The House on the Hill Blog

Week 7! Do you know what that means? It’s reveal daaaaaaaay!

That’s right, the end is here and I just know you’re all on the edge of your seats waiting for the answer to that one burning question: “Did they do it?”

Yes.

We.

Did.

How cute is that flamingo on the door? Our sweet neighbor got that for us and we love it. Thanks again, Jan!

This is probably my longest post in a long time or maybe even ever but this is also my favorite room/project that we’ve done so sorry not sorry.

We were really down to the wire on this one and finished up last night way past my bedtime. Don’t worry, my bedtime is 9 so it’s not like we were burning the midnight oil but we were working later than I had planned on. And when I say “we” were working on it I mostly mean Kyle. It was worth it though because now the nursery is pretty much done and I’m fully planning on changing into my pajamas as soon as I get home tonight and devoting all of my time and attention to the couch and the tv. Ditto for this weekend.

Anywho.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane all the way back to the year 2013 when we moved in to this weirdly built, poorly “updated” home that we love so much. This room immediately became one of the designated junk rooms and it stayed that way for the next couple of years:

And then we cleaned it up, slapped on some of my favorite paint (Benjamin Moore Hale Navy), and called it a craft room. It eventually became a guest room but I failed at documenting that cycle of its life.

Fast forward to just before this round of the ORC started when we were getting ready to overhaul the room to make way for our new addition and I thought, “Oh, the ORC starts next week? What perfect timing! It’s fate! Let’s participate!” I was young. I was naive. I forgot about all of the nights and weekends we weren’t going to be around to tackle a project in six (later became seven) weeks.

We had a little bit of a head start because we had just ripped out the carpet and baseboards but we still had quite a long list to accomplish. Six weeks really isn’t a long time in the DIY home improvement world and especially for people who typically drag out a project for several months or years (spoiler alert: I’m talking about us) but we somehow managed to pull it off.

The biggest projects were the floors, baseboards, door and window casings, and swapping out the old fan for a new one with a light kit. These things made it an entirely new room and everything else was really just a bonus.

Not a true before but the best I have:

 

The dresser turned out pretty much exactly like we wanted (we’re still on the hunt for drawer pulls) and I love those flamingo prints. The seller actually sent us 3 prints on canvas on top of the 3 poster prints which we want to hang but we nixed our idea of building custom frames and decided to wait until we can get the canvases stretched properly so we trimmed down the poster prints and used IKEA frames.

I still need to figure out how to organize all of the drawers but check out these liners. All of the heart eye emojis for these guys:

I’m actually still waiting on the rest of the paper I need to finish lining the drawers so between that and the missing hardware, the dresser is about 98% finished but luckily we should still have about 8 weeks before we expect this little girl and the paper should be here tonight.

I’m pretty much obsessed with this ultrasound print (yes, it is actually one of our ultrasounds). I’ll have a full source list at the bottom of the post but this is from an Etsy shop called babyblueprint. They were so wonderful to work with and I think it’s a really neat alternative to framing a traditional u/s photo. Big thanks to Chris Loves Julia which is where I heard about them to begin with and also where I got the source for the block frame I used.

And in case you’re wondering,  I had a basket of diapers and wipes on the dresser but decided to start out with them in the top dresser drawer just to keep the top of the dresser cleaned off a little. I’m sure I’ll probably end up changing my mind when I have to actually change a diaper at 2am but that will be an easy fix.

The nursing corner might be my favorite spot in the room. My mom saw that flamingo pillow on HGTV so she tracked it down and sent it to us and I think it’s adorable!

We debated putting the glider by the crib or the crib on this side of the room but I really like where we ended up. Now I have a big window I can look out of during the hours I’ll surely spend in the chair while keeping the crib on the darker side of the room.

I’m really glad I ended up with this pouf instead of the pink footstool I debated getting. This corner has a lot of pink and I think the natural tone and texture of the pouf really helps to break it up. It’s firm enough that I can use it as a little side table and light enough to where I can easily move it over if I want to prop my feet up without using the recliner function.

And that rug! You guys, it’s machine washable. Did you hear me? MACHINE WASHABLE. You just throw the whole thing in the washer and bada boom, clean rug! I hesitated to buy it but I’m really glad I did. I think the color is perfect and I love the sweetness of the alphabet around the edge and I don’t even care that it cost me almost half of my decorating budget for the entire room.

This is what the other side of the room looked like before. So pretty:

And here it is now:

We built the book ledges and right now they’re loaded down because I have a hard time choosing. Most of the books on here are for older kids so we’ll probably switch them out for all of the board books and younger books we plan on stocking up on with our registry completion discount.

If that sign above the books looks familiar, it’s because it lived a previous life as the Taco Bar sign we made for the baby shower I hosted for my work wife. The gold letters are peel and stick so I just peeled off the old letters and used new ones to make a name sign. I debated hand painting letters but LOL no.

Fun fact: The bear in the basket was mine when I was a little girl.

I debated adding shelves to the left of the crib but I really didn’t want to weigh down this corner of the room too much and I didn’t feel like we needed more shelving so I framed some Rifle Paper Co. cards instead to bring in some floral for the “floral flamingo” theme we have going on.

The crib is one of my favorite pieces in the room and I get a kick out of the flamingo bust hanging above. Kyle had to kind of talk me into that purchase but I’m glad he did because I love how it looks in the room!

We installed these shelves last night and there was a while where I didn’t think they were actually going to go up. We had to re-position them to hit studs because the dry wall anchors we had didn’t really work with the screws we had and it was just basically one more battle that had to be fought before we could call it a night. The shelves used to live in the closet but we took them out to make room for hanging storage.

Kyle bought me those books for Christmas one year (or my birthday? Hmmm, I can’t actually remember) and I loved that Rifle Paper Co paper I used in the drawers so much that I decided I wanted to be able to see it in the room, too so I just tossed a scrap piece in a frame we had lying around. We picked up that little pineapple in Haiti last year and the owl is a white noise machine we got from one of Kyle’s co-workers. The baskets are there as a catch all but right now one is empty. The other holds teethers and pacifiers and I’m sure that will all evolve as we figure out how we need the room to work once we have an actual baby to take care of.

Rounding out the room we have the closet.

I’d love to upgrade to a custom closet system eventually but for now we just took out the shelves and hung a rod and moved our cedar chest in for extra storage. The cedar chest has been mine since I was little and it fits perfectly in the closet in here.

We picked up this print to hang between the door and the closet. We saw it in Hobby Lobby and although we don’t buy a ton of HL artwork, we liked the message and it matched the room so one 40% off coupon later it was ours.

One more time for you guys in the back:

 

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I do still need a rug for the crib side of the room but I’m being cheap and holding out to see if there are any good Black Friday deals so for now we’ll just look at the pretty new floors.

That’s a wrap on the Fall 2017 ORC! Check out all of the other guest designer reveals right here.

Source list:

Diaper Pail/Changing Pad/Changing Pad Cover/Lamp/Ultrasound Print/Acrylic Block Frame/Flamingo Prints/Glider/Flamingo Pillow/Pouf/Rug/Drawer Liners/Floral Prints/Crib/Crib Sheet/Floral Baby Blanket/Flamingo Bust/Stuffed Flamingo/Floors/Closet Doors/Ceiling Fan

Week 6! This would typically be the big reveal but thankfully we have an extra week this time and that’s good because we need it. Between Kyle’s work trip last week and our weekend mountain trip we weren’t able to work on the room a ton but we did make some progress!

Here was the list I wanted to get done this week:

-Finish all trim work
-Refinish dresser
-Build frames
-Hang other closet door
-Paint closet doors
-Hang art
-Buy lumber for book ledges
-Build book ledges (time permitting)

You guys, I have a funny story about the trim work. Technically, everything but the new closet trim is done. Technically. And yet, it’s not really. I’m pretty sure pregnancy brain might be contagious and here’s my proof. Kyle was in charge of caulking the new trim and he has done it at least 3 times but it never looked any different to me. So finally the other night when there were still visible gaps in the corners of the baseboard I said “Are you sure it’s white caulk?” Turns out he accidentally bought clear caulk which made me laugh and laugh and laugh but I don’t think he found it nearly as funny. So now we need to buy white caulk so we can actually finish off the trim.

Kyle made major progress on the dresser and we may even be finished but we need to look at the drawers compared to the rest of the dresser. It only took one coat of Polyshades to darken up the drawers and cabinet doors and they looked pretty close to the three coats we did on the rest of the dresser but we need to look again when there’s better light in the room to make that final decision. If we decide we’re good with the one coat we can almost officially mark the dresser of the list!

I say almost because I’m still working on the drawer liners and figure out drawer pulls. I’ve replaced 5 of 6 of the small drawers but I ran out of paper and still have one small drawer and the three large drawers left. The good news is I finally remembered to order the paper but the bad news is it’s not expected to get here until the 15th which is the day before the reveal. At least the drawers are hidden so it doesn’t really matter!

Here’s a shot of the existing liner (white and blue) vs the new Rifle Paper Co liners I put in. I love this paper so much. So. Many. Heart. Eyes.

We didn’t finish most of the list but we did accomplish a few things. We got the track for the 2nd closet door installed and ready. It will be this weekend before I can get the door painted but that should only take a day and then we can just pop it in.

We also hung the two book ledges that were ready to go and the name sign we made which I’m not going to show until the reveal.

OH! My pouf came back in stock and shipped super quick so I put it in the room last night and I definitely made the right choice between it and the pink footstool I was looking at.

We also only have one more frame to glue up and then they all need to be  painted before we can add the canvas prints and hang them up.

We’re planning on going to Home Depot tonight to buy the rest of the materials we need and then this weekend I’ll probably have to make a trip out to buy the rest of what I need for the room to function (like the changing pad!). Here’s our list going into the final week. CAN WE DO IT? The answer is an emphatic “Maybe!”

-Finish all trim work
-Refinish dresser? This may already be done. We’ll find out when we look at how the Polyshades dried.
-Build frames
-Hang other closet door
-Paint closet door
-Hang art
-Buy lumber for book ledges
-Build book ledges
-Clean out closet
-Reconfigure closet
-Add shelves on crib wall?
-Finish decorating!

As always, don’t forget to check out what the other guest participants are up to right here.

Y’all, I am so glad we’re going to get another week for this challenge because things are dragging right now. I swear it’s been so hard to get anything done and I’m starting to worry we aren’t going to finish since the next two weekends probably won’t leave us with much time to work. It will be mostly done though and still a huge improvement and really as long as it’s pretty much done before the baby gets here that’s all that really matters!

We haven’t made a ton of progress since last week so I figured it might be best to just go point by point from the to-do list I originally laid out for this week:

Finish all trim work
Status: In progress.

We have a little bit more caulking to do on the trim that’s already been installed and we still need to buy and install the trim for the closet.

Refinish dresser
Status: In progress.

Not finished but we did make progress! Turns out multiple coats of Polyshades was the answer to our problems. The dresser is a little darker now than what we had planned on originally but we both agreed we’d rather it be a shade too dark than too light. Kyle still needs to do the drawers and doors but the body of the dresser is done and looking all sorts of gorgeous. You can see the original color on the cabinet doors on the floor in the background for comparison.

Build frames
Status: In progress.

We have one of three frames built but it still needs to be spackled, sanded, and painted. We have the pieces cut for the other two frames but haven’t put them together yet and we really need to buy more right angle clamps because only being able to glue up one corner at a time is really slowing us down!

We hung one using an existing nail just to get an idea of how it would look.

Hang other closet door
Status: Not started.

We haven’t even taken it out of its packing yet. Whoops!

Paint closet doors
Status: In progress.

I haven’t done any painting other than the 3 (4?) coats on the first door that I had already done but I’m planning on tackling this in the evenings after work early next week.

Hang art
Status: Not started.

We can’t hang the flamingo prints until the frames are finished and I still need to buy frames for the botanical prints I bought.

Buy lumber for book ledges
Status: In progress.

We actually did buy the lumber last weekend but we decided we want to do one more ledge so we’ll have to get more.

Build book ledges (time permitting)
Status: In progress.

This was the only “maybe” item on my list and the only one that actually got close to finished. We finished two ledges but decided to add a third which we obviously can’t build until we get the rest of the materials. Here they are mid-build:

So that means our to-do list for this coming week is still:

-Finish all trim work
-Refinish dresser
-Build frames
-Hang other closet door
-Paint closet doors
-Hang art
-Buy lumber for book ledges
-Build book ledges (time permitting)

We are also talking about adding shelves on the wall on either side of the crib but we want to get everything else up first to see if that would be too much. Luckily, there’s not much to do once these things are checked off but I know there are a few things that won’t happen until after the challenge is over but that’s okay. I think we picked a second rug for the room but we haven’t ordered it yet so that probably won’t make it in time and the pouf for next to my glider is out of stock again so you probably won’t be seeing that in the next two weeks either. The last two big things are to change out the drawer liners (Crap! That reminds me I need to order more paper) and clean out/reconfigure the closet which may or may not get done in time for the big reveal.

Stay tuned next week to see if we managed to get our Week One groove back and be sure to check out what the other guest participants are doing here!

Ah, Friday. The best day. I’ve been struggling with a cold all week and have been desperately wishing for this day to show up because that means it’s the weekend and I can basically turn my brain off for a couple of days. Well ya know, other than focusing on whatever I need to work on in the nursery.

1 – One of my brothers got married last week which meant we got a mini-vacation to Charleston. It was a super quick trip and we spent all of 5 minutes at the beach but it was nice to take a weekend off.

2 – The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week and according to the forecast we’ll have a nice cool night for handing out candy next week. Last year it was 80 degrees on Halloween and it was miserable! I had to change out of my cheetah onesie costumer and just throw on a witch hat. I’m looking forward to sitting out on the front porch for a couple of hours and seeing how many kids come through this year. Last year we had a pretty good turn out but it was really the first year we had more than a couple of kids come by so we’ll see! We are stocked and ready to go with full size candy bars that we will gladly eat ourselves if we don’t get many kids.

3 – I’m really excited about Halloween but do you guys realize what that means? It means that November starts next week. NOVEMBER. How is that even possible? Don’t get me wrong, I love November. October – December is my absolute favorite time of year but it’s really starting to set in that the year is almost over. Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away and then before you know it Christmas will be here and oh no big deal but just a few weeks after that we’ll be having a baby. Well, I’ll be having a baby. Kyle will be standing nearby.

Side note: How cute is this mailbox? It’s part of the Magnolia Hearth & Hand collection for Target and I’m hoping to snag it once it’s available.

4 – And speaking of the baby, with the exception of the recent nursery posts and our announcement back in the summer, I don’t think I’ve talked much about the pregnancy. I remember how much it sucked reading about everybody’s happy baby news when we were trying to get pregnant and overall I’ve tried to be sensitive to that during my own pregnancy.

The mental and emotional struggle is so difficult and it’s something I can’t even really describe. It’s so frustrating when your body won’t do what you’ve always been taught it was “made” to do and it’s hard not to place the blame on yourself. We are supremely thankful that whatever issues we had were handled with the help of fertility drugs and that we didn’t have to go any further than that. I honestly do not know how couples can spend years trying to get pregnant and all I can say is that they must be so much stronger than I could ever be.

With that being said, I also don’t want to completely leave out something that has been such a big part of our lives for the last 6 or so months so I figured it was about time to share at least a small pregnancy update. If you don’t want to read, skip ahead to #5!

As of today, I am 29 weeks into what has been a relatively easy pregnancy (not that I have anything to compare it to). Other than extreme fatigue, 1st and 3rd trimester insomnia, and recent discomfort, I haven’t had a ton of symptoms and my morning sickness was pretty minimal for which I am also very thankful because I don’t handle puking well. All of our tests and scans have come back normal and low risk and at the anatomy scan several weeks ago, she was measuring within a day of her due date which is January 12th. I have been feeling her move for about 9-10 weeks now and it is both the weirdest and most incredible feeling. I’ve gained about 20lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight and am living pretty much entirely in maternity clothes which I kind of love because they’re the most comfortable clothes I’ve ever worn. I haven’t really had many cravings and I haven’t been as active as I had planned but I am going to try to start walking again soon now that the weather has turned if I can ever get away from my desk during the day.

My bump varies by size depending on the time of day and how much junk food I’ve eaten but here’s a crappy bathroom photo from yesterday morning (28 weeks, 6 days). Looks like it’s time to clean that mirror:

5 – I’ve been watching a decent amount of HGTV lately, mostly Property Brothers because they apparently don’t play anything else, and it’s got me itching to start taking on the bigger house projects that need to be done. Obviously, timing isn’t right but I’ve gone back to dreaming about what to do with our bathrooms and keeping an eye out on kitchen deals. IKEA is having their kitchen event right now and I’ve been so tempted to just bite the bullet and order our new cabinets. Don’t worry, I won’t actually do it but I am counting down the days until I can take a sledgehammer to that room (next year maybe? Hopefully?). I think the list below will be the order of the really big projects but there will definitely be small projects between and the last three could get swapped around. I’m thinking maybe we’ll be done in another 10 years.

1. Finish the fence
2. Finish the deck
3. Kitchen!!!!!
4. Laundry room
5. Master bathroom
6. Hall bathroom

I think that’s about it for this week! This weekend will be filled with nursery projects, yard work, and maybe even some house cleaning. It’s supposed to be in the 50s on Sunday which might even call for the first fire of the season!

No, you’re not crazy, I did not do a post for Week 3 of the challenge. This was mostly because we were out of town but honestly, I didn’t really have anything to share at the time. We made absolutely zero progress that week so I didn’t really feel bad skipping out on a post but I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Before I get into it, I wanted to mention that due to delays for people dealing with all of the natural disasters that have been happening, the challenge has been extended and is now a 7 week challenge.

So last time I posted, the nursery was looking like this:

Which was a HUGE improvement from this:

I don’t really feel like we’ve gotten too much more done but all I had on my list for the last two weeks was to finish the trim work (spackle, sand, caulk, paint) and refinish the dresser. Doesn’t seem terrible, right? WRONG. The trim work is pretty much good to go but there is still some caulking to get done. The dresser on the other hand is going to defeat us.

I love this dresser but it’s not perfect. The amount of storage in it is insane and it’s got the exact lines I want but it’s not really the right tone or shade and the drawer hardware has got to go. No big deal! Those things can be changed!

Famous. Last. Words.

We bought a Rust-Oleum Furniture Transformations kit thinking it would solve all of our problems. Nope. Turns out, it goes on more like paint and I don’t want to cover the grain of the veneer or else we would have just painted it to begin with. Luckily, we only applied it to the interior drawers which you haven’t seen because I always forget to get pictures (the cabinet doors are hiding 6 drawers). We quickly decided it wasn’t the look we wanted and started to research Plan B.

Enter: Minwax Polyshades. Not only is this product supposed to change the color but it can supposedly change the actual tone of the wood. Perfect! Uh….maybe? Jury is still out. We’ve only done one coat because it basically sent me into a panic. It really doesn’t look any darker than when we started, just richer and I was afraid multiple coats wouldn’t really do much. We were researching Plan C when I found a few things online that said the Polyshades could take several coats to get the look you want so for now, we’re going to keep going. Coat 2 was supposed to go on last night but we didn’t realize we were out of steel wool which we need to use before additional coats go on. If 3 coats doesn’t do it, we’ll try a darker shade of Polyshades.

This is the only picture I have right now that shows the dresser and it’s what the nursery looked like up until yesterday evening. The dresser itself has one coat of Polyshades, the drawers and cabinet doors are raw. It does look darker in this photo but I think that’s mostly because it’s just a dark photo to begin with.

So we haven’t been able to move past the dresser yet which is a bummer but all is not lost! The closet doors came in way before the original estimated delivery date and we have one of them painted and hung. The closet is still a nightmare sorrynotsorry.

Yes, there is a gap at the top but we’re going to fix that. I’m also going to need to do a billionth (4th?) coat of paint on that door. Harumph. We also need to figure out pulls. I think the doors came with plain white wood pulls but I’m thinking of stopping in Hobby Lobby or Michael’s to see their options.

We also put together the little nursing corner last night and it’s so nice to see the room start to come together. The curtains are from Overstock and still need to be ironed. The rug is from Lorena Canals and I’m a little obsessed with it. You guys, it can be put in the WASHING MACHINE. *Angels sing, harps play, all rejoice* I still need to get a large rug for the room (maybe?) but I’m excited to have something soft and cozy underfoot for the hours I’m sure I’ll be spending in this corner.

Seeing everything put together in this corner also helped me decide between the pink Target footstool and the natural pouf I was having trouble deciding between in this post. I think the pink footstool would just be too much pink so I’m going with the pouf! I just need to order it. It should add some nice texture and will also bring more natural tones to the room.

We also got our flamingo prints but they aren’t working with the frames we bought so we decided to just build our own because what’s one more project at this point? Hoping to get that done this weekend! The seller was incredibly generous and gifted us the prints on canvas as well and they are so gorgeous! I can’t wait to share them.

So that’s where we stand right now and I’m hoping this time next week I’ll be able to share a finished dresser with you guys at the very least. If we can’t get it to the right color, we’ll probably just roll with whatever the outcome is because it’s really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things as long as it still functions.

Here’s an updated list which includes some additions to the original list:

-Remove staples from floor
-Put down flooring underlayment
-Install new floors
-Install new baseboards
-Spackle/Sand/Caulk/Paint new baseboards – mostly finished
-Install new door trim
-Spackle/Sand/Caulk/Paint new door trim – mostly finished
-Upgrade ceiling fan (already purchased the new one)
-Paint ceiling
-Sand/Repaint crib wall
-Reconfigure closet
–Purchase/Install new closet doors – In progress. 
-Refinish vintage dresser – In progress.
-Put crib together
-Replace curtain rod and install new curtains
-Build/Install book shelves
-Purchase decor – In progress
-Purchase remaining furniture 
-Figure out rug situation – In progress. Need to decide if I want a second, larger rug in additional to the rug under the glider. 
-Decorate! – In progress
-Build frames for art
-Frame/hang art
-Line dresser drawers
-Add closet trim to close gap (spackle/sand/caulk/paint/yadayadayada)

Here’s the anticipated to-do list for the upcoming week:

-Finish all trim work
-Refinish dresser
-Build frames
-Hang other closet door
-Paint closet doors
-Hang art
-Buy lumber for book ledges
-Build book ledges (time permitting)

Be sure to go check out what the other guest participants are up to!

Finally Friday! I feel like parts of this week have just dragged by while others have flown and I’m so ready for the weekend. It’s going to be another super busy one so I’m sure it won’t be long enough but weekends rarely are anyway regardless of how much we have going on.

1 – Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary! Some of the high points over the last five years: adopting our 2 dogs, buying our first house, tearing apart half of that house, putting less than half of it back together, 2 amazing cruises, tons of great memories with family and friends, and expecting our first child. It’s been the best five years and we’re excited for what’s to come.

2 – I’m probably jinxing this, but I think the weather might finally be starting to turn. After this weekend it looks like we’re clear of the 80-whatever degree weather and I’m so freaking ready. Boots and flannel on standby!

3 – I have been dragging out decorating for Halloween this year which is unlike me. Most of our decorations are out but we’re still missing a few key elements in our yard which we need to put out this weekend. We added a couple of new things this year though and they are so cool! I bought a holiday projector from Home Depot during their Christmas in July sale a few months back and I’m a little bit obsessed with it. It came pre-loaded with a bunch of different Halloween and Christmas videos but you can also load up your own. A few of the Halloween options kind of freak me out so we’ve been sticking with the least scary ones. You just set up the provided screen on your window (or wherever you want it) and play whichever scene you want (or you can load multiple scenes and they’ll cycle through). I don’t have a great picture but here’s a blurry take of my favorite: dancing skeletons.

We also set up an outdoor slide projector:

And here’s a shot of our Halloween porch:

We picked up that witch for a steal from Home Depot last year the day after Halloween! We also just ordered more skulls to put throughout the pumpkins and they should be delivered today.

4 – Last night was the first night this week that we didn’t work in the nursery. We did get the dresser moved upstairs though with the help of our friend Nick (thanks again!) so it’s ready to be refinished. We decided to refinish it in the room instead of fighting humidity and sawdust in the garage or cat/dog fur everywhere else in the house. The dresser is the biggest thing on the list for this week for the One Room Challenge so hopefully it goes smoothly. I was planning on tackling it with lots of fans, open windows, and a mask but after checking out the VOC levels this morning, it looks like Kyle is going to have to manage this one.

5 – Speaking of the dresser, I ordered the prettiest Rifle Paper Co. paper to replace the drawers liners. I mean, c’mon!

I already know I didn’t order enough so I need to figure out how much more I’ll need. The only other thing I have to figure out is how to make up the difference between the size of the paper and the size of the drawers. The paper is only sold in one size and it’s just a little short width wise but I don’t want that to keep me from using it so I’ll need to get creative.

Cheers to another weekend!

 

Time for my weekly progress update on our nursery for the One Room Challenge! For a little back story, check out last week’s post here.

Y’all, I am super happy with how much we got done!

Here was my list of things I wanted to get done this week:

Paint the ceiling
Re-paint crib wall
Remove old fan
Remove flooring staples
Put down flooring underlayment
Install new floors
Install new baseboards
Remove old window trim (forgot to include this in my original project list)
Install new window trim (forgot to include this in my original project list)

And guess what? We got it all done! Well, we weren’t able to finish installing the baseboard but that’s because we were short two pieces and I had to order more. Whoops, my bad. It should be here today and won’t take long to finish installing!

I took this Sunday afternoon when we just had a few more pieces of flooring and baseboard to install:

Not only did we finish all of that but we were also able to get a jump start on next week’s to-do list. We put together the crib and glider, installed the new door and closet trim, and put in the new fan. We went with this one from Home Depot and I’m loving the fact that we have an overhead light in here now. I plan on getting one or two lamps as well but having this guy is a total game changer. It’s controlled by remote so we didn’t have to deal with having the switch re-wired for the fan/light combo (it’s wired for one of the outlets right now). They also designed it to where the fan supports itself while it’s being wired which means I didn’t have to stand in the middle of the room holding a heavy fixture over my head while Kyle dealt with getting all of the connections hooked together like usual. So thanks, Home Decorators Collection at Home Depot. You’re the real MVP.

The biggest difference in the room is obviously the new floors. We’re in the process of slowly putting this laminate down in most of the house and I love it. Originally we had planned on hardwood throughout the house but these are so low maintenance and they’re pretty scratch resistant which is huge for us with two 60lb dogs that love to run and wrestle inside.

We also decided to upgrade the baseboards in here to these 7″ beauties to match the ones we recently put in our master bedroom. Eventually these will go throughout the whole house, too.

So in case it’s not forever burned into your brain and you need a reminder, here’s where we started last week:

And here’s where we are now (Yes, I know all my photos are crappy but I swear part of it is the lighting. I’m at work when the natural light is best so I just have to work with what I can get.):

That random furniture will be moved eventually but our house is kind of a disaster area right now and there’s no place for it to go.

I have to stop for a minute and say that I am so freaking thankful for Kyle. I tried to pull my weight as much as I could but I get tired a lot easier these days and my knees and back start hurting pretty quickly so I tend to take more breaks. Kyle painted the ceiling, pulled all of the staples from the floor, changed out the fan, and cut and installed all of the baseboards and other trim. He also did all of the flooring cuts which was a major help and didn’t complain when we had to make 2 Home Depot trips over the weekend. I pulled up most of the carpet tack strips, re-painted the crib wall, laid the underlayment and installed most of the new floors but if it was just me, I probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere close to this much done.

Anyway, other than all of the physical progress we made I also went on a little shopping spree and ordered some of the stuff I’ll need for the finished space. The flamingo art prints, glider, rug, and new closet doors are all on their way (or already here) but the closet doors and art prints have a tentative delivery date that’s dangerously close to the big reveal so I’m keeping my fingers crossed they get here on time or sooner! The glider got here pretty quickly and I’m super excited to have a chair to take my breaks in instead of sitting on a pillow on the floor or retreating to the couch in our bedroom where I usually get taken hostage by at least one cat.

I ordered these prints from ColorWatercolor on Etsy:

And I went with this glider from Target (which I sit in almost every time we’re in the store):

So that’s where we stand going into this next week! Here’s our tentative to-do list but this weekend is a little busier than last and the weekends are when we get most of our work done so we’ll see:

–Install door trim (already done)
–Install closet trim (already done)
–Put crib together (already done)
-Spackle/sand/caulk trim
-Paint trim
-Refinish dresser

If we can get all of those things done, we’ll be in pretty good shape as far as the big projects go. I’ll still need to figure out if I want to do white or stained shelves for the reading nook and build those but other than that it’s really just putting everything together. Oh, and figuring out how we want the closet to function…kind of forgot about that.

I also forgot that we have family staying with us for a night next week and the guest room is a nightmare so a big chunk of our weekend will be taken up by clearing it out and finishing the floors in there (it’s still mostly carpet minus a 3ft strip of laminate)!

Make sure to check back next week to see if we stuck to the plan and check out the other guest participants for the ORC here!

Well you guys, we must be completely crazy because we decided at the last minute to join in as guest participants for the Fall edition of the One Room Challenge.

The One Room Challenge is hosted by Linda at Calling it Home and it comes along twice a year. During the ORC, featured designers and guest participants choose one room to makeover in a six week time frame and share their progress every week. I’m sure those of you that know us are either laughing hysterically or silently screaming because I don’t think we’ve ever finished a project in 6 weeks. It’s okay, I’m laughing/screaming/sobbing uncontrollably right along with you.

But you guys, I just couldn’t resist the timing on this one! What better way to force progress on the nursery than declaring publicly that it’ll be done in six weeks? Right? Maybe? Okay, don’t answer that.

Moving right along. I shared our plans for the nursery a while back but for anyone who might be visiting from the link up (hi!), here’s my quick and dirty mood board for the space:

Here’s what the room looked like way back when it was the crap/storage/trash room:

So pretty, right? Here’s what it looked like after it became the rarely/never used craft room:

I’m not sure I ever blogged about it but we turned it into a joint office/craft room/guest room for a while but I don’t think I have any pictures of that phase.

And here is the current state of the room in all of its glory:

Yiiiiiiikes. We at least have a little bit of a head start on the 6 week timeline because we already ripped out the carpet (along with the carpet pad and tack strips), baseboards, and most of the door/closet trim but here’s the overall plan and what needs to be done:

-Remove staples from floor
-Put down flooring underlayment
-Install new floors
-Install new baseboards
-Spackle/Sand/Caulk/Paint new baseboards
-Install new door trim
-Spackle/Sand/Caulk/Paint new door trim
-Upgrade ceiling fan (already purchased the new one)
-Paint ceiling
-Sand/Repaint crib wall
-Reconfigure closet
-Purchase/Install new closet doors (which I totally forgot about until I sat down to make this list for this post. Whoops!)
-Refinish vintage dresser
-Put crib together
-Replace curtain rod and install new curtains
-Build/Install book shelves
-Purchase decor
-Purchase remaining furniture (which might just be the glider at this point?)
-Figure out rug situation (I am struggling with this one)
-Decorate!

Y’all, I just started freaking out a little while putting that list together so this should be interesting. The good news is, we have everything we need to make progress on the floors this weekend!

I’ll be posting our progress every Thursday so be sure to check back for regular updates and if you’re interested, head on over to the link up page to see the other guest participants!

Well I’m about 400% done and over this week and would love to end the day drinking margaritas but apparently that’s frowned upon when you’re pregnant so I guess I’ll have to settle for sitting in my pajamas eating peanut butter M&Ms.

ANYWAY.

1 – Kyle finished up the last bit of painting in our room last week except for the doors. We are also short one piece of trim so we’ll have to deal with that at some point and we still need to pick out crown moulding and put the nook together but for now everything is as done as it’s going to get until after the nursery. Don’t get excited though because I don’t have any pretty pictures to show you and probably won’t for a while. Everything that’s in the current craft room and office has to be relocated so we can put in new floors and then transition the rooms into the nursery and guest room which means our room is about to become half sleeping area and half storage. Sorry!

2 – We’ve made progress with the new floors in the hallway and have gotten pretty much as far as we can without moving onto the next phase. Our plan this weekend is to pack up/clean out the nursery and guest room and hopefully start pulling up the carpet. We definitely won’t have enough time to start putting in the new floors until next week/weekend.

3 – It’s Fall, y’all! It’s also still 80 degrees but did that stop me from buying a completely ridiculous amount of pumpkins for our front porch? It did not.

4 – I’m trying to nail down a few pieces for the nursery and I can’t decide on this ottoman or this pouf to use with the glider. I like the idea of the soft pink but also really like the warmth and texture of the pouf. I just don’t know! I think I need to get everything else in place before I decide. I kind of feel like I might end up buying both and seeing how they look in the room and then just returning whichever one I don’t choose.

5 – I looked at my reading list for 2017 and it’s so pathetic. I had my goal set at 26 books this year but I’ve only read 3. THREE. I just haven’t been in much of a reading mood and with only 3 months left in 2017, I don’t think I’ll even get close especially since we just upgraded our Hulu account to their live package which means I’ve been reunited with HGTV.

Now if you’ll excuse me, my pineapple PJs are calling and I must go.

A couple of weekends ago I threw a baby shower for one of my work BFFs, Cha. I wanted to do something fun so I decided to take her favorite food and use it as the shower theme. So yes, I threw a taco themed baby shower and it was awesome. I did a mixture of purchased and DIY party decor and while I originally planned on having Chipotle cater, I ended up putting together a taco bar with lots of help from Kyle and a couple of friends that came early to help out.

The week before the shower, I strung a bunch of banners together with a mixture of paper triangles and cacti that I ordered and tissue poms and tacos that I made myself. I also blew up some green balloons that I made to look like cacti the morning of the shower and at some point I grabbed some geometric tablecloths from Lidl which I discovered are vinyl which means I get to reuse them! Huzzah!

Fun fact: the balloons that came with the helium tank I bought were terrible. I had planned on doing a mixture of dark and light green balloons but all of the dark green balloons except one popped in my hands which was no less terrifying the fourth time as it was the first. Those stupid balloons almost had me in tears the morning of the shower.

We did a taco bar for lunch and a churro bar for dessert; both of which I forgot to take pictures of once they were actually set up. For the tacos, we had shredded chicken and beef which were in crock pots and then all of the toppings: rice, black beans, rotel, avocado, jalapenos, bell pepper, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. Kyle picked up churros from Costco the morning of and I cut them into quarters to make mini churros. I also put out crushed pecans and walnuts and three different dipping sauces in case anyone wanted to get fancy with their churros (chocolate ganache, caramel, and cinnamon honey butter). I made the ganache and the cinnamon honey butter but the caramel was store bought. Here’s a picture of the food table before any food actually made its way over to it. The taco bar sign is a scrap piece of wood that Kyle cut to look like a banner and stained a couple of nights before the shower. I bought gold stick on letters from Hobby Lobby to save time instead of trying to hand letter because ain’t nobody got time for that especially when it’s a last minute idea that I decide I can’t live without.

I didn’t want to do a ton of super involved shower games so I settled on the clothespin game and a round of Price is Right: Baby Shower Edition. For those of you who are unfamiliar, when you play the clothespin game you start out with a certain number of pins and if you say the word “baby” and someone catches you, they get to take a pin. Whoever ends up with the most pins wins. I ended up with no pins. I am not good at the clothespin game. Kyle (the best husband in the world whose help I greatly appreciated) took the invitation design (which I ordered from another etsy shop) and turned it into custom game cards for me which I had printed at FedEx the day before the shower.

After eating, playing the Price is Right, and opening gifts we all just hung around. As people left, I made sure that they had signed the guest book and picked up their favors. For the guest book, I decided to use one of their ultrasound photos and put it in a pre-matted frame. I popped the mat out so everyone who came could write their well wishes to the baby and parents to be. The favors were custom sugar cookies made by The Chocolate Moose, which is a super awesome local bakery.

Overall, I think the shower was a success and now I have lots of party decor that I can break out in the future. Olè!