The Nursery

My colors for the nursery are kid of bright, so the wall color was going to have to be more of a neutral and currently I am obsessed with grey. So I got some low VOC paint and a mask and got to work. My parents watched the kids and my husband mowed the yard.

Then the husband got involved and helped me install my peg board organizer above the changing area.

 So I went to the Home Depot and got some organizing baskets for the pegboard and made a place for all my changing nick nacks.

 It makes my life so much easier and I used the spare felt to make flowers to girly it up a bit.

And my inspiration, the chevron quilt I made for my sweety. It's not perfect but it means a lot to me.

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Making A Pom Pom Mobile

So I am addicted to Pinterest, like most women are, and I was obsessed with pinning ideas for Alaya's nursery.  So when trying to come up with an idea for a mobile I came across The Winthrop Chronicles and their Pom Pom Tutorial and knew that this is what I wanted to do for the nursery.

And it took FOREVER!  You have to cut out circles, then fold the circles, then burn yourself with hot glue. I love a hot glue gun, but I'm horrible at burning myself with glue.  I will one day be able to rob a bank and leave no finger prints because I'm very close to burning all of them off.

My original idea way I was going to use yellows and pinks in the room since I had already made a quilt for her (her background in the month by month pictures.) But then I came along some turquoise storage bins at Lowe's and decided to turquoise to my color scheme.

I used a embroidery hoop to hang them from and Shila had some problems with that.

Poor curly headed girl.

So when I finally finished, it looks like this.

I hope you like it.

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Painting a Crib

Okay so around late April or early May, I was freaking out.  This was what my nursery looked like and I was due to have a baby June 22. So i decided to get to work.

My sister gave me her old changing table and crib since I had been planning to redo an old crib, but I couldn't find a yard sale crib set that I liked. This is the before.

Then I pulled out my orbital sander and attacked that thing! I just needed to get the glossy finish off of it since I was planning on painting it.  

I also had some great helpers. Shila spent the time either walking Dottie or trying to talk me into letting her paint.

She usually gets what she wants, I mean look at those chub cheeks. I can't help it sometimes.

I used Valspar's Multi Purpose Primer to make sure the paint sticks. This stuff is thick! Almost like a goo instead of a paint, but that makes it stick great.

This was after one coat with a sponge roller and a brush for the cracks.

Then we took a 4-wheeler break!

And the second coat really covered all the dark spots that might have showed through when we put on the color.

So I started out by painting the pink on with a brush, it was taking forever!!

So I finally got up the nerve to try out the Christmas present my husband had bought me.

So I set up a painter's canvas and some plastic and made myself a spray station. When I first showed my husband this picture, he was so mad at me. I guess my forgetfulness made him think that I sprayed the metal shed pink. I don't know why he'd think I would do something so crazy, I guess because the deck at our old house has white paint drops all over it ;)

I'll post the finished project in my Nursery reveal!

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A Busy Life

So, my plans were to start a blog on all the stuff I love to do, but with a pregnancy and 2 kids, I was exhausted! I managed to do a couple things but never got around to posting them.  In June I was to the point I would just lay around and complain for hours at a time, it was hot and I was tired.  Then on June 18th I was induced and brought an amazing little girl into the world.

Alaya Jolee was born at 7:05 P.M. at 6 pounds 2 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long,

So my time has been spent with a verrryyyy spoiled baby. 

Today she is 3 months and 1 day old, so here are our month by month pictures :)

She's a chunk!

Mason started Kindergarten!

Then after that it's been hectic the last couple weeks! We had the AC unit go out and get replaced, stomach viruses, colds, a friend that passed, and then Shila broke her arm :(

My poor baby girl.

So now I'm taking care of a baby, my little girl with her broken arm, and taking a boy back and forth from school. SOOOOOOOO hopefully I'll be posting projects soon!

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All The Before Pictures

Okay so I've been a little stressed out lately. In my mind my house would be perfectly me instantly, but it's still a 70's house. So I thought I'd spend some time just posting pictures of its 85% awesomeness and then of course its 15% seventies wonderland.  My sister was down today and her love of some of the stuff I hated made me laugh, so I try not to offend anyone with how horrible I think some of the stuff is.

To the upstairs bathroom!

Above you can see the beautiful cabinets and wallpaper in the kid's bathroom upstairs.  The cabinets are well bit but old and dirty.  The wallpaper just brings out a dirty look in the tile.

Ignore the mess, I was messing with wallpaper stripper, yay! Don't you love my bamboo medicine cabinets, I didn't even notice them until after we moved it. In the end the bathroom just feels small and dark with all the dark dirty wood.

 Ahhh the master bath. The sheer number of windows and very busy wallpaper can make one feel a little dizzy, but it has so many good things. A double closet with plenty of room and a double sink with a vanity area in between. Our previous house was a 1 bathroom so the luxury of my own bathroom beats all the cons.

 The master bedroom is a nice size, I still haven't pulled out my measuring tape to get an exact size but you can see that we threw our king size bed in there no problem.  Besides that I haven't even had a chance to hang curtains or get a bed skirt. My husband doesn't seem to mind though. The couple things I'd like to point out:

The headboard is an old door

The nightstands are made of scrap wood

I tried spray painting the lampshades (Fail) 

 This is my Shila's room, I know its just got toys in it.  She shared a room with her brother all her life so she has nothing of her own.  It's a large room that one day both my girls will share.

 Here is my helper, Shila, in Mason's room, well technically their shared room since she sleeps and plays in there.  I made those bunk beds at the old house. They are a little beat up now but they work great. Shila just saw the picture and said "Wow that's my cool bed!" 

 This small room is the nursery, you should be able to tell by the small onsie on the box, besides that I haven't done much.  Now all the rooms boring-ness is starting to overwhelm me. 

 This is where I spend of our time, toys, TV, and computer take up this room not to mention the darkest paneling in the world.  Its also fuzzy and splintery. If I had the cash I would rip it down and put up dry wall like in the rest of the house, but I don't so I won't.  

This is going to be the living/dining/kitchen area for my parents. They will be splitting time between Illinois and here and its cheaper if they just live with me.  

Their kitchenette, I find it so cool that I had to add a close up. It has a stove, sink, and fridge. This saved me before we got our new fridge.

 The parent's bedroom and plenty of room for a queen bed and a dresser. Besides that there is nothing interesting in this room.

 The downstairs bathroom, the tile is grey so I find this bathroom to be my favorite.  There was no mildew stains which I'm still fighting in the kid's bathroom.  Its a good size with a linen closet hidden behind the door.

 The entrance to my house! Its beautiful as long as you don't look directly at the tile, you may get a little dizzy. The dresser is stuck in here until strong men move it for me. This dresser once served as my island in my old house but with a little refinishing it will be BRIGHT PINK and in Shila's room. The picture's on the wall were me just playing with old picture I had. 

 Plenty of storage in this room too.  

 Ahh the empty living room not to mention the never used elliptical since I'm 32 weeks pregnant and too tired to even finish putting up the last things in here. So the workout is not happening until my body is free of carrying a baby in it.

 My once beautiful dining room table. Its been beat and bruised and painted on. Used for anything that involves standing to get something high. Currently a chair is in the living room being used as a computer chair, it is my everything set.

 The kitchen is nice, the cabinets are old and dated but very sturdy and have lots of storage.  They need to be painted on the inside and the pulls are not pretty. Oh can you see me house keys hanging above the wall ovens? Yeah my mom placed those there and didn't tell me. They are out of my line of sight and it took me forever to find them.

 The giant fridge we just bought! I need a large fridge with our future of a family of 5 with 2 live in grandparents. Plenty of counter top space.

My beautiful window with broken pieces, floral wall paper, smeared windows, and the trash bags and boxes from the rest of the house.  I know amazing how I haven't managed to tackle so many things. It seems like my days have gotten shorter.

Well that's it for now. It was late when I took the pictures so I was too scared to venture into the basement. Maybe I'll have more later. 

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About Me

I guess I'm supposed to start a blog with an ABOUT ME. So fun to talk about myself...

Well my name is Jenny and I am a proud stay at home mom of two amazing kids

Mason: 5 years

Shila: 2 years old

Not to mention I am currently 31 weeks pregnant with my third child, Alaya Jolee, who is due June 20th, 2012.  So when my husband, Jonathan, and I found out that we were prego with baby number three, we were a little freaked out because we were stuffed in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house on the river. Its around 900 sq feet and we were already busting at the seams. Still we were planning to live there until we found the perfect house for us and then in January we found it, our dream house! Well I think a dream house would be in perfect condition, so we found it, our REALISTIC dream house! And I had excitement, stress, depression, and every other emotion during closing. My mind was constant, "Can we really afford it? What if something happens? What if it falls apart when we have it?" I'm the worrier, Jonathan is the calm one. So now we are the official owners of a giant beautiful house.

I know, pretty much perfect.

So now comes the super exciting part, I get to start decorating! So I started this blog to keep up with all the updates and crafts I do in the new house to make it more of a home. So one room at a time I plan on redoing and re-inventing things until my house is perfect... well kind of perfect. 

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