Wallpaper on the Playroom Ceiling

<center></center><div style="text-align: justify;">The ceiling in the playroom is really low - just under eight feet. It actually feels nice and cozy, especially for the kids, but I wanted to try and trick the eye a little. I hung the yellow curtains almost up to the ceiling and that helped, but it felt like we needed something a little more exciting up on or by the ceiling.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 26.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/26.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I've always loved Julia Rothman's Daydream wallpaper from Hygge & West. In a middle-of-the-night design session I remembered the pattern and reached out the company to see if they had enough rolls in stock to send me a rush shipment. We were only a few days out from the Domino shoot at this point and I needed that paper ASAP!! Hygge & West was <i>wonderful </i>to work with and they rushed those couple of rolls out right away.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 30.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/30.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 11.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/11.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><div style="text-align: justify;">I went with the green color way, which has a creamy background, soft blue clouds and the prettiest color of jade green on the sweet little birdies. When the girls walked in after the paper hangers were finished, there were all sorts of oohs and ahhs and even some squeals. :) A very good sign. Gracie called it magical, which was pretty much the perfect compliment. I think it feels pretty magical too.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We finished out the edges with just some casing trim (no room for even a short crown) that we painted with left over paint from the bathroom ceiling (Farrow and Ball's Pale Powder). We matched the baseboards too and left the walls white (Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace).</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 31.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/31.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The light fixture was a happy find at Lowes! It was a steal at $30!</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 28.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/28.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 29.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/29.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The wallpaper was a relatively affordable way to quickly transform this space. I spent almost no money on anything else in the playroom, so I felt good about investing in the couple of rolls and the labor for the paper hangers. I did save a lot of money by prepping the walls myself. We skim coated every surface, including the ceiling, with hot mud and then primed it all. It was a ton of work, but it helped me feel better about hiring out the paper.  And really, we were so out of time, there was no way I could have hung this by myself. Plus it turns out there are all sorts of fancy contraptions the paper hanger used to install the long sheets at this angle. Tricky stuff! Sometimes it's best to leave installation to professionals - precious wallpaper is one of those times I think.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 27.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/27.jpg" /></div><br />I couldn't be happier with this room. We use it all day long and it feels like such a happy, welcoming space where the girls can play and read and work on homework.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 12.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/12.jpg" /></div>

Wallpaper on the Playroom Ceiling

The ceiling in the playroom is really low - just under eight feet. It actually feels nice and cozy, especially for the kids, but I wanted to...

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DIY Yellow Curtains for the Playroom

<div style="text-align: justify;">There are only two bedrooms on the main floor of our house, the master bedroom and a large-ish room at the front of the house. For the first few months that we lived here, I used it as my office space, but it just didn't really work for some reason. Then I had the idea to move my office to the big space above our garage on the other side of the house and make the old office our playroom.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 16.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/16.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I had been a little worried that toys would end up migrating all over the house with this set up, where the playroom is right by the living spaces, but really, it's been so great. I love both the studio space and this playroom, which we only very recently decided to quickly decorate in time for the Domino shoot. We had been planning on doing Evie's room as the kid's space in the spread, but the playroom ended up being the easier space to photograph in the end, so we threw this room together in about seven crazy days! These yellow curtains were our jumping off point.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I wanted this room to feel girly and playful, and I thought pretty curtains were a great place to start. We had no time and really no budget to make fancy curtains though, so IKEA came to the rescue. I had actually picked up three packs of these white cotton Ritva panel pairs a couple months before (when the room was still an office) and I just hadn't got around to hanging them yet.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5541.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5541.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I almost didn't use them because I wanted the walls to be white, and I wanted the curtains to be a fun color to pop off the white. This image kept coming to mind when I was brainstorming colors. I only wish I had the budget to recreate these exactly!</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><center></center></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo PaulCostello1.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/PaulCostello1.png" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I figured it wouldn't really be a wasted effort to try and dye the IKEA panels because I wasn't able to return them at that point. So I picked up four bottles of RIT dye - two each of Golden Yellow and Lemon Yellow. It's not for everyone, or for every tub, but I felt comfortable with dying the panels in my bathtub. I tested the dye beforehand and there was no staining on the fiberglass, so I felt good about moving forward using my tub. It made the project and clean up about a million times easier than using a big tupperware tub (and I have a front-loading washing machine, so that wasn't an option).</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5550copy.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5550copy.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I got three of the panels wet in the shower first (which helps the dye soak up more evenly) while I filled the tub with about six or seven inches of the hottest water I could get out of the tap. I added one bottle of each of the two yellow colors and about half a cup of salt. Once that was all mixed, I put in the three panels and while wearing long gloves, moved the fabric around in the dye bath for a good 20-30 minutes until the color looked bright and even. I turned on the faucet again, to cold this time, and let the dye bath drain and the cold water run on the panels until the water was close to clear. I moved the panels to a laundry basket and took them to the washing machine for a cold water wash on the delicate cycle.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5548.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5548.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I made a hanging station and let the panels air dry over night. And then I started again with the second batch of three panels and two more bottles of dye.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_5601.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/IMG_5601.jpg" /></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then we ironed each panel well before hanging them over white fabric shades from Lowes (which were less than $20 for the 48" size!) and white wooden rings and rods, also from Lowes.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 18.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/18.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I love, love, love how these curtains turned out. Because I had bought the IKEA panels so many months before, it practically felt like a $12 project, where I just had to buy the dye. :) And I think the color combo of the lemon and golden yellow colors really worked out perfectly, which was sort of a lucky break.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 17.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/17.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I think when I have some extra time I'll add a thick or even black out lining to these to add some weight and a clean white backside view from the front of the house (though the white roman shades help a bit with that for now).</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo 15.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/jkomenda014/15.jpg" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Have you had any successes with dying big projects like this? Have you used your tub or a tupperware container?</div>

DIY Yellow Curtains for the Playroom

There are only two bedrooms on the main floor of our house, the master bedroom and a large-ish room at the front of the house. For the first...

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Plans

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of projects and house guests, which I have so loved doing and having, but now I'm in the clear a little more and am able to get focused back on work. I'm so excited about a big change I have in the works!<br /><br />As we were organizing the house in anticipation for these house guests we've been hosting this month, Michael and I have been talking a lot about the way we use our house and about how to best use the spaces we have.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo xDSC_0645.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/xDSC_0645.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />The big room above the garage that we've been calling the play room has been largely unused by the kids (these photos are from before we moved into the house). The space is sort of far away and removed from the rest of the house, so it makes sense they wouldn't really want to be up there all alone. Over time, the toys started migrating over to the bedrooms and the play room was beginning to feel like a big waste of space.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo xDSC_0650.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/xDSC_0650.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>And you guys all know that I've been really thinking a lot about work and this blog and sort of trying to figure out what I want my future to look like. One of my New Years resolutions is to work smarter not harder. I don't even pretend to have a balanced life - some week's are <i>allllllll </i>work with family squished in there. Other weeks (like this one) have been all about friends and loved ones. I'm finally getting used to the fact that this is just how it's going to be and that there's power in embracing the imbalance of the balancing act. :)<br /><br />(Sidebar: speaking of family, my friends over at <a href="http://www.smallfryblog.com/2014/02/20/new-baby-advice-little-green-notebook/#comments" target="_blank">Small Fry blog</a> interviewed me about some of my thoughts on motherhood and Evie's crazy birth story. <a href="http://www.smallfryblog.com/2014/02/20/new-baby-advice-little-green-notebook/#comments" target="_blank">Hop on over</a> if you're in for a read and a little TMI from me.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo xDSC_0655.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/xDSC_0655.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />It's been so nice to get to work from home for all these years, especially while my girls were so young. But I think it's time. I think I'll always share my personal home projects with you guys here on LGN, but I also want to focus on creating more editorial content and shoot the projects and ideas in a separate space. Also I've been trying to get the ball rolling on a book for about three years now, but we just keep moving and things get pushed back. I would love to finally start (and finish) my book this year.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo xDSC_0652.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/xDSC_0652.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />So I thought for about two seconds about renting a commercial office space, and then I realized the play room makes the perfect studio. It was a total 'duh' moment. Why hadn't we thought of this before? The space is removed from the rest of the house, though easily accessible, so maybe I could get the best of both worlds with privacy and convenience?<br /><a name="more"></a>My beautiful sister, Heather, who used to live with us in Brooklyn, moved back in about a week ago so she could go back to school to get her teaching certificate (so excited for her!). She'll be living in the the guest bedroom, which is right next to the new studio space. In her off-hours, she'll be pitching in with projects and I'm so excited to have her around again. She makes even the most grueling, labor-intensive projects hilariously fun. And there will always be music and dancing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_1684.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/IMG_1684.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />I've also hired someone to help with coordinating and shooting mostly the book. Her name is Kate and she deserves a whole post dedicated to her awesomeness. She's really great and I'm so excited to have her around starting the beginning of March. More on the amazing Kate later!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_1690.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/IMG_1690.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><br />We've been working like crazy to transform the studio since deciding to turn <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2014/01/diy-white-board-wall.html" target="_blank">my old office</a> (the space with the dry erase boards) into the playroom. The new playroom space is pretty much in full swing now and the kids and their friends use the room so much more! Success.<br /><br />Pulling up the carpet in the studio was, surprisingly, the easiest part of the mini reno we're doing. I had <a href="http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-garden-level-entry.html" target="_blank">lots of practice</a> in the brownstone, but this carpet was a breeze compared to that nasty old stuff! You just sort of pick at a corner until the carpet pulls away from the tack strip and then just pull and roll while you go. The only tricky part is getting up the tack strips, but it's not too bad with a hammer and crow bar. We got down to subfloor in just a couple hours. (Special thanks to my sister, Ali, who is a carpet-removing <i>machine</i>!!)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_1726.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/IMG_1726.jpg" style="text-align: start;" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We're almost done with the new floors and I'm so excited to share the tutorial. I just need to finish baseboards and I'll take some photos. I wanted a bright white space. Here were some of my inspiration photos.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo DOMINO.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/DOMINO.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-02-20at113714PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/ScreenShot2014-02-20at113714PM.png" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-02-20at113605PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/ScreenShot2014-02-20at113605PM.png" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo modern-white-floor-white-curtain-wall-sofa-pillow-lamp-peach-ottoman-karl-anderson.jpg" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/modern-white-floor-white-curtain-wall-sofa-pillow-lamp-peach-ottoman-karl-anderson.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-02-20at113658PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/ScreenShot2014-02-20at113658PM.png" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Things ended up evolving a little though and what we ended up with is a good blend of the above photos and the two below. Cryptic, I know. These all look pretty different. :) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo IMG_9660.jpg" border="0" height="791" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/IMG_9660.jpg" width="590" /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt=" photo ScreenShot2014-02-20at113632PM.png" border="0" src="http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/ALBUM%2016/ScreenShot2014-02-20at113632PM.png" /></div><br />Anyway, I am just SO excited about how everything is turning out. I'm not really talking about the floors even, though they are spectacular! But, I'm feeling like I have a plan and a the foundation is laid for a really great 2014. Thanks for all your continued support, friends. I have felt you cheering me on and it has meant the world to me. xoxo<br /><br /><i>(all inspiration photos via Houzz <a href="http://www.houzz.com/white-floors" target="_blank">here</a>)</i>

Plans

The past couple of weeks have been a blur of projects and house guests, which I have so loved doing and having, but now I'm in the clear...

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