Nursery Confessionals

I have a confession.

My nursery is still not done!

I have excuses, you want to hear them? Okay good, cuz I've been going over them in my head trying to make them sound really good.

1. The dog ate it, what dog you ask? Clifford, the big red one.
2. Aliens abducted me.
3. I've been watching Lost re-runs.
4. I got too prego to stand on a chair and not fall off, it's a balance thing. (true)
5. I was too cheap to turn on the AC and couldn't face the heat upstairs. (true)

Okay, so the real reason is more like I just wasn't exactly inspired. I am still not. I am trying to get into the "Nursery design groove", but I have had a hard time and too many ideas that aren't exactly coming together and no budget which is harder not impossible.

Also, Etta is still downstairs with us. Which is easiest for me. She hasn't even slept in her crib, she is still in her bassinet. (it's okay, she has been sleeping through the night since about 5 weeks). and yes, I was just bragging, even though I mostly just got lucky...

To make my design dilemma more dilemma-y, I was given something else I would like to use. While we were in Utah, Justin's mom gave me a book from the 50's-60's or so(it was her mothers), of darling pictures of nursery rhymes images. So, I decided I need to work that in, so things have once again changed, and moved. Here are two little pictures from the book there are 11 in perfect condition and one sorta ruined one, I may try to salvage.

BUT! I did do one thing, just the other week, and I want your opinion. I hung up the lanterns. This was a LOT harder than it seemed, trying to get them to hang evenly and feel balanced. To be honest I am not sure if I succeeded, but after getting up and down on a chair about 3,097 times, it isn't changing anytime soon.

Here are the pictures. (the rest of the room isn't really done yet, but here are the pictures. I'll come back to it soon, I need to make a quick trip to Ikea, Walmart and/or Family Dollar for frames! Shoppin' around is fun!)

Light on, Light off!

Just opposite the crib-

The two unfinished walls.

One will have the nursery rhymes. The one with the picture of the Savior will have a book shelf.

"Wet" your appetite

I realize that I have had a lot of "befores" of all our projects lately and not a lot of "afters", but that is how it goes in our house. We start one project, only for me to get bored and start another one. Well, actually we get to a point where Justin is doing the work, and I have to wait... Either way, it keeps us hopping.

This one however was quick and relatively easy project. It should be completed this coming weekend (complete with cost breakdown, for those interested). But for now here is our upstairs bath in a series of pictures pasted together to get the idea of the space.

(I am standing in the tub for most of these shots.)

The second shot is from the hall trying to look in.

Here is the plan. Forgive the quality of the rendering. I used the stitched together pictures as a base, I no longer have Autocad, and am not yet smart enough in sketchup. But just you wait, Justin is teaching me how to really use it, and I don't think I will need cad any more.

Our starting budget to fix it all was $300.00, the estimate included: paint, framed mirror, cabinet, tiling the floor, hooks, pulls, and new moldings.

So far, we've done it for almost half the price... And may be able to do a few more things.

Projects resurfacing...

I can't believe that we have lived in Texas for almost 11 months. It has gone by very fast, (looking back). While we have been very busy, moving in, barfing for 4 months, nesting, then waddling, not sleeping etc, we haven't done much on the house, by way of major changes.

This has actually been hard on me. For the last 7 years of our 8 we have been remodeling houses (we even did quite a few remodeling projects to our apartment the first year). I love to remodel. I love the work, I even admire the look of a ripped apart room because I know what it will be after. Luckily, Justin is the most stellar of craftsmen. I love the designing and finishing.

Well, this house has been great because of the space, but as for charm... there is none! Which is actually what I want when buying a house because it makes it harder to sell to others. BUT- I can stand it no more. We started working last weekend on our first real project. My brain is reeling with design ideas. Here then, is the first phase of our remodel for our living room/dining/kitchen/entry room (why yes, that is too many spaces in one).

WAY Before:

Those were the original pictures of the house as it was during our walk through. Here are some of the in-between befores. In these images, we have changed the lighting (besides the kitchens fluorescent, removed the old breakfast bar, painted the wall green and added the drapes etc.

I have wanted to delineate the spaces a little more in our house. Not to cut them off completely, but all the openness has been almost too much. We had been throwing around the idea of adding a column, I asked Justin to frame two for me to see how they would feel (then I covered them in paper so they were solid...) Here is our test shot.

We immediately liked it. I was afraid it might make the space feel smaller. Surprisingly, it has made both spaces feel bigger, because it encompasses previously unused space and gives it more of a purpose. Also, we will be able to add some more cabinets to the kitchen.

After our "column" test, I drew up the basic plan, shown below. This is that plan, it also shows the future kitchen updates. Also art that my sister is printing for me of the SLC temple. I will show you when I get them back we took the pictures last June). We will also be moving the piano out.

Now we are in the middle of dry walling. Can't wait to show you the finals in a few weeks. I LOVE projects! (and I love how great Justin is at doing the hard work, THANK you honey!)

This is the entry. I painted it with a mis-mixed paint a few months ago, when I was pregnant and bored. Although, I don't love the color, I plan on going darker later. I hung the shelf as an entry table, since space in limited and the picture collage. I changed out the pictures today I will show you those soon. By far though, my favorite change was when I painted the door black, also with mis-mixed paint. For one dollar I have a beautiful stunning black door, and I love it! I would recommend it to anyone.

Let there be shelves

One of my favorite things about this house is the large pantry, and all the shelves. But a girl can always use more shelves- right? Especially when I am working on actually organizing my three month supply. Which I will tell you more about soon. And it is so good to have such a capable husband. I still need to paint them, but I couldn't wait to put the cans on them. So that will have to wait. And the rest of the space is slowly transforming. I love an organized pantry space! It just feels so good! (here is the before, during and sorta after, when we get the space really finished we'll be sure to share)

Quick change

I told you about the mother load of free junk I found, well this beauty was one of them. I still haven't figured out what she is holding in her hands- frog, turtle?... Your guess is as good as mine. But the frame is large, if not gold, but I'll get to fixing that later.

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Anyway, lately I have been craving color. In fact, about everything in my living room was "green" with envy for color (meaning everything was just plain green, olive, lime you name it- green)

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It was driving my nuts. So, I found one of my old paintings from a watercolor class Justin and I took at the local community college in Asheville.

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Can I just say I LOVE continuing education classes! I know I'm a geek! Proud of it.

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I had to get some black paper left over from college as a sort of matte and we still need some glass, but for now this is now hanging on my living room wall and helping the much needed color problems. (Someday, when I grow up, I will be a painter...)

In-betweenish

Since Justin and I love to remodel the house we are living in, we are used to changes. When living in the "project home", there are many times where we just have to make due. We are, if I do say so myself, pretty adaptive people and don't complain too much about "living in the chaos". I know some of our friends think we are nuts, but with the equity we've earned and the sale of both our houses in the first week, we'll deal, and happily too.

Of course, we are always doing these little "in-between" projects to make it livable in the mean time. But surprisingly, I like this because it really makes you appreciate the end result. It is also fun when you want to reminisce, for example "Remember in college, after we ripped out everything in our bathroom and school started and we ran out of time, so we lived with a tub and toilet for a year (no flooring, no shower no sink or interior walls- just studs), and had to wash our hand in the tub...ahh, good times"

We haven't done very much to any space in this new house. We are kind of at a stand still, trying to get the yard in shape while the weather is good, and getting ready for the baby. But back when we bought the house, the very first thing I did after our "2 week house closure- that should have only taken 45 minutes", as soon as I knew the house was ours? I went into the master bathroom and ripped out the disgusting, moldy, mildewey, pee-stained. probably been barfed on carpet!!

But, I must ask- Who is their right mind puts carpet in a bathroom?

DIS-GUS-TING!!!

Please I beg of you, never do this, it is gross. If you need something comfortable and soft under your feet, use a machine washable bathroom rug!

Back to the remodel- After ripping out the carpet, I scrubbed the concrete sub floor and we have been living without proper flooring ever since. We have been considering staining the concrete, but I am afraid it would be a little too slick for a bathroom, instead we will just be tiling. The problem is, we have a few other changes in mind before we get to that point, removing a closet, putting in another cabinet, installing a pocket door, things that will change the floor plan and therefore ruin a brand new tiling job.

Enter the in-betweeny projects!

Something had to be done, for my sanity, so I painted the walls with $5.00 paint, which now has become my third favorite mis-mixed color ever. I added an accent wall above the bath in a blue tone. I made drapes out of $8.00 worth of fabric and an old white cotton sheet for a liner. I went to the family dollar for cheap sheers and shortened them. (who ever designed our house put a 6' x 6' window, on the ground level, front of our house that looks directly into our master bath- genius?!!- I'll let you decide) Lastly, for my our "mean time" project, I painted the floor with yet onother mis-mixed, we'll see how it holds up, but hey at least it looks cleaner to the eye, and I can live with this til we get to demolishing and the remodel truly begins.

So here are the changes, FOR NOW:

(although the drapes will stay for sure and I LUFF the color too)

The Befores (from our walk through):

No color, wall and carpet are all the same light beigey-tan.

And when they moved out and took their rugs with them, the stains on the carpet almost warranted a crime scene investigation.

**Don't forget to play "Where's Buddy" while looking through the pictures.

Here is the blessed window to our front yard.

Undressed, although the walls have been painted at this point.

Here are the sheers, before they were shortened. They were really were a pain to get the same length, because while they said they were the same size, they totally were NOT.

The finished drapes:

Here are the pictures of the floor. I could never get all the plaster off the concrete from the darned textured walls- another pet peeve!!!

And finally, the floor painted and the random junk moved back in, totally not staged or beautiful but hopefully in a few months it can be. For now, I am just glad it feels sorta finished. Although, I am chomping at the bit to paint the vanity white, but all good things come in time.

Manifesting FREE Furniture

If any of you have read "The Secret" you may understand what I mean by manifesting good. (by the way I actually really liked the book- it is in video form too, so I hear)

I have been needing a dresser, but not wanting to spend the money, so I have been manifesting a good deal.

While checking out some garage sales one random Friday morning, I happened by a dresser, on the side of the road. FREE!! Not even at one of the sales, and I was already on my way home. I packed it carefully in my car, cuz, I'm prego, and helpless...urgh (toward the helpless part!!)

It was a little sad, well, a lot sad actually. It was highly offensive really, uglier than I can stand. But -I just knew it could be good. I mean- check out that faux marble finish? Huh?.. Huh? Nice!

And the Aztec inspired handles that are the size of flying saucers?

I showed Justin- he was not impressed. But I had more faith in our abilities.

The state of things was bad, first, one drawer was in about 4 pieces, missing the whole bottom. Another drawer was falling apart. The front of the Dresser was missing a few of the rails on the face frame (the horizontal pieces that run between the drawers). And lets be honest it was just plain ugly.

This Saturday we got to work. Justin had a bit more work than he planned. The prior owner had tried to repair the drawer before, with HOT GLUE, so he had to scrap that out. Then re-route a groove for the new bottom, that was a bit thicker. Wood glue, some staples and presto we had a drawer. Then he had to do that again. After that, he replaced the missing rails.

Meanwhile, I sanded. This was not my smartest move. I was outside wearing a mask, but afterward I was like- Oh holy cow! what if there is lead in that paint?! Rest assured though, I researched the manufacturing company, an American based company and the date of the piece was April 1999, so I should be safe- But I promise, I won't do it again!

I did however spray paint, but I contacted the company first about hazards. Then I did it outdoors with gloves, mask and safety glasses.

The spray painting technique I used is actually a favorite. We use a really cheap flat black. Put on two coats til dry (if in a hot area I only wait an hour or so) then with a fine grit sanding block, sand in one direction to burnish the finish, then wipe in the same direction with a wet rag, followed up by a dry rag (all wiping and sanding in the same direction). Repeat painting, sanding and wipe off, then, if needed repeat again. I don't go crazy on the corners, so it doesn't look distressed. But is has a slight shine and a fabulous finish.

We did spend about 16.00 on new handles but I figured it was worth the investment, in a piece that can last our child through the years.

Oh man, aren't those cool handles? We even put it in Etta's room (technically, it is in her closet) But, last night I took my time folding all the wonderful girl clothes that I got from Donelle! THANK YOU- I am so excited for playing dress up!