We completed the sale on our first house five weeks before Arlo was born. We moved in a couple of weeks later, and finished all urgent work to the house just one week before I went into labour. I was so close to tearing out all of my hair with the thought that we might not be moved in before Arlo arrived. Being pregnant and hormonal and not being able to satisfy my nesting urge proved very difficult. Thankfully, we made the house livable just in time. But we still have a long, long way to go towards decorating the place to make it feel like our home.
Since Arlo arrived, funds have decreased and weekends have filled up with visits to extended family, and just enjoying our time together as a new family ourselves. So I am still staring at plastered walls, the horrible glass lampshade left by the previous owner, and I can’t wait to tear down the garish living room curtains (complete with lace netting). And the garden, AKA nettle breeding ground, is going to require some serious attention in order to make it a pain free toddling experience for Arlo next Spring/Summer.
Right, on to the main point of this post…
We had no time to create the colourful nursery we had in mind, (save for a lovely pair of Ikea curtains bought at the last minute) and since having Arlo, this is the first house DIY project that I have made some steps to achieve. They are very small steps so far. So small that the frames aren’t even hanging on the wall yet.
Lucky old Arlo received a couple of ‘welcome to the world’ gifts in these Eric Carle designed bags. Eric Carle of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fame:
I kept the bags because I like to hoard things that look nice, with a vague noncommittal intention of creating something with said nice looking thing at some point. Most of these things usually get chucked during a clear out a year later, vague intentions forgotten. This bag was one of the chosen ones.
With the help of a few really cheap Ikea pictures frames, I have managed to botch together this creation:
The ‘ACE’ is Arlo’s initials. Yes, we did realise this when we named him. Ignore the lizard, he just had to be in the photo. In typical noncommittal fashion, they are not even up on his walls yet.
They are currently propped up on the dining table, keeping Arlo’s footprints company:
And it seems Arlo would rather stare out of the window:
So there we go. I can rest easy now that my son has something colourful and somewhat educational to look at. Or, as Sam said, ‘They will do the job until we get something proper to put in the frames’.
If you are in the same wall art DIY dilemma as me, there are other options. You can use the Luminati acrylic photo frame to style up your walls if you don’t want to keep the space bare. With kids around, there will be no shortage of memorabilia to keep in these frames. Therefore, do what makes you happy while beautifying your walls.
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Disclosure: This is a partnered post
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