Tuesday, March 29, 2016
The girls shared room
Like any transition with kids, I thought that putting the girls in the same room would mean less sleep for a while. Instead, we've been getting the same amount of sleep as before (more would be nice, I'm not going to lie) and the transition itself has been super easy(sorry for those of you with the opposite experience!). While our oldest has never been a big sleeper, she seems to want to stay in her room more at night because she has a buddy sharing her room now. And, as much as I would love for them to fall asleep right after we kiss them goodnight, hearing giggles coming from their room is possibly the sweetest thing I've ever heard.
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What has been hard is designing this room! This room seriously has had me stumped for the past month. The small size is probably the biggest obstacle- it feels full with just the crib and the twin bed. Its current status is somewhat of a disaster. The bed and the crib make an "L" shape (due to a little one grabbing books off the shelf and into her crib from the original parallel position), and it just feels awkward. There are navy blackout curtains temporarily strewn up(because sleep). I searched and searched online for shared baby and toddler bedrooms to get inspiration from and there was not a ton out there….at least when it came to tiny rooms. So, here is what I've come up with for their shared room. You will recognize a lot of things from Reese's old room, but I'm bringing in some new color and pattern (maybe another stencil!).
1.Curtains
3. Crib
5. Deer print
6. Eouf bed
7. Paint color- Sherwin Williams "Copen Blue"
Monday, March 14, 2016
Faux Marble Makeover
Finding our Boston apartment was little more than a miracle- we had one day to find it, it was a perfectly located close to Red's work in the city, a decent price (for Boston- it's all relative really), and more square footage than we had hoped to find. Not to mention- it is a super charming home with built in cabinets, beautiful wood floors, and detailed ceilings. One of the only things I wasn't crazy about in the house was the blue countertops. Royal blue to be exact. As renters though, you learn to focus on all the good and then just deal with the bad. Last week, Kirsten from Simply Grove posted about her faux marble countertops (and how they are going strong after a year and a half of use) and I knew I had to try them. This simple DIY cost me around $20, and I can easily remove it when we move. Aside from looking 1000x better, it also brightens up our entire kitchen.
Here is the before picture:
The after:
HUGE difference, right? I still can't believe it. I will say that applying windex to the surface before applying the marble adhesive made the world of difference. So please save yourself the frustration and do that first so as to avoid air bubbles. You can purchase your marble adhesive here.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Favorite DIY's from around the web
I've always approached blogging from the standpoint of "I blog about my life" rather than "I live to blog". Sometimes theres nothing to report, sometimes theres a lot to share…..either way, I don't come up with stuff just to keep a blogging schedule. That would be a creativity killer for me. I think I have a similar approach with DIY projects. I do them as we have a need in our house/my client's house (and I'd like to save a penny) rather than because I just want to come up with something cool to share with you. It's a very natural process for me. Because of that- there are SO MANY awesome DIY projects that I have pinned or found on the web but don't end up doing. So today, I'm sharing some of them with you!
This X-shaped magazine holder:
For those of us crooning over Anthropologie's leather safari chair but can't afford it, this DIY option is perfection:
Love this idea for artwork:
And a couple of my own favorite DIY's to date:
Our dining room straw pendant light:
The wooden hanging clothing rack in Charlie's old nursery:
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
New thoughts on a new space
It's been a week of bliss mixed in with chaos- boxes to the ceiling, our girls sharing a bedroom for the first time, a teething baby, unpacking things we haven't seen in five months, a three year old (with all good intentions) "reorganizing" what I've just put away, our new couch arriving, our new washing machine not fitting into our older house, rearranging furniture, dancing in the kitchen, keeping kids alive…. you get the picture. But through it all, I find myself so completely content and happy to have my little family together again under one roof (our roof!).
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There's new problem solving to be done in this new home, and I am not for one second taking that for granted. Our move to Indiana brought such different design problems- we were coming from a 1000 sq. ft. charming old apartment in upstate NY. Our house in Indiana was almost triple the size, and I was overwhelmed with how to fill up the space (on a budget no less) to make it cozy. Our Indiana house was a newer "cookie cutter" home, and I worried that I wouldn't be able to maintain my minimal-modern-Scandinavian-eclectic style. Well, here I am now, in Boston, with a new set of design challenges, and trying to figure out how to overcome them without going crazy. Last time, I merely blogged about the progress of the house, but this time I thought I would start out sharing the challenges I want to overcome.
2. I have a minimal aesthetic- it makes me feel calm and relaxed with less "stuff" in a room. Practically speaking, I'm concerned about how to get away with it in this house.
3. The girls room is probably the biggest challenge I foresee right now. It's about the size (maybe slightly bigger) of our walk-in closet in Indiana. Granted that closet was huge for storing clothes, but it's tight with a twin bed and a crib, let alone making it a beautiful and cohesive space.
4. The dining room- too small for the dining table we built in Indiana and yet the tulip table (seen below) from our kitchen nook is too small to accommodate guests(theres no space in the kitchen for a table either). I have plans for a DIY that I will share with you soon!
5. We are renting, so that has it's own set of limitations. I also don't want to "buy for the house" if we are only here for a year.
More to come!
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