During a rare double nap, I spent some time a few days ago scheming up some ways to refinish the Ikea Cradle. Good old Photoshop! Often I find I need something really visual like this to get a good grasp of exactly what something will look like in real life. Mocking something up in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop has proven to be a really useful tool, as sometimes what I visualize in my head I end up not liking as much as I thought I would when I get it out.

Row 1 [My original ideas]: L- Dark Charcoal Stain; R- Grey Lacquer

Row 2 [Further refinement]: L- Medium Grey Lacquer w/ Pine slats and ends; R- Lighter  Grey Stain w/ Pine slats and ends

Row 3 [Playing around]: L- Blue Stain w/Pine; R- Orange Stain w/Pine

People have already started voting on what finish they like best over at Flickr (random). I thought I should post it over here too and petition some additional opinions. Are you sick of this project yet? Other than real life, I fear this is the only seemingly interesting thing I have going on right now to share. Personally, I am really liking either of the middle two schemes yet still on the fence between a stain and a lacquer, simply because I don’t like the knots but the stain would be easier to do. The look is kinda reminiscent of the Oeuf Sparrow Collection (which I love), hopefully not too close as my intention is not to copy, but I did draw the inspiration from there. I am excited to see how this project has been unfolding, can’t wait until it is done. My purple fabric is on it’s way to me all the way from Bainbridge Island, hopefully arriving here Monday and spurring me on to do the refinishing work over the weekend so I can wrap this up to completion early next week. T-minus 10 weeks to baby g.3’s due date and counting…