Bed Canopy Tutorial

A bed canopy for Audrey was a part of my vision for her room from the get go. There is something about a canopy that makes a bed seem like a magical place. I mean a bed is nice but a bed with a canopy is like your own special little hideaway. I even hope to add lights to it one day to make it even more magical. I promised you a tutorial and I know that you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for it. So, here are all the details for this super, simple project. I gathered some supplies:

• Two, white curtain panels (I got mine at Ikea. I think they were $10 for the pair)
• Large, oval embroidery hoop
• Adorable, pink pom-pom trim
• Liquid Stitch
• Ribbon

 

I can't write this tutorial without giving Liz over at Life in Projects a major shout out. 1) For her inspiring work with pom-poms and 2) for introducing me to the amazingness that is liquid stitch.

 

 

This stuff is genius and made this project possible without dragging out my nemesis aka the sewing machine. I simply laid the curtain panels out on the floor, applied the liquid stitch and placed the trim on top. It is amazing how strong the hold is!

 

I let everything dry over night and then shimmied the curtains onto the embroidery hoop just like you would with a curtain rod.

 

 

I repeated the same thing with the other panel and that part was done-so.

 

 Then, it was time to figure out how to hang it from Audrey's ceiling. I cut ribbon into four equal lengths and tied them onto loops that were already on the curtain panels. 

I just made sure that the ribbon was tied at equal distances so that everything would be level (although the picture below would indicate otherwise...it took a little adjusting).I tied the four pieces of ribbon into a knot at the end. My sweet hubs put in a ceiling hook for me which I hung the knot onto and that was all there was to it. I told you it was simple!

I love when simple projects like this can make such a big impact.

I may have curled up in this little nook myself a time or two. It is our favorite spot to read bedtime stories.

Color Blocking in the Playroom

As I have mentioned before, one project always leads to another one around here. One of the side effects of organizing and decorating Audrey's bedroom, was a pile of books without a home. Since our home library is still non-existent and probably will be for quite some time, I decided I needed to make room for them in our playroom. And, it was a really good motivator to reorganize and rotate some things around. This is how the shelves looked the first time I organized this room in case you need to jog your memory.

 

To solve the book issue, I decided to dedicate an entire row of shelves to all books. I debated on how to organize them for awhile but nothing was working. There were too many different types and categories to do it that way. Then, I remembered a "Home by Novagratz" episode where Bob and Courtney organized a client's books by color and I knew it would be the perfect solution. I am in love with it! We were short on green books so I placed Will's Charley Harper nesting blocks in that open space. It worked out exactly how I had hoped! If nothing else, it will help Will learn his colors during clean up time.

 

 

But, let's talk about what else I did to get this space working more efficiently. I picked up a couple more white boxes for craft supplies because the two that we had  began to overflow (go figure). We now have a box for paper, one for my craft supplies (hot glue gun, modge podge, paper cutter, etc.) and one for the kid's crafts. There is also an empty one but don't worry, I have a plan for it. I moved all the woven baskets to the bottom for toys and coloring books. Here, let me just open them up so you can see...

 

 

I also needed a solution to our art supplies since we are now using the "art cart" as Audrey's bedside table. I put the containers of crayons, colored pencils, and markers in this wire basket from Anthropologie. It was an awesome sale room find. It actually came as a set of 3 so you may see some of its friends popping up around our house. I like that we can just take the entire basket off the shelf when the kids want to color.

I guess I should show you our other shelf, too, since I also reorganized over there. Don't mind the diaper-wearing, iPad-playing photo bomber. He's just doing his thang so mommy can take a picture of the playroom without everything all over the floor. Please don't judge me.

Anyways, the white shelves now hold a wooden train set...

 

 Items for kitchen play...

 

Puzzles...

And, a new wonder basket. My thought is that we can change things in this basket based on Audrey's (and eventually Will's) interests. Audrey is already requesting a bird-watching basket and what can I say? I aim to please.

 

 

An abacus and pattern blocks are also hanging out on top of the shelves. My husband is a math teacher after all so it only seems fitting to encourage math play. Am I right?

Finally, I filled this basket with puppets and stuffed animals. Will has been cracking me up, lately, with these puppets. He loves to put them on and try out his best animal sounds.

It is always so refreshing to walk into a newly organized space. So, what have been organizing lately? I have several other spaces that need attention, too. It's a good thing that spring break is on it's way. I can't believe that I'm typing those words but it makes me giddy just thinking about warm weather and the end to the longest winter ever!