Kitchen Update

This has really been a long time coming. When we moved into our house five years ago, it definitely wasn't the worst I've ever seen, but it needed some work. At the time, we didn't want to put the money into it to really update it, so we did what was supposed to be a temporary fix. We painted the cabinets and counter tops, replaced the faucet with a fairly cheap but better looking one, added the necessary appliances (microwave and fridge) and gave the walls a bright and cheery update. We are NOT DIY'ers, that is for sure, but we were happy with our minor update and had full intention to do the real thing within a couple of years. Here is what it looked like when we bought it. Not terrible, but not what we wanted.

And here is the progress when we updated it with just some paint.

Like I said above, we are not DIY'ers by any stretch of the imagination, but we were pretty happy with the results for the time being. The painted counter tops were far from durable and I would actually keep a sharpie close by to fix up any nicks. I would have to put a towel under almost anything in order to work on it, so it truly was not as functional as I would've hoped. But like I said, temporary fix. We knew that in order to sell down the road, we'd need to paint the walls as green would likely scare off potential buyers, so we figured now was as good a time as any.

And here is the progress from the past week...

 This little boy was in heaven watching Mr. Josh work with his tools. After asking around, I stumbled across Josh Israel with All Fixed Up Handyman Solutions. He put in the back splash and painted the walls for us and I would recommend him to anyone in the Atlanta area that needs some work done around the house. His customer service and work speak for themselves but he is also an all around nice guy. We were happy to have chosen him and will definitely call him for any future jobs.

New faucet form Home Depot

White ceramic subway tile with white grout

Wall color is Collonade Gray by Sherwin Williams. 

Curtains are Tommy Hilfiger from Homegoods. Honestly, I probably would not have put the yellow canvas art back up on the wall, but it purposely hides a very ugly phone jack. 

Granite is Luna Pearl.

The (almost) finished product. I say almost, because we are having Josh repaint the cabinets for us. The look pretty in pictures, but up close they are pretty scratched up with a lot of visible brush strokes and goopy paint- remember when I said we were not DIY'ers? SO, he's coming back sometime in September to refinish the cabinets.  Anyway, we're pretty happy with the result!

The nursery and pregnancy final stretch

Ok friends, I think the husband and I have finally caught up to the fact that another baby is about to join our family. In the past month, we've sorted through all of our baby gear, installed the car seat, packed our hospital bags, taken our hospital tour, washed and organized the baby clothes, reorganized the guest room and finally made a nursery space (combined guest room) for our new little guy. I'd always envisioned myself taking an entire pregnancy to carefully plan out every detail of a nursery and being done with it way before the third trimester even started so I could sit and reflect in it daily. And really, I was able to do that with Finn's room  complete with Pinterest crafts and plenty of personal touches. This time around, though, we didn't even start on baby boy's room until I was almost 35 weeks so needless to say I was a huge help. But really, Dustin has been the biggest help to get this room ready in such a short amount of time while I waddle around and fold baby clothes. Baby boy is already entering this world as a very much loved, wanted and prayed for child, but a second child nonetheless. Here is a peek inside of baby boy's room.

 We already had the closet doors off from our cloffice project before Finn, so we kept them off to make the room feel bigger. The little blue outfit hanging in the middle was Dustin's when he was born, so that will be baby boy's coming home outfit from the hospital.

The only thing missing is his name hanging on the wall above his crib for which we have the letters, but I left them down for the pictures. We're not really keeping it a secret, but I'd like for it to make it's blog debut when he does.

Shockingly enough, I have remembered to take a few more pictures to document this pregnancy- so here I am in the home stretch- literally.

32 Weeks

Someone is going to miss his "seat"

 34 Weeks

36 Weeks

And for kicks, here is the official "pregnancy list" for what will definitely be the last time.

How far along: 36 weeks
Baby Size: a head of lettuce. ~18 in. & 6 lbs.  
Weight gain: +25 (see food cravings below.)
Maternity clothes: Yes.
Sleep: Negative- thanks to frequent bathroom trips, back pain and a teething toddler. 

Gender: BOY!

Movement: He's running out of room in there, but I still feel plenty of rolls and squirms.

Best moment this week: Checking all of my pre-baby to-do items off my list!
Looking forward to: Meeting this sweet boy and seeing Finn as a big brother
Food cravings: salt and vinegar chips and milk and cookies and most recently grapefruit.
Anything making you queasy or sick:  It doesn't make me sick, but I haven't really been wanting ground beef or burgers.

Labor Signs: nope- baby boy has definitely dropped majorly in the past couple of days and I've been feeling every bit of it.

What I miss: sleep, having energy to keep up with Finn and my back not hurting constantly

Symptoms: lower back pain big time, exhaustion

Nursery: Done!

Belly Button in or out? In- but barely hanging in there
Wedding rings on or off? On- thankful for no swelling anywhere whatsoever- maybe winter is to thank for that?

Mood: Couldn't be happier! 

The Nursery Reveal

Sometimes I love decorating and sometimes it stresses me out. Luckily, this project fell into the former category. All along, I had been planning a gender neutral nursery since we were most likely not going to know if we were going to have a boy or a girl. Once all of my ideas came together for the room, it definitely looked more boy. All of this was before we found out about Finn. I figured that if we ended up with a girl that I would just add girly touches later. Low and behold, it would become the perfect little space for our little man. When we got the phone call that we were getting a baby boy, the nursery was mostly done, but I did add my finishing touches with a new sense of urgency. I loosely followed the theme of "vintage travel", but it mostly just reflects our style. So.. here is Finn's room : )

Wall color is "soft mint" by Benjamin Moore. The curtains are from Target.

I went with a traditional Jenny Lind crib, because I love the timeless style and the room is on the smaller side so a bigger crib would have taken over the room. All of the printables are from various websites I found by googling "free nursery printables".

 I made a no-sew crib skirt using a super easy tutorial from Young House Love and some printed burlap fabric that I bought online at Hancock Fabric.

I made this mobile using an embroidery hoop, some fishing line, glue stick and paint chips that I cut out using a scrap book cutter. The hardest part was smuggling out all of the paint chips from Home Depot. This is a super easy and cheap way to add a pop of color to any room.

The ottoman was a steal of a deal from Walmart at $30. I made the pillow cover with leftover fabric from the crib skirt.

The changing table is also from the Jenny Lind collection.The little red rocking chair was the husband's when he was little.

These prints are actually pages from an Anthropologie calendar. For $24 (or $12 if you wait until Jan or Feb to buy it), you can get a calendar that will provide 12 prints. Add some cheap spray-painted frames and voila!

Above the changing table are four Shel Silverstein poems that I tore out of Where the Sidewalk Ends in some vintage frames that were leftover from our yard sale.

The dresser belonged to Dustin's grandfather when he was a little boy, so that makes it extra special that it's now in Finn's room.

This vintage camera was leftover from our yard sale and I loved it too much to get rid of it. The record is Bambi that we picked up from a used record store in Nashville. The framed sheet music is "Edelweiss " from The Sound of Music which is the song that my dad used to sing to me when I was little.

I absolutely love this license plate alphabet sign that Dustin's aunt brought us from one of my favorite boutique stores in Waco, TX called Spice.

The Micky Mouse clock used to be a part of my grandfather's clock collection and was always my favorite when I was little.

#PreBabyBucketList

If you follow me on Instagram, you've noticed a plethora of random house projects popping up recently. Reason being, I am finally getting to start on the nursery... but in order to do that, we had to complete several other check-list items. No, we don't have a baby yet- but the fact that it could happen any day is sending my nesting into overdrive. You can see for yourself..

Back in June, our master bedroom closet shelves collapsed and we've just now gotten around to fixing it thanks to my crazy busy summer. While I would've loved a California closet from the container store, this is probably the absolute last room in the house where I want to actually spend money. So the obvious solution?

 Yes, the husband braved Ikea with me on a Sunday and also got a much-deserved cinnamon roll. I mean a cart full of miscellaneous Swedish parts just screams easy right? Exactly. Well four days and two trips to Home Depot later, we got our closet. Somewhere in Sweden, I picture a room full of furniture designers laughing together over a bowl of meatballs at the fact that none of their products come with screws or any hardware whatsoever and that leaves Americans scratching their heads at the pamphlet full of numbered pictures they like to call instructions. Nonetheless, our closet is still standing almost two weeks later.

Next on the list was to convert our guest room closet into an office nook which we've affectionately named the Cloffice. This allowed us to move the desk out of our current third bedroom to make room for our baby and everything he or she will most certainly accumulate over the coming months. I'm pretty happy with the result. Are there way cuter options on Pinterest? Of course. Am I happy with the fact that I only spent about $25 on supplies? Absolutely.

Next in line was really something that I've been wanting for several years now and we figured we'd better do it now, because this would be the last thing we'd actually want to spend money on once baby joins the fam. New bedding for our bed. After doing lots of looking online, I've determined that I really just am a Pottery Barn girl at heart. Their style fits me perfectly and you really can't argue with the quality. So I drove down to my local PB (city girl perk) and headed straight to the sale area. Low and behold, I was able to snag this whole set (duvet cover, two standard shams and two euro shams for around $150). By PB standards that's a great deal. Actually it's still on sale on their website here.

Last but not least, our first nursery item came in the mail yesterday. A pouf ottoman from Walmart. Yes, you read that right. These bad boys that are all the rage on Pinterest these days can cost you a pretty penny from various retailers (I'm talking $500 or more), but Walmart has a decent selection ranging in price from $30-$100.  I'm sorry, but unless it's made by leprechauns and filled with gold, it's not worth spending that much for something to put your feet on while rocking a screaming baby. The one we got was $30 and it really is larger than I thought it'd be and seems to be pretty good quality. So here is your first peek into what will be baby O's room. We haven't painted the walls yet, but that is next on this list...