Children’s lampshades

I was delighted to discover Fog And Thistles paper cutout night lights.
Their simplicity and charm are quite delightful.

They’re not too expensive either Priced at $27.

You can see more of Rachel Webers Cut Paper Art and lighting in her Etsy store or check out her blog Fog and Thistle

Making a paper cutout lampshade

Cut out paper shapes are a great way to dress up and rejuvenate old boring lampshades.
During the day they may look quite plain like Rachel’s design below, but at night they come to life.

How to make a lampshade yourself

Cut out simple shapes in black paper and glue them to the inside of a plain lampshade with spray glue.

Chica and Joe have done a similar thing with a cityscape.

During the day all you see is the ribbon that was sewn down the middle with a thick white stitch and added to the bottom of the lampshade to look like a street.

If you find that a bit plain, there’s no reason why you couldn’t paint or stick the same design in colour to the outside of the lampshade making sure you positioned the design directly over the black paper inside the shade.

and/or

Add decorative elements to the bottom of the shade like beads, ribbons, feathers, tassled fringes (whatever you can find) hanging down from the shade to add interest.

Like this from Roberts Media Team, but fewer bits and pieces if you want the cutout design to show through!!
(Great site by the way)

Where can you find cutout shape ideas?

Search on the internet for Free Clip art Silhouettes and you’ll find loads to choose from THIS SITE

Have fun and tell me about it!

DIY Shelf ideas for kids rooms

How cute is this cloud shelf from Modern Dose?

Adorable as it is functional, this new Cloud Shelf provides storage for books, furry friends and even a small back pack! Each shelf is laser cut from heavy grade metal and features a 6 inch deep shelf + hook for all their modern treasures. A stylish and decorative storage solution. You can buy it  here on May 4th

The idea  has got me thinking about DIY decorative shelves for kids rooms and how to make them cheaply and easily

For example if you’d rather not buy the metal cloud shelf (which incidentally is rather reasonably priced), you could make a similar one yourself in wood.

Jazz up a plain shelf

Take one shelf of your choice.
Draw a cloud shape onto a piece of wood or MDF.
Cut out the shape with a jigsaw, paint it and the shelf white.
Screw it to the wall and mount your shelf below it.

Alternatively you could simply paint the cloud shape on the wall behind a shelf and while you are at it,  add some more cloud shapes around the room.
You could do the same thing with the Metal Cloud shelf like I’ve done below.

Here’s some more easy shelf ideas

The cat shelf

Take a simple shelf, stick a wall sticker or wall decal of your choice above it.
The cat is a wall decal from Misi.  Available in matt black or grey. This decal is approximately 300 mm long. They have other cats in the range doing cute catty things. You can find the cat and spider decal here. (Leave the spider off if you don’t like spiders)

Sport Themed Shelf

Sports stickers from fotostick

Monkey Shelf for a jungle theme

Monkey wall sticker from GIGGLE

Screw in a couple of coat hooks in the monkeys hands and feet  for a useful place to hang a bag or item of clothing.

 

Do you get the idea?

Take your child’s favourite theme, find wall stickers in that theme and stick them above a shelf that you could paint in a co-ordinating colour.

Now, I’ve got to tell you about one of my designs for a shelf that is coming soon.

It’s part of our robot room theme and is an easy paint by number design. You can see the rest of the robot paint by number collection here at Wallstory Murals or here at the Magic Mural Factory.

I hope to have this ready by the end of March, but contact me or leave me a comment if you need it sooner.

Classic Shelf from Pottery Barn Kids

Beautiful crown molding gives this shelf the look of an architectural built-in. Mounts anywhere you want to display pictures, children’s trophies, a few books or other decorative items.

Create a similar look with bought carboard or wooden letters that you decorate or simply paint white. These letters are normally stocked in most craft stores.

You can read my previous post about how to create your own wall letters here

Rustic Log Shelves

Rachels Rustic Log shelves..See how to make your own on The Design Sponge

 

Have you got any good ideas for a shelf in a child’s room?

Please leave me a comment and tell me all about it.

DIY Diamond headboard- (Faux tufted headboard)

Talking of Diamonds on the wall, I found this rather lovely DIY project  over at Project Nursery.

Have you seen those custom tufted headboards?
Gorgeous, but perhaps just a bit too expensive for a kid-room-makeover-budget?

DIY: Penache For Pennies

Here is a DIY tip to create a lot of panache for just pennies.

The Faux Tufted Headboard

Supplies: Paint, Basic Wood Trim (I prefer the pre-primed trim; its easier to paint) Miter Saw, Tape Measure

A full-sized bed and measures 54″ wide. Make certain the width is at lease as wide as the mattress if you are using a different size. The height is totally up to you based on the look you are going for. Factor in the height of the back pillows to make sure it still can be seen once the bed is put together. Also make sure the finished height does not line up with anything else on the wall. Here the headboard is slightly higher than the mirror over the dresser.

I chose a harlequin (diamond) pattern for this room. With this particular design, the wall color and a pearly white were alternated. Then circles were painted on where the diamonds meet to mimic buttons. You can use real buttons or any embellishments you like to add more dimension and texture. Little freehand lines were added around the buttons to create “tufts”. The design was framed with a painted wood molding to finish the look . Get as creative as you like or if you get stuck for an idea, e-mail me at rebecca@projectnursery.com for help. Ciao!

Thanks Rebecca