Peep Mania-Peep Bunny Bunting

I thought it would be good for us to take another little break from the Yellow Room and talk about Easter. I'm not sure if you feel the same, but it really snuck up on me this year. Two days ago my 6-year-old reminded me, again, that I should probably take take my Valentine's Day printable since it's now spring. To surprise her not only did I take it down, but I replaced it with our adorable Peep Bunting that I made last year. Since many of you might not have been following us last year I thought I'd share it again today. It's so cute and easy to make. It's a great project for beginning sewers and if you don't sew it could easily be done with a hot-glue gun. We'll finish our Yellow Room breakdown tomorrow. Have a great day and thanks for checking in!

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Peep Mania-Peep Bunting Tutorial

Apparently I have Peeps on the brain.

I saw this tutorial on MADE a few weeks ago and knew it would complement our Peep Sunflowers perfectly! The scary part is that I actually had all the materials I needed in my crafty closet...really who has yellow Peep colored felt on hand!?!?! I may need a fabric intervention VERY soon! I even mixed red and green paint to make brown for their faces...that's how this crafty girl rolls...we don't head to the crafty store with two children unless we absolutely have to!

This could easily be done without sewing using hot glue, but I like how it turned out with the stitching.It was a little tricky keeping everything from getting twisted in the sewing machine, but by the third Peep I got my rhythm down.

I just LOVE their little faces!!!

It's a Peep wonderland and it only took one afternoon to make!

The Yellow Room Breakdown Day 5-Dresser #2

We're nearing the end of the breakdown. Tomorrow we'll complete the room and then I have some great Easter crafts to share.

I was pretty excited to find this dresser on Craigslist. I was even more excited when I saw it in person. It is super sturdy and the drawers work perfectly. No wobbles or sticking. They were selling it for $25 which was a great deal for me. The girls loved the painted flowers, but you know me. There was no way this baby was going to stay as is!

The color I chose was found in the "mistake" section at Home Depot. Sadly I have no idea what the name of the color is (my crafty and knowledgable friend Kathleen said that is is very similar to Mermaid Net by Behr). Of course it ended up being my favorite color. It's a semi-gloss which isn't usually my first choice of finishes, but it went on so smoothly and in the end didn't need to be distressed or sealed with wax. 

The hardware was a bit tricky. As usual I didn't want to spend more money replacing it than the actual cost of the dresser. I had an idea. I wasn't sure it would work, but if it did it would save me tons of money! 

The top drawer originally had a knob. I purchased this beautiful flower drawer pull at Hobby Lobby (50% off) for $3. The girls love the jewels.

The remaining drawer pulls were made of wood and very outdated (Sorry, I forgot to take a "before" picture). I thought I'd try spray painting them to see how they looked. The result was better than I could have imagined!!! You can't even tell that they were wood, they actual look metal! I used Krylon brushed metal spray paint in nickel. So pretty and shiny!

To tie in the silver look I used metallic paint on the arch at the bottom of the dresser. It gives it a little pop without too much bling!

I had this cute flower photo holder in our garage waiting for a purpose. I sprayed it with the metallic to match the drawer pulls. 

This cute little basket was $0.40 at Goodwill. It's a cute little piece to hold jewelry or other little treasures that Noa has found.

We love this dresser. It's perfect for socks, undies and there is even a drawer full of purses for our little diva. I like that it's heavy and sturdy. It was made for the spot between the door and the closet. 

Thanks for checking in today! We're off to enjoy another day of record heat in Indy!!!

The Yellow Room Breakdown Day 4-Bookshelves and Shelving

The saga continues...

Today we are talking shelving. I really love how this little corner of the room turned out. Noa loves that she can reach all her books and her CD player (I love that this means she'll stop using her dresser drawers as a step-ladder). 

You'll have to excuse my lack of "before" pictures in this area. It was getting down to the wire and it didn't occur to me to take them. The bookshelf came from our old office. 

It looked like this:

Dark black and laminate. I used two coats of Zinsser primer first and it took almost three coats of Behr's Fairest Of Them All, but I got it covered very well. The back is just a heavy cardboard. I had other plans for it so I just left it as is. 

Once everything was dry I used Mod Podge on the back and attached scrapbook paper. Since this was going to be used for books and get a lot of use, I did 4 coats of Mod Podge. Letting each coat dry thoroughly before starting on the next. 

Once that was all done I used Minwax Polycrylic sealer in satin. I really wanted to make sure the paint didn't chip or flake off. I know my daughter and I know she's not going to be gentle with this piece. I also put this on top of the Mod Podged paper for extra support.

The organizers on the bookshelf came from the Dollar Bin at Target. The boxes are the perfect size for Barbie accessories and other little "collections" that Noa has. The magazine boxes are for her coloring books. Now she can have them all in one place and they won't get mixed up with her storybooks.

The shelves above the bookshelf were both purchased at Goodwill for under $2 each. They also got a coat of Zinsser Primer and a few coats of Fairest Of Them All. They were distressed at the edges and sealed with Annie Sloan clear wax. They are the perfect place to hold her collectables that Daddy brings home from his trips. They are low enough for her to see, but too high to play with. A happy medium!

The birdie mirror was another Goodwill find. It was originally a pale yellow, but I just covered the mirror with foil and spray painted it white.

The wooden sign was purchased from Mami Pajaro. It's my crafty neighbor Kathleen's shop and I love it. I originally purchased it for Lo's room, but it worked so well in Noa's I had to use it. I love the quote, a reminder that we can all use sometimes.

Put everything together and you've go one great looking area!

Tomorrow we're back to talkin' dressers and I'm sharing a fab-u-lous Craigslist find! Have a wonderful Tuesday and thanks for checking in!

Make Over Your Monday

Happy Monday! I don't know about you but I am so sad to see the weekend go! We had such wonderful time.

How did you do on last week's challenge? Were you able to get a few things done that you had been putting off? I crossed off so many things. I'm so proud of myself. I was definitely in organization mode. My crafty desk is in order, I went through all the newborn clothes and our backyard patio is usable. It feels good to have them checked off my to-do list!

This week's challenge is to send a card (not an email, tweet or Facebook message) to a friend letting them know how much you value them. We all have that special person in our life that makes our day brighter. It's important to let them know how much they mean to you!


Have a great week! Don't forget to check back in tomorrow for part 4 of the breakdown of the Yellow Room.

Sisters, Sunshine and Super Deals

We have been having some unbelievably good weather this weekend! We went straight from winter clothes to shorts, tanks and sun screen. The girls are LOVING it and so are the hubby and I. We got so much done this weekend it was unreal! The girls seem to get along best when they are not confined to the four walls of our house. They even were excited to do some extra chores for their Bitty Jars. While the hubby kept them busy outside, I worked on weeding through the old toys and clothes which is always so much easier when their isn't someone hanging over your shoulder protesting. I even found time to do a little local shopping and got some A-MAZ-ING deals for our backyard. This weekend was a big 8 thumbs-up from the Murray crew!

Lo's biggest accomplishment was teaching herself to hula-hoop. She is SO very proud of herself and I am proud of her determination. She refused to give up!

My little monkey is happy that she can finally reach the bars on her own this year. Monkeys like to swing ya know!

My favorite thing is that BOTH girls know how to pump on the swings!!! Daddy taught Lo and she passed on the favor and taught her sister (Mainly because she was tired of having to push her). Now everyone can go outside and have fun! There are a lot less tears now!!!

Mommy was even nice enough to open the sandbox. It happens to be the girls favorite outdoor toy (and Mommy's least favorite). They can sit in there for hours.

We even found time for a late-night family game of Corn Hole.

Lo wanted to take a few of her own pictures. She told us what to do and took the picture herself.

Such a fun weekend...and now for my fab-u-lous deals!!!!

Our patio furniture was getting pretty beat up. The chairs were disgusting. They were faded, dirty and ripped, but new covers are so ridiculously expensive that there was no way we were going to be able to replace them. I happened to be searching Craigslist on my phone early Saturday morning and happened upon not only the best deal ever BUT the person selling was right down the street! SCORE! I quickly emailed her only to find I was second in line. I was so disappointed. I think my desperate pleas swayed her because she emailed me and told me they were mine. I did a little happy dance!!! Let me introduce you to my 4 new chairs, umbrella and stand purchased for $50 for the set!!! The chairs alone are usually $50-$60 each. I love them! No pads to worry about and they give the patio a nice pop of color.

I didn't stop there! I found this fabulous deal on a local site. 

I've been wanting a fire pit for a long time, but it was never in our budget. We picked up this beauty for $25. It's a little rusty and one of the tiles needs to be replaced, but I see lots of fun nights by the fire making s'mores ahead of us!

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend. We'll have more of the Yellow Room Breakdown later this week.

The Yellow Room Breakdown Day 3-Curtains

Today we're talking curtains. My battle with the curtains is proof that pregnant women should not attempt to decorate. I literally changed them 5 times!!! Every time I thought I had what I wanted I'd decided that I hated them and couldn't stand to look at them one more day. I should have taken pictures of each change. I'm sure each decision highlighted my mood for that particular day. Three separate trips to Jo-ann Fabrics, 1 on-line fabric order and 2 trips to Meijer later and I end up modifying the curtains Noa already had in her room. Seriously, out of everything in the room this was the hardest area for my pregnant brain! I love them now and they will stay exactly as they are!

Once I finally decided to repurpose the "old" curtains the transformation took little time. The original curtains were 84 inches long. I felt that the floor length made them feel heavy. There was just too much fabric so I decided to shorten them. I knew the top of the curtains would be hidden by the cornice. I trimmed the excess fabric from the top so that I could keep the original hem. Super easy, no sewing involved! 

The window faces the west making the room VERY sunny and warm hot in the afternoon.  The thinness of the light pink curtains would not block enough of the sunlight to make the room cooler. Not a problem. We had blackout curtains in Noa's old room and so I just used those. I used Heat n' Bond hemming strips to attach the pink curtains to the blackout panels. Again, no sewing needed just an iron. I wrapped the pink curtains around and attached them on the back giving them the look of being lined.

The easy cornices are one of my favorite projects. You can get the full tutorial {HERE}. I love how they look and no one will ever guess that they are made out of foam boards. The old room had 2 windows so I had two extra panels. I used one to wrap around the cornice. I kept going back and forth (and back and forth...and back and forth) about whether to use different fabric for the cornice. I actually wrapped them three different times before settling on the light pink. I like the cleanness that they provide. They make a statement without being to distracting. I had these adorable butterflies that were hanging from Noa's ceiling in her old room. Their colors and polka dots match the decor perfectly! I just cut the strings and pinned them to the cornice. I love them!

The tie-backs were purchased from Wal-mart for $7. I love that they have a distressed look. They tie into the room perfectly.

The pink chair was our biggest splurge and I am so glad we had room for it! It also came from Meijer and was $30. She loves sitting by the window and reading to her dolls. I had the small side table on hand and the top was painted to match. I plan to make a tulle skirt for it, but that will have to wait for now. It's the perfect size for her little books.

So silly that that area caused me so much stress and headaches, but if that's what it took for me to get to the final result than it was all worth it because I love how everything turned out!

Have a wonderful Friday and thank you so much for checking in. We'll be back with more of the breakdown next week. This weekend is supposed to be Be-u-t-ful here in Indy and I'm looking forward to lots of outdoor time with the family!

The Yellow Room Breakdown Day 2-The Green Dresser

Oooooo the green dresser is my absolute favorite piece in the room. It was a Goodwill find (shocker I know!) and not only was it in excellent condition (all the drawers worked and no wobbles to speak of), but it was a STEAL at $35! I seriously can't believe it was still there. I'm pretty sure I pushed two old ladies and a stroller out of my way to pull the tag-I wasn't going to see this baby go home with anyone else!

Here is what it looked like before:

...and here's what she looks like today in all her glory!

I love, love, LOVE her!

As usual I started with a coat of Zinsser Primer-I love that stuff. One can lasts forever and it really does prime your pieces well without having to sand them. I will never use anything else. I don't think it's possible for anything to work better! The paint is Behr Premium Plus Ultra (eggshell) in Botanical Green. It's so bright and springy! The ultra covers really well so it only needed two coats. Using my sanding block I really distressed it. I wanted it to look beat up, but in a pretty way. Once I had the distressing how I wanted it I used a new product, Mylands Antique Brown Wax. I purchased it from Amazon with a gift card. It got great reviews and I thought it would be worth a try. It doesn't go on as smooth as my Annie Sloan wax, but I was pleased with the results. It also took very little wax. I barely touched it with my cloth, the can is going to last me a lifetime! Once I had the antiquing to my liking I sealed the whole piece with my beloved Annie Sloan clear wax. I am beyond pleased with the final results!!!

Another awesome thing was that I was able to use the original hardware. You can end up spending more on the hardware than the actual dresser sometimes. I loved the look, but did not love the color. First I painted them with Martha Stewart Metallic Paint and then used a rag to apply a coat of Martha Stewart Metallic Glaze in Black Coffee. That saved me a TON on money and they look fab-u-lous!

The dresser also had two additional bonuses that made it even more amazing. The top drawer has a cute little nook for her jewelry. Someday she'll be tall enough to reach it!

One of the middle drawers has this great divider. Now she has a section for her long sleeve shirts and one for her short sleeve shirts.

To finish off the look I added a mirror we had in our closet and another brand new light from Meijer.

Ahhhh perfection!

Thanks for checking in. Tomorrow continues our breakdown of the Yellow Room.