Evie's Nursery on Project Nursery (!!)

Happy Saturday everyone!

Evie's nursery is up for Project of the Week right now on Project Nursery! So exciting!

I would love for you to pop over and vote for us! All you have to do is "Like" her nursery, either on the Project Nursery site or on Facebook. You can vote through Monday at noon.

We have some stiff competition with Collin's nursery.. I love those striped curtains and huge map. :)

Thanks so much and tell your friends! :)

Evangeline's Nursery

There's not a lot to say, folks. My baby toddler is 14 months old. 

I've kept you on the hook for this little old nursery for nearly two years. SHEESH.

So. Let's just get to it, shall we? :)

Evie's Nursery:

I really wanted this space to be light and airy.. lots of white and linen and neutral with fun pops of colors like turquoise and coral pink. Nothing overly baby or girly. I just love how it turned out and love spending time in the room with Evie Girl. 

There are a ton of DIY's in the nursery, including the painted stripes on the walls, the dresser/changing table, LOVE art, curtain panels, tissue poufs, Child of God art, ruffled crib skirt, hooks behind the door, printed Paris art, yarn-wrapped E, and spray-painted frames and mirror. I love making/changing things and pouring myself into a project. All of the projects in this room were extra special to me because of who they were for. :)

Some detail shots:

If you want a little background, you can check out some of my nursery progress posts from while I was pregnant. The scary BEFORE pictures are here, with some updates here and here.  I hope you guys love it as much as we do!

Some details/sources:

Crib - Pottery Barn

Rocker/Glider - Pottery Barn

Curtains - DIY/Fabric from Hancock's

Dresser - Craigslist find/ DIY

Rug - Pottery Barn

Floating Shelves - Ikea

Book Shelf - Old piece of mine.. Garden Ridge, maybe??

White Nesting Tables - TJ Maxx

LOVE Art - Reclaimed fence wood/DIY

Child of God Print - DIY

Tissue Poufs - DIY

Lego Airplane - Daddy :)

ABC Canvas - Gordman's (bday gift)

Marble Horse Head Book Ends - Thrifted

Linking Up:

Manic Monday

I know, I know. It's not Monday anymore. And really, yesterday wasn't so manic, but that's what I'm going with.

Miracle of miracles, my child slept until 8:45 yesterday morning. But instead of getting up early and showering, etc, I chose to lay in bed and sleep sleep sleep. I stand behind my decision wholeheartedly.

So I decided I must get myself bathed and ready during her first nap of the day. And then- AND THEN- she proceeded to sleep for more than 2 glorious hours. (!!!!!) This is HUGELY uncommon at our house. My 30-minute napper likes to be awake and social so she doesn't miss one minute of the party.

I took full advantage of the long nap, expecting her to wake up at any second. I'm happy to say I got a lot done. I started dinner in the crockpot (total cooking maven right here) and nearly completed new pillows for our living room. Pat myself on the back, why don't I.

{Are you enjoying my Monday play-by-play? Exciting stuff, I tell you.}

I wanted to add some more color in our living room (read: hubby has requested a color other than NEUTRAL or BLUE). So I grabbed the napkins off my dining room table and got to work.

I've always loved these napkins from Pier 1. Lots of fun colors and a great print. Not easy to find. Twenty minutes later and my pillow covers are ironed and sewn. I was able to finish them up after Evie went to bed last night.

{See, lots of neutral. And I might never quit my love affair with blue. Now I'd like a new couch to go with my pillows..}

After Miss Sleepypants woke up from her nap, we headed to TJ Maxx to return a shirt I bought. If you must know, it was a pink tank top that they only had in a medium. I thought I could make it work, but once I got home and put it on, I realized the neon tent look just wasn't for me. But while we were there I scored these awesome nesting tables for Evie's nursery! I love them.

{At this rate I'm planning to reveal Evie's room in all it's glory when she's about 16.}

So that was my Monday. I feel very productive. How was the start of your week? Was it as exciting as mine??? :)

Nursery 0.5: Dresser

I've been working very hard lately, trying to get all of the last details finished on this baby girl's room! It just seems never ending... but that's clearly my own fault. :)

So a few things to share..

Dresser/Changing Table

We scored this dresser off of Craigslist, oh, about 4 or 5 months ago.. maybe even longer. I knew I could refinish it and make it into what we needed. It just took me a while! It's been finished for a long time, just hadn't made it's blog debut until now!

Before:

After:

I sanded her all down, mixed up my own paint color with paint I had on hand in the garage, then distressed it and used a glaze to get the look I wanted. I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

I switched out the hardware with cheap pulls I found at Hobby Lobby and then spray painted.

I lined the drawers with some grass cloth wallpaper that I found at Goodwill.

$3 for an enormous roll!

My total cost for this dresser re-do was about $65-70. Not bad!

Another sneak peek..

I made these tissue paper poufs to hang above the crib as Tiny Dancer's mobile! I was hoping to incorporate a few more colors, but I looked everywhere trying to find just the right colors.

And by everywhere, I mean I looked all 3 times I was at Target this week.

But I love how they turned out!

Linking to: DIY Show Off

Nursery 0.25: DIY Crib Skirt

Has the suspense been killing you, or what?? This baby has been finished and on the crib for about two weeks now, and I just love seeing it every time I go into the nursery. We did finally get the mattress and a fitted sheet placed as well. Progress!!

So here she blows:

In the beginning (you know.. months and months ago), I started taking a few pictures along the way for a quasi-tutorial, but that idea got scrapped pretty quickly.

Here's the thing folks- I really don't recommend this DIY project to anyone. Especially not anyone currently with child. If you are a real live seamstress with mad skills, go for it. But if you're just an overachiever, like me, my advice is to keep your sanity and your weekends to yourself and just go buy one. Or make one with any other fabric than silk. And ruffles.

My problem is that I have this weird, unfounded, overconfidence in my "project" abilities. I see something, or dream up something in my mind, and figure, sure! I can do that!

HMPH.

Sometimes it works.. sometimes it works after eons have gone by.. and sometimes I'm left with a half completed project that will never see the light of day. It's just how I operate.

But this baby? SUCCESS!!

If you recall, this started as an extra long curtain panel on extreme markdown ($8!!) at Tuesday Morning. And it's pure silk and was pure hell to sew with in the beginning. I think my sewing machine and Jesus finally had mercy on me about halfway through, because things did get a little easier. :)

I used the entire thing. The curtain lining was turned into the ruffle backing (only technical terms here, folks) and another portion of the lining was used as the flat piece that lays under the mattress.

So what do you think?

I only spent a total of 10 bucks with the cost of the curtain panel and thread!

I must say, I am very pleased with how it came out and pretty proud of myself for actually seeing it through to completion.

Now we can just wait for Tiny Dancer to arrive and hope and pray that she doesn't decide to projectile vomit on this gorgeous thing, because that will surely send me over the edge.

Next Up: Crib Bumper

Linking to:
DIY Showoff, Thrifty Decor Chick, Fingerprints on the Fridge

Progress Report.. basically a FAIL

Well, here we are at the end of the long weekend.. hope everyone had lots of fun!

I thought I should check in and let you know how my Weekend of Laboring went.

While I did get a TON done, I'm going to go ahead and give myself a big fat C-, because our guest room looks basically the same as it did on Saturday morning. Oh, lots of stuff got moved around and thrown out and given away.. but somehow new, homeless stuff grew while we were sleeping and the room is total chaos once again. I'll spare you a new photo. Just imagine 2 chandeliers where my old bridesmaid dresses were, and some random workout equipment where a stack of fabrics once sat. SIGH.. Luckily we have no guests needing a room in the near future.

This will teach me to go making promises on the interwebs.

On the bright side, I did get a lot done in the nursery!

As you saw, we got the crib put together and set up, and I did get started on the silk crib skirt. That baby is a whole other post in itself.. let's just say it's taken some serious math skills and has gotten far more involved and tedious than I initially thought. Silk is no joke to work with and this hormonal mama has a limited supply of patience at the moment. But it will be worth it, right??


So here are the only "After" photos I took, since most of the place is still in limbo.


Tiny Dancer's closet

I guess I didn't post a Before of this closet, but I cleaned it out quite a bit and sewed a curtain to hang over the shelf we installed, which is currently hiding (most of) our luggage. Sadly, she doesn't get a whole closet to herself, since I have more college picture albums and high school yearbooks than I know what to do with.


Guest Room Craft Closet

Ta-Da!! While the actual room is in shambles, the guest room closet has been organized! I would love to get more baskets or cute containers, but at the moment all of my extra funds are going to Baby Girl projects and QT donuts, so the random laundry basket and shopping bag will have to do. I'm also planning to sew another curtain to hang over the bottom shelf, like in the other closet.

Whew, I guess that's it! If you want to see more fan-TAS-tic Labor Day organizing, check out my friend Katie's post- she and her sister got to work and have some fun before and after pics, too!

Mucho Progress..

With a foreman like this guy, how could we go wrong?

He translated instructions for us.

See how helpful Duke is?

Isn't it cute??? Go Daddy, go!

:)

I'm dying to get started on the bed skirt, but I think hubby might kill me if I start another project while our house is in total disarray..

Progress...

..is being made!!

Before

After #1

**

Yay!!

We're working on her crib right now, so I'm hoping to post pics of that soon!

**This clean room in no way reflects the rest of our house at the moment..

Weekend of Laboring

No, not that kind of labor!

This weekend, my to-do list is very very full. Ugh.

Next weekend is our first baby shower (yay!), and since I know I'll be coming home with some goodies, I have a goal set to get the nursery completely cleaned out and organized so that we have somewhere to put all the new stuff.

Cause, see... this is what Tiny Dancer's room still looks like...

I know, I know. Sad, isn't it?

Also on my list? To get the guest room in order as well.

Feast your eyes on this:

GAH!

Yes, my mom did, in fact, stay in this room last weekend, and yes, the room did look very similar to this about 20 minutes before she showed up. I'm not proud of it, just stating facts.

Here's why the room is so cluttered:

A few nights ago, we semi-cleared out the closets in both rooms to install a third shelf. (Said shelf is not actually in this picture. Helpful illustration, isn't it?)

Aren't we handy?? The shelves won't be bolted down, so that we can remove them if we need to, like to hang regular people clothes. But since baby girl is so teeny, and the guest room closet doubles as my craft room, these shelves will really help keep things organized.

Got it? Good.

Also, we got the call this afternoon that her crib just came in (yippee!), so we'll pick it up tomorrow and hubby will go to work setting it up. I'm really excited, but as you can see, there is currently no room in the nursery for a crib! Soooo, that means I have lots to do to clear out and organize all that junk that we just can't live without.

Writing this post was my temporary solution to put off the inevitable... guess I better get to work!

Have a great Labor Day!!

Nursery Sneak Peaks

Here are a few sneak peaks of some nursery updates I finished this past weekend..

Curtains have been sewn and are hung! Painting is almost completely done!

And here is a piece of art I made for Tiny Dancer. You might recognize the old fence planks I finally got around to using, ten years later.

I am in LOVE with my handywork on this sign (if I don't pat my own back, who will??), but I'm not sure I like how the pink turned out next to the curtains.. I was too lazy to go to the craft store for the right color, so I mixed some red and white I had on hand. So it may get a little updating down the line. We'll see.

The next big project is refinishing an old dresser we found on Craigslist. It's been sitting in here for a few months now, and I can't wait to breath some new life into it. It's just been so stinkin hot that I'm dreading the sanding I'll have to do outside..

I mean, is it just me, or is a solid month of 100+ degree temps with no rain unacceptable??

Nursery 0.125

Remind me again- who's bright idea was it to paint stripes in the nursery????

Welcome to my workshop/permanent weekend home. If you need me, this is where I'll be. Feel free to send snacks.

Don't let the helpful-looking dog mislead you. He has really been no help whatsoever. What good is having assistant if he can't lift heavy objects or work a paint roller?

Someone's about to get a pink slip with his dinner..

Nursery 0.0

This week I decided it was high time I got to work on the nursery. Now that I have 7.315 oz more energy in my system, I figured I needed to get with it.

First up?

A classic and downright embarrassing BEFORE photo:

This is where things go to die at our house.

Gosh, doesn't it just look inviting and cozy and safe for a wee one?

While I have tons of decorating ideas bouncing around in my head for this room, I've been squarely held up by the fact that it looks like this. I mean, we shove all this junk here for a reason- there's nowhere else to put it!

(Take no offense to the fact that our dog sleeps in this catch-all room. He happens to love it.)

First things first, I really needed to go through everything and organize and toss and donate. But naturally, I decided to shove some stuff to the side and tackle that chair rail first, instead:

That baby had to come down!

I got two walls done all by my lonesome on Memorial Day while the hubby drank beer and partied it up at the pool.

Kidding! He was hard at work on other areas of the house.

I have big plans for moulding and wall treatment in the nursery, but they don't include this chair rail or royal blue walls. If you look closely at the first photo, you can also see that there used to be a border above the the chair rail. That A-B-C, primary color goodness came down the moment we got the keys.

I'm hoping to tackle another wall or two this evening, but no promises. In no way do I try to fight the pregnancy fatigue. If I'm tired, I plop myself right down. Sometimes I feel like a little wind-up toy that's on the last leg of his wind up.. going strong and then out of nowhere, a weird buzzing sound before he deflates to a complete stop.

I was able to do some sorting yesterday, though, so that's progress! I loaded up the car with stuff for the Goodwill and dropped it off before I had the chance to change my mind or let hubby sift through my pile. Out of sight, out of mind!

I'll keep you updated on my progress. I've actually already scored a great fabric I want to incorporate, but I'm not sure I can make it work in the room if the little bean's a boy. So I'm trying to focus on what I can do for now, until we find out exactly what we're having. Only 2 more weeks!

Hope you're having a great weekend!