by THAT Painter Lady on Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Having a baby is always the cue to decorate a room for your new bundle of joy.
A while ago a reader wrote that a friend of hers was adopting a little baby girl from Vietnam. The friend’s husband wanted to surprise his wife when she returned with their baby and have the nursery painted all fresh and new.
The neighbor’s request was for stripes with flat and satin of the same color. What the reader needed to know from me was how to measure for the stripes?
Note: I found this cute baby nursery with stripes on a “Good Dad” Website! What a great job he did for his new baby…
Back to the nursery with stripes:
Her husband got a 1×8 piece of wood that she could use as a guide, but it had been so long since she had done stripes, she wondered what I thought about taping and all. Basically she wanted to know if I use a pencil and make the lines first, then do the tape, or simply tape.
She really wanted this to be perfect for her friend and her friend’s husband. The good news is this was the easiest way to do stripes – flat and shiny in the same color – and such a great idea! An simple way to jazz up the room with the least amount of headache!
Several ways of “drawing” the stripes are available:
- I use a watercolor pencil for all my drawing on walls. Because it is water soluble… it can be just washed off if I make a mistake. That is, as long as something hasn’t been painted over it. That’s KEY!!
- Using a laser level can be extremely helpful in getting straight lines. Yes, you can get the lines to go up and down!!!
- A string hung at the top of the wall with a push pin and with a washer tied to the bottom. It’ll hang in a nice straight line that way and you can secure it at the bottom. Then tape along the edge for your straight line.
- Tape makes the job so much easier! It’s a pain to put up and take off, but the actual painting goes really fast.
- If you use tape, remember to be extra careful when removing the tape, as it can pull off “all” the paint with it and make a mess. Slow and at an angle!
Instead of using a flat and shiny paint for these stripes in the same color, simply paint the entire wall in one finish (flat) and then do the stripes in a clear sealer with the other finish (matte, satin or semi gloss). This way you don’t have to worry about bleed under the tape… it won’t show!
A little hint about using the water color pencil to draw your lines first before taping – the water color pencil should be put on very VERY lightly and as close to the wall color as possible. Once you put your tape up use a sponge or damp rag and wash the remaining lines off. If you paint over them they’ll bleed through and ruin your paint job.
Remember… draw them very very lightly, use a color as close to the wall color as possible, and remove any “remnants” before applying any paint.
Avoid Bleed Under Painters Tape
Now there are several ways you can avoid “bleed” under the tape. This is REALLY important if you are using different colors. One way is to simply paint the base coat along the edges of the tape to fill in those little gaps between the tape and the wall. Again…paint lightly.
Shortly after you’ve painted the base coat gently along the edge of the tape around your room, paint your new color in-between the tape. You really don’t have to wait long. Then as soon as you are done with the painting in-between your tape lines – all the way around the room – you can start to remove the tape…slowly and carefully.
And remember, the best tape to use is the blue tape with the orange inner core… It’s the least adhesive and made for “just painted” walls. Check out this blog post for more… http://www.thatpainterlady.com/stop-paint-from-bleeding-through-painters-tape/
Oh yeah, the sealer is available at Home Depot or Lowes. I always use Polycrylic brand.
The Peaceful Nursery: Preparing A Home For Your Baby With Feng Shui
by THAT Painter Lady on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Great Book About Nursery Style
Every new parent has a vision of what the perfect nursery should look like. But really, is there any need for you to spend $2,000 in order to decorate and furnish a space that, in a couple years, your baby will have outgrown? You definitely don’t need to spend a fortune in order to decorate a nursery with a small budget for that new little bundle of joy.
Here are several different ways in which a nursery – any nursery – can be decorated no matter how small your budget is:
- Instead of using wallpaper, paint the nursery! Of course… I am THAT Painter Lady… so I would suggest paint. Why not choose colors that go with the babys toys, rather than going for the traditional colors? Or even better…something subdued and calming. What about chocolate brown on three walls and on the fourth wall use a calming soft green or a soft blue or a soft pink. Then use accessories with color to make things POP!
- Invite friends and family over and get them to dip their hands into a pot of paint – or paints (different colors) – and place their handprints on the wall in random angles but in a border style design.
Check out this colorful RAINBOW HANDPRINTS
POP-APART BORDER HANDPRINTS
Note: Don’t put the painted hand prints randomly all over the wall. That would be way too much stimulation. And don’t feel like you have to stick with primary colors! You could paint the walls taupe and then use grape and turquoise and golden black cherry for the handprints!
This hand design makes a great border especially if the hands are different sizes (get your smaller relatives involved as well as your older ones).
The easiest way to get the paint on hands is to either put the paint on a paper plate or a pie pan or use a small paint roller (one for each color) and “ink” up the hands.
You could make the handprints in black – like when you use your hands to cast shadows on the walls? Infants prefer black and white designs because they’re easier to focus on….but…soon they’ll search out bright colors.
- You do not have to be artistically inclined, but if you want, why not add some stencil designs to the walls? This is inexpensive, as well as an easy way of adding different elements and features to a babys room. However, it is best to choose stencils which will match the theme of the room.
- Where the floor is concerned, make sure that you have a stain resistant carpet, or just have hardwood floors (or tile) with some scatter rugs on it. If you already have carpet and you’re worried that it may not stand up well, then why not get an area rug which will cover and protect it? There are some great ones out there and here’s an opportunity to throw down some color!!<
- When you’re decorating a nursery, why not consider buying some pieces secondhand or used instead?The advantage to this is that you may find items that are of a higher quality than you would normally purchase. Or it may be you find a vintage piece of furniture, which you can then refinish to match the décor of the nursery.
One friend of mine bought a used bookshelf and toy box, stripped it down and then repainted…making each shelf a different color. She used a full spectrum of color but you could go with a monochromatic scheme. Shades of blue…or shades of green. Or all cool colors or all warm colors. FUN!!
Of course all of the stripping, painting, etc. needs to be done MONTHS before your baby uses the room so that any fumes can be “aired out”. Make sure you check the furniture before buying it to make sure it is solid, stable, doesn’t have any rough surfaces, sharp edges, paint chips or parts that protrude, like screws or nails and that whatever you buy is safe according to the current safety guidelines.
- Why not get an old, beat up chest of drawers, and then paint with a high gloss paint, and then replace the handles on it? Easy breezy!! And you can get some GREAT new handles at Home Depot or Target or Lowes…just LOTS of places!!Consider buying a piece of furniture that can be used for many different things. Do NOT spend money on buying a changing table, rather, buy yourself a dresser that is about waist high, and sit a changing mat on top.
Then you can fill the top drawers with all your diaper changing items. In order to stop the pad from slipping, place a small bath mat with rubber backing face down underneath it. Or you can add some decorative trim – about 2 or 3 inches tall, to the edges. Then, once the child is older, the chest of drawers can be used as it was intended.
- Need something for storing toys…extra diapers…tiny shoes? Why not use baskets and shelves? You can store things under the crib in some lower flat baskets. Baby blankets, toys. Buy a simple inexpensive “short” bookshelf, either pre-painted or paint it yourself to match the dresser and crib. Then put appropriately sized baskets on the shelves.
How about painting some fun animals in your kids room? Do a mural and use “color book” style animals on the walls in bright colors for fun.
You can either leave the walls plain (white) or you could paint “sky” and ground for your animals to stand on if you want. Make your animals with BRIGHT colors so your baby will have some fun things to focus on when they can.
There are so many decorating ideas around for nurseries and oodles of them will save you money. Hopefully, the ideas above will help you when making decisions on how to decorate a nursery on a budget.
by THAT Painter Lady on Thursday, February 5, 2009
When decorating a new baby’s nursery, you dont have to stick to the usual teddy bears and pastel colors. There are so many more options for nursery art and design. Research has shown that bright colors, especially black, red and white, are better for eye development in the early months. Big bold shapes are also good, as they help a baby with focusing.
Here are a few creative art project ideas you can easily make for the babys nursery.
Fabric Letters: Get some red, black and white fabric and cut out shapes, numbers and letters “ or the childs name — and arrange them on the walls. Try to use fabric that doesnt fray (ask the clerk at the fabric store for assistance in the choice). By soaking the pieces in liquid fabric starch (a spray starch works well), the pieces will stick to the wall after it dries, without damaging the surface. This is great to use in an apartment where you may not be able to use nails.
Handprints and Footprints: Decorate the room with the babys handprints and footprints. Make a stencil of the print, or if the baby cooperates, actually put the paint on babys hands and feet and press on the walls. Each month, you could make a new set of prints to add to the design, to watch your childs growth. Write your babys age on each footprint, so you can see the change.
Family Photo Tree: Paint a simple tree on one wall. Collect nice pictures of the family: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. Hang them on the tree. There are a lot of attractive and inexpensive picture frames that would work nicely. If you dont want to purchase frames, you could even use different color photo mats, and use those to attach the pictures to the wall.
Wall Quilt Collage: You can create awall quilt collage with samples of baby wallpaper. Lay the wallpaper pieces out, and try to use as much of a variety as possible to create a nice pattern. Options: If youre in an apartment, the samples can be attached to poster board and then hung on the wall. Or, instead of using wallpaper samples, gather the cards from your baby shower and use those instead.Frame the art with ribbon to make it look like quilt binding.
With a little time and creativity, it doesnt have to cost a small fortune to have a unique nursery.
Check out these options for Baby Nursery Wall Art:
Worm Personalized Fabric Wall Art
Baby Hands Keepsake with Ribbon
Wallsy Tales – Nursery Murals Made Easy
photo credit: chimothy27
