A Star Wars Themed Big Boy Room

You'd think after this much practice I'd remember to take proper BEFORE pictures. But no. My child's room wasn't quite this boring before. There were no curtains and it had the same bland taupe paint color as did most of the rest of the house. But it did have a nice red bookshelf which hinted at our good intentions of decorating his room. He informed me earlier this year that he was too old for the Choo Choo bedding he had in his room - I would call it a theme but that would be stretching it. He had a nice train quilt and RxR decorative pillow. That's as close to a theme as it got.

When he told me he was too old for the train theme he also informed me that he'd be needing a Transformers or Star Wars room theme, please. I have nothing against Transformers but I knew it was a phase and if I spent my time on that theme he'd be over it in a month. He's loved Star Wars forever so I figured that might last longer.

The only problem was he'd seen a Transformer Bed in a Bag set at Kmart. I'm not really a Bed in a Bag kinda person, at least not for kids' rooms, for several reasons. Not the least of which is how fast they "outgrow" their love for them. I wanted a room that could have an easily changeable theme without having to remodel every time, still be kid-friendly and look awesome at the same time. That's not such a tall order. Is it?

We started out by painting the top half of the wall in a navy blue - the color is Admirality from Lowes. We added a faux board and batten using lattice strips, crown molding and chair railing all done in a semi-gloss white. Much better already!

Even though he got to see the paint job beforehand, I didn't want him to know what theme he was getting until I was done. I figured it would have more of an impact that way. I also thought it might make the lack of that dreaded (for me, anyway) Transformers Bed in Bag a little easier on the both of us.

I think he was pleased with the results!

I kept the bedding simple, masculine and, I like to think, sophisticated. And I did it without any help from Pottery Barn! Red, blue, white and brown - it can work with any theme. So if he changes his mind it's not a complete do-over!

I made the duvet cover by sewing together two flat sheets from sheet sets I found at both Kmart and TJ Maxx. The red and white polka dot is from Kmart and the blue and white stripe is from TJ Maxx. I cut a third of the polka dot sheet off and reattached it to make the opening for the comforter. Then sewed the two together.

I used the pillow cases from the two sets as pillow shams. Why not?
I also made two envelope style pillow covers out of navy pillow cases and used that blue striped burlapy ribbon stuff - which is technically called upholstery webbing. I love that stuff so much I think I might actually look for excuses to use it.

This accent pillow I got from Kmart matches the Canon Red Dot Floral Comforter Set. When I got it, it had a section of red and white floral fabric where the blue stripe fabric is now. I took the pillow apart, which was more of a pain than I anticipated because there's no pillow insert inside just stuffing, and added the panel of blue stripe fabric instead. I also added the red stripe webbing to the front. Sewed the whole thing back together and re-stuffed. Labor intensive but well worth the effort especially since I'm not a talented enough seamstress to have figured out how to make this pillow all on my own.

He already had lots of Star Wars stuff to decorate with so we just added a few accent pieces.

These lamps we got from Home Dept for $39.99 each. The have these beautiful shades that I just added a bit of ribbon to on top and bottom. They plug in, too, so no wiring is required!

I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for 11 x 14 frames. I wanted the cheap ones but I wanted them in white. Turns out they don't make cheap white ones, at least not that I could find, so I just got the black ones from Walmart for $5 each and spray painted them. I put a blue textured paper, that I got from Hobby Lobby, into each frame. I cut Star Wars silhouettes using my Silhouette machine and navy vinyl and mounted those onto white pages from my acrylic paint pad. This paper gave the vinyl a nice texture as though it had been painted on instead. Using double sided tape, I affixed the silhouettes to the blue paper inside the frame. They look so nice you can hardly tell they aren't matted. By the way, my Star Wars silhouettes are actually a font that I downloaded from da font.com.

My poor baby finally has curtains!

This little lamp I got from Walmart for $4 forever ago. I am so glad I saved it. I removed the original bell shade and painted the natural pine a true red. The drum shade is from Target. I added his monogram by cutting out the letters with my Silhouette machine and then using it as a stencil. I also added some of the trim that I used for the lamps above his bed.

An image of Boba Fett that I found via Google. I had it matted and then framed in a shadowbox. I didn't realize this until recently but you can totally frame a picture in a shadowbox for a nice chunky frame with just a few easy tweaks. I love the way that looks!

And the rest is mostly stuff he already had.

I couldn't resist this nutcracker from Hobby Lobby. I wanted Boba Fett but they were already sold out by the time I saw these.

This poster, the Science of Star Wars, came with a gift he got for his birthday and I just put it in a picture frame.

A 3-D Star Wars book he got for Christmas last year.

The bubble gum machine he already had but I just had to put red, white and blue gumballs in there. I know. I need help.

Moon in My Room which he already had. And loves. Perfect for a space themed room. Of course, he will only operate it on every phase but full for fear of attracting werewolves.

When he was little, my brother used to have a giant Millennium Falcon that would light up hanging from his ceiling. I can't imagine what something like that would cost these days so I just went with this planetary night light from Lowes. $9.99.....

....And as far as he's concerned, it's out of this world!



As always, if you ever have any questions (or comments) about any of my projects, please feel free to email me or leave me a comment. I'll be sure to reply!

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Ok. It's Official. I LOVE it

{Black vinyl roll that came with my Silhouette bundle}

Well despite my rough start (which I've decided was mostly my fault) I have totally fallen head over heels in love with my Silhouette (And I was not paid to say that, by the way. Which is a shame. But whatever.)

{Carrot Box - I just love this!}

Loading the vinyl can be a little tricky at first but once you get that figured out, you're golden and then you'll wind up sticking vinyl on everything. Everything.

Which is okay because it'll look totally awesome.

{Frosted vinyl that came with my Silhouette bundle}

I haven't tried the rhinestones or the pens (did you know it could draw instead of cut? I know! Cool, right?) My next project is making a stencil so that I can paint a pillow (will show you that project soon). Then, I'm going to cut out some iron-on transfers and put those on everything. My child will have the cutest onsies ever!

By the way, did you know this bad boy can also cut stencils so that you etch glass?? I saw that tutorial over at the Silhouette Blog

I mean there's pretty much nothing this thing can't do! So. I really, really, totally and completely love it. It was money well spent.

I have some fun things to share with you as well as a little surprise, some more Silhouette projects and some hair-brained ideas of my own. It's gonna be so much fun!

For the Love of Whimsy - Tree Wall Mural Tutorial

If you've perused a home decor blog, magazine or tv show lately you've probably seen a tree of some sort on a wall. And no matter what your style, Modern or Whimsical, there's a tree for you!

So you want a tree on your wall? Well it's easier than you might think!

You start off with the silhouette of an image. It can be a tree or a giraffe. Whatever floats your boat. It also doesn't have to be a silhouette but since they're solid, they're just easier to work with. Feel free to get fancy.

(Here's the silhouette of a tree that I got from searching "tree silhouette" in google images. If you want to use this tree, click on the image. It will open, making it larger. Then print it or save it to your portable drive. Take it to your local office supply store or print shop and have them make you a transparency.)

You'll need an over-head projector (Don't worry if you don't have one. You can rent one from your local library or office supply store or if you have a teacher friend you should be able to borrow one.), a transparency, tape, pencil, pencil sharpener (cause the wall will eat up your pencil lead and you will need to sharpen it like a million times). And some paint. Obviously. A paint brush or two and a mini paint roller.

Pick out the perfect spot for your tree. Here I'm going to make the tree extend from one wall to the other. To do this you'll project your image so that it bends over to the other wall. Be careful here, the refraction of the image when it bends over to the other wall will cause the image to stretch making it out of proportion to the rest of the image. Trace the portion of the tree that isn't bent first, and then trace the refracted image keeping in mind the proportions of the first part of the image and adjust accordingly. Don't worry it isn't that hard. You can do it.

If you want to go the simplier route, just project your image onto a flat surface. If you've never used an overhead projector before, here are some things to know. The "arm" of the projector has two main parts: the mirror and the adjustment knob. When you turn the adjustment knob it moves up or down making the image bigger or smaller. If you move the whole projector forward, it will make the image smaller. If you move the projector back, it will make the image larger. Moving the mirror up or down will move the image up or down.

Place the transparency onto the projector. You will tape it down later, but not yet. Plug the projector in. Turn it on and point it where you want it to project the image. Don't worry if it's not big enough or askew. We'll fix that in a minute. Using the mirror and/or moving the projector, adjust until the image is the size you want it and is where you want it on the wall. Now, you can adjust the transparency until it is straight or like you want it. When moving the transparency, keep in mind that this is a projected image so moving the transparency to the left will move the image on the wall to the right, etc. Once you get it where you want it, tape it down on both sides. Or it will move and you will be irritated.

Trace the image. Don't press down too hard. Just enough to get a faint outline on the wall. Don't forget that pencil sharpener. I'm telling you, you're going to need it. If you have a fabric pencil, use that. It will be easier to get off the wall later if you have places where it still shows. You will cover most of the pencil markings up with paint. But you may make changes along the way or you might have a line showing here or there. Most of the time, (except for this time when I was doing my niece's nursery) the pencil markings will come off the wall with a damp washcloth. If that doesn't work, the Magic Eraser will.

You can really use just about any paint you like. In this case, I'm using regular old craft paint. I might've spent $3. It's Mississippi Mud (I was totally saying the rhyme in my head while typing that. M, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, I, crooked letter, crooked letter, hump back, hump back, I - but I digress). I only used about two bottles of the stuff for the whole tree. Two coats. Can't beat that. But if you've gotta be all Fancy Nancy, you can use "real" wall paint.

I use regular ol' craft brushes when doing my wall murals mostly because they're cheap and mostly because I will ruin a brush by forgetting to wash it and letting the paint dry or worse putting the brush in water so the paint won't dry and forgetting about it. Leaving it in that water till the wooden handle soaks it all up and begins to crack. I know. I'm a brush murderer. But also because, I swear, you don't need the expensive ones. You will also need a mini roller brush for the bigger spaces (like the trunk space) since you will need to do two coats for a solid image. If you're going for a watercolor image, a brush and one coat will do the trick. If you're doing an intricate image, even a mini roller will be too big and you will just have to tough it out and do two or three coats with a brush. This is at least a full day or weekend project, so plan accordingly.

You might want just the tree. It's cute as is. And if it's a mod version you're going for you'll probably want to do just a silhouette. But if it's whimsy you're after, add some fun leaves and curly q branches. Here I did some leaves with paint, in Apple Barrel's Leaf Green and then I added some funky patterned leaves which you can do with patterned paper or wall paper and some mod podge.

And since my SIL will be hanging the custom letters I made for my niece on the branch of her tree, I used some of the same patterns I used in her letters. And voila'! You've got yourself one fine custom tree. Now wasn't that better than paying someone way too much to do it for you or using vinyl?



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