Finally Finished!

After many weekends painting, nailing, putting holes in the ceiling, and buying furniture the nursery is done and I couldn't be happier with it.  Chris worked really hard to make sure it was exactly what I wanted and it is just that.  It's a big sigh of relief to have it all finished up.  Now we just need a baby to put in there!

Nursery Chandlier

I heart the way chandeliers look in nurseries.  For some reason it just gives the room a fancy  accessory to go along with all the other usual nursery must haves that are not so fancy(changing pads, video monitors, sound machines, the list goes on).  Unfortunately, the bedrooms in our house do not have overhead lights so we had to install from scratch and I was adamant that it be on a dimmer.  It just seems much easier to be able to turn the light on a low level when checking in on the little one to make sure she's breathing.  With my obsessiveness I'm sure that will be a frequent occurence in this house.

I sent off to Chris a handful of ones that I liked and even one non-chandelier that I also had a jones for.

We ended up picking this one from Walmart of all places. 

For the Walmart discount price of $49.98 it fit our price range perfectly.  Chris spent his Saturday running the wiring and come up and down from the attic to the bedroom.  His brother happend to stop in  just when the light wouldn't work unless a lamp plugged into a switch was turned on.  He used his good ole GHS electrical shop knowledge to tell Chris how to fix it in less than 5 minutes.  It was a big help!

I want a comfy nursery chair glider...

I was being really picky about a rocking chair/glider for the nursery. I had the following requirements:

• Must be white...and yes I'm aware that is nuts. 
• Not look like a traditional glider with wooden arms etc.
• Have a removeable/washable cover (see item 1).
• Must be a reasonable size..I didn't want it to take up the entire room.

After looking at what was available I discovered two things. 

1. Chairs at most retailers are either junk (babies r us) or extremely expensive (pottery barn).
2. To get what you want, you don't have to compromise, you just have to do it yourself.

So I went online and searched for 'upholstered chair to glider' tutorials.  Not only did I find a website that had a tutorial, but also that sold the base to make it swivel/glide/rock.  After much consideration we ended up going with the swivel glider instead of the rocker.  I was impartial, but Chris thought the swivel glider would be better, in the end he was right. 

Deciding on a chair was a no-brainer with an Ikea an hour away.  The Ektorp Jennylund fit the bill perfectly.  I was also able to get myself an extra cover for when the one on there needs a washing. 

Chris had to cut some wood pieces in order to fit the bottom on, but it wasn't too taxing and was well worth the few hours of labor he had to put into the project.

I now have exactly what I want...and Sofie loves it too.  What's  even better is that it was a gift from my parents for Christmas so it was 'free' to Chris and I!

A Coral Nursery

When it was time to decide on how to decorate the nursery I knew I didn't want something too traditional.  No Winnie the Pooh, Safari, or Flowers.  I looked around and saw this picture and totally fell in love with the white and coral color of this nursery.

I saw another photo that had wainscoting going up half the wall in white which I really liked.  After some deliberation and 15 different color swatches I decided on Behr cheerful coral and white beadboard.  Chris ended up having to do 4 coats of paint and spend well over 20 hours painting, cutting, and installing the beadboard, but the result is beautiful.  We also had to install a ceiling light since none of the bedrooms have light fixtures.  Thankfully Chris' brother stopped by and recalled some of his high school electrical shop knowledge to get the light working independent from the outlet that the switch originally was hooked up to. 
Overall the room is pretty much done.  I need to make some decisions on shelves, a mirror, etc. for the walls, but am not going to rush into it.

Here is a little sneak peek:

Back To Sewing

So I've finally gotten back into sewing since we came back from our vacation.
A few months ago I did some stuff for the babies room, which I'll post about once the room is done, but other than that my machine has been unplugged.

I found some easy tutorials for baby dresses and bloomers.  I am obsessed with bloomers! I found the tutorial on non other than the cute diy sewing site www.danamadeit.com.  She has some great and easy projects on there.  For the dress I can't find the specific tutorial to link to, but search for pillowcase dress tutorial...there are lots of those out there and that's basically what this is.

Hawaii

We made it to Hawaii!  We are 100% aware that it would've made more sense to go when living on the west coast, but with vacation time used up visiting back east every year we just couldn't work it in our schedule.  We had decided pre-pregnant me that we were going to take one last BIG trip.  We tried going to Australia first, but there literally was nothing by way of flights using our points.  We decided after that Hawaii would be a good choice.  After I found out I was expecting I was relieved that Australia didn't pan out..that's a long flight and lots of outdoor excursions that at 6 months pregnant I couldn't have dealt with. 

Our friends Dee and Jason from SD met us there and it was a fun and relaxing.  The only thing I couldn't do was hike the Napali Coast, but I wasn't too sad about it honestly. 

The weather was perfect throughout the trip - Chris didn't even burn!  I was bummed that we couldn't see active lava flow, but we did get to climb on dried up crusty lava which was neat.  Food for me was so/so and expensive, but the rest of the crew had some really good meals. 

We got to see some amazing wild life, including Hammerhead Sharks from our snorkeling boat.  That was fantastic!  I also made a sea-turtle friend.  I was determined to get to swim with them and read the guidebook and looked online for where they could be found on Kauai.  Thankfully there was a little rocky beach on the side of the road not far from our rental that had one friendly guy just floating around.  I was so excited I even let Chris take a picture of me in a bathing suit. 

Getting Back To Blogging

Blogging has been at the bottom of my list of To-Do's lately (which by the way is WICKED FRICKEN LONG).  I generally feel like I don't have much to talk about on here unless I make something that is interesting and I've been in a craft funk for a while.  I think the priorities at this house are already shifting due to our impending arrival in April.  Previously I would never have thrown a themed party without a post about it, but we did and I didn't.  Hopefully our trip to Hawaii will provide some good photographic material that will get my creative mojo moving again.  Until then I'll just keep obsessing over the counters being cleaned, no fingerprints on the appliances, and how people cheat at words with friends...all current concerns of mine at the moment.

Last, but certainly not least - The Master Bath

I never dreamed of having my own bathroom.  I grew up in a house with one bathroom so didn't know any different.  When we moved into this house having 2 1/2 baths was a dream.  Cleaning them isn't so much my favorite chore, but they are well worth it.  Having a bathroom next to my bedroom makes my life so much easier.  As someone who visits the bathroom at least once after I go to bed the proximity of bed to bath cannot be beat in this house.

We got rid of the blue in the bathroom.  It didn't match the cherry wood tones and granite at all (which I still don't really care for).  By painting the walls a more neutral color I think it toned down those areas.  We couldn't find a mirror that would fit in the space above the sink so Chris ordered the glass and made the frame.  Lucky gal I am that he can do that sort of stuff.

There is a nice jacuzzi tub that is more of a dust collector than anything.  Unfortunately I am not  patient enough of a person to take baths. 

And that's our casa.  Good thing I snapped these  photos because the upstairs is now in complete disarray as we are putting in hard wood floor!

The Small Guest Room & Our Bedroom

I posted a while back about the room re-do in the small guest room.  I had an itching to have a bright green room, so that's just what I created.

Our bedroom was something that took me a while to get how I wanted it.  The wall color had to go, particularly because it was in so many other rooms in the house.  We also searched far and wide for a bedroom set.  We went to over 10 different stores and back and forth to Pottery Barn about 5 times looking at one set.  We ended up finding the one we have now at Arhaus Furniture and ironically it's the Kieran collection.  For those of you not in the know, Chris has a little cousin Kieran who we adore. 

The Craft Room

I spend quite a bit of time in the craft room. I've set it up so I have a monitor and keyboard up for an optimal working from home environment. Recently we had lots of house guests for Marissa and Lance's wedding so we ended up putting a twin bed in here and decided to leave it. Sofie likes to lounge on it while I'm working or crafting. This is probably my favorite room of the house. It has lots of elements of my life and many mementos.

You can go to this post HERE to read more detail about my wall.

Big Guest Room

The big guest room is probably the one where we have done the least amount of decorating.  I just can't decide how I want the room to be and therefore don't want to commit much time to making changes.  We've gone from having 2 twins to 1 king which has been nice.  I also very much enjoy the extra closet space for myself.

Other than that, not much change in this room.

The Office

The office is the room I thought I'd be spending quite a bit of time in considering that I work from home often.  However, Chris actually works in here more when he isn't travelling and I setup in my craft room.

We kept the walls the same color in this room and just decorated.  This room definitely has some big pieces that pull the room together.

The shelves are actually two separate units from Ikea pushed together.  This was a big bang for little buck.

We got the desk free off of craigslists and eventually sanded, painted, and replaced the pulls.  What a different this made.  I went from hating the desk, to loving it! 

I got some cool math art for a great price at 20X200.  It's perfect for an office and its letterpress which I heart big time.

My favorite piece in this room is the map.  Chris LOVES maps.  I bought him this huge one and had it framed for valentines day last year.  We have stickers on it for all the places we have travelled. 

The Living Room

Our living room is probably the room that has been moved around the most since we first moved in.  Originally the TV wasn't mounted (that took us over a year to do) and the rest of the room was arranged around where the TV is.  Chris had to do some re-wiring in the living room in order to get the TV on the wall we wanted.  What a difference hanging it made in the room.  Everything just seems much bigger.

My favorite part about this room are all the framed photo's we have on the walls and shelves.  I have a picture dating back to the two of us in 8th grade all the way up to our wedding last September. 

Here are a few more pictures of our living room now.

The Kitchen

I never thought we'd spend as much time in the kitchen as we do.  It seems as though whenever we have a get together all the ladies end up gathered around the counter chatting...probably because thats where the food usually is! 

  
 We have done no physical work to the kitchen, the color was great, cabinets perfect, and counter top amazing.  My only complaint is the stainless steel appliances.  Up until I was responsible for stainless steel I had no idea how  frustrating it was to clean.  Everytime we open the fridge, use the microwave, turn on stove, open the dishwasher, and so on there is a smudge.  Being the anal person that I am I am cleaning the appliances at least once a day.  I even have a requirement that the stove knobs be taken off and wiped down when used.  Its absurd, but it's  my attempt at keeping what we have looking as new as possible for as long as possible.  

My favorite part about this room is definetely the two cabinets with glass panes.  I get to show off my amazing champagne glasses and collection of cookbooks. 



2 Years

I can't believe it's been two years since we signed on the dotted line and bought our house.  Owning a house is something I think many of us take for granted.  I have to remind myself regularly of the years we lived in small, cramped, over priced, apartments. It makes me happy to think that now I can yell to Chris from upstairs and if he is in the garage or basement he can't hear me.  I'm sure it makes him happy too, but because he doesn't have to hear my bone crushing voice.

When we decided to buy our home, we knew it was a little more house than we needed for the time.  We figure that we will eventually grow into it and to enjoy the extra space while we can by having friends visit and stay with us.  We currently have a King, Queen, Full, and Twin bed setup somewhere in the house! 

Stay tuned as I'll go through the changes we've made and how much we've accrued to fill these rooms in the past 24 months.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

All spring long I kept saying, I HATE GARDENING!  Now that the fruits of our labor have paid off...I might not use the word HATE anymore.

Growing up my mom always had the most beautiful garden in our small yard.  I never appreciated how much love and care went into it until I decided to have my own. 

To the right is what the front of our house looked like when we bought it almost two years ago. Each side had an evergreen tree, a big redish colored tree/bush, LOTS of lavender, and some other random perennials. 

Last summer we pulled out everything, but the evergreens and put in a few plants.  With so many wedding festivities at our house we wanted the front to be somewhat acceptable. 

This summer, we decided to over haul the entire front.  First came yanking out those tree's.  I hate to pull a tree out of the ground, but truth be told we had no idea how to take care of it.  It was totally out of hand and too wily to frame our front door.  Chris tied a few boyscout knots to one of the trees, attached the rope to the truck and drove.  Those babies came out and pulled right across the pavement perfectly. 

After that was done we had to order screened loam to replace the dirt that was currently residing in our garden beds.  The old dirt was full of concrete from the construction of the house and sand that was used to fill the cracks between the pavers.  The day the truck delivered the dirt was a nasty one, but we didn't give up despit the rain.  We dug out quite a bit of the old dirt and then shoveled in the new stuff.  IT WAS TOUGH WORK!  I have a new found respect for landscapers.

Next was planting which is where I got cheap and needy.  I didn't want to spend money on plants that I didn't know how to take care of and would be replanting and rebuyihg next year.  My mom came through like a champ and took a ton of stuff from hers and a friends garden.  That almost filled up the space! 

There is a house down the street from us that sells plants out front in the spring at a super cheap price.  They are mostly annuals but the price was right and I knew I'd need some to fill in blank spaces.

I then went and had the back of the truck filled with mulch...the darkest available.  We laid soaker hoses and then mulched, and mulched, and mulched. 

Chris took it upon himself to put pavers down to line the side of the garden that is edged with grass.  As usual Chris went above and beyond (aka was wicked anal) and the result is absolutely beautiful.

In the end, all the hard work was well worth it.  Whenever I pull up the driveway and stare it all the beautiful flowers and their colors it puts a smile on my face. 



Accidental Art

I can't take credit for puposely putting this in this spot because I knew this would happen...

But I'm sure glad my father in law noticed it!

Hey Jealousy

It's finally happened...Marissa got married!  Her and Lance had a beautiful wedding and it was funner than fun. 

There amazing photographer (see photo to the left) was Bharat Parmar.  I give Bharat extra props as he called me Biker Shorts because I was donning a special undergarment that inspired this one night only nickname.

At any rate, Marissa's wedding being in June allowed her to have peonies.  I was green with envy over this!  I wanted peonies for my wedding desperately and while I usually make it happen, some things just can't be done.  In September you'd be hard pressed to find them anywhere in the world...much less at an affordable rate.  I wouldn't change the flowers at my wedding because in the end it was everything I ever wanted, but I can't help be a bit envious of Marissa. 

Because I love peonies I took a few from a leftover wedding arrangement and had a full fledged photo shoot with one that was especially spectacular.