Makely

Let's Make Life Awesome

  • Home
  • Decorating/DIY
    • Create Your Decor
    • Decorate Your Home
    • Paint Your Walls
    • Transform Your Furniture
  • Healthy Living
    • Essential Oils
    • Family Wellness
    • Household Care
  • Project Gallery
  • Contact
You are visiting: Home » Project Gallery » Page 76

Our Serene Nursery

by Lindsay Ballard on June 14, 2010 1,955 Comments

Miss Emma is going to be one lucky girl.  She has a big brother who cannot wait to share his life with her, a daddy who would hang the moon and stars for her, and a mama who cannot wait to welcome her into our family.  As I’m sure every mother would attest, words can simply not describe the way I already love our 2nd (and last) child.

After 3 months of planning, work, and stringing you along, I’m finally ready to reveal her serene nursery to you.  It was truly a labor of love – and we honestly saw blood (Tom’s), sweat (Tom’s), and tears (mine) throughout the process.  The room has turned out so perfectly, though, that we wouldn’t have had it any other way.  Be warned that this post is very picture heavy, but I knew that’s what you’d want. 😉

You may remember the inspiration photo that triggered my entire vision.  I still don’t know who is responsible for this photo, but I’d like to kiss their ring!

I absolutely fell in love with the beige and whites in this photo.  Since I was having my one and only girl, though, I wanted to add a touch of pink into the room.  I found this sweet, powder pink Angel Toile fabric, and the vision of my room was set into motion.  I sketched out my plan for the room months ago, and I’m overjoyed to say that the final room turned out so much like my original vision!

I’ve never claimed to be an artist, but at least it got me headed in the right direction!

Introducing, Emma’s nursery:

The view when you walk into her bedroom.

The Piece de Resistance – a bed crown made from an antique fireplace mantle.

I found this mantle at a local antique shop.  It was already painted this shade of cream, which is a perfect match to the rest of the room.

Another view of the crib.  Tom, who lovingly over-engineers everything, did a fantastic job securing the crown to the wall.  He said she could do gymnastics on it and it wouldn’t come down.  I’m going to put together a tutorial on how to turn a vintage wood piece into a bed crown.  It’s a lot easier than it looks!

Have no fear, the curtains are tied back to the walls, so Emma won’t be able to pull them into the crib.

The three tiered, ruffled cribskirt was made from vintage bed linens.  It was really easy to put together.  I’ll do a tutorial for this, too.

Close-up of the crib skirt.

The changing table, with my chalkboard fabric labels, sits on the wall to the left of the crib.

I framed some family heirlooms, and they hang above the changing table.  From left to right, my old Easter bonnet, my mother’s baby dress and newborn shoes, my old toddler shoes, and Tom’s baby bib.

My Easter dress, from when I was 5 years old, adorns my child-sized dress form.

Continuing to the left, you’ll find my slipcovered rocking chair.  Won’t this be a lovely place to rock a new baby?

You can also see part of the angled wall/ceiling we were dealing with when putting up the crown molding.  It was a difficult task, but Tom mastered it and it came out beautifully.   He did such a great job!

On the next wall is an Ikea cabinet that used to be in my sewing/craft room.

The shelves are filled with a mix of old and new – some of my stuffed animals, some of Zack’s stuffed animals, my favorite baby picture of Zack, my first Pointe shoes.

On the wall between the bedroom door and closet, I hung this shelf I picked up at Goodwill.  On the top, you’ll see an antique oval frame (which will soon be filled with something very special), my sister’s toddler shoes, and a photo of Tom’s grandmother (who we recently lost) and his father as a baby.  On the hooks, the white dresses were my mother’s baby dresses.  The pink dress will be what Emma will wear home from the hospital, and will then she’ll be able to pass it on to her own daughter.

I couldn’t forget to picture this little doggie.  We let Zack pick out the first thing we ever bought for Emma, and he picked this dog the day he found out he was having a sister.  The little dog’s tag says, “Best Friends.”  I hope that they are.

Thank you so much for joining me in this little nursery tour.  It’s been so hard keeping this all a secret from my readers for so many months, but I wanted to reveal it all at one time, instead of in little, unfinished pieces.  I hope you think it was worth the wait.  I do!

Okay, let’s look at it one more time.

Yay!  Just 10 more weeks and the room will have it’s finishing touch – it’s very own princess.

Pottery Barn Knock-Off Tutorial – Ribbon and Bird Chandelier

by Lindsay Ballard on May 3, 2010 1,121 Comments

It seems I’ve teased you long enough about the flock of 250 birds on my coffee table.  I’ve received a number of emails this week asking what I did with all of those little birds.

If you guessed that I put together a Pottery Barn knock-off with those little guys, using a glue gun, then you would be correct!

DIY Ribbon and Bird Chandelier

For some time, I have been inspired by this Paper Flower Chandelier from Pottery Barn.  I really love how the ribbon forms a clean chandelier shape.

However, once I decided on a color scheme for my baby’s nursery, I knew that this particular chandelier wouldn’t work in the room.  Never to let a little issue like that be a problem, I decided to recreate it using my colors and a different decoration on the ribbons.

Supplies

  • Three Macrame rings (available at craft stores) – Mine were 19″, 12″, and 6″.
  • Two wire coat hangers
  • Lower gauge craft wire (available at craft stores or home improvement stores)
  • Wire cutter and/or Dremel
  • Invisible thread or fishing line
  • Spray paint
  • Ribbon (mine was 5/8″ satin)
  • Glue gun
  • Cardstock
  • Paper punch or template in a shape you like

1.  I began by cutting the wire hangers into several lengths that would fit the diameter of the two smaller rings.  I actually used my Dremel to cut the hangers, but I’m sure you had a strong pair of wire cutters it would work, too (our wire cutters were somehow missing that day).

You can see that I just wrapped the edges of the hangers around the macrame loops.  I pinched the ends as close together as I could so that the hangers wouldn’t slide.

2.  With the low gauge wire, we twisted some little hooks evenly spaced around the large ring.  I forgot to take pictures of this part before I painted the rings, so you can see an example of them a little further down.

3.  The next two steps I performed backwards.  I’m going to tell you the way you *should* do it – not that way I did it.

Spray paint your rings so that they are the color you want them to to be.  You will probably want to use a piece of sandpaper to rough up the shiny surface a little bit before you paint.  I didn’t and they are holding up okay, but I do have a few little chips in the paint.

4.  Using your invisible thread or fishing line (the fishing line is stronger), thread together the rings into a chandelier shape.

I began by tying the thread to the little hooks on the large ring, threaded it through the middle ring, back down to the same hook on the wire ring, and tied the thread in a knot.  I did that on all 4 sides, and then repeated the process going from a hook, down to the smaller ring, and then back up to the hook.

It took me a few tries and a lot of frustration to get this right to make sure that the hoops were balanced.  You’ll want to try it on your own to see what works best for you.  You just want to make sure that the hoops hang evenly.

You can see that I painted my hoops AFTER I had tied the thread, which made the thread white instead of invisible.  Live and learn (and think ahead)!

5.  Hang the top of your chandelier in such a way that you can work with it.  I put a yardstick across two step stools and it worked great for me.  It looks kind of like a little UFO!

6.  With my glue gun, I attached a section of ribbon from the top ring down to the bottom ring.  I just looped a piece of ribbon around the hoop and used a touch of glue to secure it in place.

The next piece of ribbon I placed about 3 or 4 inches over.  You will see that it just hangs straight down to about the point where the first ribbon curved.

I alternated my looped and hanging ribbon all the way around, ending up with an even number of ribbons.

Then, I did the same thing with the middle hoop, alternating connecting the ribbon to the bottom hoop and letting the ribbon just hang.  You will want to let the loops hang kind of low to create the chandelier shape.

7. Next, I turned to my flock of birds!  My birds were actually cut from two colors of cardstock paper from the scrapbooking store using a paper punch from Stampin’ Up.  The bird and wing were two different pieces, so I actually had to glue all of those bad boys together.  I wanted the birds to alternate the side that they faced, so that’s why all of the cream birds face one way and the tan birds face another.

I cut 250 of them, and used just about every one.  I may have had 20 or so left over.

8.  With my glue gun, I started attaching birds to the ribbons.  I glued them to the inside once the ribbon looped.

I also alternated the height on each ribbon so that the birds formed an interesting pattern.  For the ribbons that were left hanging, I made sure the pattern ended up so that a bird would be glued to the very bottom of the ribbon to hide the raw edge.

Continue gluing the birds all the way around the top layer of ribbons.

9.  Next, I glued the birds around the bottom layer of ribbons.

10.  The last step was to tie the chandelier hanger to the top.  I tried a few times with invisible thread, but it kept snapping off (maybe finishing line would have been better).  I ended up using ribbon instead.  I tied a knot through one of the bent wire hangers on the top loop and then tied it off on the bent wire directly across from it.  I repeated that step for the other two sides.  I just had to be sure that when the ribbons where held taught, they were both the same length.  It’s a lot easier to do than it is to explain.

Now, all you have to do is step back and admire your work!  Because this will probably be the very last thing we add to the nursery (once furniture is placed and drapes are hung), I have it hanging on my rolling laundry rack right now.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out!  I’m thinking of hanging it near my recovered rocking chair, but we’ll have to see when I’m finished with the rest of the room.

Does this look like a project you may attempt for the little girl (or big girl) in your life?

This post has been added to Kimba’s DIY Day.

« Previous Page
Next Page »
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

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.


Archives

Categories

PRIVACY POLICY
Copyright © 2009-2019 Makely School for Girls | All Rights Reserved | Posts may contain advertising content or affiliate links