The Nursery

Who doesn't love Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit? The story has been a childhood favorite for over a 100 years and this year her 150th anniversary. When my grandson was born, his mother decorated his nursery using Peter Rabbit as the baby's theme, so the Blue Farm house nursery is inspired by both my grandson and Peter Rabbit. I'll share a few things that I making for the nursery.




I wrote in an earlier post about my visit to the local junk man who talked me into buying several boxes of miniatures and assorted pieces of junk. This rocking chair was one of the little treasures. Without its arms, it was not a prime piece, so I felt that I could shabby chic it.  I began by sanding it down to rough up the varnished surface and expose some of the natural wood. I cleaned of the dust with rubbing alcohol, which dulled the finish. Maybe that helped the craft paint to adhere better.

Next I used craft acrylic paint to paint it blue. I softened the blue by adding some white to the blue paint. Then I sanded it down to blend the the brush strokes and expose some of the original finish.

Next I painted it with with white acrylic pain and sanded more.

I left it this way, but I am thinking that I would like another layer of white paint.

For the cushion, I downloaded images from Pinterest and printed them on cloth. This little pillow I filled with quinoa (since I can't seem to cook the stuff), which makes a nice pillow filler. However with this pillow, the material is thin and the grain shows through. I didn't intend for it to be chair cushion, but it works perfectly for the quinoa settles into the open seat and it is the perfect size and shape.

Next, I am making a lamp for the nursery from items I already had on hand:

• miniature metal watering can
• a lampshade: the image for the shade was found on Pinterest
• a jewelry finding for the decorative top of the shade
• a round disk to serve as the base of the lamp
• support for the lampshade. This is a very small plastic tube from a pump hairspray bottle
• a light kit ordered for Miniatures.com

I was making up the design as I went along. I knew wanted the lampshade support  to go through the bottom of the watering can to stabilize it. The wire for the light will be threaded through the tube then through the hole in the bottom of the watering can and then through the hole in the wooden disk.

Like this

I have painted all of the pieces, including the plastic tube.

I have made the lamp shade, two of them, in fact, incase one got ruined (it did).

I was doing fine work until I clipped the length of the wire for the little light, laid it down to get another tool and promptly lost the light. I have no idea where it went. So now I am changing my thought. I have not wired the 3rd the floor, so I think I will make my own lights using LED lighting kits that are powered by little disk batteries. I have to order them before I can continue on this project.

Stay tuned for more to come.

Have a great week.