Blackout Wall Canopy: How To

For those of you who want to know how this idea came to be, feel free to read up on it at Blackout Wall Canopy: Background.

Now, let's get into how it is done!

Canopy Hardware:

This costs $49 from Restoration Hardware:

This costs $5.99 from Ikea:

You can't get this online from their website, but there is a picture from the store as proof that it exists! It is supposed to be used to help you organize pans such in your cupboards, but works great for canopies as well!

Blackout Canopy:
This costs around $100 for each panel from Pottery Barn Kids:

Because of the width of curtains, you would need 3 to cover the entire area I was looking for.  However, if you get ruffled shower curtains, you only need 2 and they are much cheaper.  The only issue with this is that you need blackout liner still.  However, as long as you have some pins, an iron and a sowing machine, you can add this yourself quite easily.  Again, I have no formal training in ANY of this stuff.  I literally saw a sowing machine on sale one day in college and thought, "that would be useful to have around."  So thanks to the kindness of people on YouTube and How To's, I was able to learn how to use that machine.
This costs $17.99 each from Walmart + $5.95 per yard of blackout liner for each panel:

+          

Total price for 2 Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn Blackout Canopies:  about $750.

Total price for 2 of my DIY versions (including gas for my SUV): about $150.


I followed the instructions on this fantastic blog on how to make the curtains myself, only using the above mentioned materials:  http://www.betterthanicouldhaveimagined.com/2012/05/diy-blackout-curtains-they-are-finally.html

Then we spray painted our Ikea buy to make it the beautiful white canopy hardware we wanted.  This dried outside in a couple hours, but we waited until the next day to hang the curtains on it.

We screwed it to the wall with anchors since the blackout canopies are heavy and they have stayed up perfectly since August!  We use them every day and my daughters naps have been luxurious and last usually about 2 hours!

Now my daughter has her toddler rail and the canopy still makes all the difference.  Here are some pictures of our set up:

Open and closed canopy with the toddler rail

  

Don't worry, we are still keeping our eye on her with the hidden baby monitor!

I really like how they turned out :)

Good luck in creating your canopies!!!

Wasted Space Becomes Closet Space

Our apartment has a strange layout where there are these unusually long hall areas that lead to the very large walk in closets.  However, the closet in our daughters room is being used as more of a storage area and  has stuff in it we definitely don't want them having access to on a regular basis.  So, until now we have simply been putting all Emilia's clothes in her chest of drawers.  Now that #2 will have clothes we need to accommodate as well, we needed to review our options.

I didn't want to buy more furniture because it would just take up their play space and using their closet was also something I did not want to do.  So, I turned to the hall leading to this closet and thought, "Let's just turn this into a closet!"

I started by finding some pretty hanging closet dividers and was luckily able to find some great ones.  Since this project was looking possible, my husband and I went to the local hardware store to see what we could find to hang a rod from a wall with.

Originally I wanted to hang it from the ceiling, but our ceiling is concrete so that was not an immediate option.  We were able to buy these plant brackets and spray paint them white so they were not so obvious.

We hung the rod from the brackets with some beautiful pink ribbon I got and have used around the room to accent things.  It looks great and works so well if you don't have a closet!

We also went ahead and put up a pocket shoe organizer on the wall and are using it for all sorts of things besides her shoes- burp clothes, combs and brushes, hair bows, nail care stuff.  The possibilities are endless and it is a really easy way to organize things for kids.

Below the closet are storage bins for all her toys.  I have them separated into a bin for balls, a bin for soft toys, and a bin for everything else. Why you may ask?  Because my daughter loves to hide my keys and this way I can shake the bins and if I don't hear them in the first 2 bins then I only have 1 bin to look through!

We have had this area like this since July and it had worked out perfectly.  It also contains the mess a lot and forces my daughter to put things back if she wants room to play with new things!  She hasn't taken to just moving everything over to the big space in her room, but I'll let her figure that one out on her own, lol.

DIY Scrollwork Mirror & Cork Board

I absolutely love the antique hand crafted frames Restoration Hardware Baby & Child had put in their catalog.  They make a kids room look so much more sophisticated as you can see below:

However, the cork board costs $299 and the mirror runs at $399, not something I was hoping to have to pay.  My first thought was to check out ebay and craigslist for people selling frames and painting them the color I wanted.  However, it wasn't much better there!  Everything ran at about $100 each- again I was sure I could do better.

So, with a turn to my new favorite store Ikea, I got lucky.  For only $39.99 I found the UNG DRILL mirror pictured below- you can pick this up at most Ikea stores around the world actually.  Sure, right now it doesn't look very nursery friendly, but with a little spray paint you can see it transform yourself!  

  

We started with some primer spray paint because the frame is plastic and black.  Then with some flat white spray paint we finished it off so it would look less plastic looking and more like wood.  It took quite a few coats but I was determined!

Next I wanted something large and rectangular to make the cork board with.  However, I had no such luck anywhere.  The only option I could think of was to buy a cork board and turn to the local hardware store to create it myself.

At Home Depot I was able to pick up a variety of molding accents (like the ones pictures) and used a combination of them to create the look I wanted.  I ended up spending about $60 on this project between buying the cork board and the combination of accent moldings.  It was a little more than I wanted to spend on something that could end up not working out, but it was a huge cork board and I decided to move forward with it because I had no other ideas.

 

By using a combination of wood glue and my trusty hot glue gun I was able to create I frame I was thrilled with.  

Since I wanted a really sophisticated look, I used a coat of primer then painted on top with white paint.  In the end the cork board came out fabulous and was totally worth it!  

Here are the finished products in their room!!