Jude Jam Sesh

Had a little Jam Session with Jude the other night. He seemed to be more interested in how he looked on camera than anything else, but I see a future shredder of guitar solos in our future...

The Nursery (pt. 1)

Everybody has an opinion about having a 2nd child. It's easier, it's harder, it's exhausting, it's challenging, etc. etc. By and large, people usually say something like "It's much more difficult managing two kids, but the 2nd baby is easier because you've done it once."

We'll see how the whole "raising two kids" goes, but I'll say this; Lucy's nursery was a heck of a lot more fun to construct than Jude's. Whether I was refinishing the furniture as seen HERE. Or paining horizontal stripes up 11' ceilings as seen HERE. It came out really great in the end, but it was a TON of work, with very little to work with.

For this project, Ashleigh requested that her little princess' room have some fancy trim. Specifically, a chair rail and some picture frame trim/moulding. It's not quite as fancy as true wainscoting, but it gives the same effect. Thanks to my generous neighbor, I was able to borrow all the equipment I didn't have (finishing gun, compressor, miter saw), and plan out the project.

You can see the pictures below, but suffice to say I am pretty proud with how it came out. I had never done any trim work, and even though it's basically just a bunch of 45 deg angles, you find out in a hurry that if something is just a little bit off, it won't fit. All in all it took about 4-5 days beginning to end to cut and install the trim, and paint. Everything went surprisingly smooth.

The coup de gras is the ceiling. It's hard to show in pictures, and it doesn't really "pop" in person unless there is direct light on it, but we added two packets of the Valspar Paint Crystals to the last half gallon to give it a nice sparkle (think Lucy....in the sky with diamonds...). It was a nice touch. And for the record, I cannot recommend Valspar Ultra paint and primer in one enough. That stuff coats great, I will use it for every project going forward.

This is part 1. Now Ash gets to begin the decor process (it's already begun, as seen below). So expect part 2 once she has put her amazingly creative mind to work...

Before

Got the trim up and caulked

Corners and edges...probably the worst part of painting

One coat of Gray was all it took. Valspar is da BOMB!

 The white took a couple coats over the beige, but still covered nicely

BOOM. Looks like a Million bucks for about $100

 I believe Mrs. Bennet has intentions for the crib to go here

 Let the rocking begin...

And here is a picture of the ceiling where we used the Valspar paint crystals. Really pops when light shines on it.