Nursery: A Chair With a History

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments on our Adventure Accent Wall for our little Sweet P! 

We wanted to share our favorite part of our nursery... the upholstered rocking chair. Not only are we in love with this transformation, but we love the history behind it. This solid wood rocking chair was in my nursery 32 years ago, and the same chair belonged to my grandparents and even my great-grandfather before that. It's a sturdy piece with beautiful lines. I was so excited when my parents sent it our way... but of course, I wanted to update it a bit and make it more comfortable for our use.

The original oak finish has held up quite well throughout it's lifetime. But it was a little more orange-tinted than we wanted. I sanded the finish down to the raw wood using a orbital sander (and the orbital sander attachment on my multi-tool to get into the tighter areas). The edges had roughened up over time, so this gave the wood a nice, smooth finish as well.

After sanding the wooden frame down, we fell in love with the raw finish. But all wood needs to be protected... and even a clear poly finish will turn orange over time. After a few test spots, we decided to stain the wood with Minwax Weathered Oak water-based stain. Then we used a thin layer of Minwax's White Pickling Stain (brushed on thin and wiped off quickly) to achieve the final finish. This gave the chair the raw, weathered finish we were seeking.

We DIY'd and thrifted most of the items for the nursery, so we splurged and sent this baby out to get professionally reupholstered. And I'm so glad we spent the money to do that. This chair will fit in great with the rest of the decor in our house (after we're done using it in the nursery) and it'll last for several more lifetimes.

We asked the upholsterer to add foam and batting (since much of the original had worn down over the years). And we wanted the fabric to wrap over the top of the chair. Because laying a sleep-deprived, new-parent head against a hard, wooden surface doesn't sound comfortable at all!

Justin and I picked out the fabric (from JoAnn's) and left the rest up to the pros. The details are gorgeous and we are so happy with the final results.

The nursery has become our favorite room in the house. Even though we're not rocking a little one in the chair quite yet, we do love just sitting in here and thinking of the future. Our arms will be full very soon though!

 

More nursery updates will be coming soon!

The Nursery: A Mountain Accent Wall

Hi guys! Remember that nursery we were working on? We announced our plan for it way back in October. If you happen to remember what it looks like you'll notice that our end result is a little different. It took a few tweaks here and there before we came to a final design, but it came together in the end. And now we are ready to welcome our little babe into a space fit for a little man or little lady.

 

 

Today we want to share with all of you the accent wall that we created with a wooden stamp. We knew we wanted to stencil "mountains" on one accent wall in this fun little adventure nursery, but we didn't want them to be confused for clouds (like in the design I created for our mood board). I came across this inspirational design from Vintage Revivals, and it was something both dad and I could agree on. Vintage Revivals calls them triangles... I call them abstract mountains.

 

 

 

First, we chose a neutral paint color for the walls. Did you really expect anything else? Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore is a neutral color that looks either tan or gray depending on the reflection of light in the space. We thought it would serve as a great canvas for our accent wall and for the overall design. The Classic Gray would also give us the subtle contrast we were looking for. We ended up using a paint we already had on hand for the mountainscape  - Simply White by Benjamin Moore. (This is the same color as our trim, we just used an eggshell finish which was leftover from our Master Bathroom).

Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore

The process to create the accent wall was easy peasy. I grabbed a scrap piece of wood from the garage and cut it in the shape of a triangle (8" x 4" x 4"). Then I wrapped the wooden triangle in one of Justin's old t-shirts and stapled it tight into place, creating a handle with the excess fabric. It took us one full day to complete this one wall. Including one trip to Home Depot to buy a laser level. Then another trip to the store to purchase replacement batteries for the laser level. A laser level is definitely a necessity when it came to completing this project!

 

For the application of paint, I preferred to brush the paint on the stamp before applying it to the wall rather than dipping. The brush gave me more control over how much paint each stamp used, which prevented the paint from bleeding out of the edges once the stamp was applied to the wall. Although I tried to brush the paint on the stamp evenly, I did it quickly and carelessly because I like the variation the stamp created from mountain to mountain. I think it makes each triangle unique and gives the wall a less 'stenciled' look.

We can't stop gazing at this accent wall. Maybe because we love the sense of whimsy it adds to the nursery..or maybe because I have all these extra hormones right now and the thought that this room is going to be where my little one lays his or her head each night makes me all teary-eyed and happy.

 



 

 

 

As for the countdown to when there will be a little pea napping in the crib... only baby knows. But it will definitely be in 3 weeks or less! This swollen and achy momma is hoping for less...

 



 

 For those that have asked, here's one last picture for you. We are officially 9 months preggo and ready to meet our little one. Any day now!

 

 

Yup, that's me still trying to squeeze my swollen self into non-maternity clothes... I may regret that later when my wardrobe is all stretched out!

Thanks for reading! We'll have more nursery updates for you soon.

Adding Crown Molding to Coved Ceilings

I'm so excited to share this next project with you all! And this is one item on our to-do list that we've been so anxious to scratch off. I feel like I say that for every project. But it's true. We have a very long list of to-do's around here.

Today, I'm talking specifically about crown molding. Our home had no crown when we moved in. Which wasn't common in 1950 ranches, so this doesn't come as a surprise. We love the feel crown molding adds to a room so we plan to install it throughout the house (with the exception of our family room - where we have a vaulted ceiling, and the master bathroom - which has cedar trim instead).

Here's where we are at on our "Crown Molding Install List"

• Kitchen - done
• Guest Bedroom - done
• Nursery - done (we'll share the updates soon!)
• Master Bedroom - done (we'll share more updates soon!)
• Guest Bathroom
• Sunroom
• Sitting Room - keep reading!
• Dining Room
• Foyer

Crown molding is a challenge in itself. In fact, this is one project I'm very happy to hand off to our contractor friend. I've installed crown (the fancy crown) a total of 1 time... and it was the longest installation in the history of crown installations.

Our current home has 3 rooms with coved ceilings. Which are so lovely! But, I wanted to try something different to class these rooms up a bit. See, we've been in the process of adding crown molding to each room in our house and I didn't want the dining room, sitting room, and foyer to feel left out just because they had a fabulous cove. We decided that there was no reason we couldn't use the same crown molding we've been using... and you know what? We love it!

 

Crown molding adds so much detail to a room, and I think it really adds quite a bit of modern class to that classic cove.

 

Installing crown molding can be a little tricky, especially when you don't have a wall AND a ceiling to nail it to. So we added a support brace first to give us more surface area to nail the crown into.

 

 

Like so.

 



The Christmas tree and stockings have since been removed... this just shows how long ago I wrote this post!

 

 

What do you think? Would you add crown molding to a coved ceiling?

 

My little pillow squasher wasn't willing to move for a photo shoot. So welcome to real life in our house. Where the dogs rule the roost and all pillows serve as secondary beds.

Our Master Bathroom Reveal

Yay! We are here to reveal the updates we've completed in our master bath. This room has been months (literally) in the making. We've worked on it here and there between other projects, but it never took priority. Now that we have a little bundle that isn't going to wait to arrive until we are done updating our home, we had to wrap up this project ASAP. Here's the final (final for now) en suite:

 

Of course, there's no use for an "after" picture until you view the bleak beginnings. Broken medicine cabinet, poorly patched drywall, unfinished trim, and outdated finishes.

 

 

We had to replace the vanity top and faucet shortly after move-in, thanks to some crumbling drain lines, so I pulled out the mirror at that time. It was bad; trust me on this one. No "before" picture necessary. That oddly unfinished molding and trim was there the whole time...

 

 

 

We're just happy as bees that this room came together with some fairly simple (and cheap) updates! It just required a bit of manpower (or pregnant lady power) to get it looking like it does today. There's no stopping a lady with a belly and a nail gun. Have I mentioned how much I love my nail gun? Huge heart eyes to my hubby who finally caved and bought me my nail gun and compressor set last year. Best. Christmas. Ever.
 



This room came in under a serious low budget. It really helped that the last homeowners left some vital wood scraps in the garage. Like this beadboard siding and chair rail... left behind in the garage still in the protective plastic wrapping. I updated the window casing and medicine cabinet with new trim (to match the rest of the house). We use primed 1 x 4's for our trim and casing to give the room a simple, classic look. Budget friendly since the 8' boards run about $7 each.

 

We used some of the leftover beadboard to run it behind the mirror and finish the area around the sink. We hung a wood-framed mirror that I picked up at Homegoods for $22 a few years ago. I knew I would find the perfect spot for her someday!

 

 

The vanity was in pretty good condition, so we saved the dough and just painted it using Ben Moore's Kendall Charcoal. Which could be my favorite new paint color. Fun fact: I purchased this can of paint 4 years ago to use when I was renovating my first house. I chickened out before I could use it when I saw how dark it was. I finally have really big plans for this color! Let's just say that you're going to see this again very soon.

 

The hardware on the vanity is from Home Depot. I wanted to use this hardware in our kitchen, but it got the veto from J-Dawg. I wonder if he'll notice that I ended up sneaking it in...

 



 

Should we chat about that cedar ceiling over a cup of coffee? Yuummm. I have wanted to do this since my brother and sister-in-law lined their entire Nashville lake house with cedar. Welcome to my petite spa. Did I mention that this ceiling cost $30? Cedar is really affordable when you use cedar fencing rather than rough hewn boards! (Credit goes to my brother for this discovery!)  

 



 

 

 

I made these medicine cabinet doors myself. And it took me 20 minutes. Remember how much I love my nail gun? Well, Kreg may be my second tool-boyfriend. It makes building things super easy. I just joined a few 1x4's together, added a 1x3 detail on the front, sanded it all and slapped some paint on it. And seriously, this is my favorite feature in this bathroom. I love this simple design and I himmed and hawed about it for months.

 

 

These doors give us more hidden storage that we didn't have before. And yes, this bath is small, but we're pretty simple. This is all of our beauty products in one area. I know what you're thinking... Justin really needs to cut back on his hair products.

 

 

 

One thing we really did need was a place to hang our towels. The nook under the cabinets serve this purpose really well.

 

 

 

Sure, we could've utilized the tall space over the loo for a drying towel. But I found these adorable ledges at Potterybarn Outlet... and design always trumps practicality in this house.

 

 

 

Our big ticket purchase in this bathroom? The new LED can lights and whisper quiet exhaust fan. Very necessary for two reasons. 1) The previous fan didn't even exhaust the humidity from the shower and 2) it was on the same decibel level as a fighter jet... which wasn't working for me because I really look forward to those extra 10 minutes of sleep while the hubs showers in the AM.

 

We hired out the install of these lights and fan, and paid a small fortune for it. Now I have 10 extra minutes of sleep. And, well, that was money well spent.

 

 

Our rocket ship sized shower managed to escape any kind of update as of now. But we have some big plans for it in the future (eviction plans to be more accurate). In the meantime, I am going to enjoy this updated bathroom and a few extra minutes of crazy, vivid pregnancy dreams.

 

This isn't the biggest project we've taken on. But it certainly made a very positive impact on my morning routine! So long, crappy bathroom.

I've leave you with this recap of what we started with...and where we are today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wall Color: Benjmain Moore Simply White (Eggshell)

Trim Color: Benjamin Moore Simply White (Semi-Gloss)

Vanity and Door Color: Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal

Towel Hooks: Home Depot (holiday special 2014)

Vanity Hardware: Home Depot

Wood Framed Mirror: HomeGoods

Wood Shelves: Potterybarn

Exhaust Fan: Panasonic WhisperCeiling Fan