Sunday, February 19, 2012

Stylish nursery

We refinished the floor  of the baby's room over the last week or so.  As usual, it is a crappy job but we knew it needed to be done.  Here's the orangey before:
After Shaun sanded like a champion with a rented orbital sander:
And after two coats of Varathane Espresso stain...which I wouldn't recommend using, it is a pain in the butt and the last part of the can is always twice as dark no matter how much you stir it.  We only used it this time because we had to match the rest of the second floor.  BOOOO!
I do love the antique look of the floor, though.  After the first coat of Varathane Oil-base Poly in Satin (also an 'eh' product, but we wanted it to match everything else) we used 320 grit sandpaper to scuff away any stray hairs and bubbles. 
Here it is after two coats of poly.  We definitely need more drying time before we can see how it turned out, but I'm pretty happy so far.
We can't wait to get everything started in here.  Since all the trim has to be painted and the walls are too shiny for my taste, I'm going to go ahead and paint the walls again, a slightly different gray but still dark.  In fact, I'm using the 'Pier' color we were considering for the kitchen in here with these fabrics and rug:
The chevron is going to be curtains, the dot will be made into crib sheets, and the owl fabric is going to be a crib skirt.  I chose the white Jenny Lind crib because it is inexpensive and classic, my mom has already purchased it for us and I can't wait to see it all put together!  Question - should I put long curtains on the wee window, or just leave the blinds?
The right side of the window butts up to the shelving nook, so it could be tricky to put up a rod.  I need your advice!

33 comments:

  1. Floor look great! Can't wait to see the finished product. :)

    Aesthetically, I think I would want the Windows to match/co-ordinate...could you use a tension rod and make a tie-up curtain like Nicole's kitchen window coverings? (http://makingitlovely.com/sources/window-treatments/). I've loved those for years and they should be kid friendly as the tension rod will just fall if pulled on (right?).

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  2. That room is going to look great when it's done because it looks good already, with the shiny new floor :)

    I have a little window in my room also and I just decided to do a shade, but I think your window is a little bigger than mine so you could really do a cute mini curtain that goes to one side...

    Instead of a tension rod that just falls down, you could get one of these things.. I wish I knew what they're called but this is what I'm talking about: http://whatthevita.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/close-up-curtain-rod.jpg you can screw it in and it'll be solid..

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  3. Hi Sara! Your nursery is looking wonderful and I cannot wait to see the finished room! If it were me, I would just keep the blind on the wee window. I think the scale of long curtains on the regular size window and long curtains on the small window would look a bit odd. However, if youk put the room together and found that you really wanted long curtains on the wee window, you could always add them after! I don't think you are limited one way or the other. Have a wonderful week! Angie xo

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  4. I think it looks great. Very dark. Good work.

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  5. Great job!

    I would consider doing just a simple roller blind there - maybe like a fabric covered Enje from Ikea? You can cut it to size and then cover it with a coordinating (or matching) fabric.

    I don't think I'd bother with a rod/drape there.

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  6. Wowza! So much work. I like your fabric colour choices. We've got the same crib and are going with a different version of the chevron fabric (fresh) for curtains and crib skirt. The little window doesn't need curtains. Maybe a coordinating roman blind?

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  7. The floors are looking wonderful, they're hard work though aren't they!

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  8. Looks great! A few questions about the sander ... 1. Where did you rent it? 2. How much did it cost? 3. Did it work well on the edges of the room around the baseboards or did you have to use a separate palm sander for that? ... we hope to do the same for our Master Bedroom which have those same orangy-oak floors.

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  9. The room is coming together! I like your mood board. For the curtains, I would do a full length on the wee window to match the curtains on the big window. Two reasons for this: 1) the matching floor length curtains will give some balance to that side of the room, and 2) you are so going to want that room as dark as possible to the keep the little one sleeping! I highly recommend blackout lining on your curtains too.

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  10. Katie, it is an orbital sander, you can also rent a drum sander but they are more agressive and can damage your floor easier than the orbital. I think the rental is $60 or so for 24 hours and then you have to purchase the sandpaper sheets for it - we usually end up spending around $85 or so. It doesn't get into the corners and edges, you have to use a palm sander for that with various grits. Check out my 'refinishing floors' tag on the right side to see exactly how we do it!

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  11. the floors look great, i'm always impressed that you all do this yourselves! refinishing the floors is the one thing i hired someone else to do in our house.

    the owl fabric is really cute, and i love the colors. i dunno about the window, could go either way... does it help to think about how the furniture will be set up? maybe you won't want the smaller window to be as much as a focal point?

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  12. Hi Sara,

    I love everything you've pulled together so far!

    My two cents' worth: I think the two windows should relate to each other, but I don't think the curtain styles have to be the same to achieve that. For the wee window, I'd use the same chevron fabric as the long curtains on the larger window, but either make a super minimal fabric-covered cornice (had to google that one to figure out what it was called!) to go with the existing blind, or I also really liked LifeBegins@Thirty's suggestion of a fabric-covered roller blind for that wee window. I feel like putting long curtains on both might make it look more off-balance.

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  13. Hi Sara,

    I've been came across your blog a few weeks ago and have been checking back ever since :) I really love your style! I'm inspired to tackle our orange wood floors now!

    I'm sure your nursery will end up adorable and stylish whichever way you cover the small window...one idea would be to really play up the miniature theme there and make a miniature version of the floor length curtains, add a little chair or child-sized ottoman and make it a little reading nook! :)

    Keep up the good work!

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  14. If you want to use traditional curtain rods, maybe you could take the finial off the end that butts up to the shelving unit? Leave the finials on the rest and push the other end as close to the shelving unit as possible... That's what I would do. Then when you open the curtains, you can pull them to the side and you'd never know. :)

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  15. Oh, I love it! The nursery looks great. I plan to paint ours gray as well--such a lovely color for a baby's room. The floors are AWESOME!!! So excited for you.

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  16. That tiny window is so cute - what about wood shutters painted some funky color that appears in those chevron curtains? It'd make it feel like a secret hiding spot or tree house.

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  17. I think a roman shade in the chevron pattern would look good on the wee window!

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  18. The floors look amazing, LOVE your plan for the nursery, and I vote for a roman shade on the wee window!

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  19. Great fabrics ... they will grow with the baby.

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  20. Wow your blog is GROWING! Congratulations. I remember talking to you long ago about the pair of chairs I got on Craigslist. Still haven't remade them. Love the nursery theme. If I were you, I'd put the curtains on the wee window and later on make that spot part of a reading/relaxing nook for your child. I wish I had the room you did for our nursery. We are VERY limited on space!

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  21. This room is going to be fabulous! Not that I'm surprised, you make everything fabulous!

    Love the fabrics and of course, I'm digging the Jenny Lind! It's a nice little crib and such a steal of a deal.

    I think I'd go with something coordinating on the small window - I've seen that people make roman shades from existing blinds. That could be handy.

    Whatever you decide, I'll love! (And clearly, it's all about me.)

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  22. PS - The floors look awesome! I love the dark woods.

    Have you noticed any more scratching with the dark wood and satin finish? Just curious because we have NOT been happy with our floors at our current house. They have not held up nearly as well as in the last house. We went a little darker, but Ryan also went with a poly that was water-based, which I'm thinking could be a big part of the problem.

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  23. The floors are stunning! I say just a blind on the little window. Maybe a roman shade in the same fabric? Love all the fabrics you chose!

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  24. Those floors look great!

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  25. That looks amazing for an "eh" floor, lady...but I'd expect nothing less.

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  26. I think full length curtains would overwhelm the wee window. I would do a roller or roman blind (in the chevron fabric) mounted inside a cornice. That way the blind could be a bit wider than the window so light won't peek in the sides at nap time. You can either cover the cornice with batting & the same chevron fabric or paint it to match the walls or one of the accent colors from the fabric.

    Floors look great - wish we had wood! And your fabrics are lovely. Can't wait to see it all pulled together.

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  27. Holy cow! I LOVE your floors!!! I also love your plans for the nursery.

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  28. Floor looks great! Can't wait to see the nursery come along. Also, I vote no curtains on the small window, but I wonder if you could do something fun with it to make it not seem off balanced... so it's like a focal point. For some reason this pin keeps sticking in my mind (http://pinterest.com/pin/38843615506007261/) but then again I've had like 3 hours of sleep.

    Now, question for you... how long did it take to sand the floors down with the big orbital. I rented one way back on my first house and it was taking for-ev-er so I went back and got the drum sander... which was a heck of a lot faster but also way easier to leave a dent in the floor.

    I now have a few thousand square feet of orangy wood floors on my hands and I'm trying to figure out if I should go for speed or safety!

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  29. The floors look great! :) I would just put a little shade on the small window, great choice of fabric and crib :)

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  30. the room is looking good! I think a shade on the wee window.

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  31. love the floor! I am at a loss for the wee window.... I'm no help ;)

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  32. What a gorgeous room for a nursery, love the color!
    If you need inspiration for wall art prints or canvases, feel free to check out my site!!
    http://geezees.com/

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara