Techie's DIY Adventures

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Kids Artwork Gallery Wall

I am a hoarder when it comes to children's school work (artwork specially). The passage wall between kids room was empty and boring. It felt like it was begging me for some pizzazz. What's better than creating a gallery with children's paintings and artwork? Colorful, adds personal touch and best of all, its FREE!!!

Here is the after :) Doesnt it look awesome?

After deciding to go for kids artwork gallery, I digged into the boxes to select few. Once I decided on what to display on the wall, I tried to arrange the artwork on the floor few times till found out the arrangement I liked. Its always better to try it on the floor first before you hang it to avoid the nails. I didn't worry too much about this as I didn't frame the art work. I mounted them using painters tape :D Only for the wooden and canvas art works I used the thumb tacks.

Here is how it looks from the staircase landing.You can also see the hand painted wall paper in the laundry and you can read about it here painted wallpaper in laundry room

We have the thermostat on this wall which is exactly in the middle of the gallery. I don't understand why the thermostat has to be in the middle of the wall, cant it be in some corner??? It was sticking out like eyesore. I couldnt cover it as hubby would hate to open it every time while adjusting the temerature setting. I decided to frame the thermostat to make it pretty or less prominant.

Close ups of few of the artwork.

I have plans to add moulding around it, some day....For now I am happy with how it looks and I also like the fact that also there is lot of options for growth :)

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week ahead.

Sharing at
thededicatedhouse, betweennapsontheporch.net , boogieboardcottage mabeyshemadeit 320sycamoreblog twindragonflydesigns bec4-beyondthepicketfence ....

Saturday, January 11, 2014

No Sew Faux Roman Shade

After the paint and hand painted wall paper in laundry room, window was looking very plain. To dress up the window I decided to go for Roman shade. I have made the actual roman shade (the one which can be moved up and down with the help of the string) for other room. Since this window is tiny, decided to go for faux roman shade to achieve the look of original with least effort. Faux roman shade can not be adjusted, pleats are fixed.

I came across following fabric at Joann's where the print, kind of matches the painted wall paper. I bought 1 yard fabric (with 40% off coupon).

Here is how the window looks all dressed up.

Materials ( I had everything on hand except for the fabric) :-
1. Check the width of the window (assume a), add 4" to it. That's the width of the Wood for the top of the roman shade. I used scrap wood (leftover from our Master closet project)
2. Fabric for the faux roman shade ( width should be a + 4" + 2", actual length of the window + 5")
3. Stitch witchery or fabric glue or hot glue
4. Wood Stapler

Process:-
1. After cutting the wood to the desired length, I just taped fabric on the two ends :). This ensures that the wood is not seen from sides
2. Iron the fabric to smooth out any wrinkles. Fold 1" inches on each side. Seal the ends with the stitch witchery.
3. Staple the top of the fabric to the wood
4. Make as many folds as you want, adjusting the fold lengths. secure them with stitch witchery. I used safety pins to hold the fold.
5. Locate the studs and secure the top on the wall using screws.

One more with the painter wall paper. You can read all about the painted wallpaper here

I love the projects which takes less time and money, this is one of such projects. It took less than an hour (excluding the shopping trip for fabric ) and costed me less than 10 dollars :)

Have a blessed day and Thanks a bunch for stopping by!!!

Linking at 320sycamoreblog
http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/2014/01/anything-blue-friday-week-42.html
http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/2014/02/make-it-pretty-monday-week-87.html
http://threemangoseeds.blogspot.com/2014/02/its-party-time-2-2-12.html
http://www.creativelylivingblog.com/2014/02/monday-funday-37.html
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2014/02/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no198.html housewivesofriverton
http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/tutorials/tutorials-tips-link-party-144.html jenniferrizzo
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/2014/02/wow-us-wednesdays-155.html too-much-time.com
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2014/02/treasure-hunt-thursday-142-highlights.html thissillygirlslife
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2014/02/frugal-friday.html
http://www.serenitynowblog.com/2014/02/weekend-bloggy-reading-link-up.html bec4-beyondthepicketfence theinspiredwren diybydesign somedaycrafts remodelaholic
thecottagemarket

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Upholstered Twin Bed for Daughter

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2014!!

My daughter's bed got transformed from boring wooden bed into upholstered bed over a long weekend. We havn't worked much in her room. All that we did was to paint it in pink and paneled the wall with beadboard molding (Will share the details soon)

Here is bed in its new life :)

We had bunk bed in our rental apartment. Once we moved here, we separated the beds and put them in both the kids bedrooms. It was time for change when her bed slats and side rails were broken from jumping during one of the party. After upgrading my son's bed to full size, his twin bed was biting dust (which looked exactly like the one in below before picture but without side rails). My daughter always cribs about hand-me down furniture in her room. So, I decided to use the old bed but with a twist.

Before I tell you how I did it, here is a before and after. ( Pink on the wall looks purplish in the after pictures, true color is the one in the before picture. )

Now on to the process :- ( Pardon me for not having enough "during" pictures . I was in a rush to finish the project in 2 days as a friend was visiting us on the last day of long weekend :))

I wanted the tall headboard and short footboard. Hubby chopped off the top of existing foot board to bring it to desired height.
We got the mdf cut to size from Homedepot. Secured the MDF to the headbord and foot board with long screws. For the headboard we added 4 L brackets for the additional support.
I wanted the headboard and footboard to be plush and super soft, but instead of buying the regular foam (which is pricey), I used the foam mattress toppers (from walmart). Sprayed all-purpose adhesive on the wood to adhere the foam. Headboard and foot board has two layers of mattress toppers.
Next step is to wrap this with the batting. Batting is used to make sure the foam doesn't move around. Instead of batting, i used the fleece I had at home as the batting. While wrapping, made sure to pull it properly and staple it so that there is no loose end.
I repeated the above step with the fabric next time. I couldn't find the fabric I was looking for at Joann's so decided to use these curtain panels from Target. Made sure to iron out the curtains nicely to get rid of wrinkles.
Now repeat the whole process on the headboard and side rails.
We (Hubby helped) assembled the bed and adorned the headboard with the square nail heads. Hubby feels that nailhead trim would look better. May be some day, for now I am fine with this.