Thursday, September 8, 2016

DIY Playroom Decor

April/September 8, 2016/ Leave a comment Edit

As most of you know, we’ve been in the process of creating a playroom for the girls for a little over a month now. Read more about that transition here.

Well, it’s almost finished. I’ll do a separate blog on that later when it truly is complete. And by complete I mean when I finish my last project (a height board) then take the time to clean and organize it. Let’s be real… playrooms are for playing, right? So it pretty much stays ~~messy~~ “played in” until someone comes to visit OR until mommy wants to take fancy pictures for her blog!

Anyway, it came together slowly. I thought I was done, and then one day as I was sitting in there with the girls I realized the walls still looked a little bare. I had this vision for some signs to go in the blank spaces, so I set out to find the materials I needed.

letters (from Walmart)
acrylic paint (various colors I had already)
small paint brush (Lily’s craft one)
3/4 inch plywood (hubby has lots)
sander (also Mike’s)
white spray paint (random left overs)
wire (in one of those picture hanging kits we had)
staple gun (a birthday from the hubby years ago… haven’t used it since this project in 2013!)
Scotch indoor mounting squares (from Longs)

So this was a process you guys. I admit it. I wish I could say I sat down and did this in two nights. Sadly, I’ve had the letters for like three weeks, but just got around to getting the boards stenciled and cut. I knew I wanted a particular shape, but wasn’t sure how to get the exact shape (and size) transferred onto the plywood. So I just ignored the project for a while. I could have done it by hand, but it wouldn’t have been symmetrical. Finally, my hubby decided to print my shape in the Google program Sketch Up. We already had it on the computer from when we did all the work on the house.

Ok, so I’ll try to break it down in steps. If I’m honest, though, I was all over the place

Step 1: Choose, buy and paint the letters.

Step 2: Figure out how to print the shape you want and tape it together. (*Note – do a trial run to be sure the letters actually fit!) When I did this I realized the shape wasn’t quite big enough. So, I actually glued this piece to poster board and cut it just about half an inch bigger all the way around to fit the letters better. Plus, you can trace poster board way easier than paper!

Step 3: Trace the shape onto the wood you plan to use.

Step 4: Have your husband cut and router it to your liking. I would have done it myself, but I was on baby duty. So we just watched daddy cut. I love you, girls

Step 5: Try it out! (*Note – this was before Mike routed the edges). Baby approved.

Step 6: Spray paint the boards (after sanding). I was really close to busting the 5 gallon bucket of semi-gloss paint out. Then I spotted this beautiful can of convenience. Does anyone else ~~loathe~~dislike prepping and cleaning up paint as much as I do (besides my husband)? Laziness got the best of me here.

After this step I actually took the sander to the edges for a shabby chic white-washed look. You know, like beach cottage-esque. I like it, but my Mike thinks it looks “unfinished.” I guess we can agree to disagree on this stylistic matter. Love you, babe.

Step 7: Use wire as a way to mount it. I totally made this part up because it’s what we had on hand… and it hasn’t crashed down yet!

I used MY trusty staple gun that was a gift from hubby when I did this DIY Bench project back in 2013 for my classroom. Haven’t used it since… until now that is.