

Crib for a Cub
Season 2 Episode 209 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
A 90 square feet baby’s room with a cozy safari-themed twist.
Kate and Alex renovated a tiny 1930s mill house down to the last 90 square feet. That’s baby’s room with a cozy safari-themed twist.
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Crib for a Cub
Season 2 Episode 209 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Kate and Alex renovated a tiny 1930s mill house down to the last 90 square feet. That’s baby’s room with a cozy safari-themed twist.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship-"Baby Makes 3" is funded in part by... -Dear baby, if you can't tell by the bump, you'll be here soon.
To be honest, I'm freaking out a bit.
There's still so much to do, a lot of organizing, name picking, decorating and cleaning all while lugging around 25 or so extra pounds.
I guess I'm feeling a little bit crazy.
But I'm allowed to be, right?
I'm your mom.
And I want everything to be perfect for you.
I'll see you soon.
Love, Mom.
-And by... -When it comes to baby's health, clean water is at the top of the list.
Food News Media, supporting clean water for America's restaurant industry and for baby for life.
-Today on "Baby Makes 3," we're at the home of Kate and Alex, where they've lived for the past 2 years.
With a background in construction, they've completely renovated their home, down to the last 90 square feet.
That's going to be baby's room.
But that's not a lot of space.
That's our challenge.
How do you create a warm, functional nursery when space is at a premium?
Well, we've got some ideas.
So let's go meet up with our contractor, Jonathan, and say hello to our couple.
-That moment when you go from couple to family, everything changes.
When you bring the baby home, you want to create a warm, comfortable and safe environment for them.
Step one, the nursery.
-Hey, Jonathan.
-Hey, Melissa.
-Great house.
-It is.
They've done a lot of work so far.
-Looks like built maybe 1930s?
-1936, actually.
-Well, I cannot wait to see inside.
-Let's do it.
-Okay.
-Hello.
-Hey there.
-So good to see you.
-You too.
-My name's Alex.
-Hi, I'm Kate.
-And we're expecting our first child.
-So Alex and I met about 7 years ago.
-We were actually both in a friend's wedding.
Alex was a groomsman, and I was a bridesmaid.
And the stars didn't align until a couple years later, and here we are.
-First time parents, I would not say...
I think it's one of those things in life it's impossible to be 100% ready for it, I'm guessing.
We haven't done it yet.
-"Baby Makes 3" we thought was a really neat opportunity when we learned of it.
We thought it would be a cool story to tell our little one when they're older, and they can see us when we were younger and what we went to to prepare for them.
So Alex and I would like to say that we do food and shelter as I'm a registered dietitian, and Alex is a general contractor.
When Alex told me that he had found the perfect house, I was so excited.
And I came home from work, and he opens the door, and I was horrified.
It was a lot of popcorn ceilings.
It was very dark and almost claustrophobic.
-It sort of presented itself as an interesting challenge both for Kate and I as a couple.
We had just gotten engaged when we purchased the home and figured, "You know, might as well jump right in and throw some stress in the mix."
And completely gutted the home and renovated it.
So it was a really tough experience, but it was fun though.
We had a really good time.
-And then the benefit of that was that we got to really make it what we wanted of it, and now it's something that we're really proud of and we really love.
So here's the nursery.
-Yeah, here it is.
It's on the smaller scale, but it's a pretty good size.
It'll be a good spot for little one.
-Well, we talked about how small this space was going to be, but now that we're here, it does feel really small.
But we can do it.
Right?
-We can.
No problem.
-So you guys chose a safari-themed nursery.
-We did.
-We're going to use that and open up the space with that.
-Great idea.
-Yeah.
-And I sent over some paint chips for you guys to look through.
-Yeah.
-Looks like you've picked two really good ones.
Which colors did you choose?
-So, we went with Grant Beige for the wall, and then it's Wickham Gray for the beadboard ceiling.
-Well, I love the two colors you chose because I actually just got the wallpaper in, and they're going to match perfectly.
-All right.
-So over there's going to be an accent wall.
-Right.
-But I want you to see how good this looks next to this paint.
-And wallpaper's really making a comeback these days.
There's so many different design options, it's almost like you can design it yourself.
-And this is so good for a kid's room because it's so durable, and you can clean it so well.
It's actually easier to clean than paint.
-That will be great.
-Yeah.
-And one thing that used to prevent people from putting wallpaper on walls was the ability to take it off when you were ready to paint... -That's important.
-Change color, do something else.
-Yeah.
-So, these days, it makes it so easy.
It just comes right off.
Clean it, moving on.
-Yep.
Awesome.
-So the wallpaper installer is on his way, so why don't we go take a look at the rest of the design?
-Excellent.
-We would love that.
-All right.
Great.
-So, 90 square feet is not a lot of space.
To make it work, we're going to have to use every square inch.
-Our wallpaper installer just arrived, so let's check in with him.
-Okay, Neil.
So, when installing wallpaper that has a pattern on it, where do you start?
Like how do you get that set up on the wall to where you're not making any mistakes?
-Well, before we even get to that part, Jonathan, what we need to do is make sure the wall is in good condition to accept the wallpaper.
That usually means some type of wall prep that goes on like paint.
-Sure.
-It's rolled on.
And basically what it does is it seals the wall and prevents the wallpaper from sticking too well to the wall, but it also makes it easier to get it off in the future.
Following that, we would go into finding out about the condition of this wall as far as it being straight and plumb and true.
-So how do we do that?
-Well, in my case, I use a laser level, which tells me here that this wall is at least an inch out.
Most older homes, very common.
But you can use a level if you don't have a laser.
-Sure.
-This just gives me a good like from ceiling all the way down, so I'll know what's going on.
-You do have to know what you're doing because most walls aren't square.
Most walls are going to have some imperfections.
-Well, show us how you would maybe approach this wall.
-Okay.
Well, the first thing I would do is just a simple step of making sure that there are no little undulations and trash on the wall.
And I would just scrape this wall.
It's not necessary, really, to sand it.
The wall has already been prepped.
We just want to make sure that there aren't any pieces of trash that might show through and telegraph through that wallpaper when we get started actually installing.
We need to know the ceiling height, which, in this case, is 88 inches.
And, I want at least an inch at the top and an inch at the bottom, extra, to cut off.
-Okay.
-I don't want to cut my pieces 88 inches, or, obviously, something bad's going to happen.
-There's no room for error.
-Right.
Measure out, on my first piece, 90 inches.
And, I'm going to determine that I want to use the tail of the zebra, or the foot of the zebra... -Sure.
-As my top.
-You're using a frame of reference off the pattern?
-This is my frame of reference for this pattern.
I've just established my top for every piece.
-Sure.
-So, I'm going to cut all five pieces exactly the same with that as my top.
-Kate and Alex, we've got so many great ideas for your 90-square-foot nursery.
-All right.
-So I know you've already met with Emily Bonny, our interior designer, who then worked with our "Baby Makes 3" team to create a safari-themed nursery that I think you're going to love.
-We can't wait to see it.
-Okay.
Well, take a look over here.
So we're going to paint the walls.
And then, we're going to bring a local artist in who's going to design a Serengeti, or umbrella, tree.
-Oh, wow.
Does it turn the corner there?
-Yeah.
-Oh, man.
-We've got the log rounds from your wedding, and we're going to put those into the tree as floating shelves.
-Cool.
-And to maximize space, we're going to build in a dresser, add shelves.
And then we have these baskets to go along with the safari theme.
Speaking of space, we also have this crib, but it's a great crib because it has storage underneath.
-That's perfect.
-So, that's going to be helpful.
Then, we're bringing in another artist who is going to help you sew this safari style canopy tent above the crib.
We're also going to create a giraffe growth chart.
So, another project we're going to do, which I love, is this dutch door.
I know you do construction.
Have you had a lot of experience with hanging doors?
-Hanging doors, yeah.
But never a dutch door.
I'm excited about helping put it together.
-We're going to take a look at the other wall.
So, on this wall we're going to accent it with wallpaper.
-Whoa.
-And safari animals.
We're going to add in these blackout drapes and then a glider, which is important for night feeds and all of that, and an ottoman for your feet.
-Yes.
Spending lots of time there.
-That's right.
Of course, we're going to bring in a changing table with extra storage as well.
And then, above it, we've changed the light fixture.
We're going to add a little chandelier.
And then we're going to do an interesting art project and hang it at a safe distance above the changing table.
-Wow.
-So it looks like you guys really incorporated everything that we had hoped would be in the nursery and even more.
It's really neat that there are projects for Alex that he can help with, and then there are ones that I can help with and build on the skills that we already have.
Like sewing for me and construction for Alex.
So I think that's a really cool component.
-I mean, I think we always knew that it was a small room, and that that would be very appropriate for a little one.
So, yeah, we're excited to see it finally come to fruition here.
♪ -When we first looked at the measuring and the wall prep, we were out of square up here.
And so one thing I'm really interested in hearing about is how did you correct that in order to get it flush with that corner and the ceiling corner?
And then, obviously, that's a pretty big, important piece because you're going to need to match up the patterns as you go too.
-It is important because if we just put this piece of wallpaper against this corner, and the corner's not plumb, then, as we go across the wall, the pattern is going to go away or opposite of that.
It's going to come down, and it's going to be visible across that horizontal line.
-Right.
-So it's important that we start plumb.
-Right.
-So since we already, by previously checking, know that this corner is way off, what I do is I just take the width of the first piece, and I determine the widest point where it's farthest off.
And then I make a mark over here and start a plumb line from there, and that's my reference point for the whole wall.
-Right.
And I noticed you took it out of a trash bag.
Why did you do that?
-So I've had this piece pasted for a little while, and it's been in a plastic bag to prevent it from drying out.
-Okay.
-If you're pasting your pieces and the edges start to dry out before you can get to the wall with it, you can just take the edge, roll it up and just dip it down in the bucket of water.
-Right.
-And re-wet it.
-Re-wet it.
-And so that it's nice and pliable and workable when you come back to the wall with it.
And then you'll notice we've still got this pattern going on here.
It looks just like that.
We want to keep that point across this wall as best we can.
And, with my left hand, I'm going to make sure that I make contact with the wall at one point.
And when I find the match, it's correct, then I can line up the rest of the piece.
I like to use a sponge to get it wet so that my smoothing tool glides over it easily without any resistance.
-So, a light, damp... -Yeah.
-Sightly damp.
-Exactly.
And then, I can take a plastic smoother and just...
So when I've got happy with this piece, I'm going to take my seam roller, and I'm going to just lightly set this seam.
-So Neil, looks like you're doing an excellent job.
Thank you for your time, your knowledge, your capabilities.
I'm going to let you just go ahead and get to work and finish this up.
-Pleasure, Jonathan.
-Thank you.
♪ -It looks great.
Got the wallpaper installed, and I think it goes along with the theme really nicely.
-Wallpaper in the whole room would be a little overwhelming.
So I like the accent wall feature.
-So our nursery has limited floor space.
It's only 90 square feet.
So in order to create more storage, what we're going to do is we're going to create a built-in dresser.
And to help us with that is going to be Justin and Dylan from Oak City Customs.
Thanks for coming.
Really appreciate it.
-Absolutely.
-So, what do you think of the space?
It's pretty small, huh?
-Yeah.
Like you said, it's a small space, so we're going to work with what we have here.
We're going to use this cardboard to create a template that's going to allow us to put in a shelve on the top of this, really create some more storage space below the drawers.
-Sure.
-Basically, just start with a piece of cardboard that's going to be bigger than what you need.
Then, we'll kind of trim it down from there.
-Sure.
-So, putting it into the closet space like this, we're going to need a first trim off an edge so that's it's going to fit into there.
-Sure.
-Line up the cardboard with a back edge of the closet over the space that you're wanting to use.
And start by making a mark here at an edge.
-Sure.
-All right.
Coming down.
Then, we'll trim that edge and we'll start just folding the cardboard up until it's in there far enough... -All the way in the corner.
- so that it's meeting the other side of the closet.
-Right.
-Then once we get to the edge of the wall, we'll be able to cut the corner off and have this piece be the right size.
But see I've folded the cardboard back more?
I want to be at this edge here.
So, I can just push it down until it meets the edge and then fold it over there.
So now I've got a crease where I want to go ahead and cut this piece of cardboard.
And carefully cut it off.
-Doesn't have to be exact because you're going to have some form of shoe molding or something to cover that gap.
-Yeah.
The easiest way to deal with something like this is to get this piece of plywood that's going to be the shelf pretty close.
-Sure.
-But then, definitely a piece of trim, we're going to use quarter round in this situation, around the edge.
That'll deal with any unevenness and the closet being not square.
-Yeah.
So it will give a nice, clean look at the end of the day.
-Yeah.
It's going to look great, and it's going to match a lot of the other trim in the house.
-That's great.
-These gaps here on the left and the right, we're going to fill them in with a couple of pieces of trim.
We've got some one-by pine material that we're going to put into there.
We'll nail it in place.
-So at the end of the day, it's going to look flush across the board?
-Yeah.
Once we put those boards in there, we'll use some putty to fill the crack here.
There shouldn't be much of a gap at all, but you'll see a seam.
So we'll put some putty there, and then it will look completely flush like it was kind of built in there from the beginning.
♪ -I love the built-ins, especially when you don't have a lot of space.
So building it in and using the closet it great.
♪ So I want to introduce you to Dink.
He's a visual artist and a muralist.
And, last season, he created the most amazing shooting star growth chart.
This time, he's back, but he's going to do something a little bit different.
So, Dink, you want to explain what you drew here?
-Yeah.
We're going to do a mural in here.
And keeping with the safari theme, we're going to paint a tree on the wall that's common in the Serengeti and Africa.
It's an Acacia, or an umbrella thorn tree.
-We're also adding these floating log rounds as shelves.
We'll explain a little bit more later, but we're going to sort of incorporate that into the mural.
And Dink, before you start painting, I know you're going to sketch it on the wall first.
You're an artist who's got a lot of talent, so give us step-by-step what you're going to do.
-Trees are really easy to do because mother nature doesn't make straight lines too often, right angles, so you can actually...
It doesn't matter how you do it.
Anybody can really do it because it's a very simple mural to do.
-Why don't we start?
-Yeah.
-And so talk us through what you're about to sketch.
-Yeah.
What I do in the beginning is I'm going to just make some reference points of how high I want to make the mural.
-Okay.
-So, we're going to do the top of the tree.
And you just make some reference points.
We're going to have the top of the tree there.
And then, we're going to actually come over because it gives it a 3-D effect.
The trees in Africa, animals use them as shade.
And that's one of their main purposes.
So it kind of fits really well to look like it's shading over the crib.
-Oh, I love that.
-That's really sweet.
-Yeah.
-So we're going to start here at the base, and we're going to just start making the trunk.
Now the trunk's going to be wider at the base.
We're not going to go all the way down to the bottom.
Just kind of draw your tree.
Like I said, if I make a mistake, you have a good eraser, and you just kind of erase it.
This tree is so cool because it's really windy and bendy, and all these little branches just keep on forking off each other.
A lot of people, I guessed, and a lot of people don't know this, but since we filmed the last episode, I've had my first child and what I found... -Congratulations.
-Thank you.
-That's a big deal.
-Oh, no, it's wonderful.
It's really putting perspective renovating nurseries because I spent a lot of time in my nursery over the last 8 months.
But one thing I have learned is that babies are really, like, their visual stimulation is so important in the beginning.
It's before they're going to start touching things.
They, really, their eyes start to see, focusing on things.
They'll focus in on you.
It's the most amazing thing on the planet.
-Wow.
Dink, that was really fast.
It looks like you're almost done.
-Yeah.
I am.
And like I said, you can see where it's kind of a rough sketch.
You're just getting a basis down.
So when you're going to be painting is when all these little squiggles and all these little pencil marks, they're just going to all disappear, and I'll teach you how to do that.
♪ -Okay, Kate.
So what we've got here are some log rounds that we've cut in half.
And from what I understand, there's actually a pretty good story behind these log rounds.
Would you care to share that with us?
-My dad made them, and we used them as centerpieces for our wedding.
So, since our wedding, we've tried to incorporate them throughout the house.
Alex actually made the mantel to our fireplace out of them.
-Oh, that's great.
-We had a few left over, and we thought I'd be really cool if we could somehow incorporate them into the nursery.
-That's a great idea.
So what we're going to use these for are floating shelves on a mural that Dink has just recently drawn.
And Dylan is going to show us how we're actually going to install that.
But that's kind of a general idea of what it would look like at the end of the installation.
-That's going to look great.
-Okay?
So, Dylan, could you maybe show us what we're supposed to do here.
-Yeah.
Why not?
So this should be pretty simple.
We're basically going to install these floating shelf brackets onto the wall.
And then these pins will slide into the back of the log rounds to hold them in place.
-Cool.
-So I've made another cardboard jig.
Really easy way to also do this.
I put these holes on 5-inch centers, which should allow these pins to come into the log rounds, but not come all the way out their front.
So we've marked a few of them on the wall.
So I'll show you how this is going to work.
They're pretty easy.
Use the level with these holes that I've lined up here and center that around the X.
So now I've got it level.
Going to go ahead and put some marks on the wall here.
That will be eventually where the studs are going to come out of the wall to hold the shelf.
For the center here, that I've marked on the wall, is going to be where the stud is.
So I've located that in the center of that hole.
Then I can mark these other two holes, which are going to be for the mounting hardware.
-Mm-hmm.
-Mark this one as well.
-So, Dylan, after these shelves are installed, how much weight will they be able to hold?
-This type of toggle setup here, it's good for about 200 pounds per toggle into drywall.
-Okay.
-So, it's really good for mounting all kinds of stuff.
The weight wont be a concern for these shelves at all.
-Great.
-Sure.
-Yep.
♪ -So how many shelves, total, are we going to put on the tree?
-We're going to have four on the tree.
We've got them marked in specific locations along the branches and the trunk of the tree.
-Great.
What I really like about all the nursery projects is that there are things that both Alex and I can take part in and have our own hands on.
And as we've renovated our home and had our hands on the rest of our home, it was important for us to be a part of the nursery.
-Our muralist is just starting to apply paint to our tree sketch.
He's using a water-based paint that's available at any craft center.
♪ We have a really fun project that the two of you are going to work on together.
-All right.
-This is our silhouette LED project.
We've got three elephants.
We've got dad, mom and baby.
-Okay.
-And what we're going to do is we're going to work on transferring this pattern onto our material.
So what we have is carbon copy paper.
You can get that at a local craft store, get it online.
-Uh-huh.
-It's got two sides to it, so you want to make sure that the copy side is down.
-All right.
Makes sense.
-Okay?
Put it on your material.
And then you want to tack it down.
And it's really easy.
All you're going to do is take a pencil, you're going to apply a little bit of pressure, and you're going to trace your outline.
-Looks simple enough.
-I'm just going all the way around.
And I'll show you what it looks like.
-Oh, wow.
-Isn't that cool?
-Yeah.
It transfers easily.
-Yeah.
-Right on the wood.
-And you don't really have to put that much pressure.
-Okay.
-So, I am going to give you guys each a pencil and leave you to it.
-All right.
-Thanks so much.
-Have fun.
-Okay, thanks a lot.
-I'll start on the mom elephant.
-I'll start on papa.
The carbon-transfer paper, I think, is really makes it much easier rather than trying... -Trying to free-hand it.
-Yeah.
Trying to free-hand it, exactly.
-Kind of helps us get really the design that we want.
-Yep.
-I love the idea of not only a night light above the crib, but that it goes with the theme of safari, and that it incorporates our little family of three.
♪ -While Kate and Alex finish up, we'll build the frame for our project, and Dink will be painting a background.
♪ Once cut out and assembled, our elephant silhouettes will provide a clever and attractive night light for baby.
Next time on "Baby Makes 3," we'll get started on our giraffe growth chart and begin work on our dutch door.
A local textile artist will be visiting to help us create the canopy over baby's crib with a clever design of climbing monkeys.
We'll complete our Acacia tree with bookshelves, and we'll take our parents-to-be on their own safari to create a tiger-inspired piece of art for the nursery.
It promises to be a unique learning experience.
So join us next time when we make our newborn king or queen of this safari-themed nursery.
-Oh, my gosh.
Wow.
-Wow.
♪ -Closed captioning is brought to you by The Genius of Play, "Encouraging happier, healthier kids through the power of play."
Learn more at thegeniusofplay.org.
-"Baby Makes 3" is funded in part by... -Dear baby, if you can't tell by the bump, you'll be here soon.
To be honest, I'm freaking out a bit.
There's still so much to do, a lot of organizing, name-picking, decorating and cleaning all while lugging around 25 or so extra pounds.
I guess I'm feeling a little bit crazy.
But I'm allowed to be, right?
I'm your mom.
And I want everything to be perfect for you.
I'll see you soon.
Love, Mom.
-And by... -When it comes to baby's health, clean water is at the top of the list.
Food News Media, supporting clean water for America's restaurant industry and for baby for life.
-"Baby Makes 3" nurseries are created for newborns.
Some projects may not be suitable for older children.
When in doubt, seek the help of a licensed contractor.
For more information, visit us on the web at babymakes3.tv.
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Baby Makes 3 is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television