Nursery | DIYs
What's this? Another post about decorating the baby's room? I did say I'd become a bit obsessed. I promise this won't be all I post about. I wanted to share a couple of little projects I've been working on. I found a childrens table and chairs set at the opshop a week or two ago for $10 with the hope of sprucing them up.
See 'before'...
And after...
C and I brought them home, sanded them back by hand (they were actually real wood!), primed them and painted them within 24 hours. The legs are a white gloss and the purple and green is some acrylic house paint I had left over. I'd like to give them a coat of clear gloss over the top to make them a bit hardier. If the before photo is anything to go by, kids are rough with their furniture! I'm not sure if they're totally done yet, I was considering adding some dots or something to make it a bit less matchy-matchy with the other things in the room. I should also point out that I am aware that the baby won't be using these for quite a long time yet, ha.
After seeing this really cute print (and deciding that it was out of my price range - and not knowing how to check-out on the German site) I decided to track down a hi-resolution photograph of the moon to get printed into a poster. I found an image that was free to use for non-commercial use, popped it into Photoshop and gave it poster dimensions. I thought about adding some fun things to it in Photoshop, but I think it's so beautiful as it is. I took the file to Officeworks and they printed it in black and white onto matte A1 sized paper for about $5. Here's a link to the photo I used if you'd like to get your own moon printed.
I've also been making some hand-stamped fabric to make cushions. I added a fabric fixative to acrylic paint, cut some little circle, triangle and raindrop shaped stamps out of lino and stamped onto some fat flats from Spotlight. Fabric fixative is pretty great because it means you don't have to buy expensive fabric paint in all the colours you want - you just mix it with your acrylic paint and then iron the fabric once it has dried and it won't chip/wash out.
I painted this old print frame to turn it into a blackboard with some green blackboard paint I'd had in an unopened tub for ages (I think green blackboard paint is under-appreciated!).
I have been toying with the idea of making my own alphabet flash cards and am trying to better my skills using paths in Photoshop (I'm sure this task would be simpler if I had experience with Illustrator). I'm sure it will take me until the baby is born to make all 26, but it's a fun learning experience. I'd like to print them onto card, laminate them and peg them up on string in the room when they're done. Here are two I was working on late one night last week.
Some other things on my nursery DIY to-do list:
+ Making a rainbow felt ball rug (A massive undertaking! I've been wet felting ball after ball of roving late at night while I watch Twin Peaks the last few nights)
+ Sewing cloud shaped cushions from the printed fabric I made.
+ Making little embroideries to go inside frames I've painted (I'm halfway through one).
+ Painting a set of white drawers that will become a change table (considering one colour for each drawer).
