Claire’s Toddler Room (Part III): Paint-a-palooza!

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October 11, 2012 by Decorum DIYer

I hope you are enjoying the continuing saga of Claire’s toddler room. Today I am going to share with you the reconstruction of the laundry wall and toddler-sized furniture round-up. First up, the disaster of a wall that was left behind after the washer and dryer were relocated to the unfinished basement.

Yikes! This wall has a lot going on. I don’t think Claire would appreciate hot and cold water access, as well as three outlets, do you?

Oh no! There is a giant hole in my wall. Not to mention the dryer vent stuffed with a rag.  Well, I knew when I stubbornly painted the walls before the washer and dryer were removed that I would need to do some major touch-ups.

My husband had a spare piece of drywall that he used to patch the enormous hole. The rectangular hole on the far left is the emergency water shut-off for our adjacent full bath. To assist us with anticipated plumbing emergencies, we decided to have an access panel (purple board to right of access hole). It isn’t ideal in a child’s room, but we will have it snugly secured to the wall and given the room’s diminutive size, it will be hidden by furniture.  Also, this photo was taken just before Chris patched the dryer vent hole (note the small square of drywall on the floor in the ready).

My husband, Chris, patched the repairs. Just a few more coats of spackel and few more sandings to make these spots undetectable.

All patched and ready for primer and paint!

Isn’t she pretty? I know, to you it is just a wall, but to me it is a victory. We conquered the evil laundry wall and the repairs are seamless. Just an fyi, the access panel and the wall were drying when this photo was taken. We thought it best to wait at least one day before screwing the panel back into the wall to avoid the paint peeling when the panel is removed in the future.

Since the room was completely empty, I took advantage and painted all of the trim (including the window and door).  Prior to painting the walls, I painted the ceiling and the interior of the closet.  I chose Behr’s Cottage White for the trim and door and Behr’s Celery Ice (although I was tempted by the darker Rejuvenate) for the ceiling and closet interior.

Behr’s ‘Cottage White’ – it looks a bit beige-y here, but trust me, in person it is a soft, creamy white.

Behr’s ‘Celery Ice’

The ceiling changed from a dark tan to a light and airy sage green named ‘Celery Ice’ by Behr.

The interior of the closet painted in Behr’s ‘Celery Ice’.

A little tradition we started with our eldest child, Roman. When the fourth bedroom was painted blue, during its laundry room days, we had Roman place his handprints on the interior wall of the closet. I have special plans to duplicate this with Claire, but in a much different way.

The painted walls, closet, and trim. (Ignore the curtains. I was experimenting.)

The trim and window painted. Ready for the furniture….

Part of turning our fourth bedroom into our daughter’s toddler room on the cheap, means that I scoured Craigslist looking for items to use in her room.  This means, of course, that the various items scooped up from across my Craigslist region did not match and/or were not in perfect condition.  There were things I knew I wanted in Claire’s room and I really didn’t want to pay full price for items that I knew would have limited use in our home, as Claire would be outgrowing them.  Since Ascher would be using Claire’s nursery furniture, I needed a complete twin bedroom set, a toddler bed (since our convertible crib was being used as a crib), a glider or rocker for our snuggle-y, book reading, bedtime routine.  I found everything on my list via Craigslist and painted all of the furniture to match.  I used two colors:  Behr’s ‘Cottage White’ for the majority of pieces (also same as the trim in the room) and Martha Stewart’s ‘Dusk’ (for the toddler bed and glider).

Glider found on Craigslist for FREE and painted in Martha Stewart’s ‘Dusk’.

Solid wood toddler bed found on Craigslist for $20 and painted in Martha Stewart’s ‘Dusk’.

I found a complete twin bedroom set (bed (w/mattress), night stand, three drawer dresser with mirror, vanity, and vanity seat/stool) on Craigslist for $200. Funny story, the seller turned out to be my sister! Imagine our surprise when we figured it out. Don’t worry, she gave me a deal. The furniture was a bright white, so all of the pieces were painted in the ‘Cottage White’ from Behr.

So, that is the round-up.  Basically everything in the room was painted and every stick of wood (and in some cases, laminate) was painted to make things cohesive, even though they may have had different origins.  Most of the furniture pieces were painted using a spray gun.  My husband followed the manufacturer’s recommendation and added a paint conditioner (we used Flotrol) to thin out the paint and slow the drying time.  Using the ‘Cottage White’ by Behr for the trim, hand-painted stencil, and white furniture pieces saved money, as it required less than a gallon total.  Also, it allowed us to keep the various shades and colors to a minimum, since it is a small room.  In the coming installments, I’ll show you how I agonized over furniture placement and various soft furnishing as well as a few crafty and storage projects.  In the final installment, I show you the current state of Claire’s room and give you an honest budget breakdown.

Until next time, happy painting!

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