My Mexi-can

Yep.  He is waving all the time now.  Adios! 
We had some fun with the camera today.
Even though this is a bit out of focus, I had to share.  He doesn't slow down for pictures.

Imagine a high pitch scream coming out of this cute little mouth. 

 

This boy is wild and crazy [like his papi], but he still has a quiet calm side [like his mama.]  That's right!

 As you can see in the first shot, the nursery is coming along.....I mean Mateo is almost 10 months old, I don't want to reveal all the pictures too soon! ha!  Well, I promise they will be coming later this week.  I just finished this DIY piece and have to hang it along with a couple other things. 

Have you ever seen the movie "The Mexican"  with Johnny Depp?  In the movie he asks "Are you a Mexi-can, or a Mexi-can't?"  Obviously Mateo is a Mexi-CAN!

DIY Picture Ledge Shelves

The other day when I was at Ikea, I planned on buying several of the RIBBA picture ledge shelves.

After taking a closer look though, I knew that I could make them myself much cheaper.   I want to use these to display some of Mateo's books in the nursery.  The Ikea's shelf was 21" and cost $9.99.
I wanted 24".

I went to Lowe's and bought the following:
2- 8' 1x4
1- 8' 1x2
Lowes cut them for me [at no charge] into 2' pieces, which gave me enough to make 4 shelves.
This cost me $11.

You will also need some wood glue, hammer and finishing nails. (I already had these at home)

Each shelf will use two of the 1x4's and one 1x2.  The wider 2 pieces are the back and bottom of the shelf and the 1x2 is the front piece.

Here is the side view.

I literally whipped these up in 15 minutes.

After they were glued and nailed together, I gave them a good sanding and wiped them clean with a damp cloth.  They were ready to paint!

I had a gallon of oil-based primer on hand, so I gave them all a quick coat with a foam brush.  After that dried, I put three coats of Valspar's "White Lacquer" spray paint.
I have to say they turned out pretty awesome!

To hang the shelves we used two screws on the back piece and added the plastic anchors.  They are super strong.  We centered them between the window and the corner and made sure little hands would be able to reach the lowest shelf.  Four shelves hold a lot of books, but Mateo has even more.  These were so easy, I may have to make more.   A longer one would be great for artwork and oooh, maybe a certain sand collection?!

So there you have it, another piece of the nursery comes together.  The fluffy chandelier, striped ceiling, and turquoise armoire are just a few of the other projects in this nursery design out.  

It's getting there, slowly but surely.

If you were considering buying picture ledges...DON'T!  You can do this! 

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Fabric World and a DIY Cribskirt

I have said it before and I will say it again!  I LOVE Fabric World!

Even though its a 30 minute drive from downtown Atlanta, it is so worth it.  My mom and I went last week and would you believe that we were there for 4.5 hours?!   It is totally disorganized with piles of fabric everywhere.  You have to dig, but we both love the search.  It is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are going to get.  What you do know is that it is going to be CHEAP!  $2 a yard!  You just can't beat that....anywhere.

This is what our cart looked like before checkout

What variety in that cart! My mom picked up a lot of xmas and kids fabric for gifts.  I found a bunch of cute cotton fabrics for crib sheets and who knows what else?
Of course if I see any chevron I pick it up pronto. 

I loved this geometric pattern as well. It is a beautiful raspberry color.

We paired down a bit in the store, but still came home with a ton of fabric.

One of the fabrics I bought on my last trip was this gray and white print.  I knew I would use it for something in Mateo's nursery.

I decided I would whip up a quick crib skirt the other day.  There are a ton of tutorials out there, and I took pointers from a few different ones.  I ended up sewing a few edges, and ironing hems with  stitch witchery, but you could easily use it the for the whole thing (ie: no sewing machine needed)

I used a little less than 2 yards.  I started by cutting four panels. (2) 19w x 21h and (2) 52w x 21h
then ironed a one inch hem.

If you have never used stitch witchery, this stuff is magic!
 So easy and really holds.

I could have made pretty ties to attach the skirt panels to the frame, but alas it was easier to just use safety pins.  I can then easily raise the fabric when I lower the crib mattress.

I love how it turned out!

One more project to cross off the list. Yes, that is a Guyasamin print leaning against the wall. Still needs framing. Many, many things to do yet.  Im shooting for this nusery to be habitable before Mateo turns 5:)

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Fluffy Chandelier for the Nursery {a how-to}

Well, I did it! I finished a project completely!  I have so many different ones going on, and many are only half done.  On march 4th, I decided to March forth and so far I am on a roll.  Many project updates coming your way!

If you are a subscriber to Houzz you may have seen Nicole's  pendant light made out of coffee filters.   Yes, you read that right.  Coffee filters.  I bookmarked it knowing I had to recreate it.   Im a total copy cat.  I hope Nicole knows that old phrase "Imitation is the best form of flattery." 

At first I thought maybe I would put this in the dining room, but after we painted the stripes in the nursery, I thought it would be the perfect spot.  Yes, yes it is!  It's totally awesome right?

Believe it or not, this beauty was really easy to make.  It took me roughly 5 hours [over 3 days] to put it together and cost me less than $25! 

Here is what you will need:

One paper lantern (Mine was a 15.5" from World Market for $6.99)

800 flat bottom coffee filters (I bought Kroger brand -200 pk for $1.29)

Hot glue gun

Hot glue sticks (for gun)

Here are the simple directions:

Glue the filters on the paper lantern.

Ok, ok...I'll be a little more specific.  Put your hand around the filter with the bottom facing up.  Add a drop of the hot glue and attached it to the lantern.  That.  Is.  It.

 Start wherever you want on the lantern, just place the filters close together.  You want them to be scrunched in pretty tightly.

The process starts out slow, but moves quickly once you get into a groove. 
When you see progress you push on.

I bought a hard wire kit for $12.99 (also at World Market) and my dad hooked it up in less than 5 minutes.  The glow the light gives off is amazing!

I am now reconsidering buying a huge drum shade pendant for the dining area and making one of these...but in a color! Ombre maybe?! Oh that would look so cool!
What do you think?

The Nursery Part I: A Striped Ceiling

I knew back when I first found out I was pregnant that I wanted stripes on the ceiling. It all started with the blue stripes I saw in this nursery.  I was pretty much decided on a horizontal orientation....until I saw this:

 I traced this picture back to a Swedish blog and unfortunately there were no details on this amazing ceiling.  I showed it to Ernesto and he said..."No problem, I can do that!"
I was so excited, we got to work that day!  Ernesto drew up the plan by taking the dimensions of our room (10x12ft)

  He marked the walls in 14-15 inch stripes.  Then he and my mom snapped a chalk line from each mark to the center of the ceiling. 

This went very quickly and then we got to taping.  As you can imagine, this part is the most important step.

We used Frog Tape and the lines came out perfectly. No bleeding whatsoever.

I chose Behr's "vintage orange" paint in a flat finish.  (I actually color matched it to Martha Stewart paint which was on clearance.  $4.90 for a quart!!) 
The color is vibrant and so happy.  The white paint is "Lamb" also by Martha.

It is really amazing how these stripes make the ceiling look vaulted.  The ceiling is 9ft but the room  just feels more open now. 

After finishing the stripes and painting the walls "Sharkey Gray" (also by MS), we didn't think it looked finished.  We first tried painting a black stripe, but though it looked like electrical tape and ended up painting a thicker white stripe at the bottom.

The griege color on the walls is pretty bland, and I considered re-painting, but I have a lot of colorful art to go on the walls and a really bright turquoise armoire, so I think a neutral background will be perfect. 

I am so happy with how Mateo's room is coming together.  As you can see I have added a light fixture.  It's a DIY...and made out of a surprising material.  It could be my best DIY EVER!!!  I saw it on houzz a couple months ago.  It was unbelievably easy! You can see how I made it here.

So, what do you think?  Do you guys have stripes somewhere in your house?

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More pictures and DIY details coming soon! 

{Before and After} The Armoire

Better late than never!
Remember this thing? My $60 find on Craigslist earlier this year?

I did actually start painting it before baby Mateo arrived in September, but finally the hardware has been put on and this beauty now is the star the [unfinished] nursery.  I am still undecided on how to decorate the nursery.  I have so many colorful things, so I need to figure out a way to make it all mesh together.

I am so happy with how it turned out! 

I started out by giving it a coat of Zinsser primer for durability.

The coverage was good enough with one coat and honestly I was ready to move on with the project.  A perfectionist I am not!

Remember I was debating the color?  Orange, yellow, white or Turquoise? The paint I chose was Behr "Gem Turquoise."

I didn't get samples, which was dumb of me, there are so many shades of turquoise, and this one probably would not have made the cut if I had bought a sample.  Ernesto started paining it for me after I bought the quart so there was no turning back. It came out a little like frosting, but I have really grown more fond of it with time. It adds a great punch of color, and everyone who has seen it has loved it! 

What I think makes the armoire fabulous is the hardware.  This gold metallic by Valspar has a great finish.

What do you think?
Now I just need to desgn the nursery with this pop of color.  The original idea (see inspiration board here) was yellow and gray...I think that can still work!

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