The Nursery Plans!!

*drum roll*

After much debate and purchasing of fabric swatches and pinning of various inspirational photos, I am ready to reveal the decor plans for Elizabeth's room, a.k.a. 500 things Katie thinks she is going to sew in the next 5 weeks.



Here is her room before and where it stands today. (Special thanks to my dad and Lee for getting it painted while mom and I went to a shower and ate cake. Yummy yummy cake. And I brought home tons of fabulous baby things. If Zoey did not shed so much, I probably would have already tried out half of it on her. I'm sure Zoey would love to ride in a baby swing while wearing a sundress.)

I wasn't a huge fan of the shade of pink the previous owners had chosen, not to mention the 500 nail holes that needed to be filled, so I went with a khaki. The blue box in the bottom right corner are the new blinds we'll be putting up because I hate the pink fabric ones. (We're actually replacing all the fabric blinds. They were so tricksy to peek out of.) You can see the random miscellaneous pile of Rubbermaid tubs that have been living in here since we moved in that we still haven't found a home for. Also note the adorable llama painting in the glider from a very talented friend. Adorable! What little girls' room doesn't need a llama?! Love it!

In case you're curious, the crib is the Alpha crib by DaVinci, chosen for it's real wood and non-toxic finish. Because I'm paranoid, the crib mattress is organic. The glider is a hand-me-down. We're still looking for a white dresser that can double as a changing table with some extra room on top to store diapering supplies.



I'm planning on recovering the glider and making the crib skirt and bumper. I've got the fabric for it, so now to find the time and courage to proceed. None of it should be that tricky, but I'm still nervous. And the picture didn't turn out super well, but the flowers on the crib skirt are coral and yellow.



A few other projects include decorating white, floor-length curtains (with black-out panels) with pink and yellow yo-yos (like this) and brown buttons in the center, sewing little baggies to organize Elizabeth's stuff in my purse, and making some cloth wipes.

My hope is to take one day next week to do nothing but sew, sew, sew. It sounds splendid. Sadly I haven't spent any significant time with Laura my sewing machine since Halloween (Things I can tell you now but couldn't tell you then: That was the day we found out we were pregnant!).

In the Next 142 Days

There are 142 days until July 1. Since I'm due in mid-July, I'm setting July 1 as the deadline for the house projects we want to get done before the baby.



In the next 142 days, we will:

+ Paint all the trim and doors in the house white. (Currently some is tan and some is white.)
+ Paint the hallways and family room.
+ Paint and decorate the nursery of course!
+ Paint the deck. (Before we bought the house the previous owners replaced a couple steps but couldn't paint them, so we have 2 steps to paint.)
+ Slipcovers for the couches.
+  Finally unpack the stuff in the basement.
+ Clean the windows.
+ Plant an herb garden.
+ Make some front yard landscaping changes and maybe a few in the back yard.

I think it sounds doable, but feel free to stop by with your paint brush and/or shovel. ;)

Ding Dong the Blue Carpet's Gone!

We don't need to discuss how pathetic it is that we had hardwood floors installed the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I am just now showing you pictures. Let's just celebrate that there are finally pictures.

Incase you forgot, we bought a house with blue carpet. Thankfully, it was only in two rooms: living room and dining room.



After several months of saving, we finally got some lovely hardwood floors that match the hardwood floors in the bedrooms. We also painted.





So lovely! Except that the couches don't match the new wall color (And Zoey walked all over them with paint on her paws. Whoops! Right after I told someone how good she is about staying out of the paint.) and only half the trim is painted, but those are on the list of things to do soon. In the meantime, I'm pretty happy just to own a blue-carpet-free home. (Does it count that the blue carpet now lives in the garage?)

Pinning Away

Have you heard about Pinterest? It's one of my more recent Internet obsessions, and while I'm hesitant to sign up for one more thing, Pinterest is totally worth it. It's invitation only, but requesting an invitation is easy and I got my invite in a week. So do it. Today.

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Katie on Pinterest

With Pinterest, you can easily "pin" inspiration photos from around the web to your boards. You can install a "Pin It" button in your browser's toolbar and next time you see something drool worthy you can save it to one of your boards. You can follow others and their boards and re-pin items you like. Basically, it's photo porn for those with an affinity for interior design, art and fashion.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Farrah on Pinterest

You can follow my boards and pins here.

The First Nail* in the Wall

*The first nail is the wall was really for either a shower curtain rod or towel hook, but this is about the first aesthetic hole in the wall, so much more noteworthy.

Up to this point, Lee and I have hung nothing cute on the walls. I wanted to get all the painting, curtains and furniture worked out first. Since that's been going a little slowly, the walls remain empty. But now that I'm working from home, I felt the need for some kind of bulletin board/dry erase combo. I wanted to be able to pin up reminders and pretty pictures, and have some dry erase lists that I could easily take off the wall to write on and then put back. Of course, this needed to be cute.

After many trips to Staples, Office Depot, Target, Walmart, etc., we have the solution:

The corkboards are from Michael's, as are the glass picture frames which I bought for a past project. I'm loving it! So much nicer to look at than a blank wall (although beautifully painted).

Now to tackle those to-do lists...

Bon Voyage, Blue Carpets!

Our home is rid of blue carpet and the hard wood floors await installation on Monday! Now if we can just finish getting the trim painted...

And the Paint Goes On

House progress is coming along slowly. The kitchen wallpaper stripping and painting and office painting wore us out, so we've been putting off further projects. But it's time to get back to the home improving.

My parents kindly came in one weekend and we were able to get the living room, dining room and guest room painted Olympic's Quaking Grass. 

Before you think I've completely lost all sense of taste, please know that the hardwood floors will be installed in a couple weeks (Good riddance, blue carpet!) and I've picked out some neutral slipcovers.

And then one Saturday I got the pantry painted, shelves relined and organized. It looks so much crisper and cleaner now.

Next on the agenda: painting the trim white so it will be ready for the quarter-round once the new floors are in. Exciting!

And the Kitchen

Before

We are anti-wallpaper. 

During

Taking down the wallpaper didn't make us love it anymore.

Check out the crack I patched all by myself! Father-in-law said I did an excellent job! I'm the Spackle Queen. (In addition to other various regal titles.)

Under the wallpaper we found some special retro backsplash madness that was falling apart in one area (the dark brown). Lee's re-mudding that.

After

It's amazing what some Olympic Premium Turquoise Mist can do!

A Lighter Office

BeforeThe office was a nice color, but in an 8' by 9' office with three desks, one of which is very large (I contend that Lee's desk is too large for the room. Lee contends that he has the most wonderful desk in all of mankind. I need to make him watch that episode of The Office with the superdesk. Except that might just give him ideas. ;) ), the color is too dark.


After
Thank you Olympic Premium Kiwi Splash for making our office feel light and fluffy happy. :)

See how huge Lee's desk is?!?!

At least I still have room for my precious little sewing table.

Starting the Art-ing

Okay, so that promise of post-painting pictures might be put off until next week. Sorry Jenn! But now that things are starting to come together around the house, I'm starting to think more about decorating and art. Here are a few of my ideas.

I saw this vol 25 print when we were still house hunting and I almost burst into tears because it was one of those horribly stressful "We'll never find the right house!" days and this was the perfect reminder of where my priorities needed to be. Now that we have found the perfect house, this print needs a place in it.

I think this Elloh print has been on my Etsy favorites for over a year. I love Audrey, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and this scene.

I was looking around 20x200 this morning and was instantly struck by this picture. Perfect for the food collage in the kitchen.

Also, can one have too many Keep Calm and Carry On posters? I'd like the classic red in the office, but also want the Keep Calm and Bake On variation for the kitchen. Both seem like total necessities.

Painting Round 1 Is Complete!

I spent the majority of my waking hours over the 3-day weekend with a paint brush in hand, and last night at 10 p.m., it was finished. The house is wallpaper free and the kitchen and office are two lovely shades of blue.

Pictures will follow later this week, but as for the home color scheme, I decided to go with a Grandeur-inspired one. After trying to go the Martha route and select the just-right shade of coral for the dining room resulted in the indecision below, I decided to stick with wall colors I could easily feel confident with.

The kitchen is now Turquoise Mist and the office is Kiwi Splash, which isn't pictured but is one step below Kiwi Splash.

I love it. And Lee says that as long as I don't want to paint again for another five years he loves it too.

Color Conundrum

I have begun the exciting process of picking out paint colors for the new house. And as with all Katie decisions, this has:
A. Been blown out of proportion from the start
B. Already been changed five times
C. Taken over 80% of my thoughts

So here is the current color conundrum. I like color, but I fear color. I fear things won't really match and I want there to be a consistency throughout the house. I like lighter colors because I think they have more possible colors to coordinate with. I want a vibrant wall color, but would rather bring in interest with changeable accessories (curtains, flowers, pillows) than an over-the-top wall color.

Now that those somewhat-conflicting desires are out on the table, here's some of the color palettes up for consideration.

Olympic's Grandeur Collection: I like the teal a lot and this palette combines some brighter colors with some lighter colors. I feel a little stuck on what color would best go in the dining room because our everyday dishes are a teal that does not match these teals.


Olympic's Welcome Collection: No bright colors, but could easily match with anything. I could bring in reds, yellows, purples, or fun patterns to make things more interesting. Same issue with a dining room color.


Martha's Natural Palette: Sweet, sweet colors! More than blues and greens! I want a coral dining room! Can you guess which is my current favorite?! This one!


Lee's favorite is Grandeur, but he gets to pick the lawn mower and the grill, so clearly that gives me free reign on everything else, right? Actually his current attitude is, "I don't care right now because you're going to change your mind 8 more times before we actually go to paint anything."

He knows me well.

UPDATE: Lee wants me to add that he could "dig Martha's paint", but I had only shown him the first two, and of those he preferred Grandeur. My bad. ;)

Week in Review: 4/30

A DIY lamp via Mod Podge Rocks.

I can't wait to have a desk and office space again once we move. I might need to craft this mail sorter in celebration from My Sweet Savannah.

I just came home from Home Depot with 13 color swatch cards and the vaguest of ideas about what to do with them. I do see an affection for robins egg blue as seen on Apartment Therapy.

How to have a classy modern beehive from Jessica Schroeder at What I Wore.

Despite living in Louisville, my Derby plans involve Netflix and getting some projects wrapped up so I can focus on packing moving home decorating. Have wonderful weekends!

And if you're into nitty gritty house purchasing details: Inspection went well and we've reached an agreement with the home owners about the few things that need to be fixed. The only thing I think can go wrong at this point is the appraisal and that should happen in the next two weeks. I'm hoping we can close around the end of May.

While We're Waiting...

The house and I had a lovely reunion last night and now we wait to hear from the sellers that they've officially accepted our offer. We should know something today though.

So while I wait to officially start making decorating plans (For my emotional sake, I can't start reorganizing my 100s of starred articles in Google Reader into things I actually want to do until we have a signed contract. Mood boards will not be disclosed to the public (you!) until we have a successful inspection.), let's visit someone else's decorated home!

In all the Keeneland and bachelorette partying this weekend, I got to spend some time with Jenn and her new house. I tpp a few pictures to share so I can pretend I'm almost as cool as Young House Love.

In the "man cave" the guitars get to have from the walls. I love it! We only have one guitar so I'm not sure how cool it would be to hang that from the wall. (And you're thinking, "Buy another guitar!", but neither of us know how to play the one we have!)

I love the start they've made with mantel and the white cabinets. So clean. The different textures of the brick fireplace, smooth ceramic, soft pillows and wicker plate and balls are visually interesting. (That sentence could so be on HGTV!)

Jenn has the best window over her kitchen sink! Love the bowl and I might steal the cow creamer some day.

Back to waiting...

Week in Review: 3/26

Caitlin and I started photoblogging at 1000 miles between so come visit!

I discovered I Love Charts and it is awesome.

Jenn now does Take Five Fridays. It's pretty much the same as the Week in Review, except it's all recipes all the time.

A wonderful post from Little Brown Pen on travel and what makes a place really special.

I've been reflecting on my frustration with wanting a house and not finding a house and wondering how much less frustrated I might be if I didn't spend so much time at home decorating blogs looking at things like this adorable workspace, this cheapo kitchen reno, or this cottage. But I love my decorating blogs and will not leave them.

I have a new favorite YouTube video.

Happy weekend! We're looking at a house tonight and then my parents are coming in tomorrow night for Palm Sunday mass on Sunday morning. We have bagpipes on Palm Sunday so I'm very excited! Also, Go Cats!

Week in Review: 3/12

The Maple Syrup Festival last weekend was awesome (Even though I missed the llama!), as evidenced by me shoving waffles supreme into my face.

Those are my waffles! With syrup, blueberries, apples, strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate chips.


This weeks links are generally home related links because the only thing I can think about is the house that I think we might buy! Yes, you read that right! Lee and I saw the house last night, we're going to look at it again tomorrow morning with the in-laws and will very likely make an offer tomorrow afternoon! Say your prayers! Cross your fingers! Arrange your magic voodoo spirits in our favor! We LOVE this house!


I want need the kitchen island/table in the second to last picture here at dress, design & decor. Exactly what I see in my head!

If this pans out, I'll need to start planning the garden ASAP! Here's some tomato growing tips from The Kitchn.

The moment there is an accepted contract in our sweaty little palms, I will virtually move into the Young House Love How-To archives.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week in Review: 1/29

Happy birthday sweet husband! :)


I've recently discovered Sleep Talkin' Man. Hilarious.


Pomegranate cocktail and mocktail recipes from Hostess with the Mostess.

Late night TV is usually too...well...late for me. But I did catch Coco's last Tonight Show and not only was it funny, it was inspirational.

When Lee and I got our apartment we got a nice, large one-bedroom. We decided we'd rather have one less bedroom in a nicer complex than a two-bedroom in a not-as-nice complex. This has resulted in me not having an office, or even a desk. I miss it and can't wait to set up a new office area when we find a house. These office inspirations from oh, hello friend made me pine.

My office/craft area will of course need an embroidered Tim Gunn.

Elsie makes the best playlists.

It's always tricky to find a few concise words to describe your "style". Vintage chic cottage might be mine.

Week in Review: 1/15*

Oops...a day late.

sunset outside the apartment earlier this week

Notes from house hunting this week:

• The house I mentioned crushing on from its pictures is apparently a dud. My realtor didn't even take us to see it because she had already seen it and essentially described it as a big hott mess. It looked like it had some cute elements from the pictures, but apparently needed more love (money) than we can give to it. We did see a couple good houses last night though and are generally optimistic.
• One house, which lost points the more we looked at it, had pictures of topless women out in the basement bedroom, adding a whole new creep factor to the "basement bedroom". From what we could gather from the short period of time it was appropriate to investigate this, they were postcard sized and looked more than just printed home photos. But also didn't look a lot like classy nude art either. Really!? Do you think people will want to buy your house with naked pictures in it? I mean, that just doesn't contribute to good feelings.
• We somehow managed (It was dark!) to look at the wrong house. The house we looked at was so horrible we didn't look at all of it. We'll see the house we were supposed to see next week, but we've joked that this will probably be the one since it has an amusing anecdote to accompany its (potential) purchase.

Moving on...

Wishcake has the cutest duplex ever (and one of my favorite blogs ever).

Up Up has the cutest Valentine's Day cards. I particularly loved the "I love you so much..." cards. (I may or may not have told Lee about the one about the farts.)

It's disturbing the ratio between the number of nursery decorating ideas I have and how long it will be before I need them. Anyway, here's another from IS*LY.

I lovelovelove John and Sherry's new vanity.

This video makes me really happy. Which is its general purpose.

My Dream Room

After a holiday hiatus, the home hunting is back on full-steam ahead! This time, with the added excitement of potentially buying a house for reals! (Our lease isn't up until the end of April, so it would take a super special deal to make us cancel our lease early.)

As the likelihood of us being home owners approaches, I am of course frantically planning how I want to decorate. There are many eclectic things I have starred in my Google Reader over the past year: bold colors, calm colors, antiques, modern pieces, eclectic clutter, minimal displays. I've been trying to define what it is I really like, what words I want to describe my home. While all of the above can be incorporated, which gets incorporated the most?

And then I was flipping through my Real Simple and I saw it. The bedroom that epitomizes my home style.

Hardwood floors. They got cut off in the picture but they are on the other side of the bed. You can see the rug though. Hardwood floors with rugs make me really really happy.

Light wall colors. I've debated this one, but I think I like lighter -- though not pastel! -- colors on the walls. It keeps things feeling light and airy and allows you to bring in brighter, bolder colors through easily exchangeable accessories. Imagine some eggplant curtains in this room! Yum.

Modern meets less modern. I appreciate the simple clean lines of the modern pieces like the bed and dresser, but I also love older touches, like the bedside table on the right, the clock on the other bedside table, and the perfume tray on the dresser. The modern and not-so-modern come together splendidly.

The right amount of clutter. I hate clutter, but then just a little bit of stuff can add some charm. This room is very clean, but has some interesting pieces grouped about, like the perfume bottles or the books, clock and flowers on the left bedside table.

Just a little fancy. I like fancy things (I'm a bit of a Fancy Nancy fan.), but I love my jeans and bare feet. I want a home where I can put out my china or everyday dishes and either choice would make sense. This is a nice, well-put-together room, but you could imagine that the person who lives here prefers to wear jeans with her pearls.

Welcome Christmas

We finally got our Christmas decorations up! Joy!


Welcome to our home.

The tree is complete!

Umm...since we have these random nails along the top of our porch I tried to string lights across them but it turned out pretty ghetto.

Lee decided the situation needed some TLH (Tender Loving Hammer) to even out my uneven light swag.

I did a much better job with the mantel.