Swim Ribbon Holder

My daughter joined the swim team this year and she is so excited.  They have been swimming since the beginning of April but had their first meet on Tuesday.  It has been such a great experience for her.  We are so proud of the fact that she has found a sport that she loves so much.  We suffered through a couple of seasons of soccer.  And by suffer I mean, lots of tears, lots of "I don't want to go to practice", whining, etc.  This was not fun for ANY of us.

That being said, my little fish is competitive, she loves to win and more importantly, she loves to be recognized!  Swimming is wonderful for that, EVERYONE gets a ribbon in each race they swim (unless they are DQ'd but in the 6 & under division, the rules are pretty lax).

As soon as practice started, I knew I needed to make something for all of those ribbons.  I had a few ideas and knew I had all of the supplies for a wood sign with hooks for the ribbons, so I got to work.

I started with a 2x6 board.  Given the size, I determined my letter height to be about 2.5".  Using my trusty PowerPoint program, I found a font I liked and created my design.  (I don't have a fancy cutter and honestly, I like the painted letters better anyways.)

Since my daughter chose the phrase - peace, love, swim - using symbols for peace and love I first found the shapes using clip art and sized them appropriately.  I then selected my font and layed them out.  They actually worked perfectly on and 11" paper so i added a few inches to each side and cut my board to 17".

I painted the board a pretty pink that matches her room and the got started on the letters.  To assist with the transfer when I traced the letters, I scribbled the back of my paper with a soft leaded pencil.  I then laid it over the board and began to trace.

Once my design was on the board, I pulled out a pretty blue color and painted in the design. I felt like it seemed a bit flat so I created a shadow effect using a complimentary green.  I love how it turned out.

My original plan was to put 7 hooks across the bottom but a couple of them broke off when twisting them in so I had to go with a plan B.  Which, by the way, turned out amazing!  I simply added my daughters name down in the corner and I love it (so does she).

 

So there it is!  (Notice the soccer trophy on the dresser!  Couldn't resist pointing that out.  She has a medal too but I need to find that!) 

I have a plan for a bit of a fun collage on this wall to add some more color and fun to her room but here it is for now.  A place of honor for her 2 first place ribbons!

So far, she has learned freestyle and backstroke.  I am so excited that swimming is her thing!  I was a swim instructor and lifeguard from the age of 14 all the way through college so I love that the love of water has passed on!  (Note, my husband has a huge love of water too and can't wait until she is old enough to scuba dive!)

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Student Desk {Girl}

As promised, we finished up the girl's student desk this weekend.  We got it hauled upstairs, accessorized and it has already been christened (as in, it has marker on the top already).  Last week I shared the desk project that started last November with the purchase of 2 "vintage" student desks.  I spray painted my son's desk brown.  My daughter has white furniture in her room so I brushed on white paint for hers.

I used a white flat paint and put on several coats with a light sanding between each coat.  I really liked using the flat paint as it does not show the sand marks like the satin spray paint did.  For this desk I put 4 coats of paint on the top and drawers in order to offer a strong finish since these areas take the biggest beating.

I followed up the paint with several coats of polyurethane.  In hindsight, I should have used poly-acrylic which offers a clear finish.  The polyurethane created a yellowish tint to the desk.  At some point I will probably go back and redo the finish but for now it is fine.  Again, I put a couple of extra coats on the top to better protect this surface. 

Ultimately, I would like to have a piece of glass cut to fit the top of each of the desks.  Not only will the glass protect the surface, it will allow the kids to put pictures and notes underneath like a scrapbook.  Note, when putting glass in a kids room, it should be tempered glass.  In the event that it breaks, like safety glass, it does not make as big of a mess and is safer by not creating the sharp, jagged edges.

I lined the drawers with another roll of Target Dollar Spot wrapping paper.   My daughter loves the polka dots.  I also added some fun, pink acrylic butterfly drawer pulls that I found in the dollar section at Michael's awhile back.  The knobs fit a bit close to the drawer so I put a white pony bead on as a spacer.  This makes the drawers much easier to open.

Of course, we had to accessorize.  For my girl, we hung a white Ikea magnet board and some kitten pictures from a calendar I picked up at the dollar store.  Target had some cute kitten buttons in the dollar spot.  I added a magnet to the back and they make great "girly" magnets.  I also used a couple of pink and green mini-buckets from the Dollar Spot for markers, pencils, etc.

Again, I am still on the search for the perfect chair for both kids desks.  After having the desks in their rooms, I am thinking we will paint the chairs a fun color - pink for the girl and blue, red or even green for the boy.  I hate to have their furniture too matchy-matchy and the punch of color will be fun. 

I look forward to both kids getting a lot of use out of their desks over the years!

Before

AFTER

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Kid's Room Monogram Walls

From the moment I saw the aisle with giant cardboard letters at JoAnn's I was in love!  I didn't know how or where, but I was going to have those in my house!  Then along came my baby girl and I knew, the letters had a home. 

I started with an "S" and painted it purple to go with the Finding Nemo/Little Mermaid "under the sea" theme of her room.  It was a fun added touch above her brand new, big girl bed.  The purple looked great against the turquoise walls with the fish decals from Pottery Barn and the Pier 1 stuffed fish hanging from the ceiling.

Bubba Z got a Z when  he was born.  The awesome red "Z" went above the spare bed in his room.  Loved it against the khaki walls.

In the new house, of course the monograms became an integral part of the kids rooms.

In the girly's room, I found some awesome old school Home Interior butterflies at the thrift store.  We brought them home and sprayed both the butterflies and the S with some watermelon spray paint.  They help to carry the butterfly theme in her pink and green room!

In Bubba Z's room, the awesome red Z was paired with a fun name plaque using photography from Leo Reynolds.  I first saw this fun idea of using Leo's unbelievable collection of letter photos in a guest post by My 3 Monsters on Under the Table and Dreaming.  I found the frame at Goodwill with 4 openings which was perfect.  So fun!

Just curious, does anyone else have a love affair with the letter aisle?  After doing the Alphabet Wall I think I need to chill on the use of letters - they may just take over!

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Let the painting begin!!!

Well, the adventure is underway and things are crazy as ever.  Over Labor Day weekend we took advantage of the paint sales, rebates, and some FREE gift cards I earned through MyPoints and bought 10 gallons of COLOR for our walls.  On Wednesday, September 22nd we got the keys and started to clean and work.  We hired a paint contractor to come out and paint the main space since it is crazy big and super high ceilings.  It looks awesome.  The last week or so I have been busy painting too!  Here is where we are at...

(I am going to have to add the main living space photos tomorrow as i realized I don't have any after photos of those rooms on my camera.)



S's ROOM

before

during

  

after

  

Daughter S was very involved in selecting colors.  Of course she wanted all pink but we were able to convince her to add some green.  Her white furniture should look great in here.  She also got a new ceiling fan to replace make up for the missing light fixture in this room.

Z's ROOM

before

during

Son Z was also involved in color selection with a bunch of help from Mom & Dad.  He is getting a NEW bed and some fun new accessories too!  He also got a new ceiling fan to replace make up for the missing light fixture in this room.

OFFICE

before

after

Right now, this is our FAVORITE color we have selected. 

We will have ALOT of blue rooms, but we love blue!

POWDER ROOM

before

after

Confession - this paint was selected because there was a gallon of it on the "mis-mixed" cart at Home Depot and was half price.  We also removed the boring builder mirror and added a great framed mirror I found at Fry's for just $8.99.  I want to add some more chocolate and green accents to warm this room up a bit more.

LAUNDRY ROOM

before

(almost) after

This is the same blue as the powder room.  We also removed one section of the cabinetry so that we could put our upright freezer in here as well.  We will also create a mudroom space in here to hang coats, backpacks and drop shoes since this is the first room just off the garage.

So, there is round one.  Can't wait to actually put furniture in these rooms, accessorize and share some of the fun decor projects I am working on to make this house our very own!