Playroom Gallery Wall

I've been gathering items for a gallery wall in the playroom for a little while now. Yesterday I finally took the time to put it all together.

 

I had a  good idea of where I wanted things to go, but I still decided to use the paper layout technique to preview it first. This worked great, especially since I marked all the hanger points so I knew where to put the nails. A tip though....don't outline your gallery items with pencil. I wound up with lots of graphite smears on the wall. Not a big deal, but just a little tip for you.

 

 

A few weeks ago, I purchased some inexpensive vintage state postcards on eBay. I matted them myself using some manila folders I had laying around. They were framed in $2 frames from WalMart. So as wall art goes, they were a pretty cheap project.

 

 

 

The Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower canvases were Hobby Lobby finds.

 

And here's what I did on the other side of the door to the kitchen.

 

 

 

The "It Is Well With My Soul" (one of my most favorite hymns) wooden sign was a clearance deal at Hobby Lobby a few months ago and the big letter is from there as well. The clock is a special as it was made by Hubster for his grandparents when he was 16 years old. He didn't believe I would use it, but I knew it would make him happy. Plus, it helps personalize the space a little bit.

 



 

 

So there you have it....another playroom project completed this week. Yeah!

 



Playroom Update: What's Goin' On?

Hey look.....it's a post from me! I know, I know. I've been a little MIA the last couple weeks.

So what have I been doing lately....well, besides watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix (Can you say "addicted!"?) and killing all the mums I bought to decorate for Fall?  You know....all those real life things....parenting three special needs teenagers, school activities, church activities, family activities, holding down the fort while husband is on business trip. It's been my occupation for quite some time now, but I've officially given myself the title of "Person Who Holds Down The Fort." I'm a Fort Holder Downer.

In the last couple days I haven't needed to hold on quite so tightly to the fort, so I've been working on some details in the playroom. This is what I consider the fun stuff.

 

 

I've been trying to track down some baskets I like for in the new Kallax shelves. I didn't know they'd be so difficult to find....or so expensive. After looking in several stores and online, I had resigned myself to the fact that the least costly option was to wait until the next trip to IKEA (who knows when that will be) and purchase the ones they have. I wasn't too excited about that option because, 1.) I wasn't completely in love with them, and B.) We all know I'm not good at waiting.  :-)

 

But last week I came across these baskets at Target. I can't believe I hadn't seen them sooner! I used Target's Cartwheel app  (Have you tried it yet? It's great!) and was able to get them at 15% off, so they wound up being less expensive than the ones at IKEA.....and I like them better. So, two days and 4 Target stores later, I finally have six baskets to fill the cubbies.

 



 

 

I'm excited about the extra storage that I'm gaining with these shelves. Three of these baskets already hold all my candles that were taking over a closet. Yep, three baskets.....one for pillars, one for jar candles, and one for Christmas candles. I lined the bottom of the them with parchment paper to protect the candles from the rough basket.

 

 

 

 

Besides the baskets, I've been trying to gather some fun wall art and accessories. I'll share more details on all that when the room is more complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's what's going on around here. It's a slow process, but that's okay.







The October Calendar

Well, after all that painting last weekend, I finally got to the October chalkboard calendar. I know, I'm a little behind. The kids kept reminding me of that.

 

 

I DO honestly miss the calendar when it isn't up to date....besides all the extra math I have to do to figure out dates based on the previous month. Ha!

 

 

 

Okay, so now we're good....for the next three and a half weeks anyways.

A Playroom Update

Good Monday morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Ours was....I'm tired of saying "busy," so I'm going to say "full."

It actually started on Friday when Hubster took a day off from work to help me....you won't even believe it....PAINT THE PLAYROOM!!!!  Hooray!!

We worked hard on Friday. Hubster continued to work like a dog on Saturday while I went and watched our daughter run in her cross country meet.

Sunday morning we had our normal church activities. After church we celebrated this guy's Gotcha Day. It's been fourteen years! FOURTEEN! I can still remember the excitement mixed with panic when they first placed him in my arms in that Kolkata hotel room and I became his Mom. He has come such a long way since then. And my, how the time flies!

(He loved that Dad picked him up a crown at Burger King. He wore it until he went to bed last night.)

 

 

So back to the playroom.....

 

I thought I would give you a little update about what was accomplished over the weekend.

 

 



 

 

First, we had to finish cleaning the room out a little bit. Then we got to the painting (SW Sea Salt. You can read my process in choosing this color HERE and HERE.)

As you can see, we also took a big step (for us) and painted the doors "black."  The color is actually a very, very deep brown, Fired Earth by Valspar.

 

 

It took a little convincing for Hubster to see the vision, but we're both really happy with how they turned out. There are three doors....our front entry door (which hardly gets used), a bedroom door, and this coat closet door. On Friday, we also went out to Lowe's and purchased a new door for the closet. The original door didn't match the others, plus it had been painted over a couple times and wasn't in the greatest shape.

 

Here are the before and after photos.....

 

 

On Saturday, Hubster finished painting the trim, cleaned the carpet, and put together the IKEA Kallax shelves that I purchased back in June. I told you he worked like a dog!

 

 

I can't wait to fill up these cubbies and make them look pretty.

 

I found this wall art at Hobby Lobby a while back at 50% off. I thought the cheerful colors would be perfect for this room. Plus, the kids love maps so it's perfect.



 

 

 

Obviously, we still have some projects head of us. I'm thinking about what kind of window treatments I would like. And in the meantime, we are seriously considering replacing the windows in this room. There is a crack in one that has been there since we moved in (eleven years ago this month!) So hopefully we will get that taken care of before the weather gets too cold as it does cause a bit of a draft in the room.

 

Plus, I'm still in negotiations with Hubster about a new couch and chair, so we'll see. The ones we currently have are still pretty sturdy. They were handed down form my in-laws, but we've had them going on twenty years and between three kids and a dog, they have seen better days. And I'm a little over the country blue plaid, you know what I mean? 

 

So there's still a list of things to do before we can call this room "DONE," but I finally feel like we've made some progress.



Beauty To Share

The other day I made a trip to Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's. Do you? I have a weakness for their frozen food aisle.

Unfortunately, the closest store to me is about a half hour away. Every once in a while I get the urge to make the trip up there though. Another perk of going to this particular store are the beautiful flower beds and containers gracing the shopping center that it is in.

 

 

Even though Fall has arrived, I was fortunate enough to catch their Summer flowers before they are spent. I don't know how they are able to keep them looking this good for so long. The only sign of Fall were the dried hydrangeas.

 

This was a creative display. All the different plants are planted in little "pockets" on a wooden frame. I loved all the little houses.

 

 

Trader Joe's own pumpkin displays outside the store looked lovely too.

 

 

 

 



All the colors were just stunning and I wanted to share them with you. Have a great weekend!

Decorating The Porch For Fall 2014

On Tuesday, I  finally got our porch decorated for Fall. It was a rainy day though so I had to wait until yesterday to take some photos.

 

 

It's just a little different than last year's porch. I knew I wanted the leaf garlands to go all the way to the ground this year so I picked up a couple more this year.

 

 

 

 

The burlap wreath that I made last year didn't stand up too well to the elements. But I found this fairly inexpensive corn husk wreath at my local craft store and just reused the sunflower picks from last year's wreath that I loved. And then I hung it with some wide burlap ribbon.

 

 

 

 

I bought a large potted mum and put it in a galvanized bucket. I pulled this little stool out from our living room. Both the bucket and stool came from my grandparent's house. The stool was made by my great grandfather. And of course I added some pumpkins.

 

 

 

 

I love all the bright Autumn colors that welcome people to our home. Are you getting ready for Fall at your house?