Isaac's Crib: He Got Striped

Teacher Jen is having a boy. That isn't news to most of you.

Isaac is the name that they are going with. It is a beautiful name. That they need to stick with now, for sure--because I am entitling my adventure in making over his nursery: Isaac's Crib.

Here is your first glimpse into Isaac's crib.

Thanks to Dad-To-Be Jeff, the room walls recently became that brisk Dunn Edwards - Below Zero paint color that you see.

The irony will not be lost on Isaac--that he will likely be born with outside temperatures over 100 degrees and come home to a room painted 'below zero.' He will think it is hysterical. I am sure of it.

Our first mission was to set up the accent wall. After talking about different murals and designs, we went with stripes. Jen liked stripes because it was something that he could grow into and wasn't something over the top annoyingly cute.

We pulled some colors out of the fabric that she chose for bedding and curtains and got busy researching stripes. Word on the internet is that vertical stripes add height to a room while horizontal stripes make the room seem more spacious. When we initially decided stripes, we both assumed vertical. After looking at a slew of examples, we decided that horizontal seemed more calming and pleasing to the eye. We also realized that walls with bountiful colors and tiny little stripes made our heads want to explode. Not the feeling Jen is going for in the nursery.

I put together a wide stripe pattern from the colors, pulled a similarly sized nursery picture off the internet and then made a rough mock up with Photoshop of how the striped wall would look.

Jen approved. Jen loved.

I had the placement and stripe width already calculated (Shown on the left in pink in the photo below). When we got started we marked off the wall starting our measurements from the ceiling. Our thought process was that since the floor and ceiling didn't seem to be even, that we would rather have the crookedness show on the bottom floor stripe rather than the ceiling stripe.

The black column shows at what point a marking needs to go on the wall when the top of the tape measure is butted up against the ceiling. I know it is obvious, but I'm going to say it anyway--to get your distance from the ceiling as seen in black you add the current stripe width to the combined width of the previous stripes.

For the most part, we followed the instructions from Young House Love. The only difference is that we made more measurements along the wall to make sure that the tape didn't sag in the middle. In the photo below, where there is a pink line, that is where we marked to help place the tape. There would be another pink line at the leftmost part of the wall that can't be seen in the photo.

We were pretty ecstatic when the tape went up because it confirmed our love for going horizontal.

The orange and green stripes were only 4.5 inches wide so we got away with using the $3 sample sized containers from Behr. We got quarts for the light blue and dark blue. Throw in a roll of painter's tape and it came to about $36.

We did green, orange and dark blue in the first session. We may have rolled over the tape in a few spots too. Oops.

Rather than put down tape onto the freshly painted green and orange strips in order to paint the light blue in between them, I just did the edging by hand. I figured that I would just want to touch it up anyway, so I might as well not waste time taping it.

Jen thought I was crazy when I told her how I was going to touch up all the edges to cover up the paint bleeding. It makes such a huge difference though. 

Clean edge to my left, bleeding edge to my right and a snarly bird's nest in the middle.

Jen didn't know how fast I am.

Wicked fast.

We finished the entire wall in a day. Yes, that is including the time spent snacking, running to Ace for some mini roller covers and complaining about how this season of the Bachelor is terribly infuriating. Worse than vertical stripes.

Everyone was pleased. But, no one more than Jen. She was amped to finish the rest of the room. That very night. What's a couple more hours to get the crib put together, the closet organizer set up, and the baseboards installed?

I got out while I could.

I obviously can't keep up with my 5-months pregnant friend.

School Days: Math is Wicked Hahd

Last Friday, I got to read The Lorax to 3rd graders for Read Across America day. It has been my go-to story, but now that the movie is out I need to retire it from my arsenal. I can't compete with Danny DeVito. The only two 'voices' I can do for stories are a raspy Marky Mark, which I used for the Once-ler and an uptight British chap that occasionally slips into an East Indian accent unintentionally, for the Lorax.

I wonder how Yertle the Turtle would sound as a throaty Mark Wahlberg? We'll see next year.

After the read fest, I checked out the status of the Math Facts Pizza.  At the beginning of the year, Teacher Jen wanted a big paper pizza for the wall that the kids could use to measure their math progress towards a class pizza party. I gave her huge, cloth and stuffed crust from fabric that I had on hand at home.

Each pizza ingredient represents one of their tests, so when the kids get a 90% on their 3-minute 100 problem addition test, then they get to add some cheese.  Pineapple pizza is my favorite so it earned the renowned division status.

This class of kids are meeting their math goals faster than any other year. 

I like to think it is the pizza. But, I know it is because they are just a ridiculously sharp group of future leaders.

They jumped into multi-facts test after Christmas and asked if I would make them sausages for the pizza.

When I checked on Friday there were already five greasy sausages on display.

A few Fridays ago when I dropped off the sausage chunkers, Teacher Jen showed them to the kids. I overheard this conversation as they were getting their backpacks after the meaty announcement.

Tall-snarky-whippersnapper that reminds me of myself:  Wow. Those sausages are pretty disturbing.

Tiny-blonde-Jenny-on-the-Spot: Hey. Be Nice! You are going to hurt Mrs. Heidi's feelings.

I laughed to myself and pretended not to hear.

Smart AND compassionate? Watch out world.

DIViji: Ba, Ba, Ba, Bird, Bird, Bird.

We haven't visited Viji's since January. It isn't because I haven't been working on things for her, it is because I was busy carousing with two of my sisters in San Antonio. Err...I mean, remembering the Alamo? Too late, the truth is out, definitely carousing.

In between the Texas tacos (puffy), house guests, and the ceaseless festivities of February, we did finish up the artwork for the nook in Vji's landing.

We made it from scratch. Sized everything out--Mr. Schatze cut the wood segments perfectly (while wearing ear protection, safety glasses and likely a mask for debris) and I primed and painted.

I feel horrible though, because here is where I would insert the link to the original design that we copied, but I can't find it anywhere. I bookmark everything, but apparently that extra click for this would have just been too exhausting. I think that it was a ready to purchase online item that came in black, was smaller, and had the exact same bird design. If I can find it again I will share it.

They got three coats of red enamel paint. I used chalk to draw out the design and then paint, paint, painted on the white.

The white paint was a more robust acrylic, so you can see the distinction of the paint strokes up close. I didn't want it to be too flat and look printed. And let's be real, I wanted some meat on the bird bones. 

Plumpish birds remind me of my feathered friends that frequent the patios of our local Mexican restaurants, waiting patiently for a corn chip to plummet. They don't even need to break them down, just fly away--their beak muscles trembling from shouldering the weight of a fried treat the size of their wings. I like to think that after happy hour they head to the fro-yo place for waffle cone crumbles.

Mr. Schatze made hangers and helped me adhere them to the back with wood glue.

This was the nook before.

Before the house had seen any action at all.

Before I had clung to that very railing you see while ugly sobbing about how I was going to die before the banisters were finished being painted. "This will be my Crazy Horse!"

And after paint.

It is hard to see, but the brown in the nook is one shade darker than what is on the walls.

And with the silhouette art.

Viji's accent spotlight adds a nice touch. Sometimes I forget that the shadows from a piece of art can be just as influential in showing strength and dimension as the work itself. 

Sort of like the Cointreau in my Blood Orange Margarita from the Iron Cactus in San Antonio. Now, if I were a patio bird, that would be an artistic elixir that I would come take a bath in every day. Every. Day.

Have you heard? Bird is the word.