating! I am still working on the hallway and hope to have that done soon so I can show it off.  Hope you all have a wonderful day! PhotoScan Link Parties we are partying at! callingallcrafters15     TWCJLF-Button-300x300   PartyBanner Inspire-Me-Monday-Link-Party  Create-Link-Inspire_500px1  lou lou girls linky party_thumb[2] http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/2015/03/tweak-it-tuesday-131.html http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2015/03/258th-inspire-me-tuesday.html#more http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2015/03/show-tell-link-party-time-5.html http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2015/03/show-and-share-no251.html http://www.hopeineveryseason.com/ http://diybydesign.blogspot.com/2015/03/winter-blues-wednesday-its-party-209.html 35lujig  Untitled+(5)    linkpartybutton_zps9741453e Brag About It VMG206 650    dotelltuesdayheader1 DIYLinkPartyButton 55 link Party 7-2014   Link-Party-Header  Whimsy-Wednesday-Image2 YWWsnip  image1 (10)Moonlight-and-Mason-Jars-Buttonnmo9thursday-154/ http://acreativeprincess.blogspot.com/2015/03/its-party-200.html ImpartingGracebutton  bb1  creative-inspirations The-Creative-Exchange-FB-Logo1  unnamed_zps43220571  show-off-friday-button-150x150135  Let's Get Real Weekly  fridaysunfolded4banner  week1  Be.You_.Tiful-Link-Party-Button-500x5001  New Party Button for WTDW resized to 240  FFF_01 Friday-Favoritescollage-10-2014-300x150  party button (R2)  2-1  1-Funky_Junks_Party_Junk_link_party.29-AM  fav