And the nursery is done! (pretty much, at least)

The rug and slip-cover arrived today so now everything is pretty much done with Emery's nursery. She can come out now!

Here are some pics with comments: (Pictures aren't great so you'll have to come and visit in person once she arrives!)

Overall view of the room

View from the doorway with the name letters I made

I got this lamp from an antique mall and tore the metal birds out of it and replaced them with fabric ones that I made. My dad welded the perches onto the bar and

I got the lampshade from Anthropologie.

View from her crib (what Emery will see when she waits for Mommy and Daddy to come and get her from her crib). I still need something over this shelf. I'm thinking some sort of a mirror. We'll also decorate with pictures once she's born.

Glider chair next to the awesome basket of books from Aunt Kristen and Uncle Scott

Yes, more birds. I had this hook (hard to see in picture) with a bird on it which I thought was perfect to hang on the side of her wardrobe for her bath towels.

The wardrobe that was our office book shelf

(I made the basket liners and the curtain to hide her hang-up clothes.)

Quilt rack I got from antique mall

(I couldn't find it in black so I just painted a brown one)

Birds I made to hang over her crib

So I was gonna reupholster this chair that I got for $45 at the Home Restore, but it turned out WAY harder than I expected and it was gonna cost around $400 to pay someone to do it, so a $70 slip cover made this chair work and a deal! I also framed the prints from a calendar I got from Anthropologie this summer.

Toy basket (not too full yet, but it'll fill up quickly, I'm sure!)

Look at all those books to read!

Awesome needlepoint pillow made by Cameron

Rug from Anthropologie

The Simplest Things Make Such a Difference

...and in this case it was a hose, broom, rake, flowers, and some pine straw.

Take a look at what I did all by myself (and at 9 months pregnant I'd like to add!).

It's definitely not done, but it's a start.

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm finally able to sit in my backyard, which I'm doing right now as I write this. Gonna be a much better summer to be able to relax in the lounge chair in the privacy of my back yard instead of always having to sit on the front porch. The biggest difference, which you may not be able to tell from the pictures, is the pine straw over the dry dirt that was blowing everywhere. We realized we couldn't grow grass with two dogs so pine straw did the trick beautifully and inexpensively, in my opinion. YAY!

Strawberries!

I LOVE summer and one of my favorite things to eat during summer are strawberries! I’ve been on a strawberry, granola, yogurt kick lately and I’m excited to see and taste strawberries that keep getting better and better as we approach strawberry season. One problem I’ve had is keeping them fresh, so I did some research, tested it out, and here’s are the results.

To keep your strawberries fresh try the following:

1. Dampen a dishtowel and lay in a glass dish or a cooking sheet or pan.
2. Toss out any strawberries that have mold already forming because it’ll spread to the other good strawberries.
3. Place the strawberries onto the damp dishtowel where they are not on top of each other and preferable not touching. (Do not wash your strawberries yet!)
4. Cover with the damp dishtowel and place in the fridge until you are ready to eat.
   
5. Wash and enjoy!

I tried this last week with organic strawberries (which usually seem to go bad faster than non-organic) and it worked! They stayed fresh for DAYS! Try and get organic if you can b/c strawberries fall on the “dirty dozen” list of “musts” for organic produce. Now I have "Strawberry Fields Forever" in my head. Anyone else?

Front Yard Make-Over

I’ve been thinking and thinking about simple ideas to make our front yard look better and this weekend with my parents coming in town to help, mission was accomplished! All we did was add shutters to the front window, paint the door, and plant some flowers and shrubs. Very easy and I think it looks A LOT better! Thanks Mom and Dad for your help! And you, too, Elton. Being 9 months pregnant there is no way I could have done this on my own.

Before I forget, two things I learned from these projects:

1) When picking a color for your door, try to match it to something already in the house. At first I picked a random blue and it really looked AWFUL. Then our neighbor suggested matching it to the darker shade of brick and I think it turned out great!

2) Go with a satin finish, rather than a semi-gloss. The semi-gloss is a little too shiny and the satin is a balance between semi-gloss and flat.

Take a look at the before and after pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Now on to the dog-trashed back yard???? Wish me luck!

DIY - Shelf to Wardrobe

I already had black shelves from our office so I decided to use them for Emery's nursery. The big one I figured I could turn into a wardrobe. All I did was take out one of the shelves that was removable and added a bar to go across to hang clothes. Then I took a curtain rod and made a curtain that can open and close in the middle to hide her hanging clothes. After a lot of searching I found baskets that would fit on the shelves and just replaced the (in my opinion) ugly liners with new ones. All I had to do was use the old ones as a pattern for new ones with coordinating fabric for the rest of the nursery.

Here are some pics:

Shelf before

Finished product

Finished product with curtain open

I bought a rod from Home Depot, painted it black, and hung it with screws and wire so there was enough room for the hangers to hang and move around.

Baskets to hold onesies, sleepers, hats, etc.

Other shelf with 2 baskets

Basket before

Basket afterwards - Much better! :)

A Post for my Sister

***If you work, you’ll probably want to stop reading this right now (or you can continue to read, but I know you are going to find this pretty obnoxious.) If you’re a new stay at home mom or wife and not sure what to do with yourself, this blog is for you.

My sister had her first baby the other week and has now spent one week at home and told me she doesn’t really know what to do. Sure she’s been busy with the new baby, but since she can’t continue on with her “working” life, she doesn’t know what people who stay at home do all day. I have to say, the first few weeks of not working were the same way for me. I think this is why a lot of my friends always say, “I could never not work – I’d be so bored.” Sure, at first, but once you get into your routine you find yourself just as busy as a working girl. To help you out, here is how I spend most of my weekdays:

• Wake up
• Make breakfast for my husband and me and pack his lunch while he showers
• Feed the dogs
• Elton then heads off to work and I begin to pick up (make the bed, put dishes away, open all the blinds, sweep, etc.). I like the house to be cleaned before I enjoy my day at home.
• Next, I will sometimes check up on the news, read a few blog posts, write a blog post if I have one in mind (like today) and make my to do list if I haven’t already. I usually make myself a cup of green tea while I do this.
• Begin to tackle my “to do” list.

Sometimes this list consists of making phone calls or appointments, fixing something around this house (e.g.: today I’m going to try and tackle a leaking kitchen sink since it’s going to cost at least $100 if I hire a plumber and I think I can do it myself), running errands – grocery store, Target, Home Depot, etc., organizing a closet or drawer in my house, working on a sewing project – you get the idea.

Other things:

-Every day I make sure I get in at least 30 minutes of cardio workout (right now it’s a long walk each day and a strength class twice a week) and I make sure to walk the dogs and brush them with the Furminator.

-Cooking is another activity I do a lot of since I have the time. For example, I’ll make my granola for breakfast instead of buying the store-bought kind. This way I can control how much sugar goes into it and I think everything tastes so much better when it’s homemade.

If you find yourself getting bored, look around your home and think – “What needs to be organized? What needs to be cleaned?” There are always things to do. I also will have days where I just want to relax. I might look through magazines or blog posts for decorating ideas and watch a movie.

I hope this helps for all you new stay at homers. There is so much you can do with yourself and I promise you will no longer be bored come a week or two! If you have any other ideas, please post away. I’d love to hear them.

Happy Homemaking!

Morning Sewing Project - Nursing Cover

I got a text this morning that my sister was heading into the hospital to give birth to Woodburn. I’ve been putting off making her a nursing wrap so this text finally got me motivated to “get ‘er done.” These past few weeks the projects I’ve thought would be really easy have turned out to take a lot more time, but I was happy to find out this nursing wrap really WAS easy to make (took me only about an 1- 1 ½ hours).

Here’s the link to the website where I found this pattern. The only thing I did different was to add a coordinating fabric to the back. I cut this one inch shorter than the front panel and placed it under my turned edge for the hems to be sewn in. I’m not really sure how those D-rings work and as the women on the website says, the strap is really long, so I just tied it to the rings and figured she can just slip it over her head.

If you want an easy sewing project, this is definitely a good one to try and would make a great gift for anyone you know that's having a baby and planning to breastfeed.

Have a great weekend everyone!