the picket fence projects

Saturday, March 26, 2016

A changed changing table

If you follow this blog on Instagram, you might remember this sneak peek of the nursery my sister is putting together for their baby girl due this May.

The room is sooo sweet and I can't wait to share the whole thing.

But for now, I'm showing how she took the Ikea Tarva dresser and "hacked" it into a changing table for the nursery.

All it took was some paint, a change of hardware, and a changing table topper.

Pretty simple but a huge transformation nonetheless!

In case you are wondering, the mirror above the changing table is CB2, the changing pad cover is Land of Nod, the hardware is from The Hardware Hut, and the paint color is called "Etiquette" by Benjamin Moore.

To see another "hack" on the Ikea tarva dresser that I did a few months back, check out this post.

- Caitlin

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Boys rule!

Hi there!

A quick little post showing the mini picture gallery I've recently hung above the changing table in the boys' bathroom. Also, please excuse the poor picture quality! The only natural light in here is a skylight and I'm not a professional photographer.

Anyway, we moved the changing table (a DIY project I shared here) into the bathroom to make room for the second crib in the nursery.

Sometimes I still can't believe we have two kids!

Doing so required me to take down this DIY oar towel hook.

So to fill the space, I decided to hang a small three piece picture gallery using two Crate & Barrel frames (no longer available) and a third large one I picked up from Target.

My sister made this "boys rule" print for me, which I recently shared here on Instagram.

Thanks, Jamie!

It's inspired by this print but she made the color and style a little softer to fit the look of the bathroom.

That's all friends!
Have a great night.

- Caitlin

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Kiddie kitchen renovation

Recently I shared on Instagram how I picked up the Ikea play kitchen from a local tag sale site for almost half off what it retails for.

The Duktig kitchen is pretty cute as is but I was inspired by this makeover I came across on Pinterest.

I've been itching for a good DIY project and wanted the kitchen to match the nursery a little more so I decided to do a little kitchen reno of my own.

It was pretty simple to do and and at the end of this post I'll share the supplies I used for the project and how I did it.

But first, a look at the before...

...and the after:

So here's what I used:

a quart of Kilz primer

a quart of Behr's Evaporation

paint brush and foam roller

sandpaper

foam poster board

staple gun

removable wallpaper

rope

hot glue gun

Like I said, it was pretty simple to do and really didn't take long at all (about 2 toddler naps).

First I lightly sanded the wood and wiped it down before painting it.

Then I applied 2 coats of Kilz primer and then two coats of the blue/gray paint with a foam roller.

I have no idea if I actually needed to do that many coats but I figured why not. It was drying so quickly, I thought extra coats couldn't hurt.

For the backsplash, I decided to use removable wallpaper which I ordered from here. There are so many options and fun patterns out there. I became sidetracked trying to find a place I can wallpaper in my house using this one.

Sidenote on removable wallpaper:

It's awesome! At least this kind that I ordered is. It was easy to apply (just peel the backing off and stick), is durable, and is obviously removable and reusable.

I applied the wallpaper to a foam poster board cut to size for the backsplash and attached it to the back of the kitchen with a staple gun.

I also decided to wallpaper the backsplash of the two little cubbies next to the microwave.

Lastly, I did a little zhush to the hardware by wrapping rope around the handles and securing it with a hot glue gun (the same thing I did to the handles on this tray makeover you might remember).

And that's pretty much it.

Oh, I made the utensil can (although all that required was peeling the label off an empty can of chickpeas, washing it out, and painting the bottom half white).

The kitchen was sold to me with a bunch of food but I ordered more from here and the hand towel is just a wash cloth from the boys' bathroom.

Charlie loves playing with it and I love it because it buys me lots of time when I'm trying to fold laundry/nurse his baby brother/make the bed/vacuum/you get the idea.

A quick thank you to Kelly In the City and Rambling Renovators for last week's features!

Thanks for visiting!

- Caitlin

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Project playroom: ready for its reveal

When we moved here a few years ago, I wasn't exactly sure what we would do with this detached space that is just a couple steps from the backdoor of our house:

But once we had our first son, I realized that it would make a great playroom, especially since we don't have a finished basement or extra kid room in the house.

So this summer I began turning this blank space into a place for our two boys and shared the progress along the way here, here, here, here, here, here, here, aaaaand here.

And now that the custom cushions for the built-in seat (which lift up and double as toy storage) are in, I think I can call this playroom complete.

So here's a look around and at the end of this post, there's a source list and a special coupon code for readers of this blog!