A room for Miller

I had a lot of big plans for last weekend, and then I ended up with even bigger plans, so all my little to-dos (and medium to-do's...and anything other than "have a baby" to-do's) sort of fell by the wayside. None of the tasks on my list were crucial though, and they all of course pale in comparison to the task of welcoming a new human, so even the things that seemed important then didn't matter much anymore.

So there will always be more things to get done around the house, but I'm thankful we managed to make as much progress as we did before Miller's arrival. I had thought he was going to arrive early, so I was forcing some of the nesting process to happen sooner than later. (Dustin was constantly questioning the need to update things like guest room lampshades, and hallway picture frames right now, but I was of the mindset that if we couldn't get it done before the baby, then there would be no way we'd do it after).

One of the questions we got a lot once we announced our pregnancy, was about where all the kids would sleep. We have four bedrooms, so the kids don't actually have to share but I like being able to keep a guest room, and always thought it would be fun to have the girls share (big reveal of their "big girl" room...someday...) so we planned to keep Fin's room as the nursery, and just shuffle everything/everyone around a bit. Typically we don't move our kids into their own room until they're at least around three months old, so we weren't really in any hurry to make the switch, but we did think it would be best to have Fin transition before the baby arrived, so she didn't associate him with getting kicked out of her space.

Enough background...on to the fun part!
Here's the official "before"...(excuse the rough picture quality saved from the original real estate listing)

The previous owners had it set up as a nursery, which was convenient for us. It's maybe not exactly what I would do in the space, but it's neutral, so we decided to work with it rather than spend time and money updating it right now. It's chocolate brown under the chair rail, with a subtle cream stripe above (all one color paint, alternating finish between flat and gloss).

We set it up for Fin using mostly pieces from her old nursery in Pittsburgh (which was a combo with our guest room) mixed with some of Piper's old stuff and curtains from our old master bedroom. It's a little bit of a mish-mash, but it all works together, AND all that reusing and swapping means it was free!

I haven't really done a good job documenting the decorating process in our home through photos so I don't have much to show for its set up previously, but it is featured for a hot second in our last video tour (with bonus footage of almost-naked baby Fin!). Since that video was shot, we made a few updates, mostly hanging some things on the walls, so it was more or less finished. And because it was so neutral, transitioning it to a boy's room was reallllly simple. Basically we did a couple picture frame swaps, and we were done!

Here's where we landed (for now...):

Right now we have Piper's baby quilt in there, but I have dreams of a making a new one for Miller, so hopefully that can happen soon! (I may not be a master, but I've certainly caught the quilting-bug!)

But don't pity our little hand-me-down baby too much, he does have a few new things just for him; including his very own Jelly! (time will tell if they bond as well as Fin and Jelly).

We set up a little nursing/reading nook that, to be honest, is mostly for show. In my experience I end up feeding my babies wherever we are at the time, and book-time with babies and toddlers is more of a crawling on the floor free-for-fall than a relaxing rocker affair. But who cares, because it looks pretty, right?!

One of the new (/vintage) things I'm in love with is this wire tray-turned-picture-frame. Dustin surprised me by having one of our friends paint a custom picture for Miller (depicting him with his sisters). It came with the cutest note from their whole family, and I think it's so cool to have something special from people we love. (For more awesome-ness, check out Megin's etsy shop...these two have more talent than I can even handle). I added Miller's name at the bottom with some vintage blocks we've had since Piper was born.

The frame holds a vintage poster that makes me laugh...I always think of the Ginuwine song (which I will not link to, out of respect to my young son's developing morals). And the wooden teether was a gift from a friend who owns the cutest shop of little handmade lovelies. 

In the corner we removed the closet door, and replaced it with a curtain, to save little fingers from getting smooshed between battling doors. (who puts doors back to back like that? such a maneuverability nightmare!)

The other side of the room is the dresser/changing table, and the gallery wall. We had this all set up for Fin, and just updated a few pieces to be slightly less girly. (I've always thought about painting that buffet- which was a cast-off from a friend, but we've used it in several different rooms, and I've never quite landed on a color for it. So for now...we leave it.)

In place of a couple of frames with sketches of girls, I hung a couple quick DIY's. One is a cardinal, in honor of our first Ohio baby (it's the state bird, for those of you not familiar). The art was done by a co-worker, and I decoupaged it to an old slice of wood I had on hand. I went semi-distressed with it...not sure if I love it, but it's cute for now, and I can always rework it later. (ha...we know that won't happen!)

The other is a pinterest inspired craft using pennies from the year of each of our births (and one from our wedding. Simple. Sweet. 6 cent cost. :)

And that's about it. Thanks for sitting through the virtual tour. It's fun for me to create special little spaces for our family, and it's extra fun to share them!

What little touches have you done in your kids' rooms that you're in love with? Anyone else have to transform a room for use by kids of each gender? I'd love to see or hear about it!

P.S. Check out more of our house posts- new and old- here.

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A mini house for a big sister

One of the tips I've heard for parents who are prepping to bring home baby #2, is to get the older sibling a gift "from the baby". The idea is that then the "big kid" feels special, and thinks the baby might not be so terrible after all. Piper is a little young to understand the concept of gratitude, so I wasn't actually convinced she'd like the baby better if she got a present, but I figured if we could get her something she'd really enjoy, that might take the edge off of all the "no", "wait", and "not right now"s she was going to inevitably have to deal with once the baby came home.
I decided I wanted to get her a dollhouse, and after very little searching, found the perfect one:

This version is a handmade project from the DIY experts at Young House Love. As soon as I saw it, I pretty much fell in love, and immediately set about convincing Dustin to help me make our own.

And I have absolutely no shame in telling you I knocked off in its entirety. Why reinvent the wheel, right?

John and Sherry have detailed instructions on their site...part 1 is how to build, and part 2 is the details. For our effort- Dustin did the building, sanding, painting and caulking, and I did the furniture shopping, art creating, doll procuring, and wallpaper choosing. So after a few weeks of work (it probably only took a few hours in total, but we spread it out over several evenings) and less than $100, we had ourselves our very own doll house. Behold:

Yeah....I'm kind of obsessed with it.

After spending an hour or two placing all the furniture just so and organizing all of the art to my liking, I realized that maaaaaaybe I was getting a little too into this. Remember- we were handing it over to a 19 month old, so some my attention to detail was going to be lost on her. But I had so much fun, it doesn't matter. I tried to keep it as simple as I could, as I quickly found out that you could get in really deep (in time and money!) on recreating a teeny tiny world for these silly pigs. I used YHL's version as my guide, and tried to make something simple and modern to fit in the vibe of Piper's nursery.

Our sources:

• furniture- a vintage lot from ebay (around $30 for all of it)
• "dolls"- Olivia the pig and her family
• rugs- fabric and felt pieces
• mirrors, tiny canvases, "p" letter, and wood for chalkboard- Joann's (all of the art is put up with sticky tack, so it could be changed out later if we/she want to)
• wallpaper, art and floor covering- Dear Lizzy scrapbook paper (and a few plain solid papers)

And while I found YHL's directions almost flawless, I do have a tip for the wallpaper. Put it on the backer before you attach it to the house walls. I followed Sherry's method of cutting templates and decoupaging them to each room, but 1: it took forever, 2: it was hard to get the paper cut to the exact right size and 3: no matter what I did it bubbled and looked like a hot mess.

So after a couple tears (my house is ruined! ruined!!) we ripped off the back and started over. This time we held the backer up to the finished house frame, and traced each room. (hard to see, but you get the idea) Then I cut the paper slightly larger than each room, knowing that the thickness of the walls would cover up any excess. Then I was able to decoupage on a flat surface (use a smooth craft roller vs. a brush for best results), before nailing the backer onto the house. SO much easier. (also- 12x12 paper was large enough for all of the rooms except the top floor. For those I had to seam two pieces together, so I chose patterns that would hide a horizontal line well- geometric designs work much better for this than florals)

  Look at that bump in action!

So that's the scoop, care for the full tour?

Who doesn't want a 3rd floor dining room with vaulted ceilings? (We'll pretend there's an invisible dumbwaiter to bring things up from the kitchen. What modern convenience!)

The nursery...It might be my favorite room. I originally had different paper in the back, but I kept messing it up, and didn't like the way it seamed, so I picked up two honeycomb patterned sheets at Michael's.

Bathroom...my "tile" floor doesn't cover the whole room, but it's just for fun, so I'm not too worried. (the furniture came with that blue piece in the corner, and I don't know what it's supposed to be, so I pretend it's a trashcan...)

 Super manly bedroom, for a super manly daddy pig.

 Brother pig hangs out in the den, watching his chalkboard "TV".

 I pretty much want this living room set to be my size.

 Ok...the kitchen is a little wild...but I've seen crazier things in some 1960's era homes. (and wouldn't this room be cute with a little pretend window above the sink?!)

So after all that work, it was time to present it to Piper (and hope she didn't tear my dream house to bits!) We sneaked it up to her room, and paused for a minute to admire how good it looks with the rest of her decor. I can totally picture a miniature version of her nursery fitting right in with her dollhouse (or a large version of her house, with her nursery inside!)
 

I worried that she wouldn't understand it (she is pretty young still) or wouldn't like it, but I figured worst case we could take it out and save it for later if she wasn't ready. (Or if it wasn't her thing, I suppose I could just keep it for myself....) But those fears evaporated about 2 milliseconds after we brought her in for her Big Sister Surprise...she loved it!

She was absolutely smitten with those piggies, and immediately started playing, putting them in different rooms and examining all the different pieces.

I wasn't sure she grasped the whole "pretend play" thing yet, but boy was I wrong. Pigs were placed in chairs and on beds, and furniture was rearranged to her liking. 

I tried to get her to smile for me, and show me her toys, but she was so into it she refused to turn around!

She played and played until bedtime, ignoring me snapping away in the background. When it was time to put on jammies, she insisted on bringing all of her piggies with her to get changed.

Since then, she's played with it a ton...Her favorite thing to do is tuck the piggies into their beds (she's a little frustrated mommy pig doesn't fit into the crib with the baby...). She insists that they need blankets though, so she takes blankets from her bed and shoves them into each room to keep the pigs warm. (each blanket takes up takes up an entire room, virtually smothering the pigs...but that doesn't seem to concern her.) I think my next step is to cut a few pieces of flannel so they can have some fresh- appropriately sized- linens.

Piper- I'm thrilled you like your gift...You're a good mama to your piggies, and a great sister to the baby. We love you to teeny tiny pieces.

Project Nursery- The Behind The Scenes Footage

So yes, we've been featured in a magazine...But please don't go thinking we're all fancy-like now. No, no. Turns out we're totally average people, who experience some moments of completely bizarre awesomeness.

For some reason, this little nursery has gotten quite a lot of press. We loved creating it (except maybe the wallpaper scraping part), and it's been so much fun to share our work, and see other people fall in love with this little space of ours. But I feel compelled to get all "Show Your Real" about this (like all things, lately) and give you the real story behind the glossy photos.

You see, I always see magazine spreads or blog tours of people's perfect houses, and pristine rooms, and think how wonderful it would be to live like that. All white kitchens with an oversized bowl containing an entire orchard of lemons....Kid's rooms with all the vintage collections placed just so... Bathrooms where the tile gleams and the small bud vase of fresh flowers reflects brilliantly in the flawless mirror...

But now that a little snippet of our home has been posted and published, I realize that these picture perfect moments aren't the full story. Any story or home that we see is just a piece of the whole. And after the photography crew rolls out (or in my case, when I finally allow Dustin to take down the clamp lights and go back to whatever he was doing) life resumes and the photographic perfection is nothing but a snapshot in time.

I love the nursery we created. There are some beautiful elements, successful projects, and inspiring details in this room. But outside of photo-day (and now, a year and a half later) there are also some rough edges, some undone details, some things we'd like to change (and some things we did change).

Because as it tuns out...we don't live in a magazine. Or even in a blog post. But we live in this room, and there is more to its story than some organized still-lifes can capture.

So now, one and a half years (as well as several hundred naps, and over a thousand diaper changes) later...here's a more accurate day-to-day shot of our room: 

See that mess? Looks a little bit like pictures you've seen before....with a big fat layer of life on top.

First addition to our nursery-design-canvas? Toys. Everywhere with the toys. Bears, and dolls, and blocks, and books and who knows what else are constantly strewn about. And as much as I love this rug (and I do still love this rug!) I can also tell you from first hand (and foot!) experience that it hides toys realllllly well. I've stepped on enough blocks and puzzle pieces over the last few months to last me a lifetime. (We actually started covering up the rug with a giant blanket during playtime from the early days. Back then it saved the layers of rags from potential spit-up, and now it serves as a blank canvas to corral all the tiny pieces that would otherwise only be found by my toes.)

We try to rein in the toys with baskets and bins, but somehow, they still find there way back to the floor.

Oh- and the book wall? You might not have noticed (ok...I'd actually be shocked if you noticed), but the color order shown in Parents', wasn't exactly how we have it every day. For the shoot, I switched up the bottom shelf's books from red to yellow. The yellow group is my favorite, so "in real life" it's on the right side of the room so it's visible from the hallway.  The red collection is actually my least favorite (the books themselves are fine, the colors are just a little jarring compared to the rest), so it's usually in the bottom far corner. So when I was asked to photo just that nook, I switched and swapped everything until it looked perfect. I figure it's no different than when MTV Cribs rolls in, and celebs have their assistants rearrange their fridge to make sure all the labels are alphabetized and facing forward....
(and for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Parents' photoshopped out the top row of art in order to fit their headline. No biggie, but it's a sign that in every magazine spread there could be a multitude of sins edited out, or placed just out of frame.)

Related story: The cords. And the humidifier. And the nightlight. All things we definitely use, but didn't want to show "on camera". And full disclosure: the clock doesn't work (never has....it's actually a replacement for the first clock that never worked. After two I just gave up.) Oh- and the lamp doesn't have a bulb in it. The bulb broke at some point (not burned out...broke...I suspect little hands dropped a book on it somehow) and since we never used it, I just never bothered to replace it (or plug it in.)

The opposite side of the room has had its fair share of updates since its Project Nursery hey day. The crib mattress has been lowered and filled with the 3 B's of bedtime (Baby, Blanket and Bla-Bla the Sheep). The crib skirt could use a good ironing, ever since it went through the stomach flu (and associated washings). Under that pile of blankets in the corner is a basket that is supposed to hold the blankets..... And the mobile has been removed since we used this wall for Piper's birthday photobooth.

As for the bookshelf. Pre-baby, it was pristine little display case....And now...it helps keep the junk off of the floor. Once Piper could toddle around, it became a lost cause to have a shelf of off-limits stuff at her eye level. We compromised, and the top shelf is mostly books I'd rather her not touch (like photo albums, my mom's pregnancy journal etc.) and the second shelf is all hers for books, puzzles, and toys.

The bins on the bottom have actually worked out extremely well. For some reason, Piper has never even touched them, so I use them to store the more practical items that we'd rather not stare at every day (outlet covers, daycare paperwork, extra nipple cream....you know...the usual.) And speaking of practical- make way for Diaper Genie. That guy became an utter necessity around the six month mark, so we swapped it in to replace of our old-fashioned Ikea trash pail. If you look closely you can still see the second-hand price sticker on it. Because we're classy like that. (True story- I just removed it last year. Apparently my threshold for that kind of thing is around a year.)

And the famous chalk wall? (I use "famous" loosely...but it has made the rounds a bit on the internet and pinterest). Well....recently, its been in need of some love. I erased it all, (maybe in January?) with the plan to update it with some new art....But I got through one frame before Piper needed some more hands on attention, and I just never got back to it. So it sat for a few months in (Oh, and I took down the bottom embroidery hoop about a year ago, because someone figured out how to get it off the wall and couldn't resist playing with it every time I changed her.)
(Bonus trivia: Did you notice the "P" in place of the ampersand? We had that little beauty for a while but were waiting until she was born for the big name...and initial...reveal)

Oh, and don't forget the changing table itself. I'd like it to be all bright white and pristine, but the reality is it's a poop station. So design goes out the window, in favor of a garish but functional water proof pad. Add a side care of medicines, lotions, and wipes, and throw in a bonus of day old jammies hanging on the door knob, and you've got yourself a real live diaper assembly line.

So there's the story behind the story. It's still a beautiful room. It could maybe even be ready for its closeup again, given a few minutes, a big hamper and a box of Swiffers. But if you were to stop by, trust that it would be in relative shambles- hopefully a sign that we love the stuff that goes on in that room much more than we love the stuff that's in it.

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And real-time update- I finally got it together enough to update her chalk wall last week. We're working on our P's...... (oh- and the "Pony" art will go back in that sketched frame...as soon as I can find the magnets for it. I'm hoping no one ate them by accident.)

And let's be honest...That poodle is pretty busted, no?

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If you're interested, I've compiled all things nursery into one page (you can also check it out by clicking the button on the sidebar.)

Parents: The Magazine

Parents Magazine.

Ever heard of it?

Well, apparently, somehow, through the magic of the internet, they had heard of me. For real- there are not enough italics in the world to make the sheer absurdity of that sentence make sense to me. But- it’s true. I got an email from one of their editors a few months ago, saying they had seen our nursery, and wanted to include it on a story they were doing about incorporating books into kids’ rooms.  I think I died first, and then emailed them back somehow from my heavenly coma. I’d like to say I played it cool, like these opportunities come all the time, but I’m pretty sure I my response was something eloquent like:

WHAT?! YES! SQUEEE…OH EM GEE THAT WOULD BE LIKE, SO TOTES AWESOME, ARE YOU SURE? OH MY GOSH I HAVE TO CALL MY MOM RIGHT NOW, HOLY CRAP, THANK YOU, YES PLEASE AND GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR. GAH- MA’AM! I’M SO SORRY, PLEASE DON’T BACK OUT NOW…I WANT YOU TO LIKE MEEEEEEEEEEEE.

EMOTICONS!!!!!!!!!

It’s possible that my freak out was kept fairly internal, but I for sure used a smiley face at one point. Because that’s what big-wig publishing gurus do, obvs.

But somehow, (italics- somehow!!) they still wanted to work with me, and requested the original picture of the room that they had liked, a quick blurb about who we are, and told me it would run in an upcoming months’ issue. Huge for me, mundane for them…end of story.

Well…somehow (somehow!!) it snowballed from there and I got a follow up email- they’d actually like to use it as the front page of the home section- could I get them a larger picture to work with? Oh- and their readers really love it when kids are featured in the photos, would I mind getting a shot with my daughter in the space too?

Um? Yes! I would be delighted to begin my daughter’s inevitable, and surely wildly successful, modeling career. Also do you need me to work with you as a part time editor, party attendee and first birthday cupcake taste tester? P.s. can we be BFF?!

(Again…I managed to use my inside voice on that, and actually said something to the effect of- Oh sure. No problem! And then rushed to coordinate a bedroom photoshoot complete with two tiny costume changes, a complete restaging of the books, and my mom holding a lamp over her head to get the lighting just right.)

I sent them one-milliondy photo options, apologizing if (IF! Ha!) I had gone overboard, and that was that. A few fact check emails later, they told me it would run in the May issue.

And somehow (?!?!) I managed to keep my big trap shut, just in case this whole thing never came to fruition. But it DID. And I’m pretty excited about it. 

Turn with me...to page 147: 

Aka: the front page of the home section: 

 Tada!

They ended up using a photo without our little reader...And sure, I'm a little bummed her adorable face (and outfits!) won't be seen by the masses, but the shot they picked shows the book wall off the best, so I understand....

I know that to some it might not be a big deal…it’s just one little magazine photo. And it’s completely silly to get too wrapped up something that will end up in people’s recycle bins in a few weeks. But our room, our blog, will be in recycle bins nationwide. I mean…how many people can say that? 

And yes, maybe a teeny part of me wishes that I was that cool girl who was all….

NBD. Just a little magazine photo, and posted a quick- “Delighted to be featured in Parents Magazine this month!” tweet and moved on. But….that’s not me. I’m a spazzy, everything-is-a-big-deal kind of girl that doesn’t get these opportunities all the time, and for sure doesn’t take them lightly. (Oh. And I rarely tweet….)

It’s old hat for big-time bloggers that find their work/photos/stories going viral and cropping up all over, but frankly- I’m still at the stage where if someone repins something of mine, I’m pretty shocked.

This blogging world never ceases to amaze me with how inspiration is shared and connections are formed. I’m beyond grateful for any amount of exposure or success I’ve received through this space (resisting the urge to downplay that statement in some sort of charming, self-deprecating way…though it probably does deserve some sort of disclaimer about what “success” means…). But mostly I’m humbled by how many awesomely talented people there are in the world, and thrilled that somehow (yes, somehow) someone out there thought something I did was kinda cool.

So- I want you to know that if you ever get a similar email, from a company that geeks you out…you have my express permission to go ahead and geek out. And then write a 781 word blog to brag about how awesomely weird your life is sometimes.

Squeee!

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If somehow you found me via the Parents article… I am, in fact, delighted you’re here. Please, feel free to stay awhile. Poke around. Get to know us. I’d love to get to know you too.