The Nursery

Remember when I finally finished Olivia's nursery?  She was like 8 months old.  When I was pregnant with her I had grand plans for making all the bedding myself, with a green and pink and brown color scheme.  Well, when it came down to it, we moved when she was 6 weeks old, and a friend gave me some baby girl bedding (she had a little girl, but was expecting a little boy) and so I just used what I had been given. It was really cute, and turned out to be close to the same colors I was looking at doing anyway, and Olivia was not the kind of baby that would let me take time to work on projects, so I'm pretty sure that bedding would never have been made, even if I didn't have other bedding to use. 

This time around, I was determined to actually make the bedding myself.  The only nursery set we own now is the one I used for Olivia, which is definitely too girly for a boy.  I had decided I wanted to do a pleated crib skirt, so I started there. I started by looking at different skirts and tutorials on-line for making a skirt.  And that's when I happened upon this:

I immediately fell in love.  I was planning on making our guest room into the nursery, and the guest room already had the day bed, and a roman shade, in colors that would work well with this fabric.  Only thing is, I wanted to make my own. And I really didn't want to pay what they were charging.  I was pretty sure I was capable of doing all the sewing, but I really wanted that fabric.  After making sure Sam was okay with it (it is a floral pattern, and we are having a boy...), I did a search for the fabric.  It was on sale at Jo-Ann fabric, 50% off!  But when I finally decided on how much I wanted to get (5 yards) and went to order it, and it was out of stock!  So, I found it on fabric.com, and went to order it there - this time, it was also out of stock, but I was able to back-order it.  And with a coupon I found, I was able to get it for about the same price I found at Jo-Ann, only I had to get 6 yards.  I also found a coordinating print, thanks to the nursery designer on babybedding.com.  And then I found that print on Fabric.com too.  I thought that it would be fun to have the high contrast chevron print on the inside of the bumper. 

Here's what my set looked like in the designer:

Now I just had to wait for the fabric.  They sent the chevron right away, but they estimated the pon pom play print would ship out by Feb. 29th!  I was hoping it would come earlier, as I knew my energy level would be a lot lower by then.   Thankfully, it came in about a week and a half!  I got right to work. 

First, I made the skirt.  I used some leftover piping from our bench, and drop cloth fabric for the neutral part. One of the really great things about drop cloth, is it comes with hemmed edges.  Makes things so much faster.  I used a pre-hemmed edge along the top, where it would be Velcro-ed to the base of the crib. I also used this tutorial from Young House Love, which is perfect, since I'll be able to easily shorten the skirt when I move the mattress down. I decided to make 3 pleats along the long side, instead of just one.  The only thing I wish was different was the depth of the pleats - I would have made them 4 inches deep instead of 2 if I had to do it over again. 

Next, I tackled the bumper.  I found lots of different tutorials on making bumpers.  Some said to get the bumper pads from Jo-Anns, others said batting.  And none of the tutorials were exactly what I wanted.  Both were going to be a little spendy.  Then I had an epiphany.  I could use Olivia's old bumper, take it apart, and build the new one with that.  And it would be FREE!  So I pulled out the trusty old seam ripper, and ripped and ripped and ripped that bumper pad apart.  It was really helpful to take it apart, so I could see how it had been put together.   I was also able to strip out the cording from the piping on the old bumper, so I could reuse that for the new piping.  I put mine together in one long tube, that needed to be turned once all the sewing was done.  I detest hand sewing, and this is the only way I could figure out how to minimize the hand sewing.  I did have a panicked moment when it was all done, and ready to be turned.  I suddenly worried that it would be impossible to turn something that thick and that long.  But it worked!  Then I just stitched up the one open end, and and did some quilted seams in each corner. 

Next was the rocking chair.  I had made a cover for it to go with Olivia's room, so I knew this wouldn't be too hard. Also, if I ever wanted to put it back in Olivia's room, I still had the removable covers I could put back on. This time I wanted to add piping, and I had figured out how to do the arm rests better - last time I tried to do it with snaps, and they were constantly falling off.  So this time I decided to try out ties.  It worked much better.  I also improved the padding in the arms, so the chair is a lot more comfortable.  I did the cushions 2 sided -  one side with the pon pom play fabric, and once side with the chevron.  So, I could flip them over for a new look if I wanted.  And the cover is all done to be removable and washable - a must with such a light background! 

Then I had to decide where I wanted to use the rest of the fabric.  I wanted to do a lampshade, and I had an old one on hand to use.  I think if I had to do it over again, I would have just bought a cheap white drum shade.  The square one I had used more fabric than I was expecting, but I still like how it turned out.  I also spray painted a lamp yellow for the base - I bought a couple of different options at a thrift store, but one was too big, and the other too small.  See below.

Too small.

Too big.

Just right.

And so I just ended up going with the one that I already had.  Here again, I maybe would have been better off to buy a shade to match one of the lamps.  I ended up using the large lamp above in our great room - spray painted avocado green, with a drum shade covered in drop cloth with some brown gross grain trim, but I think that's for a whole new post.  For the lamp, I used spray adhesive, and then glue gun to hook it on the inside.  This is another DIY project I'm anxious to do again because it was so easy and so satisfying. 

A changing pad cover was the next project up.  I wanted to make it out of a soft minky fabric, but have it trimmed with pon pom play along the top.  It was pretty hard to find the right color, and the blue is a bit brighter than I was hoping for.   But this was another really easy project.  It was just a matter of doing a seam to put the trim on, and then folding it in quarters, and cutting off a square to create the pocket in each corner. Elastic was added around the bottom, and it was done! I used this tutorial, in case what I just wrote made no sense.  I'll probably need to make a few more of these to have extras when others are dirty.

Next I wanted to do a diaper stacker.  This is something that I really liked having hanging above Olivia's changing table, and it didn't look too hard to do.  Olivia's diaper stacker had ties at the top to hook to something instead of a hanger, which I found much more practical.  So I used her old diaper stacker (which she still uses to hold her pullups in her closet) as a pattern for the one I made for the new baby's nursery.  I put some padding in the top, and two ties so it could be hung almost anywhere. 

Before the changing table was done, I just hung it from the end of the crib. 

Finally, I wanted to mimic the mobile and the embroidery hoops that they have on the babybedding.com site.  I had a mobile I used for Olivia - I think I picked it up at a yard sale for a few dollars.  It was precious moments, with little stuffed animals hanging from it. But it played a nice traditional lullaby, so I knew it was perfect. The mobile they had on the website seemed easy enough, so I decided to try and make it.  I clipped the little animals off, and cut out balloon shapes from my fabric.  I hemmed the open edge, and stuffed them with some fiberfill.  Then I tied them off with some white grossgrain ribbon.  The hardest part was fishing the little strings back through the holes to hang them.  Then I made a tulle pom pom to hang from the center, and modge podged some fabric over the precious moments label.  Finally, I used the last bit of that silk fabric (from my drapes, the bench, and the piping) to create a sleeve for the arm of the mobile.

As for the embroidery hoops, I looked up a few tutorials, and found it to be really simple - just a matter of putting the fabric in the hoop, making it nice and taut, and then use a glue gun to secure it to then inside of the hoop.  I was running out of fabric by this point, and wish I had just a bit more to do a few more hoops.  I just hung them randomly, and how it looks right now is bugging me a bit. I might move them around a bit.

The last thing left is a blanket.  This is being machine quilted right now, so it's not done.  I just used the pon pom play fabric, with a stripped minky for the back.  I'm interested to see how it turns out.  Then I'll just need to bind it, and I'll be done!  I still want to make a few sheets for the bed, and a couple covers for my boppy, along with those extra changing pad covers..  But I still have 6 weeks before the baby is due, and I think I can manage that.  I just love how the room turned out.  I sneak away in there at least once a day to rock in the glider or take a power nap on the day bed.  It's just so relaxing in there. 

Here are some pictures of the room as it is now:

The rocking horse is one we got for free when Olivia was a baby - it was teal and purple, and so I thought I'd try spray painting it.  I love it so much now that it's just one solid (pretty) color!  Olivia's not too pleased, but that's another story.

I added some little hats to the hooks I used to hang the stacker.  I think they're pretty cute up there.

Okay, this is the fun part for me.  The cost break down compared to if I just bought each item on babybedding.com. 

Total fabric costs:
Pon Pom Play - $60
Chevron ZigZag print - $22.50
Blue minky - $4
White minky (quilt) - $7
Batting (for quilt, and diaper stacker) - $10
Tulle - $1
Misc. notions (thread, zippers) - $10
machine quilting: $40

Total: $154.50

Cost on Babybedding.com
Extra long skirt with trim: $129
Bumper: $129
Crib quilt:$119 (and doesn't have professional machine quilting, like mine will)
Changing pad cover: $39
Decorative pillow: $49
Lamp shade: $49
Mobile: $59
Rocking chair pad: $94 (doesn't include ottoman, or arm rests)
Diaper stacker: $44

Total:  $711.  And it would have been even more for me to customize any of this (with the chevron, for example.)  So I feel pretty good about how much time and money I put into it! 

Changing Table Build

A few months ago, I began collecting ideas for the baby's room.  Right about the same time, Ana White posted a new plan for a small dresser.  It looked perfect for a changing table, and so I pinned it, and started working on the bedding and other accessories for the room.

Late January, Sam bought the lumber, and started to build it.  We've learned a lot with our previous builds.  One of the most important things is to sand as much as you can before you build.  It's so much easier to sand pieces before there are tight corners to get into and such.  So, we took a lot of time to sand the boards before we started building.

We sanded on Sam's table saw.  He got some new saw horses for his birthday, that made using the table saw (and sanding) so much easier!

We took the advice on Ana's site, and used a spacer to make sure the drawer openings were perfectly spaced.  Worked like a charm.

We got a lot done that first Saturday, but then life seemed to take over, and it sat in the garage for what seemed like forever.  We got a lot more done a couple weeks later on a Saturday.  And then last week we spent every evening for about a week to get it all finished up. 

This was our first project that included drawers.  We wanted to make sure we did them right, as we had read there's a lot that can go wrong with drawers.  We decided to cut a groove into the sides of the drawer, to slide the bottom into, to add to the strength.

This is one of the large drawers, with just half of the bottom slid in.  We used bead-board left over from the locker system as the drawer bottoms. 

 
And for the larger drawers, we added a middle support, and had 2 bottom pieces, to prevent bowing.  And then we took the advice of someone on Ana's site, and used square dowels for the top 2 drawer slides.  Sam used his table saw to cut all the grooves.  A tedious task, but one that has made Sam very familiar with using his table saw.  Which has opened up a whole world for us in building.

We did a lot of clamping when building the drawers, to make sure they came out perfectly square.  One lesson we learned - do the kreg jig screws on the outside of the drawers, so they will be hidden on the finished product.  We figured this out after we put the 2 large drawers together. 

These are the home-made drawer slides we used for the top two drawers. 

I started to get really excited when it started to look like a dresser.  I just couldn't stop working on it, because I couldn't wait to see it all finished!

We  used spray paint to finish it - I wanted it white to match the other furniture in the nursery.  I think Sam was dying to stain it, but that will have to wait for another project.  I've found that I perfer Rustoleum paint (good coverage), but I love the Krylon clear coat in Satin for a top coat.  I tried both the Krylon primer, and the Kilz oil-based primer, and didn't see any difference.  Next time I'll stick to the much cheaper Krylon primer.

Here she is, all finished:

One interesting thing about this project is how many of our tools we used.  I think almost all of them, and they were all helpful in making the build easier: miter saw, nailer/air compressor, table saw, lots of clamps, including a right angle and face clamp, kreg-jig, squares (big and small), level, measuring tape... What am I missing?

Here's the break down on cost:

1/2 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood ~ $15
1/4 plywood for back and drawer bottoms - we used scraps for FREE.  But would have been about $12
2 - 1X8's - $15
4 - 1X6's - $30
6 - 1X2's (we used furring strips) - $6
5 - 2X2's - furring strips again - $7.50
1 - 1X3 (just 4 feet) - $2
2 sets of drawer slides (for bottom 2 drawers) - $12
2 square hardwood dowels (for top 2 drawers) - $5
Lots of Kreg Jig Screws - $10
Hardware for drawers (6) - $15
Spray paint (primer, paint, clear coat) - $25
Misc. supplies (nails, glue, wood filler, sandpaper) - $10

Grand total: ~$165

Time spent: ~40 hours?  I really have no idea.

Not bad when compared with the Pottery Barn version, which sells for $650 + $100 for delivery.   Not to mention ours is solid wood, and not MDF + veneers. 

When we got finished with the dresser, I started working out plans for a side table to match.  The dresser is a knock off of Pottery Barn's Camp dresser, and they have a side table that goes with it.  I used it as a guide, and then changed the measurements for what I wanted.  I wanted a table to go next to the rocking chair, to hold a lamp, and have a spot to set books, bottles, pacifiers, burp cloths, etc.  We were able to make all if it from scraps we had left over from the dresser and other projects. It was so satisfying to use up all those scraps, and make something for free - the only thing we bought was the hardware for the drawer, and a single dowel for the drawer slides.  I believe it came in under $5.  Pretty good considering the one at pottery barn goes for $200.  I did much more of the building on this piece, as I really wanted it done fast - I worked on it here and there during the day.  Pretty much anything that didn't involve the table saw, I did on my own.  This we got done in about 2 days.

For the side table, we did a planked bottom.  This was much easier than the flush bottom we did on the dresser, and I think it looks just as good - maybe even better!  All it's missing is the drawer!

And here's a look at each piece in the room:

Pinewood Derby

This year was Harrison's first pinewood derby.  He was super excited.  Sam helped him cut out his design on a friend's band saw, and then it sat around the house until just a few days before the derby.  I kept Sam pretty busy building the dresser for the baby's room, so you can blame the procrastination on me.  But they managed to get it done, just in the nick of time.  Harrison really wanted it red with flames, so that's what they did. 

They had to glue on about 4 quarters, and a silver dollar to make it the right weight.  Like I said, they were doing things a bit last minute.  Like putting the wheels on less than an hour before the derby.

 This is his car in the line up.  He did okay - didn't win any official races, but didn't loose them all either.  So I think that's a good place to be in for your first year. 

He got the HOT HOT Stuff award for most creative use of flames.  And was thrilled. 

Harrison in the news

A couple weeks ago, Harrison came home from school with a letter saying he had been invited to Kadlec Hospital to represent his school. Apparently his classroom had donated the most change in a fundraiser ("Coins for Kids," raising money for the pediatric unit of the hospital) back in December, and he had been randomly chosen to get to go to the ceremony.  It was on President's day, so the kids all had the day off from school.  We were a bit late in arriving, and when we walked in, I was surprised to see several members of the media there with television cameras and microphones and notepads.  I felt bad I had forgotten my camera.  They had the kids present the hospital staff with one of those giant checks.  I wish I got a good shot of that. 

The fundraiser was organized my Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen, a girl that goes to the local high school, who had gone to the same elementary school as Harrison.  After the little ceremony, they let the news outlets interview the kids.  Harrison was interviewed by the local newspaper, and the local NBC affiliate.  I wish I had known - I would have prepped him a little bit with answers - he really thought long and hard about each question.  Then the kids went on a tour of the pediatric unit, and it all ended with some refreshments. Olivia went up to Miss Washington's outstanding teen, and asked, "Are you a real princess?" To which she answered, "Yes!"  Olivia was delighted.

That night we anxiously turned on the 5 o'clock news to watch the story.  My heard sank as the clip proceeded.  They cropped Harrison out of the shot with the check.  And then the 3 other kids their got a snippit of their interview on camera.  Nothing of Harrison. We could see Olivia in the background, and Noah's hands playing with a toy.  The very end of the story showed Harrison playing with a friend in the toy room. 

It was a bit of a disappointment.  But we knew he had also been interviewed by the newspaper.    So, first thing in the morning, we checked out the newspapers website.  And we were not disappointed.  It definitely made up for the news broadcast.  It was on the front page of the B section, and had a color picture (that included Harrison!)  The article started with Harrison's name, and quoted him.  He was pretty excited.  Sam went out and bought a couple copies to take in to school and save for a scrapbook.   It's fun to live in a town that's small enough to have stuff like this make the paper and nightly news.  


Here's the last news article - we don't get this channel, so we weren't able to see the actual broadcast of the story, but at least they didn't crop Harrison's face out of the picture with the check.

10 Years Ago Today...

 

While today's activities and events are quite different than those we participated in 10 years ago, each day just gets better!  It's been a fabulous (and fast) 10 years, and I can't wait to see what the next 10 bring.

Valentine's

This year for Valentine's Day we did the same Valentine's for the kids - again, 3rd year in a row.  I figured it was my last chance, since they were all at new schools this year (again!).  I maybe should have stopped with last year, when it was still creative and cool - each of my kids had someone in their class this year with a similar valentine. Oh, well.  I should have suspected as much, with how much I saw it on Pinterest.  Here's their cute faces I used:

 

I also was the teacher for Joy School that day, so I got to have the Joy School Valentines party at our house.  No valentines party is complete with out decorating sugar cookies.

  We also made some cute valentines holder's out of paper plates, and made a  cute hand print craft in the shape of a heart to give to the moms. 

2 hours really does fly by with 6 3/4 year-olds!  Sam was able to be home to help me out for the first part - he had to pick up some colleagues at the airport, so it made things nice.  I've decided to send Olivia to preschool next year (same set up Noah had the year before kindergarten - a friend in the area is teaching in her home).  Days like the valentines party remind me what I love so much about doing a co-op group.