Painted Project - Another Personalized Canvas

If you know me in "real life", or have been reading this blog since the early years, you may know that I used to paint frames, canvases, and letters on a regular basis. It was something that I enjoyed when I only had one little baby that slept all the time. I had a small etsy shop (that makes me cringe when I look back at the stuff I painted, and the terrible pictures I posted). Yikes. I mostly painted custom orders for people that were local to me. I eventually got busier than I could keep up with, so I just quit taking orders.

I don't paint all the time anymore, but sometimes I just get in the mood to paint. A friend of mine is expecting her first baby soon, so this seemed like the perfect time to get my paint brushes back out.

If you follow me on IG, you saw this sneak peek last week.

Here is the finished canvas. This sweet girl has been given such a beautiful name!

Here is a peek at the bedding set that this was painted to go with.

Now you know what I have been working on lately.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for What You Wish Wednesday to link-up all of your posts.

And then for this new 31 Day Series! I'm so excited! If you are participating in the Nester's 31 Day Series Challenge, please leave a comment here so that I can follow along. I can't wait to see everyone's topics.




Linking up to:
What You Wish Wednesday
Your Designs This Time - Little House of Four

Nursery Details Part 2 - The Artwork

I knew from the start that I wanted most of the artwork to be DIY'd,
and I wanted it to be somewhat modern.

I had a large canvas sitting around that I knew I would repaint and use over the crib. I decided to go with painted stripes and an elephant silhouette. The elephant in the bedding was very simple so I just drew one on that back of an old poster and cut it out to use as a stencil. It worked like a charm. This painted canvas is one of my favorite things in the nursery.

My total Cost - $2
canvas - re-purposed - $0
paint - acrylic paint from craft store - $2



I had a large frame that was a good size to use over the dresser, but I had a hard time finding just the right thing. I had the thought to cut out circles and frame them, but I couldn't find scrapbook paper in the shade of blue that I wanted. I decided to just paint some paper with the paint I used on the elephant canvas and then use my circle punch to cut out all of the circles. I just taped the circles to a piece of white poster that I already had and put it in the frame.

My total Cost - $0
frame and mat - re-purposed - $0
paint - used from canvas project - $0
poster and tape - already had - $0



My original plan was to reuse a shelf that we painted the same color as the crib and changing table over the changing table. Once the changing table and rocker were in the room I just wasn't feeling the shelf. I'm still not sure what I didn't like about it, it just wasn't right. I was out of ideas for artwork, but needed something on that wall. I really didn't want to paint anything else. I was walking through TJ Maxx and spotted a set of 3 Amy Coe canvases. A lion, elephant, and monkey. The colors were perfect. The set of 3 was only $8! I knew I couldn't buy canvases to paint myself for that so I snatched them up. They weren't what I was looking for, but I didn't really know what I wanted. Once they were up, I was very pleased.

My total Cost - $8




I painted a canvas with the baby's first initial with the intent of placing it on the shelf that I was picturing over the changing table. Since I scratched the shelf I ended up putting the initial canvas on the door. (Okay, so maybe I haven't hung it yet, but it will be hung on the door.)

My total Cost - $4
canvas - purchased with coupon for $4
paint - already had

Go Here for - Nursery Progress
Go Here for - The Finished Nursery
Go Here for - Nursery Details Part 1 - The Furniture, Bedding, and Paint

Nursery Details Part 1- The Furniture, Bedding, and Paint

When I found out I was having another boy I had no idea what I wanted to do for the nursery. I wasn't really sure where to start. I began looking on-line and in stores for bedding trying to get some inspiration. I still wasn't sure what I wanted, but I knew I wanted a vintage/modern type feel. I wanted the room to be totally different from my first son's nursery.



I finally found something at Target (of all places) that I instantly liked. I then had to decide, new crib or paint the hand me down from baby #1 that was a hand me down.

Painted all the way! I couldn't commit to stained furniture. There is something about painted furniture that I just can't get enough of. I also liked the idea of all of the furniture being custom since I went with a store bought bedding.

The crib and changing table were primed and painted Olympic Victory Blue with a High Gloss Enamel Paint. My dad used to paint cars professionally and offered to spray it for us. It was an offer we couldn't refuse. The finish is perfect.



The day that the painting went down, my MIL called and said that her mother had a dresser I could have if I wanted it. I was super excited considering I had been searching Craigslist for months looking for this very dresser. We went and got it the next day. Major score! Thanks Grandma! It meant one more thing had to be painted, but my dad was a good sport about it.

Here is the breakdown.

Bedding - $0 Gifted
Target - Dwell Studio Elephants 2 sheets, 2 different blankets instead of the quit, bumper
Bedskirt - Dwell Studio - Circles and Rings ( I wanted something brown)

Furniture - $0
crib-from baby #1
changing table - from baby #1
dresser - from Grandma

Furniture Paint and Supplies - $35
This is an approx. total for 2 quarts paint, primer, sand paper

New Hardware - $ 0-Gifted

Wall Paint - $0
Olympic "Classic Khaki" I didn't mention this earlier, but we had a 5 gallon bucket of Navajo White in the garage and I took it to Lowes for them to tint it Classic Khaki which is one color darker on the paint swatch.

I'm sure you noticed that I have had a lot gifted. My super fabulous friends gave me a money shower as a surprise instead of a traditional baby shower since this was baby #2. I must say it was a complete shock and very much appreciated. You will see in future posts that my out of pocket expense was very little. I did include links to items so that you can see actual costs if you are interested in these items for yourself.

The Finished Nursery!

The nursery is finally finished for baby boy # 2, and I am thrilled with how it turned out.

Everything is just like I pictured.

Today I am just posting pics.

In the next few weeks I will do several posts with a
break down on where everything came from,
what was DIY'd, before and afters, and the cost.

Go HERE to see the before.

Artwork for the Nursery

I decided to do something fun before I tackle operation "Making Room for Baby." I'm still trying not to think about how much work it is going to be. I'm pretty good at procrastinating.

I knew that I wanted to paint a name canvas for our new little guy. I thought it would be a great way to give you a "sneak peek" into what I have planned for the nursery without giving everything away. I love the colors, I think they look quite masculine.

Navy happens to be one of my favorite colors for little boys. It is an easy color and it makes transitioning a nursery into a toddler/big boy very easy.

I purchased the bedding from a major store instead of doing something custom. It is just simpler this way. I also found something that I fell in love with and knew right away that it was what I wanted to use. Any guesses on what I picked based on the canvas?

Oh, and just in-case your aren't sure, his name is HENRY! It took a lot of searching and discussion to land on a name this time. It has been funny to hear our family's response. My mother, dad, and brother don't like it at all and think that it is a joke. I happen to love the name and told them we weren't taking a poll, his name is still Henry.

**EDIT** I know that his name is crooked. I thought I could live with it, but I can't. So, I'm going to redo this.

Making Room for Baby

We finally have a plan for the nursery.

The Plan - find a place for everything that is currently in our office so that it can become a nursery. This will be the hardest part of this plan.

-I have to find a smaller desk and relocate the computer to the dining room. Not real excited about this part, but there is no other place. The desk may evolve over time. I'm going to see if we can swap desks with my parents (they would love our huge desk) and use theirs until I find what I want.

-My husband's favorite red chair will be relocated to the living room. The red chair is the ONLY red thing in our house, but he loves it, so I have to make it work. This will require revamping the colors in the living room. I will be doing this spending very little money.

-I have to empty my hutch in the dining room to make room for office type supplies. It has glass doors that I will cover with fabric or paper or something so that you can't see the "pretties" inside. My real pretties will be packed up until we get a bigger house.

-PURGE, PURGE, PURGE! I'm going to have to part with a lot of stuff, and so is the husband. There will be a lot to get trashed, donated, and sold, but a lot will have to be stored until we get a bigger house.

I also have a plan for making it a real nursery, not just an empty room.

-paint has been picked out
-bedding has been purchased
-furniture will be painted
- artwork is underway


I have my work cut out for me.

Boys Room Custom Art

I have been busy this week trying to finish a custom canvas for a boys nursery.

It has been a while since I have painted anything custom other than a few frames and birth announcements.

Here it is.


and here is the quilt it was painted to match.

Now it is time for a relaxing weekend.

Surprise Nursery Reveal

I finally have pictures to show you of the nursery that we did for one of my friends. She is expecting her 3rd baby, so a couple of us got together and decided to do her nursery for her as a surprise. She picked out the bedding and we took it from there. This took weeks of planning details and some painting projects, but doing this as a surprise was so much fun. She left on a Friday morning and come home to a beautiful nursery painted and decorated for her sweet baby girl on Saturday afternoon.



Here is the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids that was the starting point for the nursery. It is the Isabelle in Pink, but has been discontinued.


Here is another picture that we used for canopy inspiration.


She wanted to nursery to have a French feel, but not over the top with poodles. This is what we came up with.

The Walls
-painted a pale pink.
The Canopy
-created using a moulding block (not exactly like the one I linked to, but that was the closest picture I could find) turned upside down, painted, sheers stapled inside, and hung with a sawtooth hanger. We used curtain holdbacks from Lowes to hold the sheers back.
The Eiffel Tower
-painted by a friend and artist of the family on canvas

Here is the other side of the room.

The Lamp
-created by me as a joke using hot glue and all of the ribbon and feathers that were on her diaper cake, but she loved it.

The Frame
-purchased at a local antique/junk store. I removed the mirror and painted the frame a glossy black. The inspiration for this came from HERE.
The Letters
-purchased from Hobby Lobby, painted by me

Photo Mats
-Wrapping paper purchased from Target

The Curtains
-Isabelle Toile panels purchased from PBK and trimmed in black pom pom fringe.

The Chandelier
-I didn't get a good picture of the chandelier, but here is a stock photo of the one hanging in the room.

The nursery came out so pretty and girly. Now we are just waiting to meet sweet baby girl in about 5 weeks.