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You are visiting: Home » Archives for Lindsay Ballard » Page 282

On Heirlooms

by Lindsay Ballard on June 21, 2010 1,310 Comments

Other than the baby clothes I’ve used for decor in the nursery, I don’t have many family heirlooms.  Tom’s grandmother gave us her set of monogrammed silverware when we were married, but that’s about all we had.  I love the idea of family heirlooms, but I don’t like the idea of the loss a family usually must suffer in order to pass down such items.

Last month, we got a call that Tom’s grandmother’s health was quickly declining.  Just a few days later, Tom was getting ready to fly out to her funeral in North Carolina.  Sadly, this all happened about two weeks after his other grandmother’s funeral.  When it rains, it pours around here.

Grandmother Kuhlman was one of those wonderfully Southern ladies that you fall in love with upon meeting.  I didn’t get the chance to spend much time with her since we lived so far apart, but we exchanged letters and cards every now and then.  I will never forget when she first saw pictures of Zack’s room – she wrote me a 4-page letter wondering why I didn’t have my own TV show.  I got a good giggle out of that, as it was nice to have such a big fan.

Tom returned from Grandma K’s funeral with a heavy heart and a heavy gift for me – her monogrammed sterling tea set.  I started crying as soon as I saw it.  I am so thankful that we will have this gorgeous set (that I need to polish, I know) to remember her by.

I’m not sure where I’m going to store the tea set, but for now I’m using it as my center piece on the dining room table.  It brings a smile to my face every day, even if the method by which I acquired it breaks my heart.

I hope we don’t have any more heirlooms passed down to us for a long, long time.

The Nursery: Your Questions Answered

by Lindsay Ballard on June 16, 2010 2,058 Comments

Thank you for such the wonderful response to Emma’s nursery! It’s truly my favorite room in the house, and I’ve been known to go sit in there with the door shut just to be in the calm surroundings. I hope they help her stay calm, too!

There were a bunch of questions left in on that post, so I will answer the most frequently asked ones here. If you have a question that I don’t answer, leave it in the comments below and I’ll answer it there!

How did you frame the family heirlooms?

This is actually such an easy project!  I bought some frames on mega sale at Michael’s that would fit the dimensions of each little vignette I put together.  I took the class out of the frames and covered the glass in a layer of batting and then fabric (for mine I used linen).  I pulled the fabric tight and secured it to the back of the frame with my glue gun (of course).

Once I positioned each baby item where I wanted it in the frame, I used t-pins to just pin it onto the fabric and batting.  If you work with it, you’ll be able to figure out a way to pin it so that the pins won’t show.  For example, I pinned the dress from the inside.

If you have any pieces that flop over when you hold the frame up, you can use a little bit of double-stick tape or scrapbooking adhesive squares.  For my heavy toddler shoes, I actually glued them to the fabric on the soles.  Of course, I wouldn’t do that with something worth millions of dollars, but I didn’t mind doing it with these things.

If you want your items behind glass, shadow boxes are going to be your best option unless your items are extremely thin.  I considered this route but it was going to be a) a lot more expensive to buy large shadow boxes and b) I worried about the frames sticking out from the wall so much that I’d bump my head when I was changing the baby on the table.

Where did you hang the bird chandelier?

Well, I still haven’t hung the bird chandelier.  My original thought was to hang it in the corner near the rocking chair and lamp.  Now that I see the room completed, I don’t think that’s where I want it.

I’m going to live with the room for a few weeks to see if a spot presents itself.  If not, then it won’t be going up.  I’m one of those people who’s always on the borderline of overdoing it (ha!), so I’m trying to edit myself.

In the meantime, the chandelier is hanging on the closet rod is Zack’s huge walk-in closet.  He actually loves it there and comments on how beautiful his closet is every morning when he’s getting dressed.  The part of me that’s having a hard time knowing that he only has a few more weeks as an only child doesn’t want to take something away from him to give to the baby (Please tell me that the Mommy Guilt gets easier!).

We’ll see how it all shakes out.

What paint colors did you use?

I literally painted something like 10 samples on the walls before I found the perfect colors.  In the end, I chose two Sherwin Williams colors – the top white/cream is Dover White and the bottom beige/brown is Wool Skein.

The changing table, which used to be a natural wood, and peg shelf are spray painted with Valspar Porcelain.  The rocking chair is hand-painted Dover White.

It just so happened that the new crib, the Ikea bookcase, and the antique mantle turned bedcrown were the perfect shades of antique white to fit into the room.  When you are doing a room with soft colors like mine, just remember that every paint and fabric color doesn’t have to be an exact match.  The subtle color differences add a lot of depth to what could be a very boring room.

Let me know below if you have any other questions!

********************

Now, it’s time to announce the winner of the Cutting Edge Stencils giveaway!  Congrats to commenter #27…

…Jen at With Grace & Lace!  Congrats!  I’ll email you shortly so that you can get the details worked out with Cutting Edge Stencils.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

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About Makely

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.


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