Joa's Nursery

Can I admit that Joa is 6 weeks old (tomorrow) and her nursery still isn't 'finished?' I just can't figure out what I want to do in the corners and I'm still not sold on the furniture arrangement but third baby means you don't have a lot of time to sit and think about the nursery design so you plop a crib in a room and call it good. Knowing that would likely be the case, I stuck as many special pieces in as I could to make up for my lack of planing and prepping.

Anyway, in case you were checking my blog daily for a nursery post (ha! does anyone still stop by this corner of the web anymore because I rarely do?!), I present to you- Joa's nursery!

We started by moving B to the basement. His brick wall was left behind. I didn't want to take it down but I didn't want it to look so rough and tough so we painted it white to tone it down but keep the texture. I wanted to add some color on the walls but didn't want to on the brick wall and didn't want another wall competing for the accent wall so we slapped it on the ceiling instead! (It's Behr's MAUVE IT. I know it looks purple in that lighting but it's mauve. I promise.) We wanted to move the chandelier out of B's new room (because it didn't exactly scream boy room) so we moved it to the nursery. I didn't want to move Arley out of her crib so we bought a new crib. I searched and searched for the perfect chair. My mom bought this beauty for us (and apparently it was a popular choice because it took MONTHS to arrive). It was worth the wait. From there I couldn't decide if I wanted to go classic traditional, trendy, boho, a little girly or what so I did everything! I stuck a bunch of pieces I loved together and called it good.  Sources below.
Crib. WayfairChair. Baxton Crib skirt/sheet. Bella NotteJOA letters. AnthropologieMacrame above crib. Knitting WondersMacrame mobile above chair. a.moiler.fibreartDresser. (Found on our neighbors curb, painted in Behr Mauve It)Shelf. (Made following this tutorial.)Bench and Bookshelves. IKEAPillow. Rug. and Lamp. Urban Outfitters
Rocking Horse. 

officially nesting

The nesting bug has officially hit our house. More specifically, the 'what the heck is she thinking nesting bug.'

R came home from work (basketball, actually) about a week ago and cautiously asked… 'why is everything off the walls upstairs?' Judging by the look on his face, he already knew.

Our main living area (kitchen, living room, dining room, breakfast nook, hallways) all open up to each other in one big area. It's the only area of our home that hasn't been painted (or really even touched much at all) since we've moved in. That's over six years of brown walls everywhere you look. That's a lot. (Have I mentioned our bedroom and master bath have each been about 5 or more colors since we've moved in? I'm not one to commit to colors very long. Six+ years is a LONG time.) When I was pregnant with B I had the major itch to paint upstairs but R talked me out of it. Once B came along, we knew it was too big of a project to take on with a baby. Then he started walking. Then we sort of forgot about it.

So.

I knew when the itch hit again I just needed to dive in get started. I knew if I thought about it logically too long it would never happen. Thus taking everything off the walls approximately two minutes after I decided it was happening. :) (I'm not saying it was a good idea. I'm just saying that's how it happened. I don't recommend that method.)

We've had paint chips for possible replacement colors in the house for over a year now (and I've been mulling them over off and on that entire time). So I had an idea of a color but couldn't commit to one. I eventually did eenie meenie and prayed a little bit and ended up with Modern Gray (Sherwin Williams color but I had it mixed with the Valspar paint + primer at Lowes). It's a super light gray with no blues in it (which is typically my issue with grays).  I asked the paint lady at Lowes for the formula to make sure there were no blues. The formula looked safe so I went with it. She suggested starting with a sample before buying the 5 gallon non-refundable bucket. I went with the bucket. :|

I'll spare you the details on the painting drama. (Long story short we have some touch up work and ceiling work to do…) But it's (basically) DONE! (yay!)

I only cried about it for two days after it went on the walls.

I was in a slight design identity crisis.

I started grabbing random things from around the house and trying them in different spots upstairs. And even started liking a few of them.

Eventually I landed on a new design identity- I'm calling it 'industrial charm meets mid-century modern.'

And things started taking off from there.

We still have a ways to go so I don't have many details to share yet but here are two quick pics from Instagram….

(Sharpie wall tutorial on Vintage Revivals. It is well with my soul canvas was made with the community silhouette and is most definitely grey on gold and not black. For obvious reasons. And I can't wait to show you what's going on the back wall where the painter's tape is. I think it's my favorite thing I've ever made!)

Hopefully I'll have more of the million shades of grey makeover to share soon…

We'll see. :)

Beck's Big Boy Room

Once upon a time there was a little boy. He decided he wasn't real crazy about his crib anymore and that boycotting naps was awesome. His mommy and daddy, deliriously tired from the no sleep, decided it'd be a great time to transition him to the big boy bed. The original plan* was to use the crib conversion kit to switch his crib into a toddler bed and to leave mostly everything else in his not so babyish nursery the same.

If you know me in real life, feel free to start laughing now.


Because you know that's not how it went down.


I took these pictures of B and knew I wanted to hang them in his room somehow. Then I had this faux brick walling sitting around that's supposed to go in the studio and craft room... it hasn't made it that far yet so I stole a smidge and we (I mean, R), hung it up in B's room. Once those two elements were in the trim totally had to go so we went with a dark grey (hopefully to last him till he moves out?) and took down all the existing artwork. (It worked out great cause I used it all in other areas of our house. Hello cute mantel.) We hung up a huge wall map (though I really want a 'physical style' one instead... anyone have one laying around?!). And he got his globe back in his room. It was then we realized we kind of had a travel(ish) meets history classroom theme going on. We ditched the idea of hanging the flag above his bed. R spent an entire day building a pallet bed before I realized there was not enough sanding on the world that would make a pallet bed smooth enough for a toddler and I made an impulse purchase of a twin on amazon. (I don't feel too bad about it, it's the first piece of furniture we've bought for B and only the 4th piece of furniture we've purchased ourselves. Ever.) The bed made me realize how much floor space his dresser takes up. We would love to reuse the dresser in a nursery again someday so we went ahead and purchased a new chest of drawers instead (5th piece of furniture now) and that freed up some floor space. Without the navy of the dresser, we needed to tie in the navy in the pouf so we spray painted the bench daddy made and the 'book shelves' (ikea spice racks) on the walls. I still wasn't satisfied so we swapped out the old ikea curtains for new ikea curtains and called it good. Until I realized the space above his bed was still a blank canvas. I'm super weird about hanging anything heavy or glass above the bed (because what if there's an earthquake?!) (just kidding), so we stuck vintage postcards of all the places he's visited there instead. Full disclosure: he only visited Jamaica in utero and Detroit and Denver were both just airport stops. But he's two and needed a little help filling up wall space so we are totally counting them. (We're also hoping to add a few new postcards to the wall later this summer!) With that, B picked out some finishing accessories. He added in some favorite toys (the van was his first 'souvenir' purchase picked out by himself- he bought it at the Denver airport). He even picked out the Pepsi crate for his nightstand (oh yeah- another impulse furniture buy... that's 6). The lamp was a 1st birthday gift from his Uncle Doyle (I think the box said 'as seen on tv'), the quilt made my some of his great grandparents before he was born, and all the other details are just random finds from around the house. Including my big white comforter he likes to drag in to his room for nap time that I was trying to shoot around to get these shots. :)

I'm contemplating putting another one of his 'book shelves' near the pouf to make a mini reading nook? And adding a rug like this to the space. And switching out the maps. And hanging the airplane from the mobile hook. And of course adding more postcards. But otherwise, we're doneso. Finally. Also, I realize it seems like we did a ton more than just switch out the bed but at least we didn't paint. You're welcome, hunny. ;)

Bedroom Redo 2013

It's been awhile since I've blogged and now all of a sudden there's several posts in a row. Crazy, I know but I had two nights of sessions rained out this week so I've been caught up on editing (for now). (This post is set to autopost so by the time you see it I will be behind on editing. Again. But for now.... I'm visiting the Hickstionary!)


It's also been awhile since our latest bedroom redo. The longest while in between bedroom makeovers actually. We built our home five years ago and in those five years, we've had some paint color on the walls! The previous paint color was there the longest. Not because we loved it but because B was born and it's a lot harder to work full-time hours from home and have a baby than I estimated it to be. And to throw in any home improvement projects? Pure craziness. I digress.

It'd been awhile since our last bedroom redo so when R told me for Mother's Day and then again for anniversary... and then on my birthday.... that he would do a house project for me as a gift, I knew what project I'd be picking out. I definitely wanted to redo the bedroom!

The problem was he kept gifting me an 'IOU' but we never saved the money to actually make it happen. Enter: my 30th birthday. And the crazy awesome friends/family that showered me with gifts/gift cards/cash. I haven't gotten that much birthday money since... never. Wowsers. I was spoiled. And I had a plan for those very generous gifts. (Thanks, guys!!!)

The plan was to use the birthday money for the bedroom if you didn't figure it out.... ;)

And so began #bedroomredo2013.

(But first lets look back at the two most recent looks.... yikes.)

And the bedroom redo 2013:

The breakdown:
-White down comforter, coral pillow cases, bedskirt, grey ombre dip died curtains, top drawer mercury glass knobs (on mint dresser): Target.
-Grey pillow: Kohls. (And I still have $30 in Kohl's gift cards to spend... any ideas?)
-Headboard: made from 1x8s.
-Sconce: cordset from West Elm (wrapped in scrap fabric), bracket made from scrap wood.
-Dakota's dog bed: Pet 360.
-Mint dresser: neighbor's curb (then painted).
-Flooring: Shaw Rustic Allure Delavan Pine (Menards)
-Paint colors: Walls: Timeless Ivory. Mint: Coral: (all from Menards)
-Wood stump nightstand: R brought the trunk home from working tree service. The plan was to use it in B's 'big boy' room as a night stand but we realized our existing nightstand wouldn't work in here so we 'borrowed' it until B's room is ready for it.
-Printables: found online (with modified colors) or {cb}h printables.
-Wood folding chair: my MIL got a set of them from a church that was getting rid of them.
-Everything else: found around our house.



What I love:
-The lighting in this room. We have some big windows on this side of the house and get some awesome light a few times a day but before the walls were painted 'white' most people wouldn't have known it.
-The flooring. It's just not possible to feel like carpet is clean with you have a dog and a toddler. (Yes, they both hang out in our room.)
-The white bedding. (Hello, bleach!)
-The mint dresser (It was a great find on our neighbor's curb! It needed a little TLC but is now a lovely shade of mint.)
-The coral pallet arrows. (Super easy-and free! project but adds a lotta punch.)

What I'm not crazy about:
-The coral painted nightstand and sconce. (I painted the nightstand coral first and thought the sconce would balance it out and tame it down. It did the opposite and added enough coral to make it look like a preteen bedroom instead of a master bedroom. Yikes.)
-The headboard. (We had planned on making it out of barnwood but that didn't happen. We found cheap 1x8s and went that route instead. I planned to stain them but R said they needed painted. They started out bright mint. I attempted to tone that down. It's less nautical than it was in it's beginning stages but still not quite where I want it.)


What I'm going to try/still need to do:
-Tame the headboard down with some driftwood stain.
-Paint the nightstand. Again. (But what color?!?!)
-Paint the sconce bracket grey (of course).
-Find a paper mache ampersand!!!!! The plan was to put 'R&H' on the headboard but for the life of me I can't find that '&.'
-Find a replacement nightstand for when I need to move the 'wood stump' to B's room.
-Paint the bathroom. (That blue you see peeking out.) I always get hung up on a bedroom color because I always feel like the bathroom should match. We hate painting the bathroom (there's a lot to it!) so we've yet to do it. I'm thinking a light grey maybe? Anyone wanna help? :)


What I've thought about but wont likely get to:
-An art gallery wall where our caricature is.
-An area rug.


So overall, it's a huge improvement from before! We're loving the walls and the floor so hopefully those things will stay put for awhile. A little paint on the nightstands and headboard will make it super easy to change out this room as soon as I get sick enough of the coral color to do it.

What about you? Any home projects your way lately? :)