Thursday, May 30, 2013

To Decorate a boy's room...




As you may know I like to decorate, to gather the old and the new to curate a little space that feels cozy, welcoming, and visually interesting. Now that we have a son I thought it would be fun to begin day dreaming about his room. Since he is currently almost 2 months old, he still sleeps in our room in his moses basket, but his own room is waiting for him with a crib, a dresser, and not much else...! So here is my little round up of items for his room. Funny how a black and white theme emerged?! And as with our daughter's room, I tried to pick artwork that will grow with our son as his room transitions into  a teenager's room.





























Tuesday, May 21, 2013

5th Wedding Anniversary: Wooden gift Guide


Our 5th wedding anniversary is just around the corner on June 2nd!! Crazy to imagine it's already been five years and a lot has happened in these past five years (hello two kids!!!?!?!!!). And as with every past anniversary, I thought a themed gift guide would be fun! The traditional gift for the 5th anniversary is wood, although apparently silverware is the modern version, LAME! 

I love wood and I figure one could have a lot of fun with this theme- a new wooden bed, or big piece of wooden furniture- be it a new table, teak outdoor furniture... etc etc. OR if you're a home owner planting some trees would be a nice take on the wood theme. So I went through my etsy favorites and gathered a little round up together of some nice wooden gift ideas. Enjoy!

Above: Desk Caddy by PegAndAwl, they have a lot of nice wood gifts!


















Friday, May 17, 2013

Master Bedroom Makeover, final pictures



As I mentioned many weeks ago, one of my bigger nesting projects was to redo our bedroom, by updating our headboard, and giving the room an overall neutral and relaxing feel since I knew with a new baby around I would be spending a lot more time in our room during wakeful nights of nursing etc...  The finishing touches came with the artwork, which was hung shortly after our son was born. And so I wanted to share the final pictures with you as well as some process pictures...


BEFORE: Master bedroom when we moved in, October 2012. 
(yes there's a dog on the bed. eye-spy)

The original window treatments in our rental were a bit dated and didn't move very easily without breaking... so per our request our landlord bought faux white wooden blinds for every room in the house, which was awesome and instantly updated the house and especially our bedroom. Since the biggest uninterrupted wall is basically a series of windows, curtains can either make or break this space... and these felt visually overwhelming and like we were living in an old motel.


After installing the blinds in late winter, we lived without curtains for a while, as I shopped around and weighed our options. In the end I went with pre made gray linen curtains from Ikea. They were very inexpensive at $49 for two panels, and since we needed 5, this would work well with our budget! Much cheaper than buying fabric to make them myself, plus I was running out of sewing time before our baby's arrival.

They are a bit sheer and perhaps some day I will line them, but they soften the room and keep out the extra light that peeks through the blinds. But since they are sheer they don't feel as visually overwhelming as the opaque original curtains felt. (yes that's a baby on the bed!)


 I wrote a post about my search for artwork above the bed, and I chose this landscape I found on etsy by FallowPhotography. It was a picture she took in England that she gladly had printed in a larger size for me! I really wanted a landscape with a lovely atmospheric quality that was also very simple. Since it came with a white border, I simply bought a frame at Michaels, slipped the photo in and hung it!

As for the other new additions to the bedroom- I recovered our large red pillow with a new blue pillow cover (sewn by yours truly). And the linen pillow case came from ikea for $12, can't beat that! I also updated my lamp with a smaller and more tailored paper lampshade. It fits the lamp so much better, plus I'm no longer worried about knocking it over!


As for the other artwork in our room, I went around the house and gathered together a little tryptic for above my bedside table. These two paintings were perched on our mantle, but the mantel was beginning to feel a bit crowded, so this was the perfect- two birds with one stone- solution! Plus I wanted to have older oil paintings in the room as a balance to the more modern photograph above the bed and to add texture and visual interest in contrast to the neutral color pallet of the headboard and bedding. Plus I love how they look above my ISIS lamp. And the metal piece, that houses sea glass I gathered from lake como, adds a sculptural balance to the two paintings. (The lighthouse was painted in Maine in the late 1800's and I found it on etsy for a song. And the floral painting has been in the family... and I acquired it somehow!)


Above: is my inspiration for our bedroom makeover.

This was my first decorating project where I came up with an inspiration board in order to fine tune what I wanted our room to have and to reflect, with more specifics, etc. Then I worked with what we already had on hand as well as adding a few new things to the mix- updated headboard, curtains, and a new photograph. I think it would be functional and fun to also have a colorful throw at the end of the bed (pictured is our striped seasonal only- winter down duvet). So I'll be on the look out for a cotton throw that adds a pop to the room, while providing a cozy layer for snuggling with the kids post nap time.

This was a very fun and perhaps a more grown up way to decorate a space. I look forward to one day doing the same for our family room!



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

crickets... ie: explaining my blog absence..


I'd like to think and thus be able to say that this blog post in an indication that I'm Back baby! That I'll once again be blogging on a regular daily basis, that I haven't given up on this mini creative outlet, or outreach... And I haven't given up, just simply finding a new rhythm and prioritizing my new life as a mom of two. (which is still kinda wild to say and type!)

So where have I been this last month and what's been going on!?

Well, firstly I didn't expect to take a month off from my blog, in fact after our daughter was born blogging became a very regular thing but that's life with one... now we have a toddler AND a baby and even though the baby sleeps well and gives us nice 4-5 hr stretches, our daughter has suddenly started not sleeping so well. BUMMER. After 4 months of being a stellar sleeper in her big bed, she now gets out of her bed a few times during the night... so that's awesome (eye roll). I'll be sure to blog more about this toddler wakeful thing later (fingers crossed).

So this past month has seen its challenges, mainly in the nursing department... I got sick, had to heal, and get breast feeding back up and running... it was rough for a few weeks there, but we are back on track. Our son is gaining weight at a crazy pace and thanks to our awesome lactation consultant, I stuck with it and have been able to continue to nurse. (it was touch and go there for a while, thought I might have to throw in the towel). But now nursing still takes forever and requires both hands... so add that to the baby needing to nurse every 2-3 hrs... and thats all I've been doing, but I have the perspective that babyhood is fleeting and this time next year I'll have more free time- yah know to stay on top of the dishes and laundry, like a true cliche.



Besides all the nitty gritty, we are having fun with our newest addition! He's very sweet and chill. He's smiling a bit more this week.. like he's thinking back on some inside joke. We managed to go the shore at the end of April for a long weekend, and it was fun to see how we faired out and about as a family of four.


Well, thats the condensed version...! I hope to elaborate on some hidden themes in future posts. I hope your last 5 weeks have been glorious with spring time! Cant believe we are half way through May!!!

See you back here soon!

xo
abs


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