Update

Hmmmmm...It's been awhile. So, let's play catch up. In bullet points.

* My baby is now a toddler.
* I am ready to move.
* The house is STILL going through renovation.
* A year of parenting has given me a new level confidence in myself.
* It has also made me comfortable in my own skin. Weird.
* My family is not complete and I am desperate for another baby.
* I am no longer a twentysomething

I think that may sum it all up.

Read more...

Guest Room: before and after

Renovation 1.0 is finally over and I am so excited to start sharing the pics! We did a few small things this past summer but the intense nonstop work happened from the last week of December to the last week of February. The following photos are of our guest room. No room in the house is decorated yet so the after pictures will look very bare. We chose to get the construction done and then to start looking for pieces of furniture that suited the rooms.

Before: The room started out with very bright blue walls, a not so cute airplane boarder, lots of cracks in the walls, no trim and just in need of a good freshening up. It was also a very dark room partly due to the dark walls but also because of it's location in the house. The old ceiling fan was more of an accent light as well and really did nothing to help.

After: We took down the border, fixed all the cracks, painted the walls a gray white, cut off the windowsill, added trim around the window, added crown molding, painted all the trim bright white and added a new ceiling fan.


We chose to go with white walls to brighten the space and bring in as much light as possible. So far the queen bed, desk and lamp that are in there now will be staying. We have fabric picked out for curtains, pillowcases, duvet cover and accent pillows. I just need to get down to my sewing machine and get them taken care of. I am hoping to find a queen size bedframe on craigslist I can refurbish and add to the room as well as a chair of some sort to go with the desk. Finally we need so decorations for the wall and this room will be finished completely.

Read more...

Mid Week Miscellany

1. Renovations are progressing slowly. Very slowly. Our progress so far:

Guest room - needs caulk and touch up paint
Nursery - waiting for closet system and closet doors to be installed
Hallway - crown needs sanded & painted, baseboards need painted, linen closet trim and doors painted, install new lights
Living/Dining room - finish spackling walls, install window trim, fill nail holes, sand down trim and crown, paint everything
Foyer - sand crown, caulk new trim & baseboards, paint trim & door, repaint walls
Family room - remove old trim, pull up carpet and vinyl, drywall patch walls, spackle, sand, paint, have new carpet laid, install & paint new trim and molding
Kitchen - remove old baseboards & install new ones, sand & paint trim, paint counter tops, clean, sand, paint & re-grout old tile backsplash, figure out what to do with nasty vinyl floor, paint garage door, hang new basement door.

If you think the size of this list is scary you should see what it looks like on paper where each task is truly broken down. Did I mention our deadline is Monday February 8? Self imposed deadline by yours truly but I may just lose it if we go past that date!

2. I finally picked fabric for the nursery and decided what was going to go where. I can't wait to get started on it! That will be my February projects starting Tuesday February 9 since I may need a day break from projects to actually clean my house.

3. I didn't eat meat for the last two years out of choice for not really liking it. Then somehow it turned into a label and I felt pressured not to eat meat due to said label. Pregnancy requires a great deal of protein and I am having severe aversions to many protein sources but for once in my life meat tastes delish. So now I eat meat. Everyone seems to think it is ok to not only have an opinion but voice it about my choices and make rude remarks. Yes I LOVED that steakburger I had a couple of weeks ago. Get over it. And no I have no clue how I will feel about different protein sources after pregnancy.

4. Lily got sick last Friday around 5. In my car. It was disgusting. Then she continued to get sick for the rest of the evening. Due to this we missed a good friends going away party. Then at midnight she decided she felt a million times better, ate her dinner and was ready to play. Fortunately for her, she is super cute and I can't stayed annoyed for too long.

5. Those that believe a baby's foot in the ribs hurts should try having a head there instead. Monkey is breech and has figured out she can use my bladder to trampoline her head into my already sore right rib over and over. She typically starts this about 9:00 at night and continues off and on till about 2 am. It makes for a very long sleepless night.

6. They say that a baby's sleep pattern is established and noticeable by now (30 weeks). I have definitely noticed that she does seem to have awake and quiet times roughly around the same time every day. However, if this is the pattern that she tends to follow after she is here I am terrified. It is nothing in line with my sleep and awake times. I am not a good exhausted person. You should feel very terrified for my husband. Good thing he has more patience in his pinky toe than I do in my whole body.

7. I realized the other day that I still have not made our wedding albums. It's been almost 3 years. They may never happen at this point and that makes me oh so very sad. Maybe when the house is done if that ever happens either.

8. My bff had her baby this past week. Her new son is absolutely precious and I couldn't adore him more. I am so excited for her and her hubby. However, I am a little sad too. Being pregnant together was such an amazing experience and I am so lucky to have gotten to have it but sad it is over. Getting to hold and snuggle that little boy though is worth the little sadness. It is also amazing to see Chad's eyes light up when he holds him and see what an amazing daddy he is going to be to our little one.

9. Baby class frightens me every week. I hated hearing about the epidurals but I thought I was going to throw up when they pulled out the needle for show and tell. If I wasn't convinced before that natural was my goal it sure was after that. My needle fear is now right up there with my fear of 8 legged flesh eating monsters (aka spiders to the rest of the world)

That basically sums it up. I am really hoping to have before and after pics of at least a couple rooms next week.

Read more...

Our Nursery So Far

A lot of our free time lately has been spent fixing up the future nursery. So far we have managed to get the walls painted, some of the furniture purchased and most of the main decor decided on.

There are a couple difference from the picture above. I couldn't find a photo of our actual rocker but it is very similar in shape to this one. However, ours is a more of a slight off white than an actual tan color. Second our fan has white blades as opposed to wood. Also, the big black square is actually an entire black wall. It will be a magnetic chalkboard wall which we couldn't be more excited about!

The biggest dilemma I have right now are the curtains for the room. We have one window that is slightly wider than a normal window. The wall it is on is white and will have only the rocker in one corner with the little table beside it. The one thing I know I want is some sort of sheer or shade for added privacy since that side of the house is very close to the neighbors.

The first line of pictures below are the two different panel styles I am trying to choose between. I could either go more simple and clean lined with a grommet style that just hangs on the sides of the window. The other option is a tied back rod pocket panel which would provide a soft lush feeling.

Then I have to choose the shade style. I really love the look of bamboo roman shades and I found some that are on clearance which are cordless. A very good idea for a nursery! However, there isn't really any other natural wood look in there at the moment so I didn't know if it would stand out in a bad way or not. I could always bring some in with the accents I suppose. I could also go with either a sheer roman shade or a full panel sheer.

Finally I could scrap all of those ideas and go with a roman shade similar to the very last picture. I really do like the look of that a lot however, since there wasn't anything else going on that wall I didn't know if that would make the window too plain or not.

When it comes to color all along I have planned to go with white curtains to blend in seamlessly with the wall since an entire black wall seemed to be enough drama for one small space. However, now I am wondering if I shouldn't do the curtains in a pink to pull the color throughout the room some more.

Can you tell I am lost? Suggestions? Which of these would you pull together or would you go with a totally different idea? Any and all ideas are very welcomed!

Read more...