DIY Latch Board for Emerson

I'm back with a quick and fun little DIY project for all the little ones out there! I first saw this idea a couple years back on my favorite blog, Young House Love. At first when I saw it, I had no idea what it was - a bunch of hinges and latches on a board? Huh? Well, that was before I had a kid. And now that Emerson is here, I will do anything and everything to keep her occupied. New things are always welcome since she has the attention span of about 1.5 minutes (please share any other cool ideas you have for 11+ month olds)!

STEP 1: PICK OUR YOUR HINGES

After work one day I picked up Em and headed straight to Home Depot to pick out some latches. I spent so long in the aisle (Em fell asleep) picking out a good assortment of different latches, hinges, and handles in varying finishes. I basically tried to find the cheapest ones (some of those are expensive!) that had a lot of movement, would be fun to un-hook/re-hook, and weren't too sharp for Emerson to use. I think I spent about $30-40 in total on latches. 

STEP 2: BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

We had some leftover wood scraps laying around from our headboard and console table projects, so I commissioned Zach to build me a little platform after laying out all the hinges and latches where I wanted them to get a good idea of how big I wanted the platform. I think it ended up being about 2 feet x 1 foot.

STEP 3: SPRAY PAINT (OR PAINT) YOUR BOARD

I'm kind of obsessed with this color lately - Tropical Rain Forest from Valspar. It's bright and vibrant and almost like a kelly green, but with more teal. I love it.  A couple coats and it was good to go! Maybe we should have just left it as a platform for Em! :)

STEP 4: LAYOUT & ARRANGE YOUR HINGES

Layout your hinges to get a good idea of what you want the board to look like before you start screwing in everything. As you can see, I played around with it quite a bit. Also, make sure to keep all the nails and screws close to the hinges so you don't lose them or get them mixed up!

STEP 5: SCREW IN YOUR HINGES & LATCHES

Pretty self explanatory. I started using the power drill, but it was running out of batteries (always happens right when I want to work on a project). Using a regular screwdriver seemed to work better, though since it didn't split the wood as much. I added a little piece of pom pom trim I had leftover from Emerson's pom pom curtains I made for her nursery to add a little texture. I also added the E wrapped in twine which is actually a pin on letter for Christmas Stockings, but it was a little too heavy for our stockings to hold the weight. It fits perfect on her board!

STEP 6: ENJOY!

Emerson seems to like it (off and on when she is in the mood). Her favorite part is the doorstop. She loves flicking it to make it go Boing! and after each time she claps! It's so cute. She also loves the wheel. I love that it is substantial and will take a lot of wear and tear over the years. Check out my instagram feed for a cute video of Em having fun with her Latch Board!

Have you made any fun baby toys lately? Or, do you have any suggestions for awesome toys that your baby loves? One of the reasons I wanted to make this, is because it's made of non-traditional items, and these days it seems like that is all Emerson wants to play with! She loves the bottom drawer in the kitchen filled with (safe for baby) kitchen utensils! It's her favorite. So I'm hoping she will like this for years to come!

DIY Tufted Headboard

Before we got our new king bed I wanted to update our queen headboard. A few years back, my mother in law and husband DIY'd a tufted headboard for our master bedroom. It was awesome! Here's a reminder on what it looked like...

The cream fabric was great for a while, especially since it was easily interchangeable with different colored duvet covers. But, I was ready for a change. My friend, Kim, had just gotten a similar headboard from Wayfair that I really liked, plus, I had seen a similar DIY version on Sarah M Dorsey Designs (she does the best DIY projects!). Since we already had a good frame, I thought we would give it an upgrade. 

Instead of fabric, I used curtain panels from Target - another tip I got from Sarah! I used two panels similar to these and got them for about $17 each. So, less than $50 we were able to have plenty of fabric to cover our existing headboard, plus add arms. If we weren't going to add the arms, we probably would have only needed panel.

I won't go into detail on how we did it since we basically just had to recover buttons and then put the new curtain panels over the top of the existing fabric. The arms were a little tricky, but Sarah's tutorial was really helpful. 

We also added the brass nailhead trim. It was a pain to get enough matching nailhead tacks - I think I made half a dozen trips to Lowe's to get enough little packs (of about 25 each) to have enough to cover both arms... not an easy or quick process. But, I love the way it looks!

I love how it turned out and honestly, I was a little sad when we got our new bed that we would have to get a new headboard because I loved this one so much! It didn't move far though... now it's in our guest room! 

We also made a headboard for our new bed, which hopefully I will be sharing soon! Still need to get some good pictures of it though... :)

DIY: Instagram Collage Prints

Hey guys! Wow it has been a crazy month in the Kane household! We crammed all our travel for the year into the past four weeks before Zach starts residency TOMORROW!! We had such a great time on our travels - camping on Lake Cushman, medical school graduation in Arizona, family reunion in Bend - but let me just say that this Mama is exhausted. With a capital E.

I just wanted to share a little project that is one of my favorites and is so easy to make (and cheap too!) 

Last fall I was itching to get all my Instagram photos on display. But there are so many! What to do? What to do? I saw this post and this post on Pinterest and was relieved there was an easy (and cheap!) way to make a collage in Picasa that you could order straight from Costco. 

First, I figured out how many pictures I wanted on each collage. I liked the look of the inspiration that was six photos across and nine photos down. With the photos about 2x2 inches, that meant that my collage needed to be 20x30. 

In Picasa, I selected the photos I wanted to include in the collage and then hit the button on the top left "Create Photo Collage" (it looks like a little mountain scape photo with a plus sign in the top left corner). From there I adjusted the grid spacing between photos and the overall size of the collage. When I had it just right, I hit "Create Collage".

To order the prints, I used Costco Photo Center online. You can order 16x20 prints for $5.99 each(!). I uploaded the collage and ordered just like a regular photo. So easy and a good price for so many photos!

I got three of these IKEA frames in white for only $3.99 each. Total cost for all three frames and prints was about $27 ($9 each). Not bad! 

I love these so much. They are so fun to look at - every time I take a look I see a new photo I haven't noticed in a while and it brings back a great memory. Emerson loves them too. She loves seeing all the different pictures - always something to look at!

PS. If you want to see more of my photos, find me on Instagram (@mykane). I'm kind of obsessed. :)

Upholstered Gray Chair... Finally Done!

Well, almost two years after I purchased this chair, it's finally finished. Stick-a-fork-in-it finished. Wait, you say. Didn't you already finish this chair (ala this post)? Well, yes. Yes, I did. Almost... We finished everything but the detail on the front of the arms and around the back along the edge. 

I finally got my act together and decided to go with some nail head trim. The original had some wood detailing on the front of the arms, but it was damaged and irreparable. The arms are too curved and unique in shape to try and recreate the wood piece myself, so nail heads it was! I'd done nail head trim before on our Queen Headboard (post forthcoming) with individual brads I got from Lowe's. I had seen this nailhead trim at JoAnn's which looked much easier to use since all the brads were connected. Um, no brainer! And with a 50% off coupon on my JoAnn's app (it is my goal to never pay full price for anything at JoAnn's or Michaels!) it was a great deal. 

The trim has actual nails every five brads so there is much less time spent nailing and the brads are also evenly spaced, which makes it much much easier and faster to put on the chair. It's also somewhat bendable, which helped for the front arm detail. I just molded it to the shape I wanted and made sure to nail in the brads where they would stay put. Easy peasy. 

If you look closely, you can see the difference between the trim and the brads that you actually nail in, but not unless you look really closely, which no one probably will. :)

I'm glad I finally finished this bad boy! Such a handsome chair (for my handsome husband). Good to know there is another alternative out there besides having to nail in 100 individual brads!

See this post for a DIY in pictures of how we reupholstered the chair and this post on how we picked the fabric.

Herringbone Quilt for Emerson

It's only been over a year since I worked on this project... sheesh! Last year towards the end of tax season I got the major nesting bug. Like whoa. I hadn't done anything for the nursery yet besides gather my overall inspiration. I really wanted to make a quilt for Emerson and I loved the quilt from my inspiration nursery (see it here). I also wanted to do something really easy - those are my favorite kind of quilts. I like having something creative to do that isn't overly complicated. That I can still work on while I watch my "stories." 

I used this tutorial, which was super easy to follow. I made this crib-sized (or close to it), so about 42" x 52". 

Fabric:

1/4 yard each of the patterned fabrics (I did not use the gray pictured above)

1 yard of white fabric

1/2 yard of solid aqua fabric

1 1/2 yards for orange/coral polka dot fabric (used for back)

(I think overall I spent about $50 on fabric at a local quilting store)

Fabric Cuts: 

15 squares each of the patterned fabrics (ish)

60 squares of white (ish)

The method used for cutting the triangles was so easy it is a major "DOH!" moment once you realize how awesome it is. Instead of cutting and then matching up a zillion triangles, you just keep the squares intact, place them right sides together and pin. Then, from one corner to the other draw a diagonal line with a pencil and ruler. From there you can just sew a 1/4 inch seam on each side of the line. Once you sew on each side, you just cut down the line and now you have two new squares, but made up of two different patterned triangles! Genius! 

As far as layout goes, I used the "organized chaos" method. No official pattern, I just started laying down the triangle/squares making sure that no two patterns were right next to each other and were somewhat evenly spaced.

Helpful hint for keeping the layout preserved while you are sewing... we (and by we, I mean my Mom and Me - she is the quilting queen!) set out the squares on top of the backing, then rolled up the backing with the squares (another genius idea from mi madre!). It keeps everything compact and in order so you don't have to keep it set out on the floor while you sew. Also very helpful if you need to move it, but don't want to take apart your layout! 

I sewed the squares together horizontally first and then sewed the long rows together vertically, if that makes sense. Then came the ironing. Lots and lots of ironing...

My mom had the top and bottom quilted together by another lady that specializes in quilting. I had her keep it simple and quilt "in the ditch." My mom did the aqua binding to finish it off!

I absolutely love how it turned out and it works so well in Em's nursery! I hope Em loves it for years to come!

DIY Rustic Console Table

Hi guys! I'm back with an awesome DIY for you today! I've been slowly wanting to update our IKEA furniture to more "grown up" and non-IKEA looking furniture. I mean, there comes a point in your life where you start to do that, right? IKEA is great and affordable with modern and minimalistic design, but their furniture definitely doesn't last forever - at least not in my experience. To be fair, we have moved four times in six years... which can be pretty rough on furniture. Anyways, it's time, and the first piece to get changed out (and by changed out, I mean got moved to the dining room and is now being used as our buffet) was the Kallax shelving unit. 

I saw this console table on Liz Marie Blog a while ago and fell in love with it (the actual plans can now be found here). At first, there were no plans for the console, so I went over to Ana White, my favorite source for DIY woodworking projects, and she happened to already have plans for a Rustic X Console Table! We've used Ana's plans before on our end table with success so we followed her plans again for the console table. 

Zach was awesome and built this whole thing all by himself during the last two weeks of busy season. He's definitely getting in as many DIY projects as he can before residency starts! He did such a good job!!! Our family and friends that have come over think that we bought it at a store! It's that good. So thankful for my handy husband!

The plans were easy to follow and he finished the table pretty quickly - over the course of a week, working at night after work and on the weekend. We made some modifications so that it would fit in our space. That's the nice thing with Ana's plans - it's not too hard to adjust them to customize the pieces for your own space. 

All together, I think it cost a little less than $100 for lumber and supplies (we didn't have anything on hand). Such a great price for a large console table that is sturdy as a rock! We used one coat of Minwax Wood Stain in Special Walnut because we loved how the knots in the wood came through. Then, we did two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane on top to protect the wood. 

To say we love it would be an understatement! It's so awesome and I'm so proud of my husband that he made it from scratch! 

Quick and Easy Cross Baby Quilt

I recently got bitten by the bug. The quilting bug. I actually made a quilt back in April for Emerson (I'll post that one later) that was so easy and fun to make that I wanted to make another one for a friend for her baby shower (more on that one later too). But today I'll share another baby quilt that I just made for Em. 

I have wanted to make a Cross/Plus Quilt for a while (a la this or this and this) and since I'm addicted to these super easy baby quilts, thought I'd give it a try. I found some cute patterned flannel of jungle animals in aqua, coral, orange and brown and decided to get some solid flannel to use for the crosses. 

I didn't really use a pattern (I'm not too into patterns - I like the quick and easy!) but just cut out 3.5 x 3.5 squares and laid them out in the pattern I wanted, alternating colors so no crosses of the same color were next to each other. Then I just sewed together each row of squares across using a 1/4 inch seam, then sewed together all the rows using the same. Easy peasy. Next I did the "quilting" myself. I put it in quotes because I use that term loosely. I basically just top stitched around each cross to keep all the layers in place. It definitely isn't perfect, but it gets the job done!

I used the patterned fabric for the back which is the binding as well (using this easy tutorial). I was intimidated about the binding at first, but using the tutorial was surprisingly easy.

I love how it turned out - perfect for tummy time and super warm and snugly. Em likes it too!

Scrapbook Paper Letters for the Nursery

I'm back with yet another nursery project! I couldn't share this one with the rest of the nursery reveal since we didn't reveal Emerson's name until she was born. But, I definitely had this project done ahead of time! I'm pretty sure I accidentally left the letters out when my mom stopped by one day so she found out the name ahead of time... oh well. :) 

Supplies:

Paper mache letters from Hobby Lobby (around $2.50 each)

Acrylic craft paint (for the sides) and brush

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Scrapbook paper in coordinating colors

First, I painted the sides of each letter an off white.

Next, I placed the scrapbook paper face down on the table and turned each letter backwards and upside down and traced out the letters. Then, cut out each letter.

Then, I applied (in small sections) mod podge on the paper mache letters and then placed the paper on top. Once the bottom layer was on, I applied a thin and even layer of mod podge over the top of the scrapbook paper to seal it and protect the paper. The mod podge dries clear and gives it a glossy coat.

Such a fun and colorful way to personalize a room. Especially for people that love typography as art like me!