TrainTableTop

As I promised in yesterdays Birthday Stuff post - here's the gift I "built" my son last week :)

When my son turned two we got him a train table for his Birthday.
It was a huge hit.
But he was definitely too little to set up the tracks himself, and I didn't want to be doing it for him every 5 minutes...
So we took a cue from the toy store and screwed the pieces on to the table.
It worked out perfectly...except he just turned 4, and now he wants the freedom to move the tracks around. Plus, it would be nice if he could use the table for other things as well - like legos or race cars.

The old table top has screw holes in it now, though. Plus the wear and tear on it was pretty significant.
So I decided to replace the top :)

I picked up a very thin piece of plywood - a 4x4 piece of flooring underlayment, actually.
I cut it down myself with a circular saw. I'd never done that before. In the past, my handy-dandy, oh-so-helpful husband has always done it for me. But he was at work, and I'm impatient, and I decided to do it myself. It's a lot harder than it looks.
But I managed!

Then I gave it a coat of apple green spray paint.

When that was dry I started the detail work.
I'm no artist, but I figured my 4 year old wasn't going to be critiquing my work. I gave it a couple of bodies of water, a bunch of rocks, some trees/bushes and a road, of course.

After the detailing was finished I gave it a clear top coat to keep the paint from wearing away too quickly.

For his Birthday this year, we gave Ash a bunch of Hot Wheels race tracks that interconnect. The new train table is the perfect place to set them up! It's wonderful being able to use the table for more than just trains. Here are my kiddos, in their jammies, playing on the new table :)

Pimp My Ride

Is that title offensive? Can I say "pimp my ride" on a craft blog?
It's done, now. If it shocked you, please forgive me :)

My little boy (Asher) is turning 4 in just a couple of weeks. Recently, I asked him what he wanted for his Birthday. He said he wanted a black car. To ride in.
Now, since he already has a cozy coupe AND a power wheels jeep, there was absolutely no need to buy him a new ride in vehicle.
But I'm a sucker for this face.

I had to figure something out.

So I made over his old Cozy Coupe.
Are you aware that this is the best selling car in America? It's popularity is astounding. This review, about it's attributes, had me rolling on the floor.

Anyway, on to the makeover.
Ash has had this car for almost 3 years, now. It was his Birthday gift when he turned one. He was delighted with it then, and has played with it non-stop since.

It was actually a little beat up...
Here it is, before:

 

To start, I disassembled it. I scrubbed the whole thing down and removed all of the decals - didn't want to be painting over stickers!

 

The drivers door (the one that opens) was cracked at the bottom - a result of my daughter standing on it to climb on top of the coupe. My husband used some sandable plastic epoxy to repair it. It worked REALLY well, filling in the cracks completely.

 

Then I gave it several coats of this paint

Rustoleum Direct-to-Plastic Spray Paint. No sanding or priming required. In High Gloss Black.

When the entire thing (including the undercarriage!) had been painted, I rigged up a cover for the body using an old sheet that just allowed the seat to show through. Then I painted it white - using the same type of paint.

 

Once all the paint was on I gave the car a couple of good coats of a sealer - Rustoleums Clear Top Coat.

Then I reassembled and started on the detail work.
I considered purchasing another set of decals from Little Tykes - the cost is VERY reasonable...until you add in shipping. I always have a problem paying 4X the amount of the product for the mailing.
So I improvised.
Using paint pens I drew on a personalized license plate and filled in the tail lights.

Then I used a silver sharpie to give it a grill, some door handles and to outline the ignition.
I really wanted to give it a speedometer or a radio on the dash, but with the top of the car back on I just didn't have a good angle to draw it with.

 

Last, but not least, I gave the coupe white-wall tires. Ash requested them specifically. I actually used wall paint on this part - mostly because it was easiest!

After all the details were drawn on I gave one more coat of clear. And then a few more coats of clear.
I'm worried that my makeover won't "stick" - the paint scratched off quite easily in the beginning. I had to touch up quite a few spots...
However, the longer it's on there, the better it seems to be doing. Hopefully it will eventually become part of the plastic :)

My boy loves it - and it's much more to his taste now. A classy black coupe with white wall tires feels so much more grown up than the red, yellow and blue original! LOL
Here it is...all pimped out :)

   

Linking up to...
Transformation Thursday at the Shabby Chic Cottage
Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple
What Are Little Boys Made Of at Seven Thirty Three
Get Your Craft On at Life as Lori and
Look At Me at Fun to Craft

Growth Chart

When I redecorated Asher's room a few weeks ago I had planned to create a cactus growth chart - but somehow managed to forget about it.  

Probably because I was distracted by a little girl tugging on my sleeve and asking for "curtains around her bed"

But anyway...

I remembered, and I've (slowly) been working on it.

First I sketched the cactus on the wall with pencil.  Then I painted it in with a celery green wall paint, which was left over from Becki's kitchen, and was a color I originally helped pick out :)

When the first coat of paint was dry, I used craft paint to darken the remainder of the wall paint and sponged it on to give the cactus some texture.  Eventually I tinted the wall paint 3 different colors for shading.

After all that, it still looked a little flat to me.  I was all out of wall paint by that time, though (the bulk of Becki's leftover paint went to another project - will post that one later!) so I resorted to straight craft paint.

When it was shaded to my satisfaction (3 more days of shading!) I drew the numbers on the wall.  I wanted to use an 'old west' type style, so I found one I liked and hauled my laptop into Asher's bedroom with me, so I could reference what the numbers looked like.

I penciled them on the wall first, then outlined them with a sharpie.  I painted them in with black craft paint.

I do wish I'd had more shades of real wall paint to use, rather than so much craft paint, but overall the cactus turned out really cute - both Asher and Tessa love to stand next to it to see how tall they are.  

Ashers Room After Pictures

Here's Asher's cowboy room!

Asher's Room - the process

Asher's Room is finished!

Actually, it's been done for about a week - but I'm slow to post.

I bought his new furniture at The Wood Connection furniture store.  They sell amazing quality solid wood furniture at awesome prices.  You can buy it unfinished for a lot less - which is what I did :)

We bought a headboard and a dresser and I stole an end table from my family room.

(Then I bought a gorgeous sofa table to replace said end table, yay!)

I finished everything myself with a Navy milk-paint that I also bought from The Wood Connection.

The side table was the most work, so it was what I started with.  It took quite a bit of sanding, and I replaced all the hardware.  It was a bit beat up, so I decided that rather than fight it, I'd go with a distressed look.  

Asher was a big help!  He was really excited to help sand :)

Two coats of paint, some strategic sanding (followed by wood stain on the sanded areas) and a light lacquer finish.  I love the way it turned out.

The headboard was one that the Wood Connection owner had built for his mother, who then decided she didn't want it.  I was able to buy it as overstock for only $89!  It already had a finish on it, which I sanded before I painted and lacquered it.

The dresser was the biggest piece of furniture, but required no prep-work.  Just two coats of paint and a light coat of lacquer.

I used a stencil to add cowboy hats and boots to the border that was already on his wall.  I was hesitant to do it, but finally decided that if I hated it, I'd just rip the whole thing off the wall.  I love how it turned out, though :)

I took a picture of Ash in a cowboy hat and made a "Wanted" poster in photoshop with it.  Matt built me wood base for it and modge-podgedit together.  It seems to be indestructible, but we'll see how it stands up over time...

I bought a cheap navy sailcloth valance from Target, but thought it looked chintzy on the window - so I doctored it up with some fabric from JoAnn's

Then there were a lot of other little things - I spray painted Asher's name with a black 'hammer finish' paint.  I hung his bulletin board on the back of his door.  I moved his shelves to his closet and bolted them to the wall.  I went to Callister and bought real cowboy rope, then I hung it on the wall.  I framed a couple of copywrite free images from the Pioneer Woman.  I moved the stars on the wall around.  I removed a section of border, painted a square of red on the wall, then hung a cowboy hat and frame there.  I dug up an old belt that Jesse won riding bulls (seriously) and hung it on a hook.  I tied a bandana around Asher's lamp.  

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Formal "AFTER" pictures in a second post - just so this one doesn't take up the whole page :)