We’ve been in our house for just over a year now and my patient seven year old (is that even a thing?) is long overdue for a “cool room”.
When I last showed you his room it looked like this (and still pretty much does). But I have a plan!
bathrooms, bedrooms, dining room, entryway, Family Room, Garden, guest room, Home & Garden, kitchen, Living Room, office, playroom, rec room
Settling in
bathrooms, bedrooms, dining room, entryway, Family Room, Garden, guest room, Home & Garden, kitchen, Living Room, office, playroom, rec room
So this happened
We bought a house. Specifically, this one.
Backing up a bit, we really enjoyed our townhome but it was time for a change. More space, more privacy and NO strata. We wanted to move before Chace got older as we didn’t want to change his little world mid-grade three (he just finished Kindergarten). So, we made the leap and listed our townhome.
The good news is that it sold in a day – with three offers which created a bidding war. The bad news, we didn’t have anywhere to move to! The market in our area dictated this plan of attack as places for sale were going into multiplle offers and if you had “subject to sale of our place” in your offer, you might as well not even bother.
Long story short after a few panic attacks from me and some serious market stalking, we purchased the above home which met most things on our wish list. We did have to compromise on a few things but we ended up with a few bonus things that more than made up for it.
We take possession this Saturday! I couldn’t wait to share with you all though so here are the photos from the listing (as we saw it). I also put together a little floor plan of each level. They won’t be completely accurate as I was going off memory and the specs on the listing sheet, but you will get the idea I’m sure!
Main level:
entry
living room
dining/living room
dining room
kitchen – what will Chef Kev dream up here?
kitchen/family room
family room
(future) playroom!
powder room
laundry
Here is the main floor layout to give you an idea of where these spaces are in relation to one another…
top level:
looking down towards the front entry
master bedroom
master bathroom
the other two bedrooms (Chace’s and a spare – TBD which is which!). We’re going to let Chace choose on moving day.
“Bonus room” – future craft room/office area
top floor bathroom
top floor floorplan…
basement/lower level
Down here is where we encountered one of the ‘compromises’ as mentioned above. Part of the basement is a suite which we were not looking for. However, we decided since we have more than enough space at the moment, we will leave it ‘as is’ for now and renovate in the future to make it our dream recreation room space – complete with wet bar and a bedroom/bathroom on that level. The income from the suite will allow us to do some of the updates a little sooner than we otherwise would have been able to.
First up, the current recreation room (on our side)…
And here is the suite which consists of a living space, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom (I don’t have a photo of the kitchen though).
Here is the baseement floor plan to help you visualize how it all works together…
Last but not least, our backyard. This was another area where we had to compromise. We had dreams of a large backyard but reality told us that the house we wanted, with a big yard, was not in our budget. The fact that this particular house had been nicely updated, was in a great neighbourhood, backed onto a greenbelt and (total bonus) was only a few houses away from the elementary school that Chace will attend made us decide this was the one.
Oh, and did I mentinon that the school is adjacent to a huge park which has an awesome playground and walking trails. We figured our ‘yard’ was steps away so we were covered.
We have big plans for this small space. For the whole house actually. But, we will save and tackle each project as our budget permits and I will happily post about the journey here if you’d like to follow along 🙂
the backyard…
See what I did there? ‘art’ instead of ‘heart’. Ahh… never mind.
But speaking of art, that’s the topic of today’s post!
Not long ago, I shared Chace’s new bedroom dresser that I scored for cheap on Craigslst and refinished with chalk paint. It replaced two dressers that were along that wall. Originally we used the dressers as a diaper change station as well (see that here). A few years ago I created some cute robot art that hung above one of the dressers.
Well, now that Chace is WAY past the diaper stage (ThankYou.ThankYou.ThankYou) and we have a new sheriff dresser in town, the babyish robot art wasn’t quite working anymore.
Hi little guy. Bye little guy.
Hello new gallery wall for my budding five-year-old artist!
I was originally thinking I might put some quirky animal prints up on this wall but when I came across these picture frames last week I quickly changed my focus. Chace comes home with new art daily (which I love) and I had been thinking it would be nice to find a way to feature it. So when I spotted these frames that were made for interchanging art I quickly scooped four of them up.
They open easily at the top and have an affixed bulldog clip to make switching out art really easy (which I will detail below). The frames are from Real Canadian Superstore.
But first I needed to hang them. I knew I wanted to centre them above the dresser so I started by measuring the dresser length: 64″. Then I measured the width of each frame: 11.75″. I had four frames so had a combined frame width of 47″. Subtracting 47″ from 64″ I was left with 17″. I divided that by 5 (I wanted equal spacing between each frame and also on the left and right) and was left with 3.4″.
I grabbed my laser level and aimed it across the wall at a height of 68″. As a general rule the middle of artwork should be about 5′ from the ground. Since my frames are 15″ tall I added half of that height – 7.5″ – to five feet (60″) and then just rounded up half an inch to 68″.
Then I marked the wall based on my math.
To hang them, I used my trusty Command picture hanging strips from 3M which I have blogged my love for in the past (no, this post is not sponsored I am just obsessed with this product). I seriously wish I had invented these. I also removed the screws on the back of the frames so that they would sit flush to the wall.
To easily place the art inside, the frame opens in the front by lifting the top edge which slides out the sheet of plexiglass.
Genius!
Then I had Chace choose four pieces of art and clipped each one in.
The bulldog clip is attached to the back of the frame which makes switching art a really easy process – I don’t even have to take the frame off the wall!
And then I simply hung them all up.
As for what art Chace chose? I’m glad you asked.
First up we have a daycare project which asked Chace what he wanted to be when he grew up. The answer, “a chef’! I guess he was inspired to be like daddy – ChefKev.
Next we have a picture that Chace drew for me. Inspired by his love of the show Cake Boss, Chace drew me a dog cake with a candle in it and a heart. Picture Perfect! That’s how we roll BAYBEE! (that was Buddy talking incase you weren’t sure).
Following that we have a colourful Octopus and some 8’s – a workbook page that Chace brought home from daycare.
And last but not least we have a cute clover. May the luck of the Irish be with us.
As Chace creates new art that he wants to feature, we simply swap one out!
And Chace is pretty proud of his new gallery wall. I’d even go so far to say he ‘arts’ it. See what I did there again?
Any new art creations in your home? Do you have a gallery wall or special spot for displaying children’s art? I think this has seriously given the fridge a run for its money.
You may recall in this post where I updated you on Chace’s ‘Big Boy Room’ progress, that I had another project in the works for this big blank space of wall…
Well here it is!
It all started when Chace got this awesome ‘card’ with one of the gifts from his 3rd birthday – a little multi-jointed robot (who also happened to fit his bedroom colour palette perfectly AND play off the robot art I created in his closet nook).
I couldn’t just file this little guy away in a box.
However, he did sit around awhile as I didn’t have a frame and there were other ‘bigger’ things I wanted to get for his room first (table, toy storage etc. as mentioned here), but this past week while looking for something else I stumbled upon this tucked away…
Art I had done in design school (I’m a Graphic Designer) yes, but more importantly, the perfect sized frame!
Here are a few close-up of my little ‘botanical style’ illustrations from back in the day – ah, memories. I remember even creating that custom matt with handmade paper. Ha. Good times.
Okay, so maybe styles have changed but it’s always fun to look back.
Knowing I wanted to paint the frame white, I started by taking out the old art. And that’s when it happened…
… the glass broke.
So I took this as a sign that my little robot friend did not want to be kept under glass (kinda like how nobody keeps Baby in a corner – name that movie) and just came up with a new plan – to ‘bump’ him up (more on that later). No glass needed for this direction.
Armed with my newly glass-free frame I headed down to the garage for a little spray tan.
And even managed to do this step without breaking anything.
I had always planned to put some decorative scrapbook paper behind the little robot to add some fun but wasn’t sure exactly what look I was going for. I know I wanted somethind dynamic and playful but not too busy. I didn’t want any pattern to compete with our star – little robot.
I grabbed three paper contenders from my stash and headed up to my other stash (this is where my organized hoarding comes in handy) to find a larger piece of white paper to fill the whole frame. I knew my scrapbook paper was 12″ x 12″ so was not going to fill the whole space up. I needed a simple clean background to mount it all on.
But I had nothing.
However, I did find a clean white mat instead.
But it didn’t’ fill the frame either.
So I came up with a new plan.
Spray the board that came in my frame white, layer the scrapbook paper on that, covered with the matt and then bump up my little robot.
Yes.
First to pick a scrapbook paper design though…
I started with the busiest of the shortlisted bunch but quickly decided that yes, it was too busy. Althought cute, little robot wasn’t the focus I wanted him to be. Oh, and I know he extends past the inside frame of the mat but I was okay with that – even wanted it if I’m being honest. I liked that he was jumping out – much more dynamic that way.
That dark brown backing is actually the back of the frame board that I mention above – pre-‘sprayathon’.
Next up was a crisp green plaid.
Much better but not quite the right shade of green. I liked the boyish plaid though and loved the diagonal. Getting closer…
From the same pack (a Christmas one if you can believe it) I found the match to the above paper, but in blue.
DONE!
Loved it. Boyish, fun, playful and non-competing with the robot. And the fact that it was going on a blue wall – serendipity.
With that decided, I was back to the garage to begin spraying the board. I decided to spray the rough side of the board as I thought the texture would add an unexpected element – plus it was a little more ‘boyish’.
Holy paint suck batman! This board kept drinking and was never satisfied! It drained what I had in this can and I moved on to some white primer I had on hand – but it still didn’t look good. Oh, and I only sprayed the outside edges as the middle would be covered up.
Here it is once dried (after about 10 coats).
The texture is fun but the whites don’t work well together and you can still see bits of the brown fibres. It just didn’t accept the spray paint evenly and uniformly.
So I did what any blogging mama on the fly would do – I changed my plan – AGAIN. By the way, this project cost me zero dollars. I just kept working with what I had on hand until I found a solution that worked!
I remembered that I had some leftover blue wall paint from when I painted Chace’s room a few months ago and thought applying that with a brush could garner the results I was after.
Here you can see how uneven the white finish was…
And here it is with a coat of blue.
Looking promising!
Chace may have been in the tub when I was doing this, hence the impromptu painting set up in the bathroom! You take every moment you can get when you’re a full-time working, graphic design on the side, blogging mama of a toddler!
He thought it was awesome and gave me a full play-by-play of what I was doing.
Here is a close up of the blue paint (and mat) once dried. Much better! Doesn’t the texture of the backside of the board look neat?
Then I began adding some little foam ‘bumpers’ to the back of robot so that he sat elevated slightly. These are also from my scrapbooking supplies. They are simple to use since they are sticky on both sides of the foam. You apply one to your surface, and one to your ‘subject’ and this is what you get!
The cool thing about this is that the robots hands, feet and antenae are free to move since I didn’t need to add any there. That way Chace can manipulate them if he wants to play with it. Interactive art ;)!
Once it was put back into it’s frame and hung up, this is how he looked!
I think it really fills up that space (which definitley was in need of something)
beeboop – beeboop – splurt – zap – wheeez!
That’s robot for “how do you like them apples!?” And you know what, I like ’em. A lot.
I’m actually glad my original vision didn’t work out and I had to change my plan 367 times. I love how the blue ties in to the wall colour. I love the layering effect of the board, scrapbook paper and mat. I love the texture of the board. I love how my little robot is still the star even though he is only one of the many elements at work here. And I love that Chace loves it.
I guess change really is good.
How about you? Ever start a project only to revise it every second step? Ever made art of out of something that wasn’t? Found any old school projects shoved lovingly stored under the bed that came in handy when least expected?
Beblurrrrp – that’s robot for “dish/spill”.
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Hello
I'm Elaine. A graphic designer, mommy, wife and blogger. I have trouble sitting still and am always looking for a project. Follow along as I post about life – in a pretty and creative way of course.