nursery tour

So we finally got the nursery up and going and, of course, that warrants a few pictures before it becomes a lived in and loved room.  Right now I'll revel in its clean walls and unused, pristine sheets.  It won't be long now before baby boy claims it as his own!!  Due date is officially one week away and I'm a ball of nerves and excitement over here.

I kind of didn't mean to, but we ended up with this turquoise accent cropping up throughout the whole room.  The lamp (we already owned), the quilt (a sweet gift), the prints (a re-purposed calendar), they just all kept bringing this lovely blue/green back in and I just decided to stop fighting it ;)

This crib was a major steal off of Craigslist that I found when we were only 5ish months along.  It felt SO good to check off such a big ticket item so soon and I kind of love it.

These sweet city prints are from an old Rifle Paper Co. calendar that I decided were too cute not to be used again and I adore that print of Mt Timpanogos.  It was one of my favorite sights in Utah and I love having it be front and center over the crib (and, of course, it's turquoise so, you know, it goes).

We found this sweet little wooden animal banner on Etsy and it's among my favorite things in this room.  It's such a tiny thing that adds just a touch of love to such a simple crib.  It'll probably come down soon - once baby boy figures out how to grab things - but for now it's my favorite.

I'm also a bit in love with our rocking chair.  I kept going back and forth about it.  Some reviews were stellar, while others said it was much to rigid and not nearly comfy enough to rock a new babe in.  Well, I'm happy to report that it's a pretty perfect chair for me.  It's definitely not a squishy LazyBoy kind of ride, but it's just soft and comfy enough with room to break it in just a bit.  I've taken to curling up in that corner in the mornings with my book and rocking away.  Pretty sure baby boy and I will be plenty happy here.

I was a bit stumped about how to arrange things over the changing table, but they finally came together and I think I'm pretty happy about it.   I love the idea of a chalkboard that can be changed up as he gets older, but right now that sweet little bassinet just kills me.

Annnnnndd that's a rap!  Hopefully baby boy will like his little space as much as I do, but to be honest, I'm pretty sure he won't care one bit.  He'd probably be just as happy sleeping in a laundry basket in a room with blank white walls.  We all know the nursery is for the momma ;)

christmasy

So, our back wall has finally gotten Christmas-fied (with a week and a half left to go), and I just gotta say:  I'm diggin' it.  Like, I think I should have a glittery banner up on my back wall all the time.  Who's with me?

When all this Christmas decor comes down our little living room is going to feel mighty bare...

P.S. I sprayed a clear gloss over those glittery letters in hopes that I wouldn't have glitter all over my house and...it actually worked.  Call it a Christmas miracle folks, but I haven't seen a shiny speck anywhere (knock on wood).

it's beginning

...to look a lot like Christmas!!  I actually had all these decorations up before we left for Utah so, that was like, what?  November 23rd?  I was really excited to pull out the bobbles and lights this year (like I am every year), and even though I caved and let Dave talk me into getting a fake tree last Christmas, I still love to get it all up and trimmed (and one day I'm tossing it out and we're getting a real evergreen in here, just not this year...)

I may have gone a little bit crazy with the paper snowflakes and putting them all over the living room, but I'm not even sorry about it.

Happy Christmas!

happy fall y'all

Yesterday it was so delightfully fall-ish in Santa Clarita (I got to wear boots!  Simple pleasures my friends), and this morning it was fall-ish and again.  However it's forecast to be in the 70's by 1:00 so...I'm seriously considering going out to run errands this morning wrapped up in my sweater and busting out these babies again before the sun gets too warm:

Confession: I love the seasons and I love wearing warm, cozy clothes. 

In celebration of the fall-ish mood I got our decorations up, out, and dusted off.  I'm really digging these fun bats on our back wall (tutorial here) - and those damask pumpkins?  I die.  Truth be told, I'm not really that in to Halloween, and my fall decor usually consists of things that can get us through October and November too, but this year I couldn't resist a few bats and skeletons.  So sue me.

Now I think I'll bake some pumpkin bread - does this recipe not look so delicious?  I thought so too.

sewing 101

Sometimes YouTube videos give me an unrealistic self confidence is my sewing ability. . .

Actually, today was the first time I've ever watched a YouTube video about sewing something, and the whole time she was explaining the ins and outs of making a pillowcase with French seams I was like, "Yeah, that looks easy.  Totally makes sense.  I can do that . . ."

Reality check:  The sewing machine and I haven't spent any quality time together since I took that quilting class in junior high, I hate measuring fabric/ always freak out about not getting the sizes right, and I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time.

But hey!  The girl on YouTube can do it!  Why can't I?

So, 10 minutes of looking for my thread & bobbin, 25 minutes of figuring out how to thread the machine, 1 episode of Chuck (paused many times), and 2ish hours of sewing later, here we are . . . with a perfectly finished pillowcase!  I know, that took a while, but it's done!  And I didn't have to rip out a single seam (mostly because I don't own a seam ripper so I made extra careful to do things right the first time).

 See those polka dots??  I MADE that without help (that is if a few google searches and calls to mom don't count)

Maybe I should try this sewing thing more often . . .

P.S. It kind of looks like a throw pillow in that picture, but it's a pillowcase for our bed, just in case you were wondering.

wonderlust

A couple years back I did some traveling through Europe.  I didn't have nearly enough room in my suitcase to pick up a properly sized souvenir from each country I visited, so I started grabbing a postcard whenever they caught my eye.

Affordable & packable.  They were perfect.

Now state-side, I have been trying to figure out a way to display those suckers.

Well, problem (finally) solved:

Now I can switch out the cards whenever I fancy and swap out the quote as well for a fresh look.

I'm likin' it.
Your thoughts?

P.S. Funny story about that postcard from Paris in the upper left-hand corner.  This summer, a week before we got married, David and his family took a trip to Scotland and France.  While in Paris he thoughtfully sent me that postcard with the Eiffel Tower on it...the same postcard I had bought myself in Paris a year+ earlier...
Great minds think alike I guess.

decorating

Have I ever told you my floral design class is the best?  I'm pretty sure I have (like 15 times), but it's still true.

Our latest assignment was to make an "everlasting design," aka a fake flower arrangement, and I've had my eye on THIS DIY for a while now.

Hellooo excuse to decorate the apartment.
I love it.

David has deemed them a little Dr. Seuss-esqe (specifically something out of The Lorax), and I've decided to take that as a compliment.

P.S. We're seeing The Hunger Games tonight - so excited.

v-day

You only really get 14 days in February to decorate for Valentines day, so I made an executive decision for our house:

I started decorating for Valentine's day over a month ago.

I blame Pinterest for the inspiration (as always).

And then it was all downhill from there:

Only 5 more days to keep em' up!
Then I'm going to have to figure out how to decorate with four-leaf clovers...

the noobies

Ever since we've moved into this little postage stamp I've been trying to get things up on the walls - who knew it would be so hard??

Note to self: always bring picture measurement with you to the store, no matter where you're going - I can't remember them for my life.

Lesson learned.

But I've made some progress!  We got some noobies up this weekend:

Our little living room wall is getting so full!  I'm so proud of her.

The new guys:

{A} I've had the darling map of London since, well, I got back from London - we're talking spring of 2010...unacceptable.

In my defense it's a ridiculously weird size - 16.5 x 12''?  Who makes frames to fit that?

{B} And that darling camera print?  It'll be year this Christmas.  She's 8x10, I don't even have a good excuse.  She's been propped up on my desk in her plastic wrap all this time - it's nice to finally show her off.

{C} Lastly I don't feel too bad about our little chalkboard - we found that frame at Savers and finally got around to painting, cleaning (it was grey when we bought it) and hanging it.

 I'm rather fond of it.

Hope you had a lovely Sunday - cheers!

P.S. - Soon we'll be adding these darling pillows to our couch - our pillow shams are almost done pulling double-duty!  WOOHOO!

merry little details

Happy first day of December!  Shall we celebrate with a collection of the little things? 

p.s. 25 days til' Christmas!

 

 

decor

The bedroom.

I tend to have an almost unstoppable desire to always decorate my bedroom in a huge, loud, borderline obnoxious burst of color (if only I could show you my childhood bedroom - think BRIGHT and BRIGHTER pink stripes on the walls).

Unfortunately this decorating style almost always comes with buyer's/ painter's/ decorator's remorse so, in an attempt to spare David (and myself), I consciously limited myself to a very few choices in our new bedroom:

yellow

& grey

Classic & simple.

Recently I've had the urge to add more colors to the pallet, but, thank goodness, these two really just look best by themselves.

Creativity thrives under constraint, right?  

So I'm working on it.

Please be patient bare, white walls!

Also in the spirit of yellow and grey:

I've got another paint chip project in the works - if it turns out even remotely acceptable I'll let you know.

x-carly