Kids bathroom project

I have recently undergone some big projects. They may not seem too big for a normal self proclaimed do it yourselfer, but for an over eight month pregnant diy'er the projects I am undertaking are quite strenuous. 
First of all, I have decided to redo the kid bathroom.  It hadn't changed anything since we moved in three years ago with the exception of an ugly paint color that I thought I would like from the oops section of Home Depot and some wall art, shower curtain, etc.

I knew that I wanted to neautralize the space, make it brighter and gender neautral without a "theme".  I decided to paint the walls my favorite color from Behr which is Antique Beige and painted the wod trim a beautiful glossy white. So that is what I did.

I also knew I wanted to make something to hang Jude's and Gwenyth's towels that were one of a kind and cute.  This is where this post comes in.  

I found two of these wooden shields (?) at Goodwill for .99¢ each a long time ago not knowing what I would ever do with them.  I decide to turn them into the kids towel holders.  I started with priming them since they had been stained previously, I then painted them the same white gloss as the trim.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next and remembered that I had bought some Mod Podge which I had never used before but wanted to give it a whirl someday.  I then found some fabric from my stash and traced the shape of the shield and cut it out.  I printed out the numbers 1 and 2 on the printer and cut them out.  I traced them onto the center of the cut fabric.  I painted in the numbers with fabric paint and allowed them to dry.  Then I Mod Podged them to the surface of the plaques.  I was instantly nervous when I saw the Mod Podge made the fabric paint look dull.  I was hopeful that when it dried it would be bold and bright again.  If not, I would have simply had to of painted over it again once the adhesive had dried.  Luckily, the problem fixed itself.  After being satisfied with the results I needed to decide what would hold the actual towels.  I thought of using a bent spoon or fork and drilling it to the plaque, I also found a know with each child's first initial on them that I thought of using, but then settled on a standard hook for each of them.  The knobs just seemed less practical as they were ceramic and I thought the towels were more likely to slide off. 

The original look of the shields/plaques.  Boo!

  My fabric choice and my primed and painted plaque.

Shield traced onto fabric.

Perfect fit.

Number one traced onto center of cut fabric.

  

Mod Podged to the surface of the plaque.

And for the final result.......

What do you think? 

I personallly love them.  I especially love that I had everything except the hooks on hand.  So it was practically free to make two of these babies!  I plan to hang them behind the door in the kids bath as there is no other great spot for them due to the placement of the towel rack that is in there now. 

I will soon be posting pics of the bathroom and the other changes I have made in that space....so keep your eyes peeled!

Oops! How did I forget?

As I was revamping my blog I noticed that I forgot to post my tutorial on the Jewelry Board that I made!  I don't know how I forgot, especially as it was featured in my post about the bathroom update.  It has come in handy and has completely made me more responsible with my jewelry.  I use to just set things everywhere; night stand, kitchen island, bathroom counter, medicine cabinet, ashtray of vehicles, pockets, etc.  Now, with the aid of my jewelry board, I know that I have a designated space for these things.  I use the jewelry board to house my dangling earring and necklaces.  In my jewelry box on the buffet below, I keep my rings and post earrings.  It's a great system.

Well here is the how-to:

First, I simply went to my local Goodwill to find the right size frame.  I was lucky enough to find this hideous painting of geese flying over some Fall trees.  The painting was ugly, but the frame was just the right size I was looking for.  I painted it the same Caribbean Blue color I used on the handles of the buffet I refinished.

Next, I had to gather my supplies.  Luckily, they were all items I had on hand or could borrow from others.

I needed some thin batting and a piece of fabric large enough to fit over the backer board of your frame. You could also cut a piece of thicker cardboard to fit and cover that.  Also, I needed a staple gun, a regular stapler, scissors, staples, wire cutters and chicken wire. 

I simple cut the batting large enough to wrap around the painting that was inserted.  I used a regular stapler to stable it around the edges.  Make sure you stay close to the edge as they may show depending on the lip on the frame.  I cut off any excess batting that I could.

Next, using the wire cutters, I snipped the chicken wire to size and wrapped it around tightly.  I pushed the board back into the frame and used the staple gun to to staple all the elements into the frame.  The staples must be long enough to penetrate though the painting/board, batting and fabric but short enough that they do not go through the visible side of the frame.  Unfortunately, I didn't take this into consideration when I was doing this and there was some damage done to the visible side.  Also, as I was stapling I made sure I was securing the chicken wire down at the same time.  Once it board is staple gunned in place, snip off any excess wire that may be sticking out.  Be careful as the chicken wire has sharp pointy ends!

Here is the finished product!

Before                                       After

And here it is with my baubles on display.