Upcycling a boring chest-of-drawers for an inquisitive toddler

So in J-cub's new room was the very first chest-of-drawers that Jamie and I bought, in a sale, in B&Q, when we first moved in here. It's a bit battered but serviceable, and we donated it to J-cub when we were cobbling the nursery together. It was very plain and boring, and didn't match anything at all:

I set about it today, with a load of alphabet wall decals, and the result is awesome, even if I do say so myself:

Except for the 'O for orange' - which is a) red and b) blatantly an apple, and the 'X for Xmas' which is just plain wrong when you're trying to teach a toddler how to read the alphabet. Better still, the set of decals (which included a further complete alphabet, numbers 1-10 and some random pictures) were an unbelievable £1.99 from our new favourite store, Home Bargains. Bargainous indeed.

Jacob's new bedroom in pictures

Wardrobe - for the bargain price of £5 once we'd doubled our Tesco vouchers for Easter. J-cub isn't particularly keen on Toy Story, but we thought this would last longer than In The Night Garden or Peppa Pig, which were the other options.

The bed - before we'd dispensed with the duvet. Star lamp from Ikea.

Nemo curtains (naturally), futon for guests.

Ikea Trofast toy storage with useful play surface.

Ikea Billy bookcase with all J-cub's crap most important Things.

Very happy J-cub on his bed, before all hell broke loose.

With the curtains shut, it looks like an aquarium. Note J-cub having a happy lie down in the bed, again before he decided that nothing was going to make him sleep there.

We're so very happy with it, it's calm and happy and useful and epitomizes J-cub's Jacobness. We've spent so much time in there over the weekend, playing and starting to put up pictures and wall decals (we didn't want it to be too exciting at first - we obviously failed on that front).

Elevenses

I've spent most of the morning battling with a screaming baby - reason for screaming as yet undiscovered so my nerves are pretty much worn to a shred. Looking for some light refreshment after he'd fallen asleep, I stumbled across this a-ma-zing latte art which puts my aforementioned Guinness-cloverleaf skills to shame. Enjoy.

Staircase = Bookcase = WANT.

A quick list-free post from me this morning, to share something I saw yesterday which I cannot get out of my head, I want it so much. I suppose it is kind of related to the list, seeing as how I'm attempting to declutter and organise my life, and a large part of that are the millions of books lying around the house with nowhere to live. This staircase would solve that problem, as well as filling me with utter delight every time I walk up and down it.

I spend a lot of time sitting on the stairs, as it's where I tend to conduct my phone conversations. Imagine sitting on this staircase, and having all those lovely spines to look at while talking, or just climbing up and down, looking for a book ... I don't think I've ever wanted anything so much in my life.

Although, with Jamie being as accident prone as he is (the aforementioned accident which kept him off work over the summer was falling from the very top to the very bottom of the stairs), a polished wood staircase might not be the best idea.

Maybe we could install a lift for him to use.

via Geekologie