L's new playroom

Before it was L's playroom, this room was a collection of junk that didn't fit anywhere in the rest of the house, L's toys, and my sewing/crafting stuff. I am so happy with how the playroom turned out, and we spend so much time upstairs now! The entire second floor (her room and the loft) is L's now.

First, we started by cleaning up all the junk, toys, and books that cluttered the room and closet. We made a trip to Salvation Army to drop off a truckload of stuff we didn't need anymore, and threw out a lot of garbage.  It's amazing how much "stuff" you accumulate in a year and a half! 

Next came painting. I knew I wanted aqua and pink, but there are a lot of different shades out there! We decided on Valspar's Aqua Glow for the walls, Snowcap White for the trim, and Berry for accents (I ended up adding white to it to get different shades of pink). I cut in while my husband rolled the walls. Then I worked on painting the trim, the stairway trim, and the railing. It took about a week of late nights after Lilia went to bed to get all the painting out of the way. The hardest part was painting all the brown trim white, especially on the stairs. I still have spots of carpet I have to trim because I got paint on it. 

While I was working on finishing the trim, my husband was working on repurposing some old cabinets into a play kitchen for L. We got the cabinets from my mom and stepdad's friends, J & M, who are redoing their own kitchen and were getting rid of the old cabinets. He found an old pine board in the garage, so he made that a countertop, and used some extra wood to add some height to the short cabinet. He also cut a tall cabinet in half and put it on another to make a fridge/freezer combo.

I painted it Snowcap White, stained the countertop Dark Walnut, and painted the sides Aqua Glow, just to bring in the room's colors, as well as some cupcake fabric from Jo-Ann's to help tie in the aqua and pink. I think it turned out very nice, especially with the added pots and pans from IKEA, a dog dish for a sink, and a J-trap for a faucet. The faucet handles were on clearance at Lowe's for $2.

Repurposed cabinets into a DIY play kitchen

The kitchen is my favorite thing in the playroom. But there is a lot of other fun stuff too!

Here is the view when you come up the stairs (as evidenced by the railing in the bottom left corner LOL); I've since made a tablecloth that matches the kitchen textiles. The white canopy to the left is a swing from IKEA. Her tea party set is also from IKEA, as well as the tables and bookshelf.

I love the alphabet wall. I printed out all the letters, the husband helped cut them out as stencils, and I painted them on the wall, using a round sponge brush, and varying shades made from Valspar Berry. Also, I cut out little cupcakes from the fabric used for the kitchen and ironed them on the wall. Who knew fabric stuck to walls when you ironed it on? (Thank you, Pinterest!)

We also made a dress-up corner :) Rug from Target, mirror from IKEA, and various dress-up items from Jo-Ann's, Dollar Tree, and tutu's she already had. The alphabet curtains were made out of a duvet from IKEA's As-Is section for $6 :) They are nothing fancy, but I like them.

We found this storage/mail sorter thing on the side of the road :) Cleaned it up, busted out some of the shelves, and painted it to match the playroom. It's great as a tabletop for her dollhouses, and the bins are great for holding random toys (that we still have to bring up from the living room). Nevermind L's mismatched clothes--we're pottytraining and she likes to help pick out her clothes.

I love this room!!

Repurposing a sweatshirt into a dog hoodie

One trip to Salvation Army, and 90 minutes later, Brooke has a new sweatshirt!

$4.99 GAP sweatshirt

 I started with a Medium sweatshirt from the Salvation Army. You could use an old sweatshirt in your closet from your college days, or whatever suits your fancy. You just need to make sure the neck opening is large enough to fit your dog's head through without being too tight. I took Brooke's measurements before we went to Salvo, and I measured sweatshirts while I was shopping :)

First, I took off the hoodie kangaroo pocket because dogs wear hoodies with the back showing, not the front. You can see in the "before" picture that I took it off and set it aside to reattach on the backside later. Then, I cut up the side seams of the hoodie because I was going to tailor it to fit Brooke's chest.

Cut up the side seams. You can also use a seam ripper, but I'm too lazy ;)

Next, I put the hoodie on Brooke, and using safety pins, I pinned the sweatshirt along the sides to fit Brooke. She has a very large chest and a very skinny waist, like most hounds. I also tailored the sleeve opening to fit Brooke's skinny legs.

Doesn't fit quite yet!

Use safety pins instead of regular pins--your dog and fingers will thank you!

During this fitting process, you're going to be taking the sweatshirt on and off your dog a LOT. Brooke let me do it without too much hassle, but you may need to bribe your dog to stand still with some peanut butter and a Kong.

After getting all the pins situated, I cut the sleeves to the length I wanted, and cut the cuff to sew back on later.

Make sure your hoodie is flipped right sides together so you have nice edges when you flip it back the right way. I also replaced the safety pins at this point with straight pins to make it easier to follow while I sewed.

Brooke's after I sewed the sides back together, following my trail of straight pins

Flip your hoodie back the right way and trim the excess fabric. You may want to do a zigzag or blanket stitch to reinforce the stitching if your dog is rough on clothes.

This part is tricky. Make sure you have everything facing the right way for turning.

Now you're going to put the cuff back on the sleeve. The only way I can think to explain how to do this (and I usually mess it up at least once and have to rip the seams to redo it...) is make sure the hoodie itself is the right side out, and flip the cuff so it's inside out, and slip it (cuff-first) over the sleeve. Then you will sew all the way around the outer ring.

Ta-da!

Lining up the lines of this hoodie was a bit hard, but it looks okay.

So after the sides are sewn back up and the sleeves altered, it's time to put the kangaroo pocket back on. This is optional, but looks really cute if you add it back on. Just follow the lines, and make sure to NOT sew the pockets shut ;)

The moment of truth: trying the final product on your dog. Be sure to put her head in first, and then her front legs.

Thank you for taking the time to read through my first tutorial--I hope it inspires you to repurpose items in your home or Salvo for your pups :)