E's {Future} New Bed

I love "stealing" from my parents :) 

Although E is still not quite ready for the twin bed, I figured it just made sense to move my old twin bed at the same time that we moved everything else to our new house last summer. If it's any consolation, at least I left my parents the twin bed frame and mattress that I used in college!

Before setting this one up, however, I needed to spruce it up!

Mom originally took this bed out of an outbuilding at my grandmother's farm (a hired man had used it at one time, I think) when I first needed a twin bed. At that time it was red... then Mom painted it white... then I repainted it white and changed the flowery details. This time... I was going for a more deeper, striking look! (but first, I needed to use a little steal wool to smooth it all down).

Here's the color I chose! I LOVE IT!

I covered up a wall in the garage, opened the garage doors and went to work. Of course, I was limited to nap times and after bedtimes, but it was still a pretty quick project.

As you can see, we decided to set it up in E's room, even though she's still sleeping in the crib. I didn't want to move it around too many times (even with just setting it up once, I still have to go and touch up a few chips!), plus I figured this allows E to get used to it before she actually sleeps in it. 

I love how the purple looks next to the pink and blues in her room... the next post is a review of everything in her room, along with a few notes about her dresser and desk! I finished the quilt last spring, and never imagined that it would be used for E's bed. I plan on making a new one eventually that is longer and wider, but for now, I think this one works fine!

We may not hang out on it every day, but it's safe to say that E loves her future bed :) 

Hopefully she still loves it when it's time to say bye-bye to her crib!

A Shelf for Ev

I always love a good before-and-after project! This started as a rummage/vintage/garage sale find. I only bought it this past summer, but I cannot remember how much I paid for it! After a little work, it became a nice shelf for my daughter's newly-decorated bedroom.

Even before buying a house, I always loved the idea of putting a piece of wood on some decorative brackets to make an easy shelf. Well, here was a shelf that already had the decorative brackets, so I didn't even think twice before picking this up at the sale!

First, it was time to sand. 

Then, I used some above-ground-pool supports (that have since been sold to a scrap metal place) to make a nice spray-painting station in the back yard. 

The only black spray paint that we had on hand was some super-tough-on-rust stuff that my husband previously used on our SUV hitch. All I cared about that it was black :)

After spray painting the brackets, I primed and painted. The final paint color is one shade away from the wall color. It was the same paint that I used for her dresser and desk (upcoming post).

I topped it off with my hexi-scrap table topper and a few special frames and pictures of E. 

Project complete :)