Nursery Reveal

I know, I know, I've been MIA for nearly a month! First off, Baby L is STILL in my belly. She hasn't made her grand entrance into the world or anything. What happened was Gracie decided she should "clean" mine & Paul's laptops and wound up killing them. She completely burned out the power button on Paul's to where his wouldn't even turn on anymore. On mine she killed my keyboard. I could turn it on but not access anything because I had a password login for mine. So, I was screwed. I took it to a local PC repair guy who my family has used in the past and he got all of my personal files off the hard drive for me (thankfully, that was a-ok!) & put it into my now new laptop. It isn't brand spanking new but it's nearly exactly like my other one and does everything I need to do so I'm happy! Then in the mist of all that, our AC in our house broke and we were without AC for two weeks. This happened right before we left for our Babymoon. The inside of the house got up to 87 degrees nearly everyday, it was awful! Then I ordered an iPhone 4s off eBay and was told it was ready to go and when I got it, it wasn't. It was still locked for my phone provider, so we had to shell out more money to get it unlocked and THAT took another 2 weeks. So, I didn't have AC or a laptop or a phone for parts of June. June was the worst, can I just say that?! Ugh. Anyway, the nursery is DONZO! I'm so excited to share every inch and every detail! Here we go...

Before we start, you can see before photos here and the original plans for this room here.

This is the view as you enter.




As you enter and turn left, you'll find the crib on the stripe wall. I bought the yellow lanterns at a party store back when we had the Gender party and KNEW I'd reuse them for the nursery. I made the pompoms myself and found the art on google.




I'm so in love with how all of it turned out looking after it was all put together. I love that elephant head!


To the left of the crib. I made the alphabet art myself.


To the right of the crib. The top picture is L's first ultrasound images & the art under I made myself, it says her name (revealed! gasp!) and under that I put "Pretty little flower... From the name of the flower, a symbol of purity. She is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities." Then her letter L in bubblegum pink, it actually matches the color of the heart in the alphabet art.


Her crib & bedding.


Her dresser. Top drawer. All organized. Blankets, socks, wipes, pacifiers, lotions, soaps, towels, etcetc.


Middle drawer. Clothes that will fit now and cases of wipes.


Bottom drawer. All diapers. There are actually a lot of clothes that she will grow into underneath all of that. We really made out like bandits at our gender reveal party. I don't think we'll need diapers or wipes for a very very very long time. Under the crib is FULL of diapers in all sizes. We are set!


To the right of her dresser. The rocking elephant Paul found at goodwill LONG before I even started on the nursery. Such a great find! I think we paid 5 bucks? And her diaper holder, full of diapers.


On the opposite side of the room facing the crib is the wall we (my dad & I) built for the washer/dryer. The art above it was made by Gracie, Paul & Jordan.


To the left of that is the window back in the little nook, where I put a trio of laundry baskets. It all fits perfectly!


L's diaper bag that my parents got me. I love it so much! Vera Bradley. It's perfection!


Inside. All ready to go to the hospital. Blankets, take home outfit, beanies and extra onesies, as well as other random goodies tucked away.


That's it! Feel free to ask questions and leave comments! I'm so happy with how everything turned out, it's so beautiful and a perfect little nursery for our new baby girl.

Pre-Nursery Reveal

The nursery is done! Well, for the most part. It's 99% done, to be technical. I still need to order the art and wait for it to get here and then put it in the frames (that are already hung on the wall, waiting!). So, until that gets done (on Wednesday), I thought I'd make a new mood board to show a preview of the nursery before the big reveal. It's fun to see how my ideas, even if they may be large or small have changed since the inspiration board I posted back in January. Since then we found out we were having a girl, when I was so prepared to hear I was having a boy. So because of that news I decided to bite the bullet and add pops of pink to the room. This new mood board doesn't really share all the pops of pink that are in there but when you see the big reveal, you'll see what I mean!



Some things stayed the same, like the paint colors.

1. Wildflower Honey by Behr
2. Silver Screen by Behr

A. IKEA's Gulliver Crib - We decided to go with the Gulliver crib, mostly because when I had Gracie, her crib had solid sides at the headboard and footboard and it was really hard to attach the bumper. Plus I liked the way it looked more than the previous one I picked. The Gulliver crib was also listed on The Bump's 10 Cribs We Love list.

B. RIBBA Frames - Can't wait to fill these frames with the art I'm ordering on Wednesday! The last thing we need to do. :)

C. Brimnes 3 drawer chest by IKEA - I stuck with the same dresser & I'm so glad I did because it's perfect.

D. IKEA'S Hampen Rug - We got two of these. They are bright yellow & I love them!

E. Chevron Bedding by Sweet Jojo Designs - Much cheaper than my original plan and I got way more bang for my buck. It matches perfectly and I couldn't be happier!

F. Cardboard Elephant Head - This was also on the original inspiration board, got it and love it! It's so cute. I can't wait to share how sweet it looks on her wall!

G. Yellow Lanterns and Pink, Gray & White Pom Poms - I knew I wanted to add these when I made the other board but didn't really know how I was going to do it or where I would put them. They ended up going above her crib! Can't wait to share this detail as well in pictures.

H. Yellow Chevron Changing Pad Cover - I ordered this on Etsy but the seller was awful, so I'm not linking them. But this is what I used. It's cute but took forever to get here and cost more than it's fabric was worth.

I. DIY Elephant Baby Mobile - You might remember my mom & I made this. It's above L's changing table and it's still one my favorite things about her room.

J. IKEA's SÖDER Pendant lamp - This is the lamp I chose to hang in her room. It's pretty and simple and works fine.

K. Elephant Rocking Horse - Obviously not something she can use anytime soon. We found this for 5 bucks at Goodwill. It's adorable & I love that it added so much character to her tiny room.

I also got this swing, thanks to my MIL. It matches my theme perfectly & I can't wait to use it. It won't be going in her nursery but it will be able to move around the house with me when I need it too and for the most part will be staying in my bedroom, where she will be sleeping the first few weeks.

So, that's it. I'll share the big reveal in the next couple weeks. Hubs & I are taking a Babymoon, like we did when I was pregnant with Gracie. We are staying local and at a private beach resort but it will be nice to get away for a few days to relax. We only have three weeks till I'm full term and before long we'll have a brand new baby to keep us awake every night! This pregnancy has really flown by but I'm so glad I have my blog to look back at little details I've shared as well as lots of memories to keep. My next post will be the nursery reveal and then Baby L's birth announcement! Get ready!

Can't stop, won't stop

I feel like I haven't stopped going since my last post. Ok I lied. I didn't do anything today except the basics (yanno, sweep, wipe counters, etc) but other than that I haven't stopped doing things in the Nursery or just around the house in general. For the past year or two I've wanted to paint a little cabinet/shelf I got from my grandmother after she passed away. It sat in my living room and then my hallway holding dvd's for years. It stayed boring and beaten up for as long as I can remember. This past weekend I decided to tackle that project head on. I don't know what got into me but I just felt like painting... and sanding and lots of painting. Here he is before, all sad and whatnot...



So dusty and sad. Poor little guy! First I sanded lightly around all of the edges to get all of the pointy parts off. You have to understand this shelf is pretty old so it has had lots of ware and tare over the years. Even the bottom piece of wood that goes across the bottom in the front had fallen off so I had to get new nails and nail it back in place. After that, I painted, giving time to dry between each coat for about 30 - 45 minutes. Then I'd add another coat. Four coats total. Yeah, FOUR. I used Behr's Paint & Primer in Wildflower Honey, actually the same yellow as I used in Baby L's nursery! I loved it that much! Plus hey, free paint! Here she is all happy and pretty! I also moved around decor to add to her beauty and freshened up my front door area in my Living Room. :)



Since then, Paul, Gracie & I headed to IKEA to buy furniture for Baby L's nursery. We picked up her crib, dresser, picture frames, crib mattress & a drawer organizer. I've now crossed off 6 things of my 31 thing to do list. We have SO MUCH stuff to get still. I feel like I'm falling behind. Anyway, we got the crib built as well as the dresser. We moved the crib into the room and with our luck, it was too wide! Which kind blew my mind because, when we measured the room it was perfect for the dimensions of the crib. I told you, this room is tiny! So, we gotta be EXACT. After huffing and puffing and trying to figure out what the issue was, it hit me that the crib didn't fit because we always measured the room WITHOUT the floor molding in mind. I called my parents in a panic and explained the situation. My dad came over a day or so later and worked his magic and removed parts of the molding so the crib would now fit. Yay, now it fits! So, after we got everything in place, I got to work putting the bedding together (after washing & ironing it, of course) and then started to put away all of the clothes we've gotten so far. It felt good to start getting things done in there.

This past week Gracie made her art for Baby L's nursery. It turned out so cute. The image you see is just a sneak peak. She added a couple more things to it since I took that picture. She is so excited to see her baby sister and to be a big sister! I think she's really going to be great at it. Speaking of seeing Baby L, I scheduled my 3D/4D ultrasound for this coming Thursday. I can't wait to see a good look at her face and see how she's growing. Because I can sure feel her. Her kicks are so violent at times! I swear there is a little ninja in my belly taking me as it's hostage! Paul's eyes got so big one night when he felt her kick because of how strong and hard it was. It was pretty fantastic to see! I also went to my last monthly ob/gyn appointment on Friday. I'm now going to bi-weekly appointments & in my third trimester! Time is really flying by. My doctor said he thinks she might come early, as in anytime around 36-38 weeks. Which of course made me think, 'OH CRAP, I HAVE EVEN LESS TIME TO GET EVERYTHING FOR HER DONE!' so, it's now crunch time. Time is flying & before you know it, Baby L will be here!

Nursery Inspiration Board

I was going to add more stuff to my inspiration board for the baby's room but I didn't feel like it. I figured I could just link to extra stuff that isn't in the image below. Ok, let's get started on where I'm getting everything and what I'm doing...



1. Wildflower Honey by Behr
2. Silver Screen by Behr

Both colors will be used on the main wall as stripes. Then the rest of the walls will be in the Silver Screen. You can view both colors on Behr's website by clicking Find Your Color in the drop down menu and simply entering the names, if you wanted.

A. Sunvik Crib by IKEA - $119.00
I really wanted a simple white crib. Really, all white furniture and obviously from IKEA. Last time around when we had Gracie, my parents got us the crib but it was several hundred dollars and she used it for about 2 years and then she was out of it and I just think spending that much money is such a waste when they aren't in for that long anyway. It does eventually convert to a full size bed, but only the headboard is needed, everything else just ends up in the trash. So, to me it's just not worth it. She's been in a twin sized bed since she was 2 1/2.

B. Brimnes 3 drawer chest by IKEA - $99.00
I definitely wanted a dresser that I could use later in life as baby grows and this works just fine. Plus I also wanted to be able to put a changing pad on the dresser and avoid having to use a changing table since there isn't any room for said changing table. This works perfectly.

C. Accent Slipper Chair / Gray Chevron by Target - $110.00
This is the one thing that I'm unsure about. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this chair but when it comes time to breastfeed I know I'll want a chair with arms. I'll want to be as comfortable as possible. The price is great and I love the pattern and the style. Anyone know someone who adds arms to chairs? Wishful thinking. I'm going to be on the hunt for the perfect chair matched with the perfect price so hopefully I can find something like this but WITH arms. Sigh.

D. Custom Made Crib Bedding by Wise Fingers @ Etsy - $265.00
This is where I'm going to splurge a little. I fell in love with the custom bedding idea a long time ago even before I was pregnant. It's the one thing I want to spend money on and damn it, I'm going to! The patterns in the image above are what I'm shooting for, in which order for which pieces I'm unsure about at this point. I'll be getting the crib sheet, crib skirt and crib bumper. Loves it!

E. Cardboard Elephant head - $13.00
It's pretty well known if you've been reading my blog for awhile or know me at all that I'm a tad obsessed with Elephants. When I found these Elephant cardboard heads I think I squealed. It's that serious. They come in a few different sizes. I'm going with the smallest one, which is 6w x 6h x 6d. It's perfect for our tiny little baby's room. I'm in love!

F. Nursery Art by WiseOwl Prints & DaphneGraphics
These are just a couple of the art pieces from Etsy that I'm currently hoping to get. I have a bunch of other free printables with elephants already saved to my computer.

G. Chevron Elephant Pillow - $20.99
More Elephants. No surprises there! When I saw this pillow I instantly fell in love and knew it was the one. Isn't it so cute?

Other things I want to add not in the inspiration board: Elephant Crib Quilt, Yellow Chevron Valence, Elephant Mobile, Diaper Caddy, Expedition Travel System - Merlin.

That's it for now. Feel free to check everything out and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading. :)

Little improvements

I know, I've been totally slacking lately with the updates. Sorry! Huge sorry! I guess time just gets away from me. What are ya gonna do? Yanno? It happens.

Warning: Before viewing the pictures below, be aware that I still don't have access to a good working camera. These were taken with my Nokia. View at your own risk. haha ;P

Anyway, enough excuses. I've been pretty busy around here doing things here and there. I recently took down the big ugly fluorescent light that was in between my kitchen & living room. I had been asking Paul to do it since.. I don't know, February to take it down but you know if you want something done right, you might as well just do it yourself. So after months of looking at it, I finally just got it done.

Before... (from when it was Easter time)


And after... from the kitchen side.


& the living room side.


So much better.

We also took a trip to Ikea last week to pick up the dishes I have been impatiently waiting for. I also picked up these Vivan curtains for the front window since we needed something a little more private. If you stand at end of our driveway and look at the front window at night, you could see right in & that is a problem, until now! These curtains are a tad bit thicker & worked perfectly on the privacy issue. I got gray of course, they match my walls perfectly!



I took this picture at night, so it's super dark, but during the day they make the room much darker which is really good for summer because it is hot as hell outside! Keeps the room much cooler.



So you can see how they are hung... behind the pretty sheer curtains. So from the outside, you only see gray, which is fine with me.



My mom and I are going to hem them so that they reach just below the window. I only want the pretty blue & white curtains to be long and flowing. I'm sure months will go by before we actually get this done tho. lol.

Back to the kitchen for a moment. These are the dishes I got. White. Simple. Perfect.



And here they are all cleaned & put away... at the top you can see yellow bowls. I got those two for $1.99 at Ikea. I mean COME ON. I heart Ikea.

I also got yellow place mats for the kitchen table. I love pops of yellow in a room! These were .99 a piece I believe. I'm going to be painting the table black, top of it in chalkboard paint & the bench I'm gonna do a chevron print on. I'm excited to get started on this project VERY soon!



I've also been holding on to these E. A. T. letters since February. Well, I finally got on this project too.



I painted them yellow too! See a trend going here?



Then I picked a place in the kitchen to hang them. Hello lonely wall!



Goodbye lonely wall! Hello happy yellow letters! :)



And a wide shot of everything.



Overall I'm happy about the little improvements made in the last week or so. Doing little things really does make a big impact. I hope to share the finished kitchen within the new month or so. This kitchen redo has taken a lot longer than I'd planned but isn't that always the way it goes? Until next time! <3

Living Room boom

I've been one busy bee this past week and weekend. Yesterday we went and bought alllll of the new furniture for the living room/dining room area from IKEA. I had so much fun going around picking out everything and having Paul write it all down & then hunting it all down in the warehouse. I also painted an old boring wood cabinet that held all of our wedding goodies and things and omg what a transformation! I can't wait for everything to be painted & put together so I can take pictures of everything & share it with all of you!

If you notice I added a 'rate this post' part at the bottom of my posts so all you lazy daisys who don't like to comment can still put your two cents in by clicking one of the boxes. ;)

I'll be back next week with pictures & a total room update. Until then, stay tuned!

rude people

Today started off pretty good. We slept in, since the kids spend the weekends with their grandmothers (Gracie with my mom & Jordan with his birth mother's mom). We got up, went thrifting & then out for brunch. Paul had to find a pair of dress shoes because tonight he has a work dinner at some fancy smancy steak restaurant with his co-workers. He actually wound up finding a pretty nice pair, and only for about 8 bucks, regularly $50.

After that we headed out to get food. I'm wearing a Yankees t today. When we opened the door to the restaurant, some older lady gives me a dirty look and goes, 'ugh, Yankees.' I yelled back, 'yeah, I'm from Jersey.' She gave me a nasty look and another, 'ugh.' and walked out. What is it with people? Just because you don't like my team doesn't make it right for you to shit talk me for no god damn reason. After she left I had a million witty come backs I wanted to say to her, for example, 'ugh. your face.' But alas, isn't that how it always is? You always think of something clever to say after the fact?! Idiots.

Paul left about 20 minutes ago for his work dinner, so now Gracie & I are in the backyard. She's digging in dirt and well, I'm updating.



Next weekend we're planning a big family trip to the Zoo and Aquarium. Saturday is the Zoo trip and Sunday is the Aquarium. The kids & I will be hitting up the Zoo without Paul since he has to work. Sunday after the Aquarium we're gonna stop by Ikea for some goodies for the mama, because damn it I need some retail therapy! The main reason for our Ikea trip is to find out how much it's gonna cost to have our new sofa delivered. I'm hoping it's not an arm and a leg. I need my limbs. ;P

Bathroom goodies.

I never got to share all of the awesome bathroom goodies we picked up when we went to Ikea last week. Here is a run down of everything we got...

~ Orange trash can
~ Two orange bins (tooth brush holder, etc)
~ Two orange towels
~ Two teal towels
~ One lilac towel
~ One white wash cloth
~ Shower Curtain
~ Teal bath mat

I decided to not start the bathroom project until after Thanksgiving. I might start tackling a few bathroom to-do's this week tho since I'll have a little extra time to myself, with the kids being off school & my oldest being away with Grandma for the week. We shall see! Fingers crossed. ha!

Hope everyone has a great week & a Happy Thanksgiving!

hi ho hi ho, off to ikea we go!

Today we made our way to Ikea to pick up the bathroom goodies I mentioned in my last post. I was actually right on the money on how much we'd spend (on our first trip... hehe!) & I got everything I needed. I have to go back & pickup more towels, a new shower rod (to hang the curtain), a new mirror & cabinet for over the toilet & maaaybe a few more decorations and/or frames/art. But, this first trip was a success, so that's all I care about! Everything will fall into place in time.

I also finally picked out which paint colors I'm going to use. I chose Behr Premium Plus | Tangerine Dream & Jamaican Sea from Home Depot. I don't think images do the colors justice, because they are a tad brighter looking in person & just so beautiful! They really pop & stand out. Here is a couple of images I found on google of these two colors on walls.




Preeetty, riight? Love them! It really was love at first sight, no doubt about it. I knew right away when I spotted these that they were the ones meant for my bathroom walls. I also decided on this design for how I'm going to paint the bathroom. The Tangerine Dream will be on the top (ceiling, top of the wall) and then the Jamaican Sea will be the second half, the bead board will be white, as well as all the trim.

Tomorrow I'm going to start ripping all of the tiles off the walls, more on that here. Then hopefully next week I'll be able to go pickup the paint, molding & bead board, as well as other little random things we need to DIY.

BTW, as you can tell my obsession for all things orange & teal has taken over my blog. I had to change my layout to reflect my mood & love for these amazing colors! I also Pinned some of my favorite orange & teal design combos on Pinterest! Check it out! Hope you all have a great week!

Bathroom oops!

Back in the Spring, in the mist of designing my bedroom remodel I, on a whim decided I should also revamp the bathroom, the main bathroom in the house, mostly used by my kids. I stepped out of my element & decided to paint the bathroom in a Mickey Mouse theme, that both of my kids would love... except I wound up not loving it so much. I painted the walls with three stripes, one black (whaaat?!), one white & one in bright red (another whaaaat?! moment). At the time I thought oh man, this is going to look amazing! Everyone will bow at my Mickey Mouse bathroom talents! Yeaaah, not so much. I got all of the bathroom goodies (bath mat, shower curtain, towels, etc) at Target.




See what I mean? Not good. I'll be taking down all of those wall tiles, which will be replaced by bead board & molding. More on that in a second.

After I painted I lost interest FAST! My original plan was to draw a big mickey head on the main wall, the wall you face while using the toilet. Because really, everyone should be looking at Mickey Mouse when peeing, right? WRONG. Bad idea. I subconsciously must of agreed with that because I never wound up doing anything other than paint stripes. Didn't even add one Mickey picture to the walls. I was just so disgusted with the whole idea that I pretty much gave up on that bathroom & walked away from it. Every time I take a shower in there, I curse it. It just doesn't suit me at all!

In the past couple weeks, I went back to that bathroom with some new ideas, thanks of course to the almighty Pinterest & IKEA!

Here are a few of my ideas, that the hubs & I will be working on in the next week... as well as my handyman, aka my dad. Ha!

This is the decor I'll be putting in there, from the amazing Ikea!




Everything else, I'll have to go to Ikea to pick out because I'm really picky & like to see things in person before making a judgement call.

I'm really excited to get this project underway & to be able to share it here. Are you planning on redoing a room in your house? Where do you get your ideas from?