{Home}: DIYs Around the House

I have been wanting to share some home decor posts for months now (we have been in our new place for a little over 3 months), but nothing is finished to my complete liking so I have been waiting. Well I think I have come to realize that in my crazy OCD mind no room will ever be completely done. Some areas I am at a total loss and need some advice (an upcoming post), but mostly it's just that I am not not finding exactly what I want.

I have finally gotten a few projects done in the past couple weeks and I have a couple more currently in the works. The sad part is all of these projects are for Myles' rooms (playroom and bedroom). For some reason, those areas are the easiest for me to decide on decor for.  And they are way more fun than any other room in the house to put together. I will do a full playroom post soon, when I am some how able to keep it clean for more than 30 seconds. For now here are a couple of the things I have been working on:

Gallery Wall in the playroom: 

I started this project like 2 months ago! It took me a long time to decide on what exactly I wanted to have on the wall. Then I had to pick out colors.... From there I couldn't decide which color I wanted on which item... then I had to actually paint them (which took the longest time)... and finally I picked my favorite layout. I moved them around at least 25 times. Then I slept on it and woke up the next day and changed it another 15 times. I am really happy with my final choice. I love the way it looks currently, but I am also able to add more if I want to later. 

The colors come from the rug in his room (which I forgot to take a picture of this time). The first thing I bought for the room was the rug and then designed the whole room around the colors in it.

From top left going clockwise: 
1. A canvas that I wrapped in fabric (same fabric I used for the chairs of his Ikea play table). I painted the 'M' (from Micheal's) orange and glued it to the canvas. 
2. A cheap picture frame I painted and glued the clothes pins to. This will be for Myles' art. 
3. I got this shadow box at Goodwill. I painted it and attempted to put some of Myles' hot wheels in it, but he freaked out and made me take them all out. So I am still brainstorming something I can put in it.. any ideas welcome!
4. I painted this canvas and attached this free USA map printable with sticky Velcro.  
5. Chalkboard I had from who knows where that I painted.. and have yet to write on!
6. This piece is the reason I decided to make a gallery wall. I based it all around this picture. It is a picture my mother colored for my cousin when she was born. It was a color by number picture but she just did her own thing. A couple of years ago my cousin found it and gave it to me for Myles. I found a frame to put it in at Goodwill and painted it. 
7.  Canvas painted with clothes pins glued on it for Myles' art.
8. Painted frame with this free printable.

The other thing I put together in his playroom is this Toy Story corner. Myles had a Toy Story birthday party this year (still needing to blog that!) so I had a ton of Toy Story things left over. My great friend bought Myles this personalized banner! I LOVE it and knew I had to put it up in his playroom. Under that I added a white shelf to display all of his Toy Story figurines (mostly Woody and Buzz). And below that is a board I made for the die-cuts that I had left over from Myles' party. I ordered these die-cuts for center pieces on each table. I didn't want to just throw them out because they are really good quality and fun to play with. 

I started with an old poster frame we had laying around. I glued yellow fabric to the back board and attached the plastic front with blue duck tape around all of the sides. Lastly, I used sticky velcro dots to attach each die-cut to the board. That way he is able to take each one off, play with them, put them in different places, and they will always go back when he is done. We are huge Toy Story fans, so this little corner makes me happy!

The last project on today's post is something I did a while back for Myles' new dinosaur bedroom. A couple of months ago I shared some wall art the we made together (melted crayon canvas and painted puzzles). I have since almost finished his room and promise to share soon. I only have a reading chair to pick up and it will be all done! Anywho, here is his dresser with dinosaur knobs:
Sorry for the poor quality of these pictures, the lighting is horrible in his room.

I had been collecting different dinosaurs from all over (thrift stores, garage sales, etc.) for a couple weeks and when I had them how I wanted I cut them all in half. Once I did that, I took them all to the hardware store and found cheap wooden knobs that fit each one the best. Then I glued the dinosaurs to the knob/drawer. Just a fun little touch to his room! 

What kind of projects have you been working on around the house?

{Think Outside the Toy Box} Puzzle Pieces: Painted Puzzle Wall Art

Okay, I know this is really late, but I have a million legitimate excuses! First off, we moved.. we have been moving since last Saturday. This move an hour and a half away has been exponentially harder than when we moved 32 hours away last year. Every time I thought we were close to being done packing everything up, I found another cabinet, another closet, or another bin full of crap we somehow accumulated over the past year. Anywho, we are finally getting a bit settled, but still have no internet. So I will continue to be absent until next Tuesday when the AT&T guys come to hook us up. Also, I had a birthday! Nothing special, just another year older and I celebrated by going to the laundromat and taking a glorious 3 hour nap with Myles! So here is my Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series post only four days late!
 

If you are here for the first time or want to check out all the details again, take a look at the post introducing the Think Outside the Toy Box summer fun series. Also if you have missed any previous weeks, here are the projects we have done so far:
Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling (and bath)
Plastic Bottle Waterfall
Astronaut/Alien Costume
 Foamy Bathtub Paint

Edible Sensory Bin
Marble Drop/Race
 Shredded Crayon Canvas Art

Now on to this week's fun with:

PUZZLE PIECES

Since we just moved and Myles will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in less than a month, I figured it would be the perfect time to change his room decor and hook him up with a new big boy room! Last week I showed you my first project for his room and revealed that I decided on a dinosaur theme. I am so excited to get to decorating and DIYing and this series has provided me with some awesome opportunities to get Myles involved as well. We have already made Shredded Crayon Canvas Art and this week I came up with another DIY project for his walls using puzzles:

  Painted Puzzle Wall Art

What You Will Need: 

4 boxes of small puzzles (I found these at the Dollar Tree)
Modge Podge

Paintbrushes/ Sponges

Washable Paints

Wood Decals

Glue Gun

Hole Puncher (*not pictured)

Ribbon (I used three different colors)

Directions:  

1. Start out by putting the puzzles together. I am a puzzle fanatic, so this was my favorite part :) After the puzzles are together, use a foam brush to Modge Podge the puzzles. It will need about 4 coats, 2 on each side. Brush the glue onto one side, let dry, then turn over and glue the other side (repeat).

2. Paint! This is the part to get the kids involved and let them decorate their new wall art. I used Crayola Washable Paints (they are perfect for toddlers) and just let him go at it. I had to guide him a little because I wanted to make sure all the different colors got on to all 4 puzzles and that they were covered well.

3. I let him use his hands and feet to paint as well. This way I got the paint to spread out over the whole puzzle. Let them dry.

4. Use the hot glue gun to attach the wood decals to the puzzles. I found these dinosaurs at Hobby Lobby already painted. They had tons of others to choose from if you are doing a different theme.

 

 5. Punch a hole in the top puzzle piece. Add ribbon and tie a knot for hanging. I used three colors (the main ones I'm using for his room) and braided them.

6. Hang and enjoy!

Thanks for checking out week seven of the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series! Also don't forget to check out what all of the other ladies put together for this week's item in the link-up below. 
  And if you have a post (new or old) that you created showcasing puzzle pieces in a kid's project, craft, game, experiment, etc., submit it below as well. No post this week? No problem; join us next Monday when we will be using bathroom paper cups! 

 And in case you want to get a head start, here is the complete list for the coming weeks:
July 21 - Bathroom Paper Cups
July 28 - Plastic Milk Jugs