Project Nursery - the BIG reveal!!

Well it's done. It's finally done! As most of you know, I love D&R and DIY'ing stuff, but I never had more fun doing a room & DIY decor for a room than I have getting Baby J's room together. I don't know if it's because I'm just so stinkin' excited to meet this baby girl or if it's just that I have been itching to do a cute nursery since we bought this house back in 2007 & I got the D&R itch {I suspect it's a little of both}?! This post will be very picture heavy, but I'll also give source info & also link to tutorials for DIY projects...so without further adieu, here is our precious little girl's loosely owl themed nursery!

Here's the entry door to her room with the diaper wreath my girlfriend made as a gift hung up:

Come in & take a look...

View from entry to room:

View from the other side of the room:

 

And the front wall of the room where her {teeny tiny} closet & bookcase are located:

And now all the deets! Quick overall side note - the paint color is Valspar's Ocean Whisper in their Satin Finish, not sure if I ever posted that info. I think we'll start with the back wall first:

And some closeup details....

 {reading corner}

{wall shelf}

If you remember all the way back to my master plan for the nursery, this wall was slated for the dresser/changer combo & glider/ottoman, which will serve as our little reading & rocking corner. Both the dresser/changer combo & crib are a part of the Baby Cache Oxford Collection - $569.99 {dresser} & $469.99 {crib} (we bought it during a 20% off all nursery furniture promotion). The glider & ottoman are both the Newco brand from Baby Depot. We got them both for a little less than $350 because the color we wanted {chocolate} was being discontinued - just fine for me & you know I love a deal! The pillow on the glider is a part of the Brooke Collection from PBK - $19 (not including the cost of the pillow insert, but I believe it was on sale when I bought it & I had a one-time 10% off coupon). The wall decal is a mirror image of this one sold by Designed Designer on Etsy - $68. The wall shelf is the Shelf Silverstein from Land of Nod - $45. The diaper caddy is by Sara Bear from Target - $30 (got it while it was $5 off). The night light on the far right corner of the shelf is a Spoka Night Light from Ikea ($13) & the owl bookend is from I Sew Lucky on Etsy ($24'ish each - I got two during a BOGO promotion for $40 total I believe).  The changing pad was from CSN & I got it for FREE by winning a blog contest....my fave price of course! The ribbon mobile & bow holder are both DIY. Everything else you see was a gift or will be covered in another section of the room.

Next, let's move on to the crib wall:

And some closeup details....

 {bedding}

 {DREAM banner}

{DIY Martha Stewart Poms}

Since the back wall has so much going on & because the PBK Coco Dot crib bedding ($248 & I used a one-time 10% off coupon I had for PBK) is so pretty & bright, I wanted to keep this wall relatively simple. The vintage DREAM banner is from the Crepe Confectionary on Etsy - $24 & I got the inspiration for the banner from Holly's cute nursery for her little girl Wren over at Life in the Fun Lane. And finally, the poms are DIY - there are lots of tutorials on the web for these poms, but I used the one on Imperfectly Beautiful & I used tissue paper from Target...they have such cute colors & they always have a great selection on clearance.


As for the bookshelf/closet wall:

Details...

{photo/art wall}

{canvas toy bucket}

{closet + DIY dividers}

{wall art made by my little sister's BFF}

The bookshelf is the Bentley Kid's Cubby Bookcase from Target - $99 (with free shipping). The wall frames are from Amazon, Target & WalMart - they are all a similar style, but I just bought them from the different places based on costs/needs. The ABC and Sunshine art are from Pretty Smitten on Etsy (sorry no prices because the shop is temporarily closed due to the shop owner going out on maternity leave so she can prepare to welcome her newest bundle of joy). The frames filled with the cutesy patterned paper will eventually be filled with Baby J & family photos, but I filled them with cute paper for now so they looked nice up on the wall. The shadowbox owl art was DIY. The toy bucket is from the Girls' Canvas Bucket collection at PBK - $35 + $6.50 for personalization (used my PBK 10% off on this too). The closet dividers are DIY.

And finally the wall where the room's two windows are:

And details...

{DIY owl lamp}

 {framed art hung between windows}

The window treatments are Vivan Panels from Ikea - $13 for a pair of two, so $26 total. I am SO proud of those curtains, lol...I hemmed them myself & I think I did a pretty darn good job, but let me tell you - that was so time consuming! I was so happy to be done! I forgot to take a closeup picture of the window hardware we waited on forever, but it's the Pink Bubble Rod hardware from JCP - $15 each. The matching "beautiful" & "miracle" art are from [ReDeemed] Unique Art - one piece I won in a blog contest & the other I purchased, but I can't remember the exact price. They are each one of a kind, but I believe if you ocntact Noel from ReDeemed, she can do something similar if you are interested. And of course, the lamp is a DIY makeover from Salvation Army.

So that's it! What do you think?! The room has been done since this past Friday, but I knew it would take a while to write out this post, so I have been procrastinating. It was worth the wait right?! I absolutely L-O-V-E her nursery - turned out just the way I imagined it & I'm so happy we put all the effort into it that we did {speacial thanks to my husband for putting up with me & all my decision changes [as if he had a choice ;oP] & for doing all the manual labor, lol}. Now all we're missing is our little Baby J...but she'll be here so soon! Thanks for following the chronicle of Baby J's nursery progress & I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Wanna see our little one's nursery progress from the beginning?! Check out the master plan for the room, the first set of DIY goodies I made for our little girl, the major furniture all put together, my cute owl accent finds & my decision to do a understated owl theme in her nursery, my "owl" bean bag score turned FAIL, how we "planted" a tree behind the glider to read books to our sweet baby girl under, my easy peasy DIY owl wall art that I made using recycled greeting cards, the finished dresser/changer combo & crib walls plus a simple & cute DIY bow holder, her cute bargain bookshelf & the plans for the wall it's up against plus a simple DIY framed monogram, the DIY Salvation Army reading lamp makeover I did to go next to her glider, and our bedding selection! 'Till next time!

2010 Fall Decor!

So this year I wanted to keep our fall decor relatively simple being that I am over 30 weeks pregnant & I'll be having this little one during the mid to later part of the fall. If you remember from my inspiration post, most of the things I wanted to do are pretty simple DIY-wise & low maintenance. I showed you my DIY wreath from last year, which is up again, but now I want to show off everything else I did to decorate for my favorite season of the year!

Here's our living room:

From front entry door:

From powder room:

 

For this room, I just switched out the throw pillows with the burnt orange ones I already owned & the brown button pillows were already there. Then, I added my new PB Essential Throw (which is quite comfy ;o) & a new shag area rug ($75 from Walmart..I LOVE this rug, it's so soft on my toes). I am lovin' how simple, but pretty it is! I forgot to take a photo of the wall with the entertainment center, but it's decorate with fall colored candles, which I'll switch out for Christmas colors in the winter.

And for the entryway table:

Please excuse the dog bowls, lol...this is the entry between the LR & DR/kitchen area since we don't have a formal front entryway.

Some close ups...

family name sign

...and my little pumpkins inspired by this PBK treat basket.

We already owned all of the candles & the faux fall leaves, I just arranged them around our family name sign. I got the large glass vase from HomeGoods & added some more of the faux leaves & my DIY ribbon pumpkins. They were so easy to make that I didn't even do a tutorial! Just grab some small faux pumpkins form your local craft store & some fall colored ribbon. Then, just hot glue the ribbon on to the pumpkins & wha-lah...pretty fall pumpkins! These are, by far, my favorite fall decor for this year - thanks to Pottery Barn for the inspiration!

And the final area I decorated, the dining room table, which was also kept very simple:

Close ups...

I got all the supplies for the centerpiece from Save On Crafts, which I discovered during my wedding planning...they have really cool, unique stuff & great prices. The little guys I used as filling for the vintage wood box are called dried puka pods - they are so cute, they look just like mini pumpkins, don't they?! So perfect.

And that's my fall decor! I wanted to do some mums out on the font porch & I still may, but I just haven't found a nice enough planter to put them in. We'll also carve a couple pumpkins closer to Halloween & that'll be it for this year. Simple & low maintenance - just how I wanted it. :)

Sorry this took so long to get up - I have been so busy lately - either that or tired, so I have been slacking on cleaning up my house & taking these pics. How are all of you doing on your fall decor this year? Did you do something simple like me or did you go all out?! Please share your links, I'd love to check it out. 'Till next time!

Baby J to do list update - 10.08.10

29. That's the number of days until Baby J's due date...you read that right, twenty nine! OMG, I can't believe how soon that is. I have totally been slacking on updating my Baby J to do list, but I have been continuing to tackle the items, so I figure better late than never, right?! I looked back through my posts & saw that the last time I updated this was on September 17th! Definitely time do another one...time is running short & we still have a lot left to do. Here are the latest updates:

House Related:

• Buy new area rug for living room. 
• Find (or make) & install valance over sliding glass door (not so sure this one will get done - depends on how much the valance I like will cost).
• Mop hardwoods in all areas.
• Clean base boards throughout house.
• Scrub walls where Dizz grease spots are --> LOL, yes my dog leaves grease marks in the areas where he always leans against the walls! What? Your dog doesn't?! Hahahaha. Who knows WTH is up with that..my dog is a weirdo - he gets bathed/groomed like every other month...promise!
• Buy & have the hubbs put together Billy bookcase from Ikea in basement office area.
• Clean out basement utility storage closet. -- I wish I took before & afters...my husband seriously did an AMAZING job cleaning out this area. 
• Buy iPod Clock/Radio for MB.
• Find & buy *small* entertainment system for MB TV (this is a DH added to do, lol).
• Do the fall decorating! -- post showing all of this year's fall decor sometime next week!
• Steam clean Dizz grease spots where he lays on the carpet - just like on the walls for the stairs, if he lays in one spot a lot, the grease from his coat makes that spot on the carpet dirty...eww!  
• ADDED: Buy & install new storm door. -- Because of the specific one we wanted, we had to get it special ordered, so we did that last weekend & are now waiting on it to come in!
  

Baby J/Nursery Related: 

 
Baby J Stuff (in no particular order)- 

• Take childbirth class - scheduled for September 26, 2010!
• Buy a few nursing tanks, sports bras & lounge pants. -- I got a these nursing bras the other day from Motherhood Maternity:

 

I plan to use these along with sports bras I already have. I also picked up a couple pairs of lounge pants from Old Navy in one size larger than my pre-pregnancy size for comfort & will use those along with lounge pants I already own. I decided against nursing tops altogether & will just stick with the bras & comfy regular t-shirts &tank tops. I didn't want to buy a whole bunch of nursing wear when I'm not sure how long I'll nurse &/or not sure how long I'll wear the stuff even if I nurse for a long time.

• Return any stuff we get duplicates of; freecycle/donate {hand-me-down} clothes we won't use. 
• ADDED: Buy any items not received as gifts that we will need immediately. -- Babies 'R Us has a pretty great sale this weekend, so I'll likely tackle this one today or tomorrow. We don't need much, mainly just the monitor, maybe a couple blankets (I surprisingly didn't get many as gifts, but my mom did give me several hand me down blankets) & several burp cloths (again, didn't get many as gifts, but I plan to buy two packs of the Gerber Cloth Diaper inserts & use those...I hear they are awesome to use as burp cloths).
• Pack hospital bag. -- Yeah, ummm...I need to get on this one. Hoping to tackle it this weekend!
• Install car seat in my SUV & get installation inspected.

  
Nursery Stuff -

• Hang curtains (on hold until we get the hardware in early Oct. :o( ).
• Put up remaining leaves/berries on tree & "blow" them around windows (also on hold until curtains are put up).
• Hang framed "Beautiful" & "Miracle" [ReDeemed] Unique wall art (also on hold until curtains are put up).
• Buy remaining frames for photo wall. 
• Wash all clothes & blankets; put away in drawers.-- I did one round of washing already, plan to do the rest this weekend.

Financial Related:

• Make 529 (college savings) plan choice & get/read enrollment info. -- Read all the info - just need to make a final decision now.
• Look into life insurance coverage & discuss/make any necessary adjustments. 
  

M'wah Related:

• Change name with electric company, school loans & long-term savings bank account (no, I still haven't done the name changes on a few accounts). 
• Finalize maternity leave plan, type it up & submit it to my supervisor & team leader; put leave requests in time tracking system.
• Get hair cut & straightened before due date. LOL, for some reason I want my hair straight when the baby's born (it's more manageable that way than in its natural CURLY state), so if I have time, I'm gonna try & keep it straight for the few weeks leading up to my due date. 
• Pick out design for birth announcements (so that I can order them soon after she arrives); make address labels for envelopes. 
• ADDED: Write & send out all thank you notes. -- I got all of them done for the gifts from Baby J's first shower, now I need to write & send the ones for shower #2!

So that's my update, we have gotten a whole lot done & still have a decent amount of work to do! The good thing is most of the labor intensive & major stuff is out of the way. And, if you look closely at the nursery to do's, we are all D-O-N-E with the nursery, woooooot! I'm so excited to show it off - big reveal coming up on Tuesday (since Monday's a holiday)!!! Last day of work in the office - October 29 - only 21 days to go! And only 4 weeks left till Baby J's due date - please come on time little one, mommy & dad can't wait to meet you. Gotta run now so I can work on tackling some more of this list. I'll be back later this weekend or sometime next week with my 35-36 week pregnancy update, to show off my fall decor & of course, Tuesday's BIG reveal of the nursery! Hope everyone has a wonderful Columbus Day weekend!! 'Till next time!

Baby shower #2 recap & pics!

Hey there everyone! Just stopping in to post an update on my "main" baby shower thrown by my older sister & a few close friends. They did a great job & there was such a good turn out, I think at least 25 people, but probably more showed up! And Baby J is a spoiled little girl already - we got lots of great stuff, including (follow links to the actual items/colors we got): the Maclaren Quest Umbrella Stroller, the Graco SnugRide Infant Carseat, the Graco SnugRider infant carseat stroller frame, the Fisher Price Rock & Play Sleeper (we plan to use it as her bassinet next to our bed for the first few months), the Diaper Genie II, Boppy pillow + "Sprinkles & Cupcakes" Boppy Slipcover, the Cloud B Sleep Sheep sound machine, the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Glow Seahorse (sent to us by the hubb's co-worker), a cute diaper wreath handmade by one of my good friends, bottles, pacifiers, clothes, diapers, baby wipes, towels, wash cloths, books & SO much more. Our friends & family were definitely more than generous to us & we are so greatful to have each of them in our lives. The hubbs & I had so much fun & I was so exhausted by the end of the day!

The shower had a cupcake theme & it all turned out so lovely. Here are some of the big day's details & pics:

The invites - hopefully you can see just how cute they are (click to enlarge) {sorry for the bad editing job, I did it from my work computer}:

Front - that's me, Baby J & the hubbs!

Back

Make your own cupcake favors:

Gift area:

The hubbs & I at the cute cupcake table:

Playing the string around the belly game, the hubbs guessed my measurement too big so I was "choking" him Homer & Bart Simpson-style, lol:

Opening gifts:

It says "I Love Daddy Soooo Much," so I made him display it, lol. :)

Since I had a cupcake cake instead of a regular cake, I pulled the first cupcake off in lieu of cutting the cake, lol. Such a cute idea:



The 'rents & I (excited grandparents-to-be):

My dad, me & the hubbs:

Whew. There are many many more pictures, but I couldn't put all of them in this post. We have almost everything we need now, we just need to pick up a couple of other things, like the monitor, her bathtub & a few other necessities. And we have made a lot of progress in the nursery, the hardware for the window treatments should arrive today..eeek & then we can finish off the room!!! I can't wait to show you guys the finished project! Oh & I am all done with my fall decor, I'm just waiting on a sunny day to take some good pics, which does not seem to be happening around here lately! So sit tight, it's all coming soon. 'Till next time!