Olive's Nursery

I don't have all the pictures of her nursery yet. I know that is what you were expecting. Sorry. I think I will wait until after she arrives and it is more "lived in." Nonetheless, I do have some nursery-prep pictures to share. We have hung Olive's name on the wall and Lucy helped me paint, as I mentioned in a previous post.

Some of the pictures are a little blurry. She wouldn't sit still for a picture and she blinks! I decided just to click and move on...

We had fun; although, it tested Lucy's ears and mommy's patience. Here is the finished product after we got daddy involved to hang it, and used his measuring skills. :)

 

More nursery pictures to come. Although, I wouldn't believe me. I often promise pictures and don't deliver. :{ I'll try really hard this time!

Big Girl Room: Update

Heath painted Lucy's room! :) He did a really, really good job too. I asked a hard challenge of him, by painting two walls white, one wall purple, and one wall teal. Meeting in the corners was difficult; but, he did awesome! :) I wish I had the pictures gathered to show you.

Disappointingly enough, I haven't gathered any of the photos yet. BUT, we did take a few photos on our phones! :) So, here they are - just a sneak peak until I gather more photos and we completely finish the room.

First of all, I gathered the paint samples, the true colors, for you to see. Hopefully the colors are true on my iphone camera (they are the top, darker ones).

Once Heath painted the walls, I started to paint smaller items that I had collected....

(You can see a teal wall in the top of the photo.)

 Like this candle stick that I have no idea what I'm going to do with...but, I thought it would be cute painted.

Or, this large wood frame that I hope to use on the wall in the room.

As you can see, there were some smaller frames that we also painted, and some letters.


 Do you remember in Lucy's nursery, how her name was on the wall?

 

Of course, we had to put her name in her new room too! :) So, we repainted the letters to hang.

Before:

(The picture looks yellowy because of the lighting.)

 

After:

The frame was a fantastic touch! Want to know where we got it? :)

My cousin had her mirror break in her dorm room. So, she was left with just a pink frame. When she asked if I wanted it, I thought, "Sure!" I knew I could do something with it. But, when I framed Lucy's name, it was perfect! :) We didn't have to do anything to the frame either; Heath just hung it! It was already a perfect color!

All I can leave you with now is a shot of the curtain rod we got at Lowe's.

It's pretty cute too! :) It doesn't add a lot to the room; but, it was too cute to pass up.

Hopefully I can show the entire room later this week. Stay tuned!

Laundry Room Renovation

I kind of throw around the term "renovation" wildly. Sorry about that. This renovation included no walls or new counter tops, etc.; but, it was a makeover. So, I'll file it under "renovations."

When we moved into our home, we had an old, hand-me-down washer and dryer. We held our breath every time we turned them on. We just knew they would quit one day. But, we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money on new ones, especially when these still worked! We even had an experience where the washer sensor didn't turn the water off and we flooded our laundry room. Fun times. However, we still waited over a  year to make the change.

 

As you see, the laundry room in our house had to be a last minute thought. It is in a half-bath down stairs and it is a teeny, tiny little room. It doesn't allow much for folding or organizing.  Plus, isn't that border gorgeous? For the 1990s maybe...

So, finally, I let my hubby research and pick out some front loading units. I wanted the huge red ones; but, they weren't too practical for the space we have.

We wanted to save as much space as possible, so we took out the cabinets above the washer and dryer. And, yes, I say "we," because I helped! :)

The room already looked bigger!

Then, Heath spent a morning taking down that awful border. It was wider than usual and shrunk the room even more. Ahhh...more white space!

Then, Heath and my Uncle Matt moved out the old ones.

The walls obviously needed some new paint. We used the same paint color as in the adjoining room.

The change, already, was awesome!

Pinterest had inspired me though. So, we looked for ways to create a sorting area...or something.

We had an old, cheap dresser/armoir thing in the garage that we hadn't yet thrown out.

I took the drawers out of the bottom. And, well, I can't remember what we ended up doing with them.

I want to say we took them apart and kept the particle board - for who knows what?

We bought sorting crates and put four of them inside the dresser. Now, we can sort laundry and then put the crates inside to hide them. That way, laundry doesn't sit out in piles.

This was our end product.

I ended up putting the basket below on top and hiding the Tide and Febreeze. The cabinet allowed for us to put a few cleaning products and puppy treats on a smaller, top shelf inside. It's much bigger than it looks!  I still search for cute, wicker baskets to put below. They have to be very specific dimensions; so, the search continues...

What do you think? Better? You wouldn't believe how much cleaner the room looks. :)

Oh and I did say we a lot; but, I'll be honest. Heath does the laundry in our house. I don't know how or why that came to be. It could be that I'm a lazy slug. Or, he likes "playing" with the new washer and dryer (that I don't even know how to use). Or, he started it one day and it just kind of became a "thing." One way or another, he does it and I am so thankful. :) He is such a wonderful hubby and daddy! We love him for so many reasons; but, laundry is pretty high up there on the list. ;)

Big Girl Room

Another renovation is coming soon to the Lucy Jean house! :) We are in the process of changing our spare bedroom into Lucy's big girl room! I have been slowly collecting things for months now, getting way too excited about organizing and decorating - not to mention all of the ideas I've pinned on Pinterest.com.

Although I don't have any before pictures right now, I will have some soon. I do have some of my completely accurate and to-scale diagrams though! :)

Pretty bland room, right? Well, this is what I hope to do with it:

 

The closet is pretty big and the tall dresser offers five 1.5' x 2' drawers. As of now, that is plenty of room for Lucy's clothes. The book case will be a storage area for additional toys and other girly items. :) And, I am not sure sure about the rug yet, hence the question mark. The room is carpeted; but the carpet is beige and we might need a pop of color!

Speaking of colors, what is the color scheme? Here it is:

These aren't the exact shades; but, they are as close as I can pull up on the computer right now. :{ The main thing I wanted was for them to be darker and not pastel.

The plan is to have two walls white, one wall teal, and one wall dark purple. The pink and green will be accent colors. :) You would be amazed at how popular these colors really are. I am finding stuff all over!

I plan on buying the same bookcase again, that we have in the playroom, from Target.

I will then fill it with a few, cute bins.

Since I am really getting excited, we have already started to purchase things too. Here are just a few of them: 

I got these cute hooks at Kohl's for only $11 each. They will be prefect for Lucy's coats!

 And, we got this lamp at Target for $16. Lucy picked out the pink one. I let her choose between pink, purple and turquoise. I have a girly-girl after all! :)

I've also had my eye on some bedding at Target.com. I originally wanted to get Lucy Tangled bedding; but, it just didn't tie into the colors. I was afraid that it wouldn't look cohesive enough. So, I am thinking about getting this toddler bedding, even though it has some pastel pink on it...

There are still a few other things we need. So, if anyone spots some cute items out there let me know!

• a ceiling fan (white)
• 7 new drawer pulls/handles (one screw hole)
• accent pillows
• an area rug
• picture frames and other decor
• white shelves (for keepsakes - up and out of the way)
• and more that I can't remember right now...

What do you think so far?

Lucy's First Birthday?

That was four months ago? What? Oh, so it was. Well, didn't you wonder what we did for it?

Me, being the awful photo-gatherer that I am, didn't share it all with you. Sorry! Better late than never? Of course.

We had a nice gathering at our house with cake, presents, and chatting. We don't have a lot of friends with children, yet. So, it was more of a child-themed, adult party - minus alcohol. :) Oh well. I will eventually get to make games and fun scavenger hunts!

After reviewing the many themes at Party USA, Heath and I decided on the Princess theme. Lucy is spoiled rotten and well, it seemed kind of fitting!

We didn't get too out of hand with decorations; however, we still managed to spend about $250 on her birthday all together. How did that happen?

Answer: one very large present. Oh yeah...

Here is the main table of cake and goodies - notice the cold, snowy background? Brrr.....

My mom made the wonderful cakes! She did an amazing job!

She used the princess banners with hearts, flowers, and butterflies for inspiration.

And this one, below, was Lucy's personal cake! :)

And, this is the hat that she wore for point two seconds -

We have one picture with her in it and she is snarling...seriously.

Everyone brought the best gifts (lots o' toys!), hence the need for a new playroom. Lucy loved opening gifts.

It's only been 4 months; but, I don't even recognize that little girl anymore!

Everything went as planned, except for Lucy eating the cake. She wanted no part in it. We literally poked it and tried to feed it to her for about 20 minutes, with no avail. Heath even squished her hand in it, which only made her mad. It was so not like on TV...

The ice cream? Well, that, she loved.

It was a wonderful day and we will always remember it fondly! It came and went so quickly. Before I know it, I'll be planning another (birthday that is, not a first - don't get too excited yet)!

The good news about the cake is that at her friend Ty's birthday, in May, she mutilated a chocolate cake - just as it should be done. :) She's learning.

Happy Monday! Hopefully you'll hear more from me this week. Last week I was at a work conference and spent a lot of my day in the car.. (insert super sad, pathetic, tired face here). By the time I got home, I was lucky if I even changed my clothing and got into bed. I hate getting up early... :{ Good information though! :)

Oh, and Happy Late Father's Day to all of you dads out there! I hope it was a good one!

Fail Gate

Ahh...parents, remember those days when your child didn't move? Let your mind take you back...

Remember when they just laid there and could barely even roll over? You could put a play gym over them and get along with your chores/cooking/cleaning/etc. You could walk through door ways without having to step over gates or open and close swinging doors.

This is what our entryway looked like back in those good 'ole days.

But then...

She started rolling, then army crawling, then real crawling, then climbing, then climbing stairs...yipes. We had to do something! And, as you can see, this is an awkward area to block off.

Heath wanted to buy a long baby gate, the kind that screws into the wall. Nope. Not having it. I don't want to screw something into the wall. We'll just have to keep her away from it.

Ha!

We were so sick of going over and saving her from the stairs that we would make games of it.

"If I throw this block and it lands in the toy bin (7 feet away), then you have to go get Lucy. If I miss, I have to go get her."

Just after her first birthday, this is what had happened.

Obviously, this jimmy-rigged, trashy, fail gate wasn't going to work. It would be a temporary fix until Heath got the other one ordered online.

And, then he screwed it to the wall. :{

Again, the lighting is kind of yellowish on my phone. Sorry!

It makes going in and out of our living room kind of a nightmare. However, I have come to the realization that it will probably be there for the next five years or so, through all of our children becoming mobile (three planned, as of now).

Childproofing your home kind of takes all design out - not that those TV trays and dog bowls were adding much to my initial decor.

Here's to five plus years of gated-ness. :(

When we take it out, the room will seem huge! That's a plus I look forward to.

Renovation: Complete!!

We are done! Whew! It took us about 2 months, which isn't too bad. A big thanks to my husband and his family for doing this for us (Ron, Bob, Sam, and Derek)! I am so excited to share the completed room with you!

If you are just now joining us, go check out the Basement to Playroom Transition. Then, check out all of the updates: Renovations.

And, the drum roll please...the photos you have all been waiting for...click on any pictures to make them larger, then hit back.

This is a three photo comparison of one of the walls: the before, the in-progress, and the after. This was the creation of a whole new wall.

Next, is the corner you see when you first walk into the room. Sorry - some of the angles aren't exact. As you can see, we painted that black beam white and finished the ceiling.

Here is the stairway down and my new holiday storage closet! Again, the angles are bad - sorry!

Here is another look toward the stairs.

It seriously doesn't even look like the same room! Here are some more photos of the room:

In case you were wondering what was in all of those storage containers...


Clothes for dress-up and doll clothes

ABC blocks



Small toys



Large toys



Large Legos



Stuffed animals

Here is a closer look at my new framed books, from my dad. Read more about it here.

And, here are more of our books. We have a ton of Golden Books!

And, finally, I will leave you with a picture of my new shelf. I had so many Lucille Ball items. I have collected them for a while now. I used to put them in our spare bedroom; but, that is now my Lucy's nursery. :) So, my collection had been in totes for a couple of years.  Now, they are all up and proudly displayed. I love it!

All the dolls are Lucille Ball dolls, except for the one on the left. That is Lucy's 2010 Holiday Barbie. And, my husband would like me to mention that he has one more bracket to put up on the left side; so, that is why it looks lop-sided.

I tried not to be so girly; but, the flowers and butterflies on the walls pushed me right over the female edge. Oh well. I will worry about making it more neutral when the time comes (if at all).

Lucy loves her new room! She just runs and plays all over. We all love it and are very excited that it is complete!

What do you think?