DIY Art Display Frame

Summer is almost over (and already over for some kiddos)!  Have you had a chance to clear out the previous school year's work?  No judging here...  I haven't!  Are you prepared for another year's inflow of arts and crafts from school?

Little man never seems to slow down his art production, so I had to come up with a way to have an in and out system.  Shhhh...  Yes I toss out his art work in the end, but not until I've taken a photo of the piece for a photobook of his masterpieces.  I only keep the ones for special occasions 😊

Now that this art display frame is in place, we can actually display his work before I take a photo and then...  shhhh....

So without further ado, let me share with you this DIY project's step by step details in this video.  It's so simple that I attempted this DIY without the Mr.'s assistance!  I think this is my first DIY project for the blog!

Recap of materials:

• IKEA's Gunnabo frame (50x70cm used in this project)
• Hanging wire
• Screw eyes (6 for this project)
• Glue gun
• Burlap
• Optional:  pliers, wire cutter, shears

I hope I've given you some inspirations on handling the flood of art work coming your way this new school year.  With this art display frame, we can decorate the wall with little man's art while having a systematic approach about his art storage. 

Just wanted to remind you that I've partnered with Canvas N Decor for a free canvas art giveaway of your choice.  Have you tagged yourself and friends for a chance to win?  For details, check out my Instagram post here.

You can find the rest of his playroom revealed here.

Little Man's Big Boy Room Reveal

Moving and unpacking are always stressful events.  Having a kid tag along for the ride is even more challenging.  This is our third move with little man and we always try to minimize any potential hiccups with him by setting up his room first.  This time around, he is older and has more belongings, but we had to start afresh since his new room didn't have any storage units.  It took us some time to get everything in place, which allowed us to take inventory of what kind of storage he needs.  

His room isn't as large as the one at the old house, but it feels bigger with 9-ft. ceiling and wall-to-wall windows (that Mommy loves).  Considering he also has the adjacent room as his playroom, I would say his bedroom is plenty enough.

I wrote about inspirations for his bedroom almost a year ago, and originally wanted colours inspired by a union jack rug (red, navy, and white) for his room.  Instead, I decided to use those colours for the playroom, and kept his bedroom serene with a palette of white and soft grey with touches of navy.

He's had robin's egg blue walls in his nursery, so this time I left the wall colour a lot more neutral.  I was obsessed in searching for a soft grey that's not tinted red, blue, or green.  I finally found one that lots of decorators rave about - Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl.  To make it the soft gray that I was after, I had the Benjamin Moore rep lightened it by 50%.  It came out in exactly the soft gray I was looking for!

We took advantage of the tall ceiling and got little man a sleigh bed.  The high back makes for a comfy lounging spot where he would read (for a bit) on weekend mornings.

For his bedside table, I wanted something of a warmer colour to balance the cool tones of the room.  Something simple with a drawer would be perfect.  This one from Target fits my criteria and the chrome legs are a nice contrast to the rustic wooden top.  As an added bonus, it was on sale when I purchased it! 

To add a bit of contrast to the white and soft grey, we installed an industrial-feel metal wall shelf that also helps to balance the height of the room.  It has some great cubby space to display his treasures!

Thought I'd try to wrap the shelf with some mini lighted garland I hogged over Christmas.  Little man likes it turned on as his night light as he drifts off to sleep.

There was a time when little man would bring home these melted beads "artwork" from school.  What should I do when he couldn't part with them?  I tried to save them all, but these are all that I have left...  so I made a short garland out of them as a temporary display until he's sick of seeing them.

When little man helps with chores, eg. dusting, he gets a buck (or toonie $2) in his Darth Vader bank.  I think it's time he uses his allowance for his Star Wars mini library so I can free up some budget for my coffee table books!

It's funny when I see little man trying to get creative with decorating his cabinet.  I guess it's every boy's dream to be a superhero (or sidekick), driving a red convertible?

Baskets, you can never have too many of them.  Spiderman needs a spot to hangout when his job as sleeping buddy is done, and Mommy places the cushions that were stuffed in here to take pictures =)

On the wall at the foot of his bed, I would eventually want to hang up his sports jerseys in some sort of shadow box frames.  But for now, this banner I had printed for his FC Barcelona birthday party would serve as wall art.  The photo was taken by our travel buddy when we visited FCB's stadium, Camp Nou.  My photo here doesn't do it justice.

In making this a big boy room, and keeping it theme-free, I hope it will last little man a long time as he grows into it.  There're enough cubby space in the wall shelf to change up his obsessions as he grows, and decent storage space in the IKEA cabinet for whatever secrets he may eventually want to lock up.  

I'm glad I chose a neutral backdrop for his room, and I love how his belongings fill the room with personality and colours. When you enter a room, it should convey to you its owner's personality.   My VIP client here is easy going (sometimes) like the room's neutral white and grey palette, casual (track pants) lover like the relaxed industrial modern furnishings, a little bit edgy like the Sputnik light fixture, and definitely opinionated as to what he likes (a sports fan, Marvel know-it-all, and die hard little Star Wars fan). 

I think I've nailed it with this one.  Now if only I can get my client to make his bed with those cushions that are forever stuck in the standard goods basket.  Ya think?

source list

1. Bed - West Elm

2. Bedside table - Target (discontinued)

3. White storage cabinet - IKEA

4. Wall shelf - CB2 (discontinued, similar)

5. Rug - Lowes - ECarpet Gallery Noto Beige

6. Faux sheep skin - IKEA

7. Light - One Kings Lane (similar - affiliated link)

8. Basket - H&M Home

9. Curtain panels - IKEA

Laundry Room Wish List and Our Design Options

You know the feeling of something so close, yet so far?  That's how I'm feeling right now about our upcoming move.  I've shared all of our new house's decor and design plans except for one very important room - the laundry room.  I've never really given much thought about a laundry room until I realized how much of a pain it's been with a basement laundry here at the rental.  Had this been a bungalow, it wouldn't have mattered.  But our rental is a 3-storey townhouse + basement, and that makes putting away our clean laundry back up 3 flights of stairs quite the workout.  Needless to say, I've just gotten worse in falling behind in this department constantly.

We had a great sized laundry room at our old house, and spoiled that it was upstairs with our bedrooms.  Most people prefer the laundry with the mudroom downstairs, but I may be the exception.  It's so convenient to have it upstairs, and makes laundry less of a chore... and a workout.  Though admittedly, I didn't think of it that way.

Our laundry room at the old house

Luckily, the laundry room at the new house is also on the bedroom floor!  It is probably 2/3 the size of our old laundry room, so I'm determined to make it as functional as possible.

Builder's layout of our new house laundry room

No upgrades were made with the builder for this laundry room.  We just couldn't justify the prices they charge for the optional upper cabinets and to have their favourite plastic utility sink fitted in a cabinet.  Plus, we didn't want to be limited by their cabinet selections nor the positioning for what I have in mind.

I have a simple wishlist...  but after having done laundry in the basement, these seem like luxuries:

• lots of task lighting

• countertop as folding station

• ample storage

• drying area - hang drying and lay-flat drying

Nice and bright lighting

The smell of fresh laundry would be more enjoyable in a brightly lit laundry room. Back at our old house, the laundry room lacked natural light and was dark, lit only by the builder's dome light fixture that we never switched out.  At the new house, my first priority for this laundry room would be installing task lighting.  This photo from Rambling Renovators below is my inspiration for bright task lighting.  Even though this laundry is in the basement, it's nice and bright with the pot lights.

Rambling Renovators

Folding station countertop

We had a long folding space at our old house's laundry room, but it was under-utilized since it was another dumping spot for miscellaneous household items.  I'm paying for that now, as I miss that dearly and would love to have a folding counter at our new house!  

A popular trend is to build the laundry room to function like a small kitchen, minus the cooking part. Pull-out hampers, built-in ironing boards in cabinets used for kitchens, and of course, a countertop as the folding station, just to name a few.

This photo below is my all time favourite.  It's such an elegant space to do laundry!  I also love how the countertop above the washers/ dryers is beautifully equipped with laundry supplies.  

Hampton Design

My plan is to run a countertop from the laundry sink and across onto the washer and dryer as the folding station.  That should provide lots of space for folding and decorating :-)

Storage and lots of it

To avoid another dump site at the new laundry room, I need to designate a place for everything from the get go.  You know, the usual suspects of light bulbs, extra cleaning supplies, vases, containers, etc.  Don't know how they always found their way onto my laundry counter back at the old house.

I love this combination of closed storage and open shelves with baskets.  The open shelves make the backsplash area look higher than it is, and in turn make the ceiling look taller.  Open shelves would be an ideal spot to store frequently accessed items, such as towels and other linens.

The Block Glasshouse by Darren & Dee

This set of closed storage with frosted glass labels is super cute!  The glass doors also help to reflect light in a small space, making the laundry room appear brighter.

Source unknown

Drying areas

There just never seem to be enough room to hang dry our delicates here at the rental.  I'm just drooling over the hanging space above the counter in these photos:

Source unknown

Organized Interiors

I was back and forth on the location of the hanging space.  If we do install the hanging rod above the counter, our hanging garments will face the entrance of the laundry room,  I'm not sure how well that'll go with the clean and uncluttered look I'm after.  

My best option is to leave the wall above the machines only for storage cabinets, facing the entrance, and install the hang drying racks on the wall beside the doorway, like so:

Bolig Magasinet

This way, the hanging garments are "hidden" from sight when you look in.  I've already gotten this collapsible hanging rod to go on that wall.  It'll be folded in when not in use to minimize the space it takes up.

Arrow Hanger

And these foldable drying racks from IKEA can go under the rod, collapsed when not in use also:

IKEA

Design options

While the wall with the drying racks won't be too attractive, my plan for the opposite storage wall will hopefully make up for that.  My dilemma is whether to match the base sink cabinet fronts to our graphite set of machines, or to choose a wood toned front to add warmth.  These are currently my coveted choices from IKEA's SEKTION kitchen series:

Glossy grey

Walnut effect light grey

These horizontal wall cabinets, also from IKEA's SEKTION series, would be great for the upper storage.  We can run them along the length of the wall, leaving out the bottom door for the combination of open and closed storage options mentioned above.

As for the countertop, this slab of Caesarstone in White Shimmer with pieces of mirror chips in it would pick up the white shimmery lines of our builder's floor tiles.

Caesarstone 3142 White Shimmer

To add visual interest, the curvy lines of these moroccan lantern backsplash tiles create an interesting juxtaposition against all the flat surfaces in the laundry room.

Saltillo Tiles

Since the Mr. is a visual person, I've put together this design board to help him visualize what's in my head.

faucet / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Designing the laundry room to function efficiently is a must, making it pretty is a bonus.  Don't know about you, but laundry is my most dreaded chore.  I'm hopeful that beautifying this utility room will help me get back on track with our ever growing mountain of laundry.  The logic is simple:  happy laundry room --> happy wife --> happy life  ;-)

Which base cabinet option would you choose?