Noodle's Chandy

Sweet Noodle picked a chandy for her room....she settled on the Kristaller from Ikea.

I'm surprised she picked this one out.  It's so traditional...and actually, she wanted one from Pottery Barn, but I told her if she wants a chair in her room, she has to make some sacrifices on lighting. She is such an easy going kid, that this didn't faze her in the least.

Next on the agenda is the Lack sofa table, to be used as a makeup table: 

And if you give a Noodle a makeup table, she's going to need a chair to go with it (name that children's book): 

Also, the Ektorp chair is just too darn big for her room....she chose the Ektorp Tullsta instead: 

 That's all for now!  Hope you are all doing well....what have you been up to?

Noodle's Bed!

It's done!

Zuddy finished it last week and finally cut some slats to support the mattress and box spring over the weekend.  We put it up on Sunday and the Noodle was so excited!!

Man, though.  The paint still isn't completely dry.  It's so weird....I don't know if it will ever fully dry!  I got some wet paint on my shorts as we were putting it together and it's been over a week or two since it's been painted.

Here are a couple of shots of the bed and part of her initial wall: 

 Man, it's not easy to get a decent shot of this room....it's so small!

Next up?  I need to get a cover for her box spring.  I'll either do this one from The Company Store: 

Or just a fitted white sheet.


Then, I'm going to try my hand at this IKEA hack that I pinned last week: 


 

Source: forchicsake.com via Martha on Pinterest

Noodle also wants an Ektorp chair, but I really don't think it will fit in her room and no other one will do, according to her: 

 

Noodle Room2

Noodle Room2 by elizabethhillcottage on polyvore.com

I keep forgetting to post this now obsolete update of Noodle's Room mock-up!

You were all absolutely right when you said she needed furry pillows.  So, this mock-up is a little more fun.

 I said this photo was obsolete because we've chosen other pillows.  Here's one I actually bought from PBTeen:  

She LOVES IT.  When I ordered the zebra duvet and pillowcases I got this pillow, too.  But I didn't tell her about it so when she came home from school one day, her bed was all made up with her new linens and this pillow.  She was so excited, and now I'm really trying to focus on finishing this room for her.  She's such a good little girl and I want her to love her room and have it as the perfect pre-teen refuge for her.

By the way, I've never bought bedding from PBTeen or Pottery Barn, for that matter.  The quality of the zebra duvet is outstanding.  They have all sorts of special little touches in their design.  Like a super-hidden button closure and even a pocket to tuck the comforter in so you can't see it at all inside the duvet.  I'm very impressed.  I was going to buy a knock-off on ebay or overstock, but I'm glad I spent the extra $$ and got it there.

Zuddy is working on painting her bed right now.  And she's decided she wants it gold!  Woo Hoo :) I'll post a photo as soon as the bed frame is finished and we get some stuff on the walls!

Have you ever bought bedding from Pottery Barn?

 

Noodle Room Mock-Up

Yeah, she hates it.  

She hates the pillows, lamps and headboard.  You know....all of the things I thought would be fun touches.

As always, I'm Captain On Top Of It!  My finger is on the pulse!  I am one with my child's wants an needs!

Go Me!

Awwwwww SNAP!

My camera takes black photos.  

I found this out when I was taking 'before' photos of the Noodle's old-bedroom-now-office.  I'll try to borrow my Mom's camera because you all have to see the shit I've encountered.  And I have no nicer way to say this, trust me.  Saying "shit" and "snap" is as censored as I can get. And now I need some much harsher words to convey my feelings.

Here's how my morning has turned out: 

1. I can't find the camera.  Zuddy has it in the garage.  Does it belong in the garage?  No.  It does not.
2. I take a 'before' photo of the office.  The low battery light comes on.
3. I plug in the battery for recharging.
4. I remove the wire shelving in the closet and grab the battery-powered driver to remove the mounting brackets attached to the wall.
5. The battery pack is fuckingdead.
6. I go downstairs to get the extra battery in it's (unplugged) charger.  It's dead, too.
7. I start removing the fugly "cedar" panels from the closet.  They are glued AND nailed into the walls.  
8. I remove a couple of the panels and the plaster wall comes with them and crumbles to the floor.
9. After the driver battery is charged I try removing those mounting brackets.  The screws just spin and spin and won't come out.
10. I place the recharged camera battery in the camera and take photos of the closet.
11. I download the photos and SURFUCKINGPRIZE!  They're black.

I give up.   


But I found a few half finished Noodleroom photos on the camera: 

Her bed is on the floor all klassy-like because she didn't want the the frame anymore.  Plus, she just wants her bigger bed.  

But Dave Ramsey and our bank account say, "No.  Get a real job, Martha."


I am frustrated on so many levels today.  I'm going to go and take a shower and get out of the house.

Moving.

Ha!  That's a scary title, isn't it?No...we're not moving, but Noodle is!  Into her new room! 

Is it finished?

Nope. 

But it's just done enough for her to live in.  We finally put up her curtains last night.  Zuddy put up the curtain rods with much teeth gnashing and swearing.  Poor guy.

Here's what we still need to do:
crown moulding
light fixture
full size bed
paint head and foot board (silver is the plan, but I think gold may be an option)
lamps
finish closet (it needs four more shelves and maybe a light)
new bedding
new nightstand

But?  It's looking a lot better than where we started:

Closet: Before

Closet:Not Quite After

We are having a couple of issues with the lighting.  Mainly that I can't seem to get exactly what I want for a decent price. 
The IKEA fixtures we liked don't put out enough light:

so we are scrapping that idea.


I want to make my own drum shade pendant, but I need to find something like this:

It's called a "Do It Yourself Shade Pendant Hardware Kit" from Shades of Light.  It's perfect....except just this little kit is $50!  I know this sucker doesn't need to cost $50, so I'm trying to find it for less, except I can't!  The thing that makes this little fixture perfect is that little knob on the bottom....it's for attatching an acrylic diffuser so the lighbulbs are concealed:

This is $35.  I just think that's nuts, too.  There's no way this thing needs to cost this much.


Then we will need to get a cute canopy and down rod:

Go to the blog Dittle Dattle for some amazing tutorials...that's where I found a way to make these pendants, but unfortunately, I can't get the amount of light or a diffuser using her tutorial.  But I can use the pieces of this pendant kit to gussy up my fixture!


Anyway....we chose some fun fabrics possibilities to cover the drum shade:


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chipper

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lulu stripe

I found these at fabric.com.

Tweenie Bopper Bedrooms

I'm almost done with the painting the Noodle's room, girlfriends!  I just have one side of a door left and the walls!!  Woo HOO!


That darn Zuddy still has a lot to do before we can move her in there, though.  Zuddy?  Are you reading this?  I know you are, you unshaven man, you.  (Zuddy thinks he's growing a beard.  Zuddy's going to find himself and all of his stuff on the street if he doesn't shave soon.)


Here are the things on Zuddy's list:

• New baseboards for 2 of the walls.  We were planning on refinishing all the woodwork in our house, but when we tried to take the baseboards off, they split.
• Finish off the closet.  We are going to put 2 rows of hanging bars on the left side, and lots of shelving on the right side.  Because the Noodle is showing signs of being a shameless hoarder.
• Crown Molding (Moulding?)
• Spray paint the Jenny Lind bed Silver we have a full size bed frame that I bought, oh?....16 years ago.  We married and moved into this house almost 15 years ago.  And there it sits.  In the basement.
• Hang drapery hardware.
• Move white blinds in new bedroom.  We're just going to use the blinds that are in her current bedroom.

Here are the things on my list:

• Finish painting the door
• Clean up all the door hardware and put it back on the doors.
• Paint the walls
• Move the Noodle in to her room. We'll just move her current bed in there until we get her a new full size mattress.
• Buy a full size mattress.  I'm really hoping to find one that someone's trying to get rid of.
• Buy new bedding.  All white.
• Buy a new rug
• Buy a new light fixture. From IKEA. She wants this one:  

 Or this one:

• Get some drapery hardware.

 Wow.  That's kind of a long list, isn't it?


For your viewing pleasure, here are some great looking tweenie bopper bedrooms.  I think I got them all from Houzz:

Noodle's Closet

I know it doesn't look like much, people, but this is taking a while....especially the doors. 5 coats each side make it a 10 day project, minimum.

I've got the closet door all painted and it looks great, but I want to let it cure for a few more days so the paint is nice and strong before I put the hardware back on.

So, here's the before:

And the Mid-point:

Boy, it's amazing how blue that paint looks when it's near the white woodwork. I have that very same paint on the ceiling of the dining and living rooms and you can barely tell it's not white!

Noodle's Closet

Yep.  Here it is:  Noodle's closet.  Pretty exciting, huh?



Yikes.  Here it is filled with her toys.

  Pretty TINY is more like it...but -believe it or not- it's bigger than the one she has in her room right now. 

This is part of the reason why she's moving into the office/playroom.  She's heading into the teen years now and she needs a bigger room (her current room is 8x10...the new one is 10x12) and a very slightly bigger closet.

This super-ugly closet "organizer" (and I use the term organizer veerrrrry loosely) was here when we moved in almost 15 years ago.

 I would LOVE.  L-O-V-E to have the interior professionally designed, but that's not in the budget right now. 

I've gone to the Easy Closets website and punched in the dimensions, but I didn't get a design........my computer just started shaking and laughing at me.  Rude.

I finally wrestled that ugly organizer out.  It left some pretty fierce holes in the walls when I got the hardware out.  Zuddy was kind enough to patch them for me. 

The trim is almost all done being painted.  It needs one more coat....which equals FIVE coats, ladies.  Five of 'em.

I don't think the inside of the closets been painted more than twice since our house was built in 1936.  We found remnants of this awesome coral color in a few spots:

Sadly, Noodle says she doesn't want coral, so we're using some of the paint we already have in our stock.



One last thing:

The windows are finished!! I can't wait to get the paint on the walls so the trim looks nice and crisp!

Noodle's Room

Because I feel it's important to have no less than 12 unfinished home improvement projects at any time, I've started making over the office/playroom into Noodles new bedroom.

 Not only are we painting the walls, but I'm kicking off the painting of ALL of the woodwork in our entire house here in her new bedroom.

The trim is Swiss Coffee by Behr, and the sashes are Seal by Martha Stewart (I think).  Noodle wants her room blue, so we're checking out some swatches: