Nursery: Before and After

We had great fun working on this project and sharing the steps with you.  If you missed the live webinars you can view the recordings on our website.  Here is the finished room!

Just a reminder of the room before.  See our previous blog posts for more about the process of turning this room into a nursery.  This is the view across the room as you enter, of the window and closet door.

Rendering of the proposed window treatment by Merlyn Corcoran, Minutes Matter Studio

Color blocked grommet draperies. 

Aria metal rod from Finestra Decorative Hardware: Swirl finial

The glider and ottoman were recovered.  A chalkboard was created using chalkboard paint and a frame covered in stripe fabric.

A shelving unit perfect for books and toys from IKEA.

Child size upholstered cube is cute and functional!  A soft and stable spot for little ones to pull up on when learning to walk and a comfy seat for a young child to read or for putting on shoes.  When the baby is no longer a baby, it's a cute footstool.

The changing table pad was recovered and wall art was created by laminating fabric to wooden letters.  FirmaFlex fiberboard was used for the board, making it very lightweight.

The crib is decked out with a patchwork duvet and tailored crib skirt. 

The crib skirt is adjustable with the use of snap tape. When the crib mattress is dropped down, a layer can be removed.

Happy parents Mike and Brittany Williams with their new son, Aiden. 

A big thank you to everyone who helped to make this room possible.

JoAnne Lenart-Weary, The Decorating and Staging Academy

Greenhouse Fabrics

Merlyn Corcoran, Minutes Matter Studio

Rodger Walker, Installation

 Brittany and Mike Williams 

and little Aiden Williams (the star of the show!)

 

Making Color-Blocked Draperies

The nursery makeover continues with a window treatment and decorator JoAnne Lenart-Weary has a great idea!  "Let's treat the window and closet door opening as one". 

The next task is choosing a window treatment style.  This is a boy's room so ruffles and frills are not part of the plan.  The parents also requested that the room be designed so that it would grow-up with their new son and not be too baby-looking for a toddler or first grader. JoAnne and Susan Woodcock, who will be fabricating the window treatment discussed the options.  The decision was made to use three solid color fabrics to create a functional drapery.  Several top treatment ideas were considered such as a cornice or a box pleated valance, but in the end the best option was to use decorative hardware to keep the corner from feeling too crowded.

A grommet drapery heading was chosen because the smaller stack-back will fit into the tight corner between the door and window.  The three fabrics were sewn together for each panel; green, red and blue in equal sections (when cutting add for hems, headings and seams).   In the photo below one of the color-blocked panels is being measured before adding the lining.

 

After the drapery panels are lined and hems and finished the #15 plastic, snap-together grommets from Rowley Company are set into the heading.

 

The draperies will be installed on Aria decorative hardware with a black finish.



You may have noticed that we are using a lot of black as an accent in this room.  Black might not seem like a "baby" color but the use of black in this room helps to balance out the 4 foot by 6 foot chalkboard dominating one wall.  The father-to-be, Mike Williams is a school teacher so he loved this idea!  The chalk board was painted on the wall with special chalk board paint and framed with wood upholstered in the stripe fabric used elsewhere in the room.

Stay tuned for more updates as the nursery continues to be decorated, and join us on April 17 and 19 for two live, webinar presentations showing decorating and fabrication details.  Click here to register: Bringing Home Baby

The Decorating Begins!

Our nursery makeover begins with this basic room.  First time parents Brittany and Mike Williams had done little with this room since moving into the home. When we asked Brittany to describe the room she said one word; "blah".  It's time to get to work!

 

We begin with an initial consultation with Brittany and JoAnne Lenart-Weary.  The starting point is color.  JoAnne is a pro at helping clients narrow down color choices, she created the patent pending color system "Color with No Regrets".  With this system JoAnne proves that you can eliminate over 75% of the paint deck in three minutes with a unique and easy color test.  It was great fun to see JoAnne in action!

In a few minutes a color palette was selected and while chatting about color and decor Brittany shared her vision for the nursery.  She wanted a room that was warm, nurturing and fun and that would grow with the baby.

During this appointment we measured the crib, dressing table and window for soft furnishings and the room was measured so that a furniture plan could be created.

A few weeks later JoAnne visited Rowley Company to share her selections for paint colors, fabrics and wall art.  The selections made us all smile.  Especially the Zoo-Wallogy wall graphics available online at Fun Decor for Kids. This is the "fun" that Brittany and Mike were hoping for.  These vinyl graphics are easy to apply and do not harm the wall surface.  They can be removed and placed in different arrangements to keep the room interesting and ever-changing. 

 

For the paint colors Sherwin Williams "Vital Yellow" #SW6393 was chosen for the walls.  This will provide a soft yet warm background for the lively wall art and "Resolute Blue" #SW6507  was chosen for the ceiling to give the baby boy and his animal friends a cheerful blue sky above. 

Three solid fabrics were chosen from Greenhouse Fabrics to create a color blocked drapery for the window. Greenhouse Fabrics #A2440 Cabbage, #A2427 Cranberry, #A433 Indigo

 

 In our next blog post we will share more photos to show the room being painted and other fabric selections for cushions and more.

Bringing Home Baby; a Nursery Makeover

Back by popular demand, Rowley Company is presenting another room-makeover webinar!  We have partnered with interior decorator JoAnne Lenart-Weary to create a very special room from start-to-finish.  JoAnne is the founder of One Day Decorating and The Decorating and Staging Academy and an enthusiastic and accomplished decorating veteran. 

JoAnne, Laurie Medford and Susan Woodcock will turn a spare bedroom into a fun and functional nursery for new parents expecting their first baby.  And it’s a boy!

We will be presenting two webinars; one with a design focus and one showing the fabrication steps for all the soft furnishings. You will see the entire decorating process, from choosing paint colors, creating room layout, selecting furnishings and art to creating window treatments and crib bedding that will grow with baby.

Mother-to-be Brittany Williams and JoAnne Lenart-Weary discuss paint colors.

This spare bedroom will be transformed from "blah" to "ahh" with talent, creativity and practical solutions for parents expecting their first baby.

We will be blogging about the project and sharing updates of the progress. Stay tuned!

Registration is open.  Click the links below to attend the live, online semainrs.

Bringing Home Baby; a Nursery Makeover Part I: Design and Decorating

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/454657250

Bringing Home Baby; a Nursery Makeover Part II: Workroom Techniques

Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/732551234

Our New Website has Launched!

Today is a very exciting day for us, our new website is live!

Each year we conduct a survey to gather your feedback about what we can improve to make your experiences with Rowley even better.  You've asked for an enhanced website and we've answered.  

-Our website has been upgraded to make searching and ordering easier. 

-We've brought back the quick order form.  

-You can shop by category or easily search by item name or number. 

-Videos, instructions and other educational content is linked on the home page and product pages.

-And the biggest change of all; we have secured access to pricing and shopping for the professional trade customer.

We hope you will enjoy using our new website.

Please join us on Friday, January 20, 2011 at 11:00 am Eastern Time for a live, webinar presenation where we will share the new features and answer all of your questions. 

Click here to register.

Thai Pleats on Brass Hardware

The Thai pleat creates eye-catching texture, and in this sample showcases the stripe pattern in the sheer material. This pleat can also be used for lined or interlined draperies, or as a heading for pleated valances on decorative hardware.

To create Thai pleats, make a drapery panel with a double-fold heading at the top. The amount material used in each pleat needs to be twice the depth of the heading, for example; if using a 4" double fold heading, allow for 8" in each pleat. Fold-in the pleats and sew the bottom half vertically, stopping at the bottom of the heading.

The photo above shows that the top half of the pleat is "open",  and not sewn as you would with other pleats; which are sewn all the way to the top.

Gather or pinch at the base of the pleat and tack, using a doubled thread

After the bottom of the pleat is tacked, stab the needle through the top of the pleat, at the center, and pull the thread to bend the top of the pleat down.

Stitch to secure the top edge of the pleat at where it meets the bottom of the pleat.

This stripe sheer drapery with Thai pleats is shown hanging on Aria™ hardware from Finestra® Decorative Hardware.  The photo at the top of the blog features brushed brass pole rod, rings and ball finial.  The photos at the bottom of the blog features brushed brass pole rod, rings and plain end cap. 

For easy installation, clip-on rings can be used.  The clip will be hidden inside the pleat.
 

www.FinestraDecorativeHardware.com

If rings with eyelets are used, drapery pins can also be inserted into the back, stitched-are of the pleat.

www.FinestraDecorativeHardware.com