kirstencan

Spaceman room

We've given Thomas' room a little update:

My friend, Whitney, made these rocket and number vinyl stickers for me based on the pattern in this fabric I bought to make his new curtains.  I love this fabric. 

I love any cool 'boy' fabrics!

I got him the IKEA rocket pockets (which, by the time I made up my mind to get them were on clearance for $2.99) to store his little stuffed toys.

The original border was something my sister helped me paint on his wall when he was a baby.  Moons and stars.  Very sweet, but he's not a baby anymore.  I thought adding the rockets might make it 'cooler' without having to repaint his room.

Here's the little brother drooling over the Star Wars Poster.

The other framed Star Wars pictures are pages from DK Star Wars books in inexpensive IKEA frames.  He's still using the $5 quilt on his bed, but most days we flip it over to a solid blue to match a little better.

His hanging chair and space figures fit in perfectly, too.

I think it's a fun little update to his room.  He likes it, too.

Curtains: 2-for-1

Another closet updated - here's Monkey's.  I picked up these (bright! matchy!) curtains at IKEA - um, a few months ago - and finally hung them up last week to replace the bi-fold doors.

Monkey is in and out of that closet all the time.  That's where the dress up box is, and he's set up a nice cozy hideout for himself under the built-in shelves.

Also, he loves maps, and loves taping things to his wall (!), hence the upside-down crumpled map of North America as a decoration.

(And if you spy a few dresses in his closet, it's because Princess doesn't have a closet in her room - so that's where her dresses go.)

Anyhoo, about a week or so after we got the curtains up, I finally took them down to hem them - heh.  And with the 14 or so inches I cut off... I made a little valance for his window.  Very little - but it hides his roller blind (which was covered with sock-monkey fabric, but that fell off) so it looks a little more finished...

... and circus-y.
Oh well, good enough.

Big Red Canvas

In our re-arranging adventure, we discovered that we have a lot more wall space to fill (formerly occupied by bookcases).  That's kinda fun.  We weren't sure what to do with it at first, but started thinking that a Big Red Canvas might just work.  So one day I bought one and did a red base coat on it with acrylic paint.

Soon after, I had my boys help me do another coat (in the garage).  This time with other colors mixed in.  I encouraged them to use a lot of paint.  They enjoyed it, and only one shirt was ruined.

I'm thinking it works.  At least, I'm happy with how it turned out, and that's all that matters, right?  There is still room for some smaller prints, too.

Another cool thing about re-arranging things is that there is more space for a couple of cool things that were formerly in weird, too-high places.  Like Eva's awesome print and our globe. (And is our thermostat set in the stupidest place you've ever seen or what?)

Something else I'm loving - my new tree curtains.  From Urban Outfitters.  They were actually sold out of the curtains, so I bought a 'tapestry' and cut it up.  Easy peasy.

It looks so great in the morning.
 

IKEA Loot

(Because some of you asked...)

So, the main reason I headed to IKEA last week was for these new pear-green curtains for my bedroom.  I'm loving them.  I also picked up a necklace tree to hang my beads on.

And I just had to have this cute organizer ($5.99!)for Monkey's room.  It matches perfectly.

He likes to arrange and rearrange his 'pets' in the baskets.

I also picked up a set of picture pockets.  Some are hanging in each boy's room.  A fun way to display their drawings, and easy to change out. 

Ahhh, I love IKEA.

Just Hangin'

We've had white lanterns hanging in Thomas' room since he was a baby.  There used to be three...

Princess had a great time painting her lantern, so I thought it would be fun to let Thomas paint his (with watercolors).  He did the one on the right nearly by himself.  The one on the left he got bored of quickly (a different day) and I did most of that one.  I thought it was cool that they look like planets. 

So, of course, we couldn't stop there!
We hung up paper x-wing fighters and tie-fighters.  

They are printables from starwars.com. **EDITED - sorry, that page seems to have disappeared - I can't find it on their site anymore! :( **  We've used them before, just to play with, but Thomas likes to make them 'explode' so they don't last long.

They are hanging over the beanbag/pillow area - so it's fun to look up at them.

Thomas was saying 'This is amazing!'  and the next morning he said 'I dreamed about spaceships!'

Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if all of his dreams were about spaceships or trains...

Princess Curtains

Finally, Princess' curtains are up.  Have been for a while, actually, but I couldn't decide about tiebacks.  Tough decision.

I ended up making two simple panels using the yellow 30's print, plus some lavender dots, lavender gingham, and purple ric rac at the bottom.  I'm liking how it works together.

For temporary tiebacks, we were using hair bands, hair clips, or dress-up necklaces.  Just to get by...

And then I thought - why not use hairclips?

I found some large lavender flowers at the craft store (on sale - 25 cents each) and hot glued them to the sides of large hair clips.  Clear would have been better, but I was a bit impatient (surprise!).

The result is cute, I think!

Not the best shot here - its hard to get a good full-shot of curtains... please ignore the laundry.

It only took five years...

Yup, only five years to replace our dining room curtains.  Really not too bad, right? ;)

Our old ones were green/white roman blinds with a checked valance - glimpsed here.  Made by the former owner.  (By the way, I'm keeping it real here, by not clearing off my table - click on the photo to see notes in flickr).

I used a linen blend fabric for the top of the curtain panels - I wanted it really washable - good thing, as I was sewing them up I noticed that someone had touched all the panels with chocolatey fingers!

The bottom fabric is Amy Butler Lotus, in Cherry.  My next project will be making a kitchen curtain (smaller window) entirely out of that fabric - it'll be cheery.

The project after that?  Repainting the dining/kitchen in a different green - probably the same as Monkey's room...

I made four panels, and each has a little embroidery design.  I wasn't nearly neat enough with my threads on the back, but oh well.  The house is a collaboration by Princess and I.  The bird is from a drawing she made for my birthday.

I originally wanted cafe curtains - only 2/3 the way up the window, but we get major sun in the afternoon, so I made them full-length.  They're attached by clips/rings, which also makes them really easy to open/close.

I'm pretty excited that they turned out - especially as I made them up as I went along, lined them, and I'm horrible at measuring.

I'm liking them!  They're lighter and more 'spring-y'.  More fun, and definitely more me than our old ones!

p.s. - We've had quite the cloudy/gloomy day today - not ideal for taking photos.  And, of course, now that I've posted these photos, the sun came out!  DOH!

Pigs and Curtains

Mommy, Look!  Pigs are in carbonite!

-Thomas

I thought that was pretty funny (and yes, it's a Star Wars thing).  He ran across this fun game (Pass the Pigs) the other day.  If you haven't played it, you should - it's hilarious to throw pigs like dice.

Okay, opinions, please:

I've decided not to hang Princess' old curtains in her new room. In part because I'd want a different shade under the valance, and because there's a desk under the window, it would be hard for her to pull the shade down.  Anyway, her room is painted lavender and white - we tried to match it to the lavender from her old quilt - my MIL made that one, too - all lavender, yellow and white reproduction prints (glimpsed here).

(she drives me nuts with how much stuff she keeps on the bed - but, hey, she makes it herself!)

Her new quilt (above) has more colors in it, so I wanted curtains that included a few more, too.

I recently picked up this yellow fabric for curtains - I was thinking just very basic curtains - 2 panels that slide to the sides.

When I see the yellow fabric paired with the purple fabric, though, I want to cut them all up and do patchwork curtains.  But I'm afraid it'd be to busy.  I'm leaning towards the plain yellow - or maybe with a purple casing at the top or something.

What do you think?

Transitions

Hall to playroom:

Playroom to Princess' room:

Playroom to laundry room:

Monkey's room to hall:

Hall to dining (I've never been happy with that green):

Do you ever walk around just looking?

Playroom - details

**Updated - check out our new floor!**

I wanted to show you a better look at the mobile I made for the playroom:

I painted an embroidery hoop red, and cut out lots and lots of circles (3 different sizes) from vintage children's books.

Everything is hung with red/white baker's twine.

It moves and sways a little with the slightest breeze, and I like how each circle is really different and fun.  Fun to make, more fun to look at! It really matches the decoupaged bookcase it's hung by too.

Another picture I have hanging is a shot of the three kids in front of Thomas (from this year's Day Out With..).  I actually can't believe how well it came out.  I found some semi-subtle Thomas scrapbook paper to back it with.

I covered all the outlet covers and lightswitches in fabric:  Dick and Jane or a stripe I used in the bunting.

Here's a better shot of our... art/picture hanger thingy.

Basically, I found a piece of wood in the garage, hot-glued wooden clothespins to them, and then painted the whole thing red (same color as the bookcase ).  Easy.  I tried hanging it horizontally, but the papers on top flopped over too much.  But vertically works well!  I like having a place to hang the kids latest coloring, or photos of the cousins.

The best thing is, since you know I'm a total cheapskate - none of this cost much!  Some cost nothing.  Woo hoo!

It's all in the details.