Uggh. All those frames hung on Julianna’s walls are starting to drop off, over a week after putting them up. They’re attached with 3M’s Command Strips - adhesive backed velcro pieces that are supposed to be removable and won’t mess up your walls. The problem is that our walls our plaster and impossible to drive nails into without tearing the walls apart, so I have to go with the 3M option. I have no idea why it isn’t working … I followed the instructions properly and paid careful attention to weight restrictions. The entire adhesive just seems to detach from the wall, and actually DOES take a little paint with it. The walls were prepared well before painting - they used to be wallpapered, but we removed it and primed twice before painting with Benjamin Moore’s EcoSpec paint. And what’s weird is that lighter frames are dropping before slightly heavier ones, with the same sized Command Strips attached. AGGGGGHHH!

I’ve entered a few pictures of Julianna’s playroom in Ohdeedoh.com’s nursery colors contest. Check it out and vote for us! The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes are a crib, toddler bed and children’s table with 2 chairs, respectively, from Argington furniture.

Here’s my first photo:

I am, of course, proud of the room but I think I also have an advantage in the fact that I may have a little more experience with photography than the other entrants. It’s amazing how much better a room looks when you put the camera on a tripod and only allow natural light (no overhead lighting, no flash on camera).

I think this room is a testament to how much color can compensate for a limited budget. The only items that were bought especially for the nursery are the IKEA Malm dressers and the Wal-Mart rocker - everything else came from other rooms in the house. The most expensive item in this room is the rocker, which was only around $150! I discovered I needed a good, comfortable rocker when Julianna was born and I began nursing with c-section pain. The second priciest item is the Eames (actually, it’s a 1960s knockoff from a company called Krueger) chair, which I picked up on eBay. The chrome legs were rusted and peeling, so I recovered them with black duct tape. You can’t tell unless you get up close. The 1950s turquoise ottoman was my grandmother’s and it’s been in my family for a loooong time. Andrew gave me the blue lamps as a birthday present a few years ago - they’re from the Crate & Barrel outlet in Kittery, ME. The curtains and floor lamp are from IKEA.

The artwork above the “Eames” chair is by Charley Harper (very trendy right now). Sitting on the chair is Andrew’s old teddy bear, “Mici Macko” (Winnie the Pooh in Hungarian) and my old Paddington Bear. The white children’s rocker was a gift from my grandparents to me when I was born.

The striped bins are a Pottery Barn purchase from a few years back. The orange leather-covered box was a Christmas gift from my mom - I think it’s from TJ Maxx. The artwork is all mine - I created the silhouettes from vintage postcard photos, except for the dog image - that’s actually our dog, Bingo. We had some old frames laying around and I decided to paint them with Benjamin Moore Color Samples. I created the artwork, painted the frames and designed this arrangement rather quickly and explicitly for this contest. When I find the time, I’ll tweak the colors in the artwork a little more to my liking.

Thanks for looking!