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This blog is about two friends, miles apart, striving to pattern our lives after the Proverbs 31 woman. Here you will find our daily journeys, whether serious, funny, practical, or inventive. Thanks for stopping by and we hope you'll stop by often!

~Lauren & Page

Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts

Friday, June 17, 2011

Baby Nursery {Part II- the Transformation & Book Page Wall}

No, I haven't forgotten about my Baby Nursery blogging - however, I have been super busy finishing up this darling room for our little boy. Now that I just have the finishing touches left to do, I feel much more comfortable in taking the time to catch everyone up on the progress made so far. :-)

In case you missed my first post, you can go here to view "my inspiration" for the color palette and overall feel of the space.

I chose these three paint colors based on my inspiration fabric seen in my first post. I used Sherwin Williams Embellished Blue for the walls, Refresh as the accent color used to transform my changing table (stay tuned!) and Alabaster for the trim and doors.

Here is the Nursery - BEFORE we even began the transformation. Notice the light pink walls (eek!).
And here it is getting it's beautiful coat of Embellished Blue by my beautiful decorating crew!


We live in a charming 1920's home, I really do love it - however, the walls are a bit different in our upstairs bedrooms (as you can see from the above pic)- making it kinda difficult for any type of creative paint job, mural, etc. That's ok though, because I was feeling lazy and totally unmotivated to do anything too extreme. :-P

Instead, I decided to do an infamous "Book Page Wall". Many of you have probably seen this idea on countless blogs, and I'm telling you - it is SO fun and SO easy!

Sean & I both loved to read as kids (still do!) and hope our little guy will enjoy it just as much. Yes, we were those naughty kids that stayed up reading with a flashlight underneath our covers well after our parents told us lights out (because the book was THAT good). So....that's part of what led me to create this "Book Page Wall". I knew it would be artsy, fun, totally unique, and reflect our love of reading.

I used these classic storybooks to give it a vintage vibe. I purchased them for 50 cents each at a thrift store and since the binding wasn't in the greatest shape, I didn't feel so bad tearing out all the pages.


Once torn out, I simply had my lovely crew apply a *strong* spray adhesive to the back of the pages and randomly place them on the wall. We learned the hard way that it must NOT be a flexible hold, but a strong hold (best purchased at a craft store vs a hardware store). That's why this is considered** Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on.**

With true decoupage you apply a sealer on top, but I didn't want to make my pages THAT permanent. As it is, these pages are perfectly adhered to the wall and if one or two pages should try to escape, I still have my spray adhesive and can easily reattach - so far so good! Definitely make sure you use a strong adhesive spray, found at most craft stores - my fav being, Hobby Lobby. :-)

As you can see, these randomly placed book pages create a lovely accent wall that is truly artistic, unique, vintage inspired and an incredible point of interest, as seen here in my nursery. It turned out soooo perfectly!



**A special thanks to my sister, Heidi, friend, Morgan, brother, Caleb, and last but not least - my hubby, Sean for all the hard work you put into this wonderful nursery!! I couldn't have done it without you!!

Stay tuned for the final stages of the nursery transformation and the Grand Reveal coming SOON!!

~Lauren

Friday, May 27, 2011

Baby Nursery {Part I- The Inspiration}



Baby Nursery Part I :- The Inspiration


Ahh yes, I'm going on 32 weeks pregnant and have been brainstorming about our baby boy's nursery since day 1! I'm SUPER excited that my "painting crew" aka friends and family will be beginning the nursery transformation the 1st wknd of June! Yay! I will be sure to take pictures and share with all of you.

As I began thinking about what kind of nursery I wanted for our little guy, several adjectives came to mind - artsy, eclectic, vintage, unique, light and airy, fresh, and still baby appropriate. I have very expensive taste, but just like many of you - I had no intention of spending tons of $$ on this decorating excursion. In fact, I find GREAT satisfaction in finding exactly what I want for a steal of a deal or making it myself. I guess that's the treasure hunter in me, maybe I'm part pirate? Argghhh, matey. Ok, lame....anyway....I am thrilled to report that I've found exactly what I envisioned at the exact cost I envisioned. I'll be blogging about these various stages of the nursery decorating and hope you enjoy the transformation.

This is a "Crafty Creations" post because my inspiration fabric just happens to be a tablecloth! Yes, you heard right! How cool is that? It's just the right material, fits precisely with my color scheme, and exactly what I could NOT find in the fabric stores. This tablecloth is the inspiration fabric that the rest of the nursery will be designed around. Enjoy this sneak peek and stay tuned for "Crafty Creation" posts of the work in progress. I guarantee there will be lots of creativity going into this space. Turning a tablecloth into crib bedding is just ONE of the many ideas.


Be inspired by what you see around you and don't hesitate to turn the ordinary into extraordinary!

Stay tuned for more Baby Nursery posts in the coming weeks!!

~Lauren