Thinking about kids rooms a lot lately

Hello lovelies! We hope you had a wonderful and productive weekend! If you haven't gotten around to our give away - don't forget to check it out - it's a good one!

We did a lot of thinking and brainstorming our next moves for the master bedroom and how we "really feel about our new curtains.We also thought about...the kids room. I have been pretty dead set on a Circus Theme, French style. We haven't done a mood board for this room, so we figure it was time now that we have the windows "covered", and the mural moving along. Here's what we are thinkin'....

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Fleshing out the Bedroom

So with the bed 99.99999% almost complete, we are planning our next moves to turn out big 'ol box into a relaxing yet fun and cozy master bedroom. (Don't worry, we will be posting the final and almost finished fruit of our labor as soon as we are complete. The flu really set us back.) There is a funny thing about our home. It is a 1930 English tutor, however on the inside it has this Mediterranean flair in it's arches and architecture. We loved these arches all around our home and in the bedroom, we are going to take a good 'ol college try and work off of them as inspiration. So, when our bed is complete, it will look something like this:

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I had this fantacy of a very French and elaborate circus with thick black and white stiped walls and fabric draping everywhere - as my bedroom. Tons of nooks and crannies and rugs layered over one another. Then I woke up and realized, I am never going to live in a photoshoot. Plus, if I went all le cirque, how would I bring in those Medaterainian arches I just told you about? So here is what Joey and I are thinkin...

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So we bought this awesome stencil over at Cutting Edge Stencils, as well as some test paints to figure out exactly which paint we want to go with. So on three walls, we got ourselves some stencil action going on. Here are some ideas for the paint, so far.

So we have a pretty good plan for the serine, calm, and cool feel we are going for. The shape of the stencil is going to compliment the arches, and the colors are going to keep the massive bed tones down and flow with the space nicely. But what about that crazy French stripy crush I am having? Well, we went to MOOD Fabric and bought 10 yards of the most luscious uphulstry weight black and white striped fabric. Crush stripes with me for a moment?

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See how beautiful simple black and white stripes can be?! So where is this leading up to? A feature wall of course!

Behold, my awesome photoshop skills. I know, it's a weak point, but words can't do what an image can so, here is an idea of where we are heading with my stripe obsession. Next up, a finished bed and a whole lotta bedroom decor!

Table Flipping at it's Finest

Joey hard at work in his man cave

A few weeks back, Joey and I headed over to Build it Green in Queens. We packed ourselves up in the mini-van and took a 15 mile road trip south to explore and learn about What BIG had to offer. When we entered, we were instantly overwhelmed by it's massive size and selection (about 5,000 doors, anyone?). After snooping around and planning a million and a half new DIY Projects, we calmed down, and found the wood, hidden way in the back, behind the building, sat down, and decided exactly what we were going to do next.

This wood looks like it came from a mill and had the charm we wanted to add to our foyer. We really searched far and wide for a long, high table with no luck, hence we DIYed ourselves through our own. Here is what we did, how we did it, and what it cost:

DIY Table Check List:

9 ft piece of wood - $20

7 ft piece of wood for legs - $20

"L" shape welders metal - $6

 2, 2 ft Pipe - $20 ($10 each)

"decorative" metal pipe brackets AKA floor flanges - $16 (for 4)

Minwax Finishing Wax Paste - $13

Wood Screws - $10 for a huge pack #8 1 inch screws and #8 1 1/2 inch screws

Total for 84 inch custom table: $105

 Most of the labor involved was sanding the old wood down to a state of beauty and smoothness. Joey spent hours upon hours with a hand sander getting the wood smooth and removing unattractive oddities. This part is so important for a smooth to touch and professional look. This took hours upon hours and many resporators until we found a professional grade one we were happy with. Check out Joey sporting his new look (notice the new hair cut we DIYed too?!).

After the wood was cut to size and sanded, we took the Minwax paste and rubbed it on all the wood (table top and legs all around) to give it that super professional feel. While it dried, we proceeded to prep the hardware.

 Joey Custom Making "L" Brackets

We scoured the hardware store for quite a while and could not find "L" brackets with an old-world and worn feel. We decided to make our own. In the welding section we found these long "L" shaped bars Joey turned into custom brackets. They had the finish we wanted on them, it was simply about custom sizing them and poking some holes for the 1 inch screws to go through.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but they have this weathered feel to them. The brackets are hidden in our design, but when we do something, we want to stay true, through and through.

We also snagged up some weathered looking pipes to give the table support in the middle because it was a bit tall, 34 inches to be exact. We wanted to add a little architectural interest with the hardware so we picked up four floor flanges to screw the pipes into instead of just running the pipes through the legs.

We attached the legs with the pipes after the finished dried and brought the finished legs and table top upstairs separately to attached them in the hallway. This was a rather large piece of furniture, so we assembled it this way to avoid it not fitting in a door or up the stairs. The 1 1/2 inch screws were used to attach the table top to the legs.

This is what we did Halloween night! Not a single trick-or-treater in sight (and a pound of candy I now have to deal with). We are super excited and proud of our new piece and are inspired to use this wood in my office for custom shelves, and we can't wait to show you. We would have spent about $1,000 on a piece like this, so it feels good to get exactly what we want for just over $100.

Here she is in all her glory:

Have you done a custom piece you are in love with? Please share, we would love to know what you did and how it turned out!