Kids Bedroom – Page 3

A Flock of Cranes

Published on November 18, 2010October 9, 2012 by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

You all know I’m crazy, right? Well, I am. I spend a lot of time on little projects because I’m too detail oriented. I see the trees and Ben sees the forest, so we’re a great team. Sometimes, I care way too much about the trees, though. So, I take on little, time-consuming projects like this origami crane shadow box that is currently on the recently refinished bookshelf.

A side note: If you like the alphabet painting, you can buy print versions for $15.00 in my Etsy shop.

Back to the topic. To create a flock of ~~seagulls~~ paper cranes, first cut thin paper into 1 inch squares. I used light weight scrapbook paper, but you can use anything that will fold well. Use an origami crane tutorial like this one, to learn how to fold the cranes. If you don’t know how to make an origami crane, you may want to practice by making several larger cranes before you go onto small cranes.

Create 25 small paper cranes in the colors of your choice.

Cut a piece of cardstock to fit in your shadow box. My frame is from IKEA, but I can’t find it on their website. It measures about 6 inches square. Using another sheet of paper, draw the spacing of your grid. Then, use a thumb tack to poke small holes at the intersection of your lines. Place this template on top of your cardstock and draw a dot inside each poked hole.

To keep the cranes flat against the paper, I cut off the back wing. Use small pieces of foam adhesive to attach each crane to the cardstock, centering over the dot. I think it would look really cool to create a grouping of cranes as if they were flying, too. Attach all cranes and place in your frame.

See what I mean about being crazy? To add to the crazy, I even made a 1/2 inch paper crane. Notice the little blue one? Yep, I might be committed soon.

If you like the look, but don’t want to make the cranes, you can buy some from this lovely Etsy seller. Speaking of Etsy sellers, Thrifty Little Blog is hosting a handmade gift giveaway, including one of my prints, so check it out.

What is the craziest, most time-consuming project you’ve tackled? Am I alone in this? I can’t be. Please make me feel a little normal.

Trim Tutorial: Board and Batten

Published on November 15, 2010March 26, 2013 by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

We’ve had a few requests to give a tutorial on how we created the trim in our boys’ room. This is actually one of the most simple trim designs we have in our house. To start, determine the height of the trim you want. Our trim is 66 inches from the floor to the top if the shelf.

Start with your baseboards. If you plan to keep your current baseboard, you may have to cut notches out, depending on the profile of the trim. We had to cut out the designed area of the baseboard to meet the square stock pieces together.

Once you’ve determined your baseboard situation, install the top horizontal piece, keeping it level. Our trim is 4 inches tall, but you can choose any size you want. I think the verticals look better if they are slightly smaller than the horizontal. To determine the spacing of the verticals, find the center of each wall and install a vertical, keeping the trim piece centered on the center line. Here’s where you have a decision to make. You can choose any width of spacing for your verticals. We preferred the wider spacing. We placed our remaining verticals half way between the centered vertical and the corners. Then, we added verticals on each side of the corner.

We started with a traditional board and batten style trim. A year later, we added a picture shelf, but of course, you don’t have to do this.

To create this picture shelf, cut (or buy) a piece of 1 inch thick material into 3 inches wide. This piece will be the actual shelf. We used a large sheet of MDF and cut it ourselves. Cut (or buy) a piece of 3/4 inch material to one inch strips; this will support the shelf. Securely nail the 1 inch by 3/4 inch piece to the horizontal piece, keeping the tops flush. If you pieces are too short to span the entire length of the wall, cut your pieces at a 45 degree angle to keep them tight, rather than two blunt ends butted together. Once you’ve installed the support pieces, you’re ready to add your shelf. Place your shelf against the wall and securely nail the shelf into your trim pieces and the wall.

As I mentioned above, you can vary the width of your verticals to achieve the look you have in mind. Here are a few more great rooms that have been updated with board and batten trim.

Jen at Tatertots and Jello transformed her Tuscan inspired bathroom into a beachy cottage with trim. Karla at It’s the Little Things also has a great tutorial about her board and batten trim.

On a completely unrelated note, I did a little shopping at Pier 1 yesterday (more on that later) and had to share this: Pier 1 will donate $1.00 for each person who likes Pier 1 on Facebook! How cool is that?!

Decorated Bookshelf

Published on November 4, 2010September 12, 2012 by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

A while ago, I shared how I refinished an old, worn bookcase, I even showed the finished bookshelf, but I realized I haven’t shared pictures of it in the space, completely decorated. So, here it is.

The top before refinishing was shabby, and not very chic.

The sanding, staining and polyurethane fixed that problem.

It took a lot of time, but it was definitely worth the effort to revamp this passed down bookshelf. I really love how it looks in the room, too.

P.S. If you like the Alphabet Tree painting in the photos above, you can get a printed version for yourself.

Lions and Tigers and Chairs?

Published on October 13, 2010 by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

I love Minnesota, land o’ lakes and home of Target. I know Target stores are everywhere, but you haven’t lived for Target unless you’ve been to the Target stores in Minnesota. What’s so great, you ask? It seems the Minnesota Targets have the best clearance deals, ever. Six or so months ago, I purchased this set of modern stacking chairs for $69.99 from our local Target.

A few weeks ago, our Target had a clearance sale of said chairs, for $49.99. I decided to buy another set, but was disappointed to find that both of our local Targets were sold out of the espresso color. Wah-wah. Imagine my delight when I spotted about 12 sets of chairs in a Minnesota Target on our recent vacation. I snatched two sets (yes, four chairs. Hey, they stack so we’ll save space, but have extra seating for parties!) for $69.96. Yep, four chairs for the price of my original two.

I also scored a few other deals, like this tissue cover for $3.74. I know you are wondering why I would want a tissue cover, but I do have a plan for it. And it doesn’t involve covering tissues.

I also got a super cool Umbra double soap pump for the kitchen for $3.49 and a new quilt for Vincent’s bed. Stay tuned for details soon.

Refinished Bookshelf: Reveal

Published on October 6, 2010October 9, 2012 by Our Humble AbodeLeave a comment

Last week I shared how I refinished an old wooden bookshelf for our boys’ room. It wasn’t quite done then, but it is now and we love it. Ben was skeptical when I started sanding, but he does admit that it’s pretty now. I really love that we’ve brought new life into an old, seen-better-days piece of furniture, without paint. Well, there is some paint. The back panel had a little damage.

I knew I couldn’t fix the back and keep it stained, so I filled the damaged area with putty, let it dry, sanded, primed and painted everything. After three coats of plain white paint, hours of drying, and a vacation in Minnesota, I was ready to finish what I had started. Using a pin nailer, I carefully attached the 1/4 inch plywood back to the bookshelf. I chose the pin nailer because it shoots nails that are literally the size of pins, without a head. It’s great for small pieces that might split if larger nails were used.

Once the back was secured, all that was left was to bring the shelf back inside.