I’m nearly done painting everything for the nursery, but it seems like I’ve been doing that for some time now. I must finish this weekend!!
January 18, 2008
December 24, 2007
Nursery Updates
We got our first shower gift! How exciting! We asked for the Margo Pack N Play from Graco because it was well reviewed, affordable, and cute! It’s sage green with teal blue accents, and includes a bassinet as well as a changing station. We’re expecting this to be the baby’s temporary home between birth and whenever we put him in his crib.
I set it up all by myself and figured this would be the first in many experiences of “Insert Part A into Slot Z.” We’ve had it inspected by the cats and they seem to approve. I wonder just how much they’ll be in it once the baby arrives? They didn’t seem to want to stay there when we put them in it.
We also cleared out the room and tried to get a feel for how we’ll lay out the furnishings.
The shelves I painted will probably end up acting as a window seat to store books and toys.
We got our crib set! It’s gorgeous and includes a bumper, skirt, quilt and crib sheet. And look at these cool plant stands Dave found that match the pattern so perfectly!
we also got the crib mattress! When we bought the crib from ChildSpace, we got a credit towards the purchase of a mattress. We choose the highly rated Classica II foam mattress by Colgate. With our credit, we got a good deal on it.
Our crib will hopefully be in by February, but I’m still not getting my hopes up.
We got a changing table today for cheap off of Craig’s List.
It’s in really good condition but could use repainting, which means more fun for me. Interestingly enough, the people we bought it from are from Lakewood and Westlake (Ohio), which makes them practically neighbors to Dave’s family. In fact, the guy remembers Dave’s sister from grade school. Why is EVERYBODY from Cleveland?!
Last, but definitely not least, Tyra gave me her glider and ottoman as an early shower gift. It’s gorgeous and matches the room perfectly. I will have pictures to post soon.
All in all, things are coming along pretty well!
December 23, 2007
Living Room – Done!
There was just a little more to do in the living room to be considered officially done. We needed pillows for the chairs, so I picked out some fabulous gold-colored fabric and had them made by Tracy. I also installed some hold-backs for the curtains. I think everything looks really nice! And now it’s officially done! Well, excepting the art for the wall…
December 2, 2007
Our Crib!
Granma has graciously offered to get our crib for us, and we all went out on Black Friday to shop around. We thought we had found the one we wanted, but on a return visit this weekend, we found one we liked better.
And on Saturday we placed the order for our crib! Not sure when it will be here, they quoted 8-12 weeks to arrive. It’s by Baby’s Dream and it’s the stationary Infinity crib. We got it in the Chestnut color, shown below.
November 29, 2007
November 21, 2007
A home for books
Been meaning to post a picture of our new bookcase for a while now.
It’s enormous, and gorgeous, and flawed in subltle ways that only loving craftsmanship can manage. It’s amazingly heavy. It’s got almost an entire shelf dedicated to sci-fi paperback novels. I love it!
We had it handbuilt by a guy named Jon Shriver. I will give you his number if you want him to build a beautiful bookcase of your very own.
November 11, 2007
Project 1: Kitchen Redo – Complete!
We put the final coat on today, then peeled off all the tape, touched up all the trouble spots, and cleaned up. It looks great!!
Project 1: Kitchen Redo – In Progress
As a reminder, there are two parts to the our project in the kitchen: the tile backsplash and some new paint. The subway tile backsplash is in! We selected a paint color – Roast Coffee won.
So now comes the hard part, to paint the walls, and that’s been our task this weekend. Saturday morning we spent prepping the kitchen for painting. Prep is definitely the longest and most tedious part of the project, and we took our time hoping to get every piece of trim, edge and corner just perfect. Then Dave moved the fridge all by himself because he’s awesome, and I did some last minute caulking behind the fridge. After that we draped everything in plastic and then we finally got to painting!
Chocolate vs. Soil vs. Coffee
We had two colors of brown on the walls in the kitchen as test swatches. After careful consideration of the two, I decided that a third color ought to be in the running. Friday night we picked up a quart of Roasted Coffee and added it in between the original swatches, Soul Chocolate and Gardener’s Soil.
The Roast Coffee swatch won. It didn’t have the reddish tint of the Soul Chocolate, it’s a nice, straight-forward brown. But it has more richness and robust feeling than the Gardner’s Soil. Perfect!
November 9, 2007
Brrrrrrr
While Dave was in Taiwan last week, the weather turned cold. I was doing so much work around the house that I didn’t feel the need to turn on the heat. However, when our guests arrived last weekend I decided it was time to kick on the heat, just to be decent hosts. That’s when we discovered the furnace isn’t working.
Dave called WeatherMaster on Monday but couldn’t get an appointment until today. This week, we’ve kept the gas fireplace on to keep it warm overnight, and we’re using a space heater in the bathroom for getting ready in the mornings. And thank goodness we have an electric mattress warmer!!
I hope the furnace guy can fix the problem today!