DIY Art for Davis's Big Boy Room

Davis's toddler room is getting pretty close to being done (thanks to my husband & parents while I was in Denver!!), but the walls were still looking pretty bare! So I repurposed some old canvases we'd gotten as a wedding gift & painted them to make them appropriate for a little boy's room. This wasn't the easiest project I've ever done, but not bad at all. And the price was definitely right!  :)

This is the final product - a sailboat & tractor to go in his green & blue room!

This is the outdated art I decided to repurpose. 

So first I painted the whole thing white... It took 2-3 coats of just trim paint we had in the attic.

Then I used painter's tape to make my stripes.
Each side of my canvases were 23.5" and I wanted 7 stripes... so I measured & marked my lines on the sides.

Then I painted 4 of the stripes navy blue.
This is what it looked like after I took the painter's tape off. 

I found pictures online of a tractor & sailboat that I liked.
Then I drew them onto contact paper the sizes I wanted. 

Then I used an exacto knife to cut them out. 

At this point, they looked like this.
Yes. The Juice Shop is the official sponsor of this pregnancy. Specifically, Guava Gulps.

Then I put the contact paper onto the canvases & painted the green over it.
I used the leftover green from his bookshelf, but I lightened it a little with white to create more contrast with the blue.

This is what they looked like overnight. I was a little scared I'd just end up with green blobs.

The next morning they weren't blobs... but they certainly weren't perfect!
The contact paper worked fairy well, but didn't stick to the painted canvas as well as I'd hoped.

See... needed some touch ups.

Especially around the tire.

So I used a small brush to go around the edges. 

It didn't end up taking very long at all.

Voila! A sailboat...

...and a tractor!

Aaron (with a little hammering help from Davis) hung them on the wall for me! 

There we go! Getting close to being done...!

I think this project cost about $10?? I already had the canvases, the contact paper, the green paint (from his bookshelf) and the white paint (leftover trim paint).  So all I really had to buy was the blue paint and I only needed a quart.  And it probably took 2 hours, not counting time waiting for paint to dry.  Just to clarify, I realize he's going to be moving into a big boy room soon, but Davis will always be my little nugget. It kind of makes me sad to think about how fast he's growing up! 

Valentine's Day without my Valentines!

This Valentine's Day, I was in Denver with my sweet friend Anneke!  I was sad to not see my two Valentines on February 14th but I got to talk to them a lot and they got to have a candlelit dinner together... :)  And I got to spend good time with Anne! 

Romantic candlelit dinner!  :)

When I got home Sunday night, Aaron surprised me with a perfect Valentine's gift!! He (and my awesome parents!) had worked on Davis's big boy room while I was gone so now it's almost ready!!! I was SO excited. I'm not a huge gifts person, but all this hard work is definitely my love language!! Here is a sneak peak of Davis's soon-to-be bedroom: 

Aaron put together Davis's dresser!

And his bed!

My mom also helped a lot with the bed - she gave us a mattress, the comforter & the sheets!
Since it's hard to find a top sheet for a toddler bed, she bought a twin size sheet & cut it down to fit.  

Using his tools to help!  :)

Checking out the bed he's (hopefully!) going to sleep in in a few months.

And the biggest surprise was that Aaron & my dad put up crown moulding in his new room!!

This was the only room that didn't have it so I was really excited they added it!!

The Big Boy, himself. 

I'm already praying that this isn't what nap & bedtime looks like when he moves into a bed! Oh boy.

I'll be honest though. Aaron made my job look easy-peasy! He took great care of Davis for the week I was gone and had fun doing it... and he managed to set up most of Davis's bedroom.  There are definitely days I can't even manage to get dinner on the table.  I guess I need to step up my game!!  :)

Aaron's Shed

Our house didn't have a shed or a garage when we moved in so Aaron's just been storing his tools in random places around our house or in my dad's garage.  So (one of) our projects for this spring was to get Aaron a shed!  We found a good deal on a shed kit from Costco that we really liked, so we recruited some help & got busy building.  (And by we, I mean they... I didn't do any of it!)  :)  Last week, while Aaron was at Mars Hill, I got some help from Matt & Isaac and we finished up all the small shed details (landscaping, ramp, & peg board) for Aaron's birthday (which is today, by the way!).  So happy that it's done!

Back corner, pre-shed.

Matt using the tamper to level the ground.

My Dad & Daniel helping level.  Not a fun job!

This was how the kit came... precut wood.

Isaac helping with a wall.

And Garrett working on the floor.

Done with the floor!

Putting up wall #1.

Aaron & Ike working on wall #2.

Starting on the roof.

Riddle Men.  

Working on the roof.

Paint crew!

I didn't get a picture of the shingle process.
But here is the final product!
New landscaping & ramp, compliments of Matt, Isaac, & my dad!

And Isaac helped me put up this peg board.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!  :)