Travel Inspired Teen Room Makeover

World Map Wall Mural DIY Los Angeles California

Summer projects have become a tradition in our household. Previous years, have included make your own longboard, and paint your own skateboard deck. Most recently we gave my younger son’s room a complete makeover. Elliot graciously let me choose the design, and looking for a way to incorporate all the photos we take on our family adventures we decided on a travel photography theme.

Tween Room Makeover Los Angeles California #tweenbedroom #tweenroommakeover — Elliot and his drums

He’s a tween, so we wanted something that would take him through the next few years, and still feel “cool” or at least until he decides to move into his older brother’s room, when he leaves for college in (sob) 2 short years. We gave it the full Do-it-yourself treatment. We made own shelves, painted the walls, created a mural, and applied decals, photographs and a DIY bulletin board.

Tween room makeover DIY #tweenbedroom — Tween Room Makeover

I should mention that Elliot’s room is tall and narrow with the sleeping area below and the hang out space above, (which makes it difficult to get great photos). The upper portion of the room has a long narrow walkway, and that seemed like the perfect spot for our world map mural.

Where in the World Photo Mural

Having done years of extensive travel both separately and as a family we were looking for a fun way to display where we’ve been. Unable to find exactly what we had in mind we created our own.

Deciding which photos to hang up was probably the most difficult task. My family takes bets on how many photos I’ll take in any given location, so you can imagine that narrowing it down to just one per destination was near impossible, but I almost did it.

Tween Room Makeover Los Angeles California — layout your photos

Tip: Order the photos before you start the painting process as they will both take a few days to be ready. My favorite online photo company is: MPix.

Elliot chose the paint color, mega blue, a perfect representation of oceans, but I swear I didn’t influence this choice. Here are the before and after photos of the wall:

World Map Wall Mural DIY Los Angeles California #tweenbedroom

Before

Mega Blue

Tip: Prime the wall first, and wait until the paint is completely dry before the next steps. Depending on the time of year, and the weather, this could be days, we waited four.

Once the wall is completely dry its time to hang up or apply your map. Although any map, or even paper cut outs would work, we chose a vinyl world map from Wall Need Love. In our case we planned to add a lot of photos, so I really like the simplicity of the map silhouette*.

Again your photos can be any size and mounted directly to the wall. I mounted ours to 1/4 foam board, which gives them a little punch and allows me to remove and replace easily, should we change our mind.

Foam board makes a great photo mount.

The photos were printed with destination labels.

#hello

Your chosen destinations might seem obvious to you, after all you took the photos, but I thought it would be fun to have the location printed onto each photo.

Tip: Use photo mount to apply your photos to foam boards. Use double sided foam tape to apply them to the wall.

Tip: Practice your layout using scrap paper and painters tape.

We opted not to string lines between the photos and their corresponding locations, but we did use map pins. We assigned a color to each family member, which we stuck directly into all the destination photos that each individual had personally visited. Red pins representing the countries and cities we stuck directly into the map.

Would you like to make a world map photo mural? Here’s what you’ll need:

World Map Photo Mural Supplies:

Blank wall
Indoor Wall Paint
vinyl map decal (or any map)
String (we opted not to use string)
Map pins
Photos
Foam board
Photo mount
Double sided foam tape
Exacto knife

Graffiti Prints

Because Elliot’s room is two stories tall we needed some fairly large prints. This time we chose street art and graffiti photos from around the world. We had them printed 20 x 20 and mounted onto 1/4 foam board.

Tip: Use double sided foam tape to hang your prints.

Pipe Shelving

Because the room is narrow it was difficult to find furniture that fit between the bed and the wall, so we made shelving that works as both night table and storage.

This next project does require some power tools, and an outdoor space to work in. We purchased the wood, the pipes and all the supplies at a local hardware store. If you don’t have power tools you can have the hardware store cut and drill the wood for you, and finish the project at home. Here are photo directions to the DIY Pipe Shelves:

Sand the shelves

Get ready to stain the shelves

Stain the shelves

Let the shelves dry.

Clean the Pipes with Acetone

Mount the shelves

Pipe Shelf Supplies:

Wood
sandpaper
stain
rags
gloves
pumping pipes
acetone

I used a plastic wire tie to attach the charging cords to the shelving, as this seems to be an item that is easily lost. The lower bar, started out as nightlight storage, but has since become a place to hang headphones, and I’m sure it will evolve again over time.

We finalized everything with a custom bulletin board and some “graffiti style” vinyl murals.

DIY: Union Jack Play Table! Part 1…

DIY: Play Table Part 2… The Chairs

DIY: 10 Steps to Building Your Own Longboard

DIY: Skateboard Decks

*Ireland was missing from my map, but was sent along later.

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October 31, 2016November 30, 2017

Happy Halloween!

October flew by this year and we hardly noticed… Sunny ~~warm~~ hot days fooled us into thinking we had all the time in the world. Oops! I woke up the morning before Halloween feeling guilty that we hadn’t done any of our annual traditions.

It was too late for our annual visit to the pumpkin patch and our photo session among the pumpkins, and the decorations will have to stay in storage until next year, but we ended up creating some new traditions, decorating pumpkins and baked goods, watching Halloween themed movies, and touring our neighborhood, which has some of the best Halloween decorations I’ve ever seen.

The Pumpkins

This year Tim and Simon went to the grocery store to get pumpkins, while Elliot and I stayed home, it was great! I absolutely didn’t miss wandering around in the pumpkin patch looking for just the right one. Very liberating! I did miss out on the cute photo tho…

I usually do a pop culture pumpkin, but since everything else is different this year… I went with a Day of the Dead theme. After I carved out the eyes and nose I painted, colored with sharpie pens, and even used modpodge to get my finished look!

Simon and Elliot both opted not to carve this year. Simon used paint as a base and then used modpodge to attach the meme he created on his computer!

Elliot drew his Pokemon Bellsprout design directly onto his pumpkin with sharpie pens.

If you decide to decorate your pumpkin with paint and sharpie pens, it’s a good idea to dull the tip of your Sharpie prior to using it on the painted surface or it might scrape off the paint.

The Baking

As long as I’ve had kids I’ve been baking sugar cookies for Halloween, but we’ve been enjoying a lot of donuts lately and decided it might be fun to make Halloween donuts instead! Williams Sonoma has a really nice and inexpensive donut pan, which worked perfectly! We had a great time coming up with fun “scary” donuts!

The Neighborhood

We stumbled across these amazing decorations while driving home one evening and just knew we had to bring the kids back to see them! A pirate ship, a white wedding, and a haunted dog walker were just a few of the amazing decorations at this one home!

Though many of our annual traditions went by the wayside this year there is one we won’t be leaving out: trick or treating! With neighborhoods like this to walk through I’m counting on an interesting, but hopefully, not too spooky Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

July 19, 2016June 25, 2017

DIY: 10 Steps to Building Your Own Longboard!

After years of lamenting that my son might never be persuaded to willingly lift his eyes from the ever present screens something wonderful happened! Simon and his friends decided to make their own longboards! I loved this idea for so many reasons: resourcefulness, independence, creativity, outside time and fun! I couldn’t have been happier about it, and after watching them complete the process, I decided I would learn to make one for Elliot! I enjoyed making the first one so much I then decided to make another one for myself!

While I won’t say building your own longboard is an easy project, it was very accessible and definitely a lot of fun! Our entire family got in on it!

Step One: Gather your supplies

To make your longboard you’ll need the following supplies:

Pencil, measuring tape or ruler, and wrench
Two pieces of birch plywood – we used one thick and one thin piece
Wood glue
Scissors
sandpaper
polyurethane
Grip tape
Drill
Exacto knife
Trucks, bearings and wheels

Optional Supplies:

Depending on your design you might need some additional supplies.

clamps – to hold your wood together
Paper – for creating templates
Paint
Paintbrushes
Painters tape

If you don’t have a local skateboard shop, or you have a tight budget consider ordering your parts online. Get started with steps 1 – 7 while you’re waiting for your trucks, wheels and grip tape to arrive!

Step Two: Laminate the wood

We purchased the wood at Home Depot and used their free cutting service to have the plywood cut in half. We got enough wood to create two 41″ x 10″ decks. Using an old paint brush we spread the wood glue evenly across the entire bottom layer. You’ll want to work fairly quickly as the glue sets up fast. Set your other piece of plywood on top, clamp them together, apply some weight and let it set overnight.

Step Three: Design your deck

Simon and friends created a template by tracing the deck of a skateboard they already owned. While my first board followed in their footsteps, the second time around I decided I wanted to create an original deck template. I spent some time researching the different styles of longboard riding and decided freestyle seemed appropriate, as speed isn’t high on my list. I drew my idea on a sheet of paper first and when I was satisfied traced it onto the laminated wood.

Step Four: Cut out the deck

Now that you’ve got your deck design onto the wood its time to cut it out. This is the one part I didn’t do. I don’t have a lot of experience with power tools and decided to let Tim handle this step. If you don’t have a home saw, or an experienced adult available to cut out your deck consider taking it to your local hardware store. Simon and friends discovered they could have their decks cut out for around $1 per cut. See what I mean, how resourceful!

Step 5: Sand the edges

Now that your deck is free, you’ll want to sand down any rough spots along the edges and give it a once or twice over along the flat surfaces.

Step 6: Seal the wood

Seal the deck to protect the wood and give it a nice warm glow. We used a water based polyurethane in semi-gloss. Because I planned to add designs to the decks, I started with only one coat of polyurethane.

Step 7: Add your design

My first board is for Elliot and because it’s almost as big as he is, we thought it might be fun if we could hang it on the wall in his new room (until he gets a little older), so we chose a Union Jack design for the top of the board and put his name on the bottom. The other board is for myself and I’ve chosen to decorate it with the Batman symbol!

I created templates for each design and then painted them with chalk paint, leftover from the DIY Union Jack table, and acrylic paint. The process involved tracing the templates, applying multiple coats of paint and the sealing everything with additional coats of water based polyurethane in semi-gloss.

Step 8: Apply the grip tape

Both Simon’s board and the Batman board have black grip tape, while Elliot’s board has clear. Grip tape is a giant sticker and comes in every color and varying degrees of roughness, so the sky is the limit. Lay your grip tape rough side down and trace your board’s shape onto the backing. Simon chose not to cover the entire surface of his deck so his trucks were already mounted when he applied his grip tape. I chose to cover the entire surface of both my boards, so applied the tape first. Keep in mind that cutting grip tape is like cutting through sandpaper, so don’t use your best scissors for this part of the project!

Step 9: Apply the trucks and wheels

Can you believe it? Your board is almost ready to ride! If you’ve chosen to order your parts online you’ll be installing them yourself, so place the trucks onto each end of the board and use a pencil to mark where you’ll be drilling the holes. Be careful drilling! Thankfully Tim was on hand to give me some lessons, making sure I went slowly, and held the drill steady and straight.

Now that you’ve drilled the screw holes, put your trucks on the board using a screwdriver. Tighten each screw a little bit at a time until you’re finished.

*If you don’t own a drill or aren’t sure what to do most skate shops will be happy to assemble your board if you purchase the parts from them. Putting the wheels on requires a bit of muscle, but with a bit of help from Tim, I was all set!

Step 10: Get ready to ride!

Okay! Its time to grab your helmet and give it a spin!

Please do keep in mind that we aren’t experts on skateboard building and that our boards are very low budget. The boys were using their own funds to pay for their supplies and purchased them on Amazon.com. The quality and cost of your board will depend on your personal budget.

As of my writing this post, Simon was still working on his design, so I’ve included a photo of it and will update as soon as his painting is complete. Here’s Elliot showing off the bottom his board, though he needs a little help holding it up. He’s borrowing my helmet.

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May 17, 2016May 16, 2016

DIY: Play Table Part 2… The Chairs!

Now that I’ve refinished the little play table for Elliot’s new room Its time to update the matching chairs and complete the set! I thought it might be fun to continue with the favorite countries theme and assigned each chair its own country. Continue reading “DIY: Play Table Part 2… The Chairs!”

May 10, 2016May 16, 2016

DIY: Union Jack Play Table! Part 1…

As I mentioned in a recent post, we’ll be moving to a new home in August, and I have been doing my best to sort through all the stuff we’ve accumulated over the years. I’ve been donating, recycling and trashing stuff for weeks! It feels great!

The boys have always shared a room (with almost no complaint), but our new home will allow each of them to have their own room. Simon is really looking forward to personalizing his space, but Elliot is “letting” me help with his design. Because they’ve been sharing we are a little short on furniture, so I’ve salvaged our old and forgotten, (read: buried under a mountain of junk) play table and decided to repurpose it…

Step 1: Choose A Design!

Choosing a table top design was a no brainer! It’s no secret I’m an anglophile! A lover of Cadbury, Mini Cooper, English Breakfast Tea, Penhaligons, rainy days & wellies, and of course the Union Jack. It doesn’t hurt that my favorite color is red with blue coming in a close second! Lucky for me Elliot agrees!

Step 2: Gather Your Supplies!

The Union Jack is a somewhat complicated design with multiple colors, so I chose to use chalk paint, which is versatile, requires almost no prep, and dries very quickly. I found a great drawing of the flag online which helped ensure that my flag would be “flying” correctly!

Supplies: Blue Dawn, chalk paint, chalk paint brushes, lintless shop towels, microfiber cloths or an old t-shirt, blue painters tape, paint stir sticks, razor blades, drop cloth, ruler, scissors, clear wax or polyurethane (your choice), kraft paper.

Elliot already has quite a bit of blue furniture, so I used Napoleonic Blue, Emperor Silk Red, and Pure White for the flag and painted the legs and underskirt Aged Grey.

Step 3: Choose & Prepare your work area

Cover your work area and set up all your supplies. I chose my front porch for this project and not only did I have to contend with rain, wind and sun, but the bugs and dust were also quite troublesome. Chalk paint has little to no odor, so if you have the space you might consider painting your project indoors. I found that the paint works best if it’s not too hot or cold.

Step 4: Let’s Get To Work!

Before you start painting it’s a good idea to give your table a quick wash with Blue Dawn and then rinse with water. Now you’re ready! I was so excited to get started on my design I chose to paint the flag first!

I taped off and painted one color at a time, the downside was that this created a few extra steps when it came to taping, but the upside was that I had been undecided about the color of the legs and underskirt, this gave me time to think about it. I applied three coats of paint with 30 minutes drying time between each layer and then left it to completely dry overnight. I repeated this process again for the white and the red.

Once the flag was complete it was covered with a protective layer of paper and the legs and skirt were painted with two coats of light grey.

Depending on the look you’re going for there are different brush options. A round brush will give you less control over your brush strokes and if you’re going for a more aged look this might be the one for you. I wanted a very uniform brush stroke and used a flat brush to achieve this look. Chalk paint is quite thick, but I found that first dipping my brush into water and then into the paint made it much easier to spread.

Don’t worry if the first coat of paint looks a bit streaky, it won’t look like that after your second coat and by the time my third coat dried the finish was smooth and even.

Now that I’d finished painting it was time to remove the blue tape. It looked great! I used a small flat brush to touch up a few spots and again let them dry overnight.

Step 5: The finishing touch!

Your last step once you’ve finished painting is to apply a sealant. Initially I planned on using a wax sealer, but thankfully I decided to test the waxing technique on a little chair first. I discovered that the waxing technique is harder than it sounds and in order to achieve the finish I was after I needed just the right air temperature, amount of wax and applied pressure. Not to mention practice!

I was worried my inexperience with waxing would destroy the design I had worked so hard to create. Not only that, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to put that much muscle into three more chairs and a table. Tim mentioned that spraying the table with polyurethane would be my best option, and after quite a bit of research I decided he was right! This would not only seal the paint, but also provide a more forgiving surface. It is a play table after all!

SAMSUNG CSC

Tim was kind enough to assist me with this final step as he has some experience using this material and I was happy to accept! We picked an open area in the yard, away from the driveway or anything else that might catch some of the overspray. Before getting started we used a microfiber cloth to wipe away any dust and then applied the first coat of sealant. In total we applied three coats of sealant allowing two hours set time in between each coat.

Stay tuned for part two of this post, the chairs…

March 25, 2016May 16, 2016

Where? Wear!

How many times have you looked in your closet and thought, “What should I wear?” or “I don’t have anything to wear” If you’re like most women, the answer is probably, countless!

Of course you probably have many choices! I’m not suggesting that you literally don’t have anything to wear, of course you do, your closet is probably filled with many lovely items, it’s just that there are those days when deciding what to wear seems to become a near impossible chore.

#organizedcloset — My recently reorganized closet!

What If on those days you had our own personal stylist? All your problems would be solved! Unfortunately for most of us that’s not a possibility, but not to worry, there are solutions!

Personal Wardrobe Consultant Friend

Maybe you can’t have a personal stylist all the time, but do you have a friend or acquaintance whose style you really admire? Have them over to help you! Choose someone who will be honest and help you be your best self without asking you to compromise your budget, personal style, or comfort.

I often help people with purging, organizing, and filling in their wardrobes and here are some basic steps to getting started:

Step 1 : Sort through the existing clothing in your closet, decide what should stay and what should go, and then reorganize everything. Don’t forget undergarments! Hint: No matter how much you love something if its stained or shabby looking it has to go.

Step 2: Decide what’s missing and fill in. Maybe your white Ts were casualties of step 1 and need to be replaced. Hint: Everyone can use fresh Ts, especially white ones.

Step 3: Maybe you already have great choices in your closet, but aren’t sure how to put them together? Create ready made outfits. Hint: Don’t forget to include accessories and jackets.

When your closet attacks it’s time…

Take everything out…

donate those items you no longer wear.

Now What?

Completing the steps above is a great start, but making sure you don’t get stuck in a rut and just grab the same old thing over and over can also be a challenge. Here’s a fun idea I came up with to help one my friends remember what to wear, wherever she was going!

The Where? Wear! Board

After completing steps 1 – 3 with a close friend of mine we made a date and I came over and pulled together outfits for all sorts of occasions. I photographed everything with my phone, printed the photos using my portable polaroid instant printer and then hung them on a bulletin board inside her walk-in closet. To help her remember what the different outfits were for I pinned little description cards and reminders next to many of the photos! Fun!

We had so much fun I decided to create a Where? Wear! Board for myself, after all I’m not immune to the “what should I wear?” dilemma.

Want to Make Your Own Where? Wear! Board? Here’s How!

I decided to make my own cork boards, but If you’re not into DIY projects there are no shortage of cork boards at any local craft or home goods type store. I had a tough time deciding which style I wanted, so I made three: a collage with lots of embellishments, a clothesline and finally a smaller initial board for selfies and #ootd ideas. If you have a tiny closet like me, the initial board is perfect for the top of your vanity or dresser.

If you do decide to make your own board, you’ll need the following supplies: a roll of cork, something to attach it to i.e., a piece of wood, a canvas, or a picture frame, craft glue or sticky back foam tape, a ruler, an exacto knife, lots and lots of doodads to decorate your board and of course thumb tacks, washi tape, or another fun way to attach your photos!

I’ve included some photos of my boards in process. For the initial board I used acrylic paint to paint the cork black.

Taking & Printing The Photos!

To complete your board you’ll need photos. If you don’t have time or you’re not comfortable having a friend come over to take your picture in various outfits why not consider using your selfies? Come on! I know you have some… We all take them from time to time and the truth is we take them when we are looking and feeling our best, so why not use them for future inspiration!? Or if you prefer not to be in any of the photos, just hang outfits on the wall and take a photo of them on a hanger.

It might take a while for your board to dry, so use this time to print out the photos you just took. Remember this board is for your personal use, so don’t worry if the photo quality isn’t perfect, just have fun! I printed my mini photos using this fun little bluetooth Polaroid printer. It’s portable and a lot of fun , but any printer will do the trick.