Big Boy Room Reveal

We finally took the plunge and moved our little man into a big boy bed.  He is almost 3 1/2 and was definitely ready.  I am never ready for new phases with my babies but getting a chance to decorate a new room sure helps!    

This was his room before the switch.  I posted about it here.

First up was a new wall color.  I chose Polar Star by Valspar.  I was super happy with my choice.

Here is his room upon entering today.

Would you believe my sister found that old school desk (that I LOVE) at a Goodwill for only $8?  She called me right away and asked if I wanted it.  Sisters are awesome.

He requested a "cars and trucks" room and that is what he got.  I acquired the wall decor through Etsy, Hobby Lobby, The Country Living Fair, my basement, my Mom, and one of my big sisters.  

I simply taped old car photos inside of frames.

His birthday is July 15th which is the meaning behind the 715.

The license plates are from states where my husband and I were born or where we grew up.

The Valvoline hat from his Halloween costume was perfect to hang on a hook in his room.

My sister started collecting bouncy balls for me a long time ago when I mentioned they would be cute in a jar.  And the little jar is filled with Daddy's old micro machines.

I loved the front of these maps so I just pinned them to the wall inside of an empty frame.

Of course you know there had to be a banner in his room.  Cheaper than curtains and a curtain rod and I love them!

The bedding is actually the underside of a Pottery Barn plane quilt that I found at a yard sale when he was a baby for only $5.  I wanted a red quilt so I flipped it over and it works great!

The bed was around when Daddy was little and the sheets were ones he actually slept on.  The pillows were made by my Mom and I using an old shirt of Daddy's, a Silhouette studio image of an old car, and a plane cut from my son's old shirt.

I love his new room.

It was a hit with our little mechanic too.

Thanks for stopping by Lemon Tree today!  

Happy Tuesday!

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Men's Shirt Re-Do # 2: Boy's Pants

I showed you last month how I made one of my husband's old shirts into this sweet little vest applique.

There was still lots of fabric left over so I decided to make something for my son. It was the perfect opportunity to try out this kid pants pattern by Dana at Made.

I laid my pattern pieces out on the shirt to make sure there was enough material. Then I traced around the edges with a fabric marker and cut out my pieces.

Did you notice that the shirt had a front pocket? I decided that I wanted to use that on my pants. I couldn't just leave it on the fabric where it was, otherwise the pocket would be in the crotch area of the pants. Not good. I used a fabric ripper to carefully remove the pocket, still intact, and then ironed over the spot where the pocket had been to remove the evidence.

(The above picture is pre-ironing.)

I sewed the left and right back sides together so that I could get an idea about how to center the pocket and left a 1/4" seam allowance. I pinned the pocket down and straight stitched around the edges with a gray thread.

Once the pocket was attached, I sewed the front and back pieces of the pants together, hemmed the legs using some pants that fit my son as a guide, and finished the waistband with a flat front.

They are perfect. Soft, lightweight and pretty darn inexpensive since I grabbed the shirt out of our "clothes to donate" bag!

They have a flat front, so they could be worn with a shorter shirt and would still look spiffy.

But they have an elastic band in the back, so they will stretch and grow a bit with my boy.

When I hemmed the bottom I left about 1 1/2 extra inches, so in a few months when my son is taller, I'll just rip out the hem and sew it down at a longer length.

I'm still just getting into sewing clothes, so I need to make sure my efforts last a bit longer than just a few months.

In hindsight, (or perhaps hind view?), I should have taken the pocket in to make it a little smaller. I think that taking about 1/2 inch off of each side and 1 inch off of the bottom would have made it the perfect size for his little booty. Maybe compare your men's shirt pocket to a pair of your son's pants to see if you need to make adjustments. Or if you're making a more casual pair of pants, you could make it a cool front pocket.

Either way, prepare yourself for your boy to do some really cool, big, jumping in his new pants.

So rummage around in your guy's closet and grab a shirt that he never wears anymore. It's the perfect fabric for your boy projects!

I'm sure Pinterest has some good inspiration as well! Check it out and let me know what you make!

And while you're there, follow my pin boards here.

Have a great week!!

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Men's Shirt Re-Do # 1: Vest Applique

I have seen so many great tutorials recently about cleaning out stashes and re-purposing old clothes, and I thought it was about time that I tried it for myself. My husband had this old shirt that is really soft but doesn't fit quite right, so I wanted to find a few ways to make it work for a little guy instead. It turns out that a long sleeved mens shirt is a lot of material, so I got 2 projects out of 1 shirt. Come back next week for project #2!

I thought this pattern and material was pretty cool and a bit dressy for a little boy, so it must be turned into a little vest applique!

Project #1-Vest Applique

My first step was making a pattern. I lined a piece of paper up on a plain white onesie and roughly traced where I would need to cut the paper away for the neckline and sleeves.

I cut along those lines and laid the paper onto the onesie.

I lightly sketched one side of a little vest, making sure to extend the middle piece slightly past the middle of the onesie.

I traced the vest pattern onto some fusible webbing, flipped it over and traced the pattern again to make the left and right sides of the vest.

**Do not forget to flip the pattern over before you trace the other side of the vest! Otherwise, when you go to iron your applique onto your onesie, you will realize that you have 2 left sides and this will not work. Ask me how I know.**

Iron the fusible webbing onto your fabric, and trim around the edges.

I made the little black tie using the same method as in my Little Man Tie Applique tutorial, ironed it onto the onesie, and then sewed the edges down with a zig zag stitch.

Next, I laid my vest appliques down exactly as I wanted them, ironed them on, and then sewed those edges down with a zig zag stitch as well. I made sure to pin a fabric stabilizer to the back as I was sewing to keep the fabric from stretching as I sewed and it worked like a charm.

(New to sewing appliques? Read some of my beginner tips here.)

I made sure to use thread in coordinating colors so that it wouldn't draw too much attention to the stitching.

I selected a few dark gray buttons to complement the vest and hand stitched those on, centering them above the point in the tie.

There you have it! A onesie any little cool dude would be happy to wear.

Men's shirts are PERFECT for little boy ties, tie appliques or vest appliques. I challenge you to rummage around your husband's closet and see what old duds can be transformed into something perfect for your little dude! :)

Also, have you seen the fun new series Decorating with Portraits over at Kristen Duke Photography? Kristen has an all star cast of bloggers lined up for the whole month of September to share the ways that they decorate their homes with portraits, and we are thrilled to be participating! Look for us on September 18!

I'll be linking to some of these great parties! Happy Labor Day!

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Polka Dot Makeover and Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

Hope you've been enjoying the guest posts that I've had lined up for you these last several weeks. Pretty great stuff, right?

Well I just wanted to drop in and show off a small project that I was working on last week. Want a sneak peek?

More polka dots!!

You may remember Tiffany's adorable Polka-Dot Closet makeover from last month, and next month you'll see Patrice's take on this adorable trend as well. Fun, right? Here are the details from my project.

I am in the process of transitioning my son's room into a big boy room. We have the new bed and cool big boy sheets, but I'm trying to do little things here and there to update it. (I am still finishing a few nursery projects that were put on hold while I was on bed rest, so we'll get there!)

I had made him this memo board last year with a frame and an old window valance that matched his crib skirt, so that needed to be updated now that the cribs skirt (and crib) are gone. Also, now that he is bringing pictures home from Sunday School and will be starting Pre-School this fall, he needs something that will accommodate more than just 4x6 snapshots.

I found this large bulletin board from Walmart for about $8. The walnut color trim matches the trim in his room, so I decided to leave that alone.

I taped off the edges and lightly coated the cork board with white spray paint. I sprayed horizontally, vertically, and then diagonally for good coverage.

I ended up using a half a can to paint the whole thing, but I imagine you would use less if you weren't trying to lighten a darker color.

Since the feature wall of the room is striped, I wanted to cover the cork with some sort of geometric print. I wanted polka dots, but as a perfectionist I was worried that if I did the dots by hand, I would be stressed if they weren't equally spaced or sized. Luckily Cutting Edge Stencils had exactly what I needed.

This small polka dot stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils was perfect for the task and the stencil filled out the space perfectly.

I found a royal blue craft paint that matches some of the accents of the room, loaded my paint roller with paint, rolled off the excess, and started painting.

I rolled over one dot and a time instead of covering the whole stencil with paint, and was finished very quickly.

It was the perfect bulletin board makeover! The polka dots are just what I needed to spruce up this board, and the space in his room.

This bulletin board makes quite an impact! I can't wait to fill it with my son's goodies.

I'm excited that this board will look great with or without art work and photos. So in the periods where there are fewer pictures on the board, it still looks kind of like a big piece of graphic art. Much much better than a large brown cork board, am I right?

Would you like the chance to win your own free stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils? Now is the time to enter.

Click HERE for details and a chance to win!!!

Good luck!

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