Pepper Design Blog

Girls’ Room: Painting Progress! Walls and the Bookshelves

Thank you to Ikea Hackers for picking up Liv’s little kitchen! 

We have made some awesome progress in the girls’ new room (and just in the nick of time, right? please let me not go into labor tomorrow with my hallway full of furniture and toys…) including painting that new built-in bookshelf and the walls. You may have caught a sneak peek of the nursery paint samples or the wallpaper installation over on Instagram, but here are a few more photos to document the nursery transformation.

Kevin sprayed each bookcase using our Graco Magnum (also seen here) for that clean, brush free finish early one evening last week.

An alternative to a sprayer is using a small spongey roller designed just for cabinetry. I’m sure that once the bookcases are installed we’ll go back and make small touch ups using this technique which is a hair more time consuming but great for indoors (and when you don’t want to cover everything in plastic).

To be very honest, I’ve been having a hard time letting go of our current nursery. I’ve been looking forward to doing something special in this room for the new baby – and the girls together – and I love the inspiration board, but when it comes to actually painting the walls it has been a struggle.

So many happy memories in this space! But they are well documented…

Speaking of painting walls, do you ever suffer from paint-sample-paralysis? It’s this terrible problem I have… and I hope I don’t suffer alone. I go from choosing too many paint samples at the store:

To staring at them on the wall for a few days in various lighting…

(New wallpaper sneak peek!)

To very shortly a wall that looks like this because I begin mixing them all together (which is a TERRIBLE idea because the paint stores can really never color match that correctly).

The ultimate decision paralysis.

And then guess what? I end up not choosing any of those options. I finally settled on Hot Springs Stone (by Benjamin Moore) but color matched to mix into an Olympic Elite gallon. That’s a no VOC, paint and primer in one that does a terrific job of keeping coats to a minimum. The below white sprayed primer spots are where we really needed another top coat to help cover a few dark spots form the multiple (!) samples and a patched picture frame.

Looks uncannily similar to the previous paint on the walls when I was sure I was going bright white or a dark, dark griege. But now that the paint is up I couldn’t be happier! It is MUCH better than the previous tan (this one is more rosy/grey rather than yellow) and plays so well with the lighting. Which is a good thing because it’s not getting repainted any time soon.

So now here’s a little dilemma… Kevin and I both love this little tree on the wall so much and we’re trying to figure out a way to keep it. But is it awkward that it is cut off with the new bookcase? (not installed yet, just up for the photo). The owl is sort of peeking out in a cute way, but he also looks like he’s accidentally chopped in half.

We might keep it for a while and see if the tree blends in well with the rest of the space. Maybe it will? Maybe it will look odd… Now I just need to go and trace its branches a little more carefully…

Next up: wallpaper, bookcase installation, a changing table makeover, an upholstered big bed for Liv and so much more… the fun continues!

PS More nursery progress here!

PPS Speaking of nurseries and babies, how cute is this bump? I would like to request that cuteness the next time around.

Our Fireplace Screen Sneaks Into This Old House!

Hey all! Something amazing landed on my doorstep this weekend and I couldn’t wait to share!

Do you subscribe to This Old House? It could be that we have a very old house but it’s one of my favorites. I was feeling a little courageous a couple of months ago and submitted our faux stacked log fireplace screen – and guess what! It was chosen as a feature in their recent July Before & After issue!!

When the editors called to ask for additional pictures and more details, I almost drove off of the road (don’t worry Cali friends, I was hands free).

I initially tackled this project when I was about six months pregnant, TOH asked me to shoot a few more step-by-step photos at 7 1/2 months and here I am at a full 9 months with moonbeams coming out of my ears!

(Sorry for the blurry photo, we kept moving during our little happy dance. And don’t you love that Liv is giving me a really great and exasperated ‘oh mom?’ look).

Here’s one behind-the-scenes shots at 7 1/2 months:

But they chopped (no pun intended) that one a down a little more and thankfully the belly was saved from the final edition.

Ahhhh, I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. Off to purchase a dozen more copies to send to all of my family! Grinning from ear to EAR!

Girls’ Room: Built-Ins Are Being Built!

This is happening around here and it’s very exciting!!

Remember back here when I shared about the bookshelf inspiration for the new nursery for the girls?

Liv’s room doesn’t have a closet (nixed that when we built the new bathroom) and suddenly storage became a key factor and a big consideration when redesigning the kids’ room for baby #2. We are bursting at the seams with Liv, and even though we’ll scale back and keep only the essentials, this built-in bookcase is going to be fantastic for the space!! Check out those deep toy drawers and the tall bookshelves waiting to be filled with critical kid supplies. Ahhh, I can hardly wait.

Kevin teamed up with our amazing neighbor who is a retired carpenter and who happened to hear about our plans to build the shelving and window seat unit. I cannot believe how fortunate we are to have him as a friend .

We opted for a craftsman, Shaker-style design so that the built-ins would match our kitchen (which now has near matching cabinetry). I’m thinking of purchasing the same pulls to keep the look and feel consistent?

Next up, painting and installation!

Inspiration pictures from DecorPad (can’t find the original owner of that great blue kid’s room) and Centsational Girl.