We have rounded up some of our favorite gender neutral nurseries from around the web!
Click “continue reading” below to see the gallery and links:
14 Inspiring Reading Nook Designs
February 18, 2013 By 5 Comments
Are you considering adding a reading nook to your space or giving your current one a makeover? A reading nook can be a serene place for your child to spend time and encourages reading! Here are 14 reading nook designs for kids to inspire you.
Click “continue reading” below to see the gallery and links:
Babble Roundup: DIY Christmas Decor
December 14, 2011 By 1 Comment
I write daily for Babble.com’s The New Home Ec. Here are a few recent roundups I’ve done…..click the image to view each gallery!
The Finished Waves Border….
August 11, 2009 By 10 Comments
Remember Jacqueline, the woman who contacted me to paint “waves” for her son’s room? And I helped her do it herself? Look how it turned out! She sent me photos. What an amazing room for a little boy…..so many unique nautical details…..even the fan is made out of canvas to resemble a “sail.”
Want to create this border for a room? You can download the “waves” template I created for her at my post How to make your own mural border template.
What is the most random thing…..
August 3, 2009 By 10 Comments
…you’ve ever decorated with? The item that other people just don’t seem to understand…..but you just love it? Mine is this old framed vintage framed portrait I found in an antique store for $30 (Brett thinks I paid to much). It hangs in our master bathroom.
My husband thinks it is a little creepy. I’ll admit that sometimes late at night I think the children’s eyes move….
The molding on the frame is falling off and cracking, but I think it adds character. I think I bought it mostly because I was sad that a family portrait was “lost” and for sale in an antique shop.
I like to imagine the grand house this family portrait once hung in!
Well, that is all for today. My house looks like a craft tornado came through. And I’ve got to come up with something to cook for dinner….
Making your own mural border template (and I added the large butterfly!)
July 29, 2009 By 11 Comments
I talked with a woman a few days ago about painting mural in her son’s room. She basically wanted the exact “waves” border shown in this photo on the Pottery Barn website:
Photo from www.potterybarnkids.com
Then she said the magic words “I just wish I could do it myself but I can’t figure out how.” Even though painting murals is a passion of mine, I love when people want to try it themselves, especially when it is a “doable” project like a simple border (which she had already received a bid of around $600 from someone else). I drew up a quick waves sketch and uploaded it to my favorite photo altering website to rasterize it into a “printable” template.
So here are the steps for making a border:
First I drew the waves using the Pottery Barn Kids photo as a guide. I draw in Powerpoint, which would make most people cringe (I got this weird habit from my days writing bond offering memorandums). You can just draw by hand and scan to your computer just as easily.
Then I placed two of the sketches side by side to make sure it looked okay as a continuous border.
Then I uploaded it to the Homokaasu website and selected what size I wanted it to print out.
Note: Make sure to select “letter size” paper if you are printing at your home computer. It will print it out on 8.5″ x 11″ paper and you can piece it together like a puzzle.
Just in case anyone needs a wave stencil, you are in luck……below are the two I did for the woman that called for the mural. The small one prints out on 7 pages of paper, the larger one on 18 pages of paper.
This “rasterizing” process is the same I used for the butterfly chalkboard template in the fairy forest mural I painted a few months back!
I only had to do half the butterfly and then I flipped it over to trace the other side.
I went ahead and uploaded that one for you too. This one prints out on 20 pages of paper. Again you would piece it together like a puzzle and use packing tape for all the seams. I use a sharpie to draw around the border and then cut my template out. Email me if you have any questions!
Faux Painting the Butler’s Pantry
June 30, 2009 By 5 Comments
First of all, I think it is hilarious that this room is called a butler’s pantry…. where is the butler that is supposed to come with it?!
I painted every wall in the house except for the bedrooms. I wanted an aged, distressed plaster effect. I had to work when my 2-year-old was napping so the ladder and paint literally stayed out for a month! It probably took me about 50 hours. I’m thinking I need some art on the walls……
Below is the foyer adjacent to the butler’s pantry. It was the first room I started on. The weather vane is from my childhood home….. when my parents sold our old house I took it with me. I still need to make a wood base for the metal stand to rest on.
Closeup of the faux finishing……
Now that I’ve posted photos I’ll have to come up with a tutorial on how to do it!
Framed Child Silhouette
June 9, 2009 By 4 Comments
I had the hardest time trying to come up with a gift for my friend Shari’s daughter’s birthday! Shari is very crafty and sews clothes for her daughter Finley so I didn’t really want to make her something that she has probably already made herself!
Finley loves books and I spied the cutest photo of her reading at a bookstore on Shari’s personal blog.
I took the photo of Finley and printed it out to 8×10 size. Then I cut her silhouette out and used it as a template for the one I cut out of the paper. I used a complimentary cardstock for the background. On the mat I added her name and a quote from Dr. Seuss: The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
Happy Birthday Finley!
Creating a Photo Wall…..
May 16, 2009 By 5 Comments
Don’t keep your favorite family photos tucked away in albums or boxes where they can’t be appreciated!
Below is what 25 feet of framed photos looks like. It took a while but I love the finished wall. I am about to start tackling the other side of the hallway. I purposely didn’t match all the black frames so that I could buy them from different places. Most of the frames came from Pottery Barn, Aaron Brothers, and Marshall’s. Some frames have mats and some don’t.
Tips:
1. To get the frames straight, use a laser level to mark a line at the top and bottom of where the frames will go and line the entire wall with two strips of blue painting tape as guides.
2. Lay out the frames on the floor to create a balanced layout. Vary the gaps between the frames throughout the wall so that it looks intentional! You will drive yourself crazy trying to get them perfect….so don’t even try it (unless you are Martha Stewart with 7 assistants).
3. I hold the frames up one at time, use a small pencil to mark on of the corners and the center and then measure the back of the frame in two places: center to side and bottom of the hanger to the top. Then nail!
4. Aaron Brother’s has their “Buy one, get one for a penny” sale in July and is a great time to stock up!
5. Add a little paper label to the matted photos with the location and date (and who is in the photo) so friends and family can enjoy without having to guess where and when the photo was taken!
6. Add a couple shadow boxes here and there. I have one with our wedding photo and invitation and another with my grandfather’s military epaulettes.
Most of my photos were old color photos that I scanned and edited to black and white. Here are some of my favorites:
The Swenson Family on the Swilcan Bridge, St. Andrews, Scotland, 1997
(My dad’s favorite place in the whole world….he wants his ashes spread here one day. I’ll probably get arrested attempting it. Check out my short hair! Never again. I dyed it black from a bottle in our B&B. I have no explanation.)
My favorite of all my horses…..a thoroughbred named Andy (“Just Plain Andy”)
(He didn’t quite make it on the race track but was an amazing jumper. I sold him my senior year in high school to focus on getting my pilot’s license. When Sienna gets older I hope to start riding again…..it made me fearless and responsible!)
My husband Brett fly fishing in Henry’s Fork, Idaho, 2000
One of my first portrait ads for Photo Corporation of America
(I wasn’t a baby model…. my dad was president of the company…. so I worked for free, haha! I wasn’t even that cute! But I guess every parent thinks their kid is the most beautiful baby ever. My brother and sister were also in the ads when they were born. An 8×10 professional portrait was only 88 cents!)
My dad at the Senior British Open Championship, 2001
(He has competed in four so far!)
My daughter Sienna – 11 months old
(This was our 2007 Christmas card photo)
My daughter Sienna feeding her baby doll
Me, my mother-in-law Gale, and sister-in-law Jen tubing in Lake Tahoe
(We spend some of July in Incline Village every year….tubing is NOT easy! Actually, it is downright scary if my brother-in-law Jason is pulling us!)
My husband Brett and Sienna (at one year old) at our favorite local park.
(She was just learning to walk….how funny is her hair!)
