One More Look at Lucky's Room

So here's one last picture filled post of Lucky's Room.  It is one of the two most 'finished' rooms in our house.  (Our dining room is also feeling finished these days ever since we added a second set of chevron curtains.)

The gallery wall has had a couple changes from the beginning.

I added this 'owl always love you' hoop that I picked up at Urban Outfitters last winter for $5 on clearance.  It was a 'faux' embroidered hoop meaning the stitches were just 'drawn' into the fabric.  I took the time to actually embroider over the pattern.  I had no idea how long it would take, but I got it done eventually:)!

These hand prints (there's a second one not pictured above) were added over a year ago on Lucky's 4th birthday.  I painted simple wood plaques from Michael's with acrylic paint and then had Lucky stamp her hand onto the wood.

I can only think of three changes/improvements I could make to her space right now.  One would be figuring out how to photograph the window wall of her room better.  The lighting is so tricky/bad and it shows whenever I photograph the wall.  Another change would involve moving her curtain rod to the ceiling and making some curtain changes.

Finally, I'm pretty much over this rug.  I'm thinking a white flokati rug would be fantastic in the space down the road.

Overall, Lucky's room makes us all smile...especially Lucky girl!!

Lucky's Completed Canvas

I've already posted a few pictures of Lucky's room that showed that her once blank canvas:

is now a piece of art filled with a picture from this photo shoot:

I just love this canvas!  I've had this project planned in my mind for months and months, so it feels great to see it hanging finally.

 

 

 

 

To complete this project, I first painted the edges of the canvas a bright pink color.  You can see the edge color better in this picture:

Next, we edited and sized the picture we chose to fill the 30" x 40" canvas appropriately.  We sent the picture to our local Staples and requested a blueprint black and white print out sized to 30" x 40".  When I went to pick it up, they told me that they were now charging the 'color price' for large photo print outs since they were getting inundated with orders and their printers were breaking.  I told them that in the past I had paid about $5 for a black and white paper print out in a similar size (for a project I have yet to share:)) and wouldn't be paying the $60 price they wanted to charge.  They told me they would charge $5 one last time as a courtesy...phew.  Lesson being...call around and get a quote first:).  I have a feeling that places like Kinko's still offer low priced black and white print outs.  

When I got the picture home, I realized that the print out was a bit larger than the canvas, so I outlined the canvas onto the back of the picture with a pencil and cut off the excess paper.  When it came time to adhering the paper onto the canvas, we first tried using a spray adhesive that I had on hand, but it didn't adhere for more than a couple hours.  It was a big bummer.  Then I went to Michael's and picked up some of this:

Aleene's Crystal Clear Tacky Spray

$6.99 at Michael's (less with a coupon:))

It seems to have worked extremely well thus far, but I should note that we were planning on sealing the paper/canvas combo this past weekend, and when we took the canvas outside to spray, it started bubbling up like crazy.  I ran the canvas back in and put it in front of the fire to warm it up.  Thankfully the bubbles all flattened.  I'm assuming this happened because we didn't achieve 100% adhesion on the entire large canvas.  The edges seem great, but there are places in the middle that must not be held as tightly and the colder outside temperatures made it more apparent.  One tip that might help in the future is to place books on the back of the canvas (edges and middle) after spraying to make sure the paper is sticking to the canvas appropriately.  I had turned over the canvas and put books on top of the wood frame parts of the canvas, but not the middle of the canvas.  Or maybe just keep the frame flat on it's back, picture side up and let gravity take care of it?  I'm not sure, but our canvas is not sealed now, which is a little bit of a bummer.  I may attempt to seal it again in the spring when it is warmer out, but for now, I'd prefer an unsealed canvas to a sealed, but bubbled up canvas:).  If anyone has any tips on spray adhesive or sealers, please pass them along!!

Lucky's New Bench

Over six months ago, I picked up this bench that I posted about here.  It was a $2.99 Goodwill find:

I decided the stool would be great at the end of Lucky's bed, so I picked up some of this fabric from IKEA.

Lappljung Randig Fabric

$7.99/yd

I spray painted the stool base with Rustoleum's Heirloom White.  I replaced the cushion (which seemed to be a big pile of lint pressed together) with foam cushion that Bill picked up for me with a coupon for about $8.  (I so wish foam were cheaper!)

Here is the final product in Lucky's Room:

Cost Breakdown:

• Stool $2.99
• Fabric $4 for 1/2 yard
• Foam: $8

Total: $15 for a custom stool:)!!

Linking up to Primitive & Proper.

A Little Lucky Room Love

My sweet girl turned five last month, which is incredibly hard to believe.  We had a two week long birthday extravaganza for her with a dinner in Milwaukee on her birthday, a party with her school friends the following week, and another gathering up north the following weekend.  She loves being 5!!  Part of her present from Bill and I were a couple small room updates.  I don't think I've shared much in her room in the last year or so, though we've made a few changes in the space.  Her original room reveal post is here.

One area that was changed was her desk area.  When Charm got a desk area update, so did Lucky.  Her desk area went from this:

To this:

The back of the bookshelves above the desk were lined with dollar store foam core cut to size and covered with wrapping paper that I had on hand already.  I painted chalkboard paint on the back wall between her desk and upper cabinets and on the back wall under her desk.  Finally, I added a tension rod with little curtains to make a little play cave under the desk:).

When I wrote 'Lucky's Room' on her chalkboard, she insisted that I add 'Charm is allowed'.  So cute.  

I found this driftwood horse at Gordman's awhile back.  It was $28 with a coupon.  Lucky had a chance to ride a miniature horse at our local county fair this summer and she was really taken with the experience.  She likes horses:).

These wallflowers are by Umbra.  I picked them up on super clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond.

 

 

I paid just over $5 for the box (with a coupon) and spray painted some of them gold. 

Lucky keeps a bucket of chalk and a mini LED lantern in her girl cave.  

She also painted this canvas.  Each flower represents a family member, our fish included.

I spray painted this owl gold as well.

Lucky is spending more time drawing at her desk as of late, which is really fun to see.  She most certainly is growing up quickly!  I'll be back next week to share a few more updates in her room.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Swim Suit Inspiration

This post is random.  I admit it, but this swimsuit is so amazingly cute, I can hardly stand it!  I picked it up at Target (No surprise there...Target and I are BFF.) for $3.74.

Seriously, coral, aqua, white would be the perfect color combination for a little girl's room.  I love the ruffles at the top and the ribbons by the legs.  I could design a room around this.  Easily.  In fact, if I didn't just finish up Lucky's room recently, her inspiration hat might have been replaced by the swimsuit.:

In saying that, I'm by no means tired of her new room:

I still really love it!  In fact, I've got a few new projects that we'll be working on in the next few months.

The owl on the right needs a good coat of spray paint to stand out more.

I decided that the bulletin board wall is a little busy looking, so I'm thinking of making a change here.

Finally, I have an idea for this unfinished canvas.

So much inspiration.  So many projects.  So little time.:)

Calming the Craziness

Lucky's toy dresser was looking like this recently because of a broken blue drawer knob:

I had used a couple cheapo Michael's dollar bin knobs to replace the broken one, but the fact that we had 3 different knob styles going on was making me a little nutty.

I ended up buying another pack of these from Pier 1 for about $13 after a 10% coupon:

I then had 6 matching green knobs for the three drawers, and kept 2 of the 5 remaining blue flower knobs for the two doors.  The Michael's knobs and the extra blue knobs returned to the 'knob basket' in my new decorating closet.

And now the toy dresser looks like this:

So. Much. Better.

The little things make me so happy!

P.S. Do you know how long it took me to get an 'after' picture that didn't have a foot in it?:

Too funny.  I love those little feet!

Lucky's Room Final Budget Breakdown

Has it really been 2 months since I updated the budget for Lucky's room in this post?  I'm not going to lie.  I'm a little nervous.  Here goes:

As of the last update, we had a $520 for Lucky's room and we were starting with a twin mattress, a brown chair and some accessories.  I also added $20 to the budget when I sold our old puppet theater and made a new one.  And in our garage sale, we sold the bedding set that had been in Lucky's room for $18, so our new operating budget is $558.  Ummm....still worried, especially since we added on a little closet organization project that cost about $25 in the middle of the project.

1. Twin Bed Frame: $10 Craigslist



2. Twin Box Spring: $50 Brand New in sealed plastic bag from Craigslist (Bill was removing the plastic when I took this picture...see his shoe:) He's hiding from the camera):

3. Twin Headboard/Bed: $29 Made with canvas frame, batting and fabric



4. New Bedding (Comforter, sheets, bed skirt): $90 in bedding and $15 bedskirt = $105

5. Night Stand: $10.80 Goodwill



6. Another Lamp: FREE (found in old nursery)
7. A furniture piece for toy and book storage: $50 Craigslist buffet



8. Another furniture piece just for fun: $119.20 Window Seat and Cushion

9. A desk chair for her desk built-in: $10.50 in Fabric, Chair FREE



10. Wall Art:
Embroidery Hoop Wall Art: $12.58

Photo Hanger from Pier 1: $8

Photo Wall Art: $19.22



Embroidered Prayer Wall Art: FREE



11. Accessories:

                       Tray on night stand $12 at TJ Maxx
                       Orange picture frame by bed $6 Walmart
                       Brown Round Throw Pillow on Bed $10 clearance at TJ Maxx
                       Pink Desk Bulletin Boards $3 each x 3 with coupons Michael's =$9
                       Mushrooms from Gordman's on desk = $3 with coupon

                       White Faux Sheepskin Rug from IKEA on brown chair = $12.99
                       Wrapping Paper and Knobs for Buffet = $17
                       RicRac for lamp and curtains: $9
                       'L' Wall Hook: $2
                       Hat Holder $1

12. A bigger rug $70 Marshall's

13. Curtain hooks: $10 Walmart

14. (Added Later) Closet Clean Up: $23.81

Total Spent:
$610.11

Okay, so I'm about 10% over budget, but I still feel like we got a lot of bang for our buck.  Especially if you consider that a brand new bed or dresser could cost $600 alone.  I love all the personal touches we were able to add.  And seriously, the exact total turned into a date = 6.10.11, our 5 year wedding anniversary.  That made me smile!  Lucky loves her new room and that makes me smile even more!!