Whattya need?
How do I make a Branch Shelf?
Step 1: Find an appropriately sized and shaped branch. Carefully trim any oversized knots from the back of the branch with the hand saw (Grownups only).
Step 2: Find your wall studs. Drill pilot holes into branch that match up with the position of the studs (use drywall anchors if no wall studs are available).
Step 3: Use the screws to mount branch securely to wall.
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Thanks to a variety of our furniture, décor and bedding (plus a little creativity), our good friend and blogger Raechel Myers now has a beautiful new bedroom for her daughter, Hazel. It's comfortable and functional, and it looks pretty darn good, too. Visit Raechel’s blog, Finding My Feet, at raechelmyers.com.
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Whattya need?
How do I make a Feather Wall?
Step 1: Determine the size and shape of your feather wall. Use the pencil to mark the corners and edges of your shape.
Step 2: Grownups only. Starting at one of the corners, use the hammer and nail to create a ½" deep pilot hole.
Step 3: Within the shape, measure and mark additional points at 2" intervals.
Step 4: Grownups only. Make a ½" deep pilot hole at each new point.
Step 5: Insert feathers quill first into each pilot hole until the shape is filled.
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This is one of my favorite DIY projects. It has all the right ingredients. It’s cheap, it’s easy, it makes an impact. I made one of these mobiles for my daughter when we found out she was on the way. We had six weeks to get ready for her and I wanted her room to be amazing, but I couldn’t find a mobile that I liked…..and isn’t that breaking the rules of ‘baby rooming 101′ if you don’t have a mobile? I had an old ‘picture display thingy’ that I’d used in my classroom for years and decided to turn that into a mobile that I could get behind.
Here’s what you need to make your own:
1. Scrapbook paper in the color palette that the nursery will be. Make sure it’s not too matchy matchy. You want lots of patterns and shades and variation.
2. Something to cut out circles with. My favorite of all time are from Creative Memories. I’ve tried a lot of circle cutters in my time and nothing comes close to the Creative Memories one!
3. Rubber cement.
4. Ribbon to match your color scheme.
5. The Wee Gallery Mobile by Kikkerland. You can find it on Amazon for less than $8 and you’ll have it within four days!
Then, start cutting out circles in a variety of sizes. Make sure you have at least two of each size as you’ll be gluing them back to back.
Once you feel like you have enough circles cut out, start gluing them together by placing various lengths of ribbon between each set and creating strings of circles. I usually glue three to four sets of circles onto one length of ribbon.
Keep going until you have enough ribbons to go into each alligator clip of the mobile. You can see that I trim the ribbon on the ends so you don’t see it peeking out of the bottom set of circles and I randomly put together different sized circles onto each ribbon. You want this to look whimsical and not so calculated.
And then……find your nearest friend who has a baby coming her way any day and surprise her!
Here’s the one I made for my daughter, almost four years ago! We’ve moved since she was born but I hung it up in her new room because it’s so much a part of her space that I couldn’t bear to get rid of it……and besides…..it’s still in perfect shape and adds dimension and interest to the corner of her room!
Post by Maggie Terryn : Mom Colored Glasses
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Start with a large piece of art so your eyes get drawn in (no pun intended). This will act as the focal point for the whole display.
Add smaller pieces for contrasting scale. Choose frames in the same color for a cohesive look.
Personalize with words or letters. Different shapes will keep it from looking too boxy.
Create depth with a 3-dimensional accent.
Step 5 – (Optional) Stare at wall.
Product as shown.
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A few months back, while visiting our Oakbrook store, I met a customer named Roslyn. She’d come into the store to ask me some advice on mixing wood finishes in her son’s bedroom. After we got to talking, I offered to design a room for her youngest son, Cole, who’d be transitioning into a big boy bed soon.
Roslyn already had some of the core pieces for the room, but wasn’t sure how to pull it all together. She knew she wanted a subtle nautical theme. She also wanted pieces that could grow with her son, something we hear often from our customers. And, something we think about carefully in the design of each of our products. Here’s the Pinterest board I put together for the room, http://pinterest.com/bynodforyou/cole-s-big-boy-room/.
I added in the nautical touches, stuck with a limited color palette that was present in the rest of her home, and pushed it just a little modern by adding in the metallic rock lamp.
Roslyn was over the moon about the design, but after more chatting, I just wanted to do something more. So, I offered to visit her home and put it all together for her. Last Friday afternoon, along with our Managing Director Michelle, we went to Roslyn’s house and staged our own room makeover “show” replete with big reveal and all! And, we had a blast. Here’s what we did.
The room was a pretty blank slate to start. It’s a small space, so we tried the bed in several positions. We opted for this to maximize open floor space. At just 18 month old, Cole will want a lot of open space to play. Also, by pushing the bed against the wall, that’s one less direction the little guy might roll out of bed!
Once we determined a floor plan, we got busy unboxing, assembling and ironing all the products for the room.
Then we got to setting up the space. Since the room wasn’t huge, we needed things to do double-duty. We positioned the 6-cube bookcase next to the bed to act as both nightstand and toy storage.
We planned out a gallery wall using Nod pieces and items that Roslyn already had in her home. We did a little rummaging in the other rooms of the house. Here’s a little tip, shop in your own house first. That wall art you’re no longer loving in your family room, may be perfect for your kid’s space.
Then we hung, re-hung and re-hung the Nautical Flag banners. That’s the thing about putting together rooms, no matter how much you plan, sometimes you just need to try something to see if it works. Don’t be discouraged if your first attempt doesn’t work.
Then, I gave everyone a little lesson on how to stuff a duvet cover. Here’s the trick.
Then, we were ready for the big reveal.
Here’s how it turned out.
If you need any design advice or would like us to work on a custom mood board for you, just drop me a note danielle.kurtz@Landofnod.com. We’d be happy to help.
By Danielle Kurtz
Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 5-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 5 years old?
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Tell us a little about your process. Do you paint everything by hand?
The vast majority of my work is hand painted or hand drawn. I do also make repeat patterns in vector so that they can be scaled to any size, but even those start out initially as drawings on paper with pen. I work mostly in gouache, pencil and ink, mostly.
How would you describe your style? Did you have to develop it, or did it just come naturally?
While I think I have definitely developed my illustration style over time, I do think it stems from being naturally drawn to a certain aesthetic, and one that I was attracted to even before I became an artist. I have about two distinct styles in my paintings. One is more painterly and one is more flat and graphic. I work in several different mediums but I try to keep some consistency in my work. Orson Welles once said: "Create your own visual style...let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others." I like to think about this when I am creating new work and expanding my portfolio. I use a very consistent color palette whether I am painting with more depth and dimension or whether I am painting illustrations that are more simple and graphic. I also try to use consistent hand lettering in my work and consistent symbols and imagery so that people begin to recognize what I do as cohesive, even if the medium or painting style is different.
What advice do you have for all the young artists out there?
Practice, practice, practice. The only way to become a better artist is to do what you do over and over again, and to continually strive to get better at it. If you are going to practice, you must love what you do. Find mediums and subject matter that you love working with so that practicing will feel fun. Beauty really comes through when you love what you do.
What do you enjoy about the Holidays? Do you have any traditions of your own?
Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday! I love the trees and lights, baking cookies, finding, making and wrapping gifts for people I love and being around people I love. In my family we open most of our presents on Christmas Eve. It is a German tradition. While we open presents we eat cookies and have cider and listen to Christmas music. One person opens a present at a time while everyone else watches, so it can take several hours! But it is great fun, and everyone takes pride in what they have chosen or made to give to other people in the family. The next day on Christmas my mother makes a big meal for everyone and we get very full!
Tell us about making the 12 Days Ornaments and your inspiration behind it. Which day was your favorite?
It was a really great project! Because the ornaments would be hand painted by other people (and not me), I decided to keep the designs very simple and graphic with lots of bright color and repetition. I think my favorite of all the 12 is Seven Swans a Swimming! I love the colors and composition of that one. It was fun to come up with ideas for what should go on each ornament design and then to find a way to paint it. I really enjoyed the process.
The Lisa Congdon 12 Days of Christmas Ornaments are available exclusively at The Land of Nod. Each one is hand-painted by artisans making each set unique. Available here.
By Anna Passadori
Anna develops and designs exclusive product for The Land of Nod. She hails from the west coast and has traveled the world to source product. She loves anything Marc Jacobs, Sofia Coppola or stripes! (So, if anyone can get a photo of Sofia Coppola wearing a striped outfit by Marc Jacobs, please send it along.)
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I try not to go overboard with the Holiday decor, and in fact I'm finding that I scale back a teensy tiny bit each year. I've learned that the less I put out, the easier it is for me to take down and pack away the Christmas cheer. But I do love to have just a touch of Christmas cheer in each room, whether it be a simple fir tree or a lovely snow globe, the festiveness is in the small details. Last weekend I finished decking the halls by adding a bit of Christmas cheer to the nursery. Since my 3 month old son Hayden's room is primarily all white with pops of bright color and even some neon thrown in, I decided to add a neon twist to his decor with some DIY artwork and tiny paper garland strung on trees.
To make the reindeer and Christmas tree cutouts, you simply print out a graphic in the print you want, trace with a pencil onto a sheet of cardstock, carefully cut out with an exacto knife and then place a brightly colored sheet of paper behind the cut out to make it really stand out. Frame and hang, and you have affordable DIY artwork in less than 30 minutes.
For the garland just cut out an assortment of triangles and rectangles and fold over twine and secure with tape. They look adorable strung on a tree or around a lampshade.
These decorations took me less than an hour in total to make and hang, and will take even less time to take down after the Holidays, which makes decorating less of a chore, knowing that it won't be a pain to de-deck the halls. Other ways to add a touch of the holidays to your child's room is with twinkly lights, artificial Christmas trees with their own collection of ornaments, snow globes, Christmas music, and a collection of Christmas books set aside in a basket. Last year I wrapped all of our Holiday books in wrapping paper and had the kids unwrap one every few days to read before bedtime and they loved that tradition, and I loved that it gave new life to old books. Do you deck the halls in the kids rooms, and if so, what do you do to add a festive touch?
Andrea Howe is the writer of For The Love Of, a blog dedicated to modern approachable style. She is wife to one, mother to three (5 year old and 3 month old sons and a 7 year old girl), and one lover of style. She spends her days chasing her kids around, taking pictures of them on her phone, cooking, making messes during DIY sessions, reading, blogging, and devising a way to get her dream craft room some day. She is also a regular contributor at Disney Baby where she shares inspiring stories of life with baby.
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Gifting our kids with a love for reading is something we can give at a very young age. In our house, we read all over, but we have some designated spaces that have naturally become reading nooks. As soon as I laid eyes on the amazing teepees that are all the rage this year, I knew I had to have one. This is by far the cutest one I could find and my kiddies are enjoying it so much! I just snagged some twinkle lights to hang inside and have grand plans for a bunting to grace the interior--we just cannot get enough!
The teepee is a huge hit around here--and quiet time today was filled with "reading under the stars." It doesn't get much better than that for a three years old, right?? :)
Post by shawna of styleberryBLOG.com
Despite days full of washing diapers & messy fun, Shawna is determined to make mommyhood a stylish adventure. Married to the military & mother to one feisty girl & a snuggly little guy, she is a passionate DIYer & loves sharing how to make the complicated simple. Shawna talks creativity, style, food, decorating, green-chic living & mommyhood atstyleberryBLOG, a daily-ish dose of something fab.
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