AR's Room Redo

I've been thinking about painting AR's room for a while now, gathering ideas from magazines and pinterest, and I finally just bought the paint and decided to start working on it last weekend.  I bought some pale blue paint from Wal-Mart, read a bunch of painting tips from the internet (this is my very first painting project), and set to work clearing out the room, cleaning the walls, filling in holes, etc.  I was able to get the whole room ready for painting on Friday, and then I painted Saturday morning.  Saturday night I then painted on the tree and the leaves.  I had found a picture in a Pottery Barn Kids magazine of a cherry blossom tree decal (for $175--no way!!) that I loved, so I decided to try to paint one myself.  Here is a picture of my inspiration:

On Monday and Tuesday, I did finishing touches like painting more flowers on the tree, hanging things on the wall, putting up new hooks and decorations, and figuring out the final layout of the furniture.  Unfortunately, I do not have any "before" pictures, but just imagine a plain white, boring room, without much prettiness at all.  Here's the pictures I took today (keeping in mind, I am still looking for a cute curtain rod and curtains):

view from the door--
the tree and leaves I free-handed, the flowers are stenciled, and the butterflies are stick-on decals

other side of the room--
2 hooks I got from the thrift store and repainted, her closet, her dresser
and cute necklace hanger that happens to go perfectly

bookcase right by the door with a cute hand-me-down lamp from cousins, horse calendar,
and pretty framed verse handmade by Aunt Carol

close-up of the initials hanging from the tree branch--these I had from her nursery decorations,
but they were lavender gingham with purple ribbon that didn't quite match,
so I repainted them with the extra pink paint, and added blue ribbon from my stash

looking straight at the tree (the butterfly decals I found at Dollar Tree!)

I added the pretty scrapbook paper to this verse that was in her room previously so it would coordinate--Psalm 78:4

I am so excited about how well everything turned out, and the best part is seeing how excited she is about her new room!  How do you like it?!

DIY Fabric-Covered Bins

I have lots of diaper boxes around here, so when I saw the idea of covering them with fabric, I jumped at that.  I love bins, but they are fairly expensive, so I rarely buy them.  But now I have lots of bins around my house that are cute and very cheap and easy to make!  I love being able to use things I would normally throw away to make something useful.  For this particular project I covered one diaper box and one plastic basket that I got from Dollar Tree.  I found the fabric on the clearance rack at Hancock's, so it was less than $5 for all of it.  I just cut the fabric to a size that would cover the box, sponge-brushed on some glue (spray adhesive would probably work better, though), and carefully pressed on the fabric.  I just sort of folded and cut to make it work around the corners and edges.  See how it turned out!

what I started with...

the transformation begins...

how it looks on the bookshelf

I made the bottom pretty with some of the extra fabric.

the plastic basket looks nice on my front counter

Getting ready...

Things have been very busy around here with all the usual stuff along with getting ready for our new arrival.  I have been tweaking the baby's room, moving stuff around, and figuring out everything I need to have on hand.  I am very excited about this new baby, but it still has not quite set in that I will have a newborn in less than a week.  I don't think it will set in until it actually happens.  I feel about as prepared as I could be except for getting enough sleep.  Rich is super busy at work trying to get things in order before he takes 2 weeks off starting on Monday.  I am thankful for all the help I will have with my mom and mother-in-law in town, Rich being home, and a wonderful church family helping out.  I am excited to see Anna Ruth's reaction to her new brother, and hoping James will not be too jealous and whiny.  He does seem to like babies, but probably will not appreciate this one taking up so much of my time and attention.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of the nursery, which is ready and waiting to be occupied.  I changed a few things from the way it was for James, like I added ribbon to the wall art to give it a different look, and (with the help of my mother-in-law) I added more cushion and re-covered my glider rocker and ottoman.  I think it looks super cute!