The big birthday reveal, part two.
Okay, I promised furniture in part two of the big birthday reveal.
Ahhhh...so much to say. Let's start with the reading loft. It's bound to be the wordiest.
Whatddaya think? Brynn's pretty stoked about it.
Scott and I built this one mostly together -- I'm pretty sure this isn't a one-person project. The hardest part? Besides painting all those inside corners? The ladder. Those are some wicked angles. Not that we couldn't handle it. We managed. We based the loft on this twin bed loft plan by Ana White, we just shrunk it to fit our space. And added a desk. Ana's directions were, as always, superb.
Actually, I should tell you the story of how we got stuck building the loft in the first place. It has something to do with a husband who sometimes speaks out of turn. We were in Brynn's room measuring for a desk. Just a desk. When we finished measuring, Scott blurted out something like, "Brynn, how would you like to have a second story in your room?"
I smacked him.
Brynn jumped up and down, giggling.
Fabulous. She has a bed already and we're not replacing it with a loft bed. Because it used to be my bed. And it is beautiful. So we decided the loft would have to be a reading nook, not a bed. Many sketches, internet searches, and calculations later, we decided on Ana White's loft and we're really happy with how it turned out. It is super sturdy (Scott says it could hold an NFL offensive line, though I'm not sure how they'd all fit up there), big enough to accomodate Brynn, easy to assemble and disassemble. It is just right.
The loft is definitely Brynn's favorite part of her new room. When she held the room "ribbon cutting" ceremony at her birthday party to show off her new room, there was an immediate line of ten little girls taking turns climbing up the ladder, sitting in the loft for a few seconds, and then climbing down. Look at them, streaming in to check out the new room!
The cushion on top of the loft was a bit of a challenge. I bought foam to make a proper cushion, but Scott was with me at the fabric store (big mistake!) and just about passed out when he found out how expensive foam is (we spent about $78 on foam and a few pillow forms, and it was all 30-50% off). I bought the foam despite his, um, reservations. Then we realized that the $19 Kirkland Signature dog beds at Costco (the rectangular ones) would fit the loft perfectly, so I ran to Costco where I found out that they're only stocking ROUND dog beds at the moment. Bummer, because both my kids love a good dog bed. At some point Scott remembered that we had some foam left over from my last upholstery project, tucked away in a box in the attic. He brought it down and, well, the contents of the box weren't exactly what I needed.
But we're resourceful. Scott brought me a bag of shipping peanuts from the garage and the box of 1" thick foam. I figured I could do something with it. I sewed a quick box cushion cover out of a flat lilac bed sheet from Goodwill, lined it with batting and 1" foam, filled it with peanuts, sewed the end closed and...voila. A recycled shipping peanut bean bag cushion.
Don't tell me about the chemicals in the shipping peanuts and foam...oh, the irony, I know, especially after the search for a non-toxic floor finish. The irony isn't lost on me, I assure you. The cushions surrounding the health-and-eco-nightmare recycled cushion are king sized pillows in Target pillowcases. And the green pillow is made out of an old Eddie Bauer sweater that I used to love...until it shrunk and became about two inches too short. The welting on both the cushion and the pillow are made from silver and purple Costco Christmas ribbon wrapped around some old nylon camping rope that we don't use.
What eight year old girl wouldn't love to have that desk? So much potential for creativity. It's like a blank canvas! Sharp new colored pencils, unblemished markers, her first ever ruler, her very own stapler and (gasp! because she has a bad habit of cutting her own hair! and bedsheets!) scissors. Brand new scissors. All in upcycled salsa and jam jars.
And, of course, there is the $4 Goodwill bulletin board, which could have taken on a much more dramatic change, had I not been overworked and running on empty. My friend Susan suggested turning it into a French memo board, with some cute fabric and ribbon. I considered it but couldn't muster the energy, not with all that needed to be finished before the big birthday party "ribbon cutting" (which was absolutely not my idea). So, here's a little detail of what I did do. A painted border, painted frame, and hot glued welting. Not much, but, enough.
Ahhhh...so much to say. Let's start with the reading loft. It's bound to be the wordiest.
Whatddaya think? Brynn's pretty stoked about it.
Scott and I built this one mostly together -- I'm pretty sure this isn't a one-person project. The hardest part? Besides painting all those inside corners? The ladder. Those are some wicked angles. Not that we couldn't handle it. We managed. We based the loft on this twin bed loft plan by Ana White, we just shrunk it to fit our space. And added a desk. Ana's directions were, as always, superb.
Actually, I should tell you the story of how we got stuck building the loft in the first place. It has something to do with a husband who sometimes speaks out of turn. We were in Brynn's room measuring for a desk. Just a desk. When we finished measuring, Scott blurted out something like, "Brynn, how would you like to have a second story in your room?"
I smacked him.
Brynn jumped up and down, giggling.
Fabulous. She has a bed already and we're not replacing it with a loft bed. Because it used to be my bed. And it is beautiful. So we decided the loft would have to be a reading nook, not a bed. Many sketches, internet searches, and calculations later, we decided on Ana White's loft and we're really happy with how it turned out. It is super sturdy (Scott says it could hold an NFL offensive line, though I'm not sure how they'd all fit up there), big enough to accomodate Brynn, easy to assemble and disassemble. It is just right.
The loft is definitely Brynn's favorite part of her new room. When she held the room "ribbon cutting" ceremony at her birthday party to show off her new room, there was an immediate line of ten little girls taking turns climbing up the ladder, sitting in the loft for a few seconds, and then climbing down. Look at them, streaming in to check out the new room!
The cushion on top of the loft was a bit of a challenge. I bought foam to make a proper cushion, but Scott was with me at the fabric store (big mistake!) and just about passed out when he found out how expensive foam is (we spent about $78 on foam and a few pillow forms, and it was all 30-50% off). I bought the foam despite his, um, reservations. Then we realized that the $19 Kirkland Signature dog beds at Costco (the rectangular ones) would fit the loft perfectly, so I ran to Costco where I found out that they're only stocking ROUND dog beds at the moment. Bummer, because both my kids love a good dog bed. At some point Scott remembered that we had some foam left over from my last upholstery project, tucked away in a box in the attic. He brought it down and, well, the contents of the box weren't exactly what I needed.
But we're resourceful. Scott brought me a bag of shipping peanuts from the garage and the box of 1" thick foam. I figured I could do something with it. I sewed a quick box cushion cover out of a flat lilac bed sheet from Goodwill, lined it with batting and 1" foam, filled it with peanuts, sewed the end closed and...voila. A recycled shipping peanut bean bag cushion.
Don't tell me about the chemicals in the shipping peanuts and foam...oh, the irony, I know, especially after the search for a non-toxic floor finish. The irony isn't lost on me, I assure you. The cushions surrounding the health-and-eco-nightmare recycled cushion are king sized pillows in Target pillowcases. And the green pillow is made out of an old Eddie Bauer sweater that I used to love...until it shrunk and became about two inches too short. The welting on both the cushion and the pillow are made from silver and purple Costco Christmas ribbon wrapped around some old nylon camping rope that we don't use.
What eight year old girl wouldn't love to have that desk? So much potential for creativity. It's like a blank canvas! Sharp new colored pencils, unblemished markers, her first ever ruler, her very own stapler and (gasp! because she has a bad habit of cutting her own hair! and bedsheets!) scissors. Brand new scissors. All in upcycled salsa and jam jars.
And, of course, there is the $4 Goodwill bulletin board, which could have taken on a much more dramatic change, had I not been overworked and running on empty. My friend Susan suggested turning it into a French memo board, with some cute fabric and ribbon. I considered it but couldn't muster the energy, not with all that needed to be finished before the big birthday party "ribbon cutting" (which was absolutely not my idea). So, here's a little detail of what I did do. A painted border, painted frame, and hot glued welting. Not much, but, enough.
