Monday room redo

Happy Monday!

I decided to finally post the finished product for my littlest boy's room redo.

There's one main problem with a before and after on this room, and that is that I never took a before picture. In all my folders and folders of pictures, I do not have one that shows this room well before. That's a pretty good way to describe it though...not worth taking a picture of. Blank walls. Crib. Too big, hunter green dresser that took up the whole other wall. That's about it.

And here's what it looks like now...

I want to point out a few things we did in this room...

The white on the walls may look a bit like bead board, but it's actually just textured wallpaper. For those of us that don't have fancy tools and the know-how, the thought of fitting bead board on the wall with perfect holes for the outlets may lead to some sleepless nights. So, we found this stuff at Lowe's and tried it out. Here's the verdict: So easy!! I love it! When I was at Lowe's yesterday I saw that they have some new varieties that I'm trying to figure out where to put up. And it's cheaper... This room took 2 whole rolls...$28 total.

This is a fun little shelf I found at a yard sale. I left the paint as-is, but added some scrapbook paper on the drawers for some color. The little truck I got at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off...isn't it great?

I wanted to put something else on this wall, but I'm always hesitant to put things above the crib. I'm afraid it'll fall off the wall or something. Anyway, I had the idea to just clip some pictures up there. No baby will be hurt if an unframed picture happens to fall down, right? So, I just bought a picture hanging wire kit thingy at Wal-Mart for 98 cents, screwed the hooks right in the wall (I had to make a little hole first. You could drill it, but it was faster to just hammer in a nail and then pull the nail out. It was all I needed to get the hook going), wrapped the wire through the hooks, spray painted some mini clothes pins and viola! A perfect spot to hang some pictures with no danger to a sleeping baby.

Just a cute little dresser I got off craigslist and an old chalkboard from a thrift store.
You've seen these squares before. If you didn't see my bed redo, you can find it here. I love this blue bed to pieces. It's probably my favorite project to date.

My friend, Rachel, made this quilt and gave it to me when she saw that I was looking for bedding for this bed. Isn't it perfect! Thanks, again, Rachel...I owe you!

And that's the room! If you're interested, this room redo cost me a total of about $140. That includes the bed and the dresser.

What I learned:

1. A sharp blade is imperative when wallpapering!

2. Although I love this wallpaper, it's not as easy to clean as painted walls. One of my boys drew on there with a pen and I can't get it off. But, this kind is paintable...maybe I just need to paint over it to get that protection?

And one question to throw out into a blogosphere full of crafty people...I am re-doing a coffee table. I know it's going to be necessary to put a protective coat on it. But, there's so many different kinds out there....brush on, wipe on, spray on, poly, poly-crylic, acrylic, etc. So, what's your favorite one to use?

THANKS!

~Hannah