ABC Themed Toddler Bedroom

I have been working on a design for the Little Man's Big Boy Room for a while now....

This is one idea I threw together one night last week.

Do you know what is really frustrating?

When life throws a whole bunch of curve balls at you.

And then you lose track of the one thing you have been trying to do for a year.

Of course, that isn't this project...

Actually, this project is just pushing that one even further down the line.

But that's life.

As for this project, I'm not totally sold on it.

I don't like the creamy undertones with the white furniture.

Call me crazy, but that just erks me.

But there are elements I do love.

Like that pouf.

Does that pouf just have you at "Hello", or what?!

I mean, it reaches out and grabs your soul!

Like those Dementor things in Harry Potter.

Only if a Dementor was yellow and wearing a smile instead of black with a hollowed out face.

You get what I mean, right?

I mean, I could draw you a picture, but my artistic skills are....

Fine.

Just think, Walmart smileyface.

It's way less complicated.

And already in your permanent memory bank.

You're smiling, aren't you?

You can thank me later.

Back to the idea board...how bout those vintage-y alphabet cards???

SWOOOOOON.

Wanna know a secret?

I actually ordered those MONTHS ago.

For educational purposes.

And then when they arrived, I changed my mind and decided they had to be wall art.

As soon as possible.


Possible still hasn't happened, yet.

But hopefully, getting to this stage means, I am closer.

Hopefully....

Now I know you are all looking at the daybed and going, "Is that what she's going to make the poor kid sleep on?"

And just so you know, yes.

But I plan to do it a little more like Layla did over at Lettered Cottage.

But we'll see....  I'm guessing that a bookcase and a possible window seat may also end up in the picture, if I can convince Techy to let me use my big girl tools a little more.

And if not, well, what Daddy don't know won't hurt him, right?

Anyway, I would love to have some feedback on this, so feel free to let me know your thoughts, and for those who will/may ask, below you will find a breakdown of all the items and the stores they are from.

Enjoy!!!

ABC Themed Toddler Bedroom by leahmpeck on Polyvore

Stratton Daybed with Baskets
potterybarn.com

IKEA Hemnes
ikea.com

Phulkari Embroidered Pillow Cover
potterybarn.com

Suzani Print Curtain Panel
worldmarket.com

Antique ALPHABET Blocks Set of 18 Embossed Wooden Blocks
etsy.com

IKEA Alvine Räffla
ikea.com

38"X22" ALPHABET ZOO-JENN SKI CHILDREN EDUCATIVE CANVAS
ebay.ca

Charcoal Knitted Pouf
worldmarket.com

Wasabi Ribbed Lumbar Throw Pillow with Buttons
worldmarket.com

Craftmania

I don't know if I have mentioned it or not, but in this house, I am lucky enough to have a craft room.

As in the previous owner was an artist and her studio became my craft room.

It is a HAVEN.

You know, when I have time to partake.

Or when I MAKE time to partake.

Last weekend was one of those weekends.

The twitch wasn't quite gone yet.

And my head was starting to spin around on the top of my head Carrie-style due to not having crafted in so long.

I was waking up in the middle of the night DREAMING of crafting.

It's pretty clear that I have unhealthy tendencies.

Sleep-crafting is merely scratching the surface.

But last week, I had had enough of the dry spell and I had to find a way to get the twitch out of my eye and the itch out of my finger tips.

So I pulled Baby Girl's bouncer into the room while Little Man was still napping and I went at it.

A little of this...

And a little of that...

And within an hour or so, I had a stack of these....

Thankfully, since about half of every one I know is pregnant, I should be able to find a home for these pretty quickly.

Of course, some people aren't finding out what their having so they'll be getting pink AND blue ones.

For the record, I expect you to use both, SOME PEOPLE....

At the end of the day, it's been more than a week since my short-lived craftathon.

And I still haven't cleaned that mess up.

Because just walking in there makes me smile.

Mess and all.

Crafting may be messy, but man oh man, it does something good for the soul!

Nesting without a Nursery

Today I'm here to talk about something (other than poop and marker lids) that is stealing my sanity.

Nesting.

Only imagine with me an adorable rental with horrid wood paneling and only 2 real bedrooms. (It has a 3rd, but with 2 doorways and only one door, its really more if a hallway with a closet. And an air mattress for your guests.... And no room for your newborn.

Which is totally fine since the first 10 weeks will be spent in a bassinet anyway, right?

Until you realize that nesting is natural. And I have no outlet for all the nesting that is bottled up in me right now.

Thankfully, there's pinterest...

Where ideas like these come from:
Source 1
Source 2
Source 3
Source 4
Source 5

To be honest, I'm not sure which is worse. Actual nesting or pinterest nesting....

Sigh.

Butcher Block Fantasies

Greetings from the corners of a sleep-deprived mind.

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise the decor of my kitchen?

And how cheap I am that I can't afford to do anything about it?

And possibly my goal to pay off my house before Little Man goes to college?

So that I can spend summers at my beach house in Aruba?

No.

But.

Seriously.

I loathe my kitchen counter tops.

What?!

The other stuff is just the stuff of my fantasies.

Like Ben & Jerry's that don't affect the size of your keister.

And pizza parties that don't leave you with post-gorging, acne-spotted regret.

But the real point of this post is my kitchen counters.

And my loathe of them.

Remember this post? 

Yes....

My shamefully dark and disgusting kitchen...

Yes, that is a half-eaten cup of baby food sitting on my sink, why do you ask?

Also, can we talk about the fact that I DESPISE using up counter space with a microwave?  What I'd give to be able to mount it somewhere...but where?!

But oh, those countertops....

Don't we all agree that they would look better like this???

Credit

This one makes me breath easier.

Credit

And this one makes me miss my pretty green kitchen at the old house.

And this one...

Credit

This one makes me envy and covet and possibly even lust a little bit.

Now, if only I could convince Techy....

Mantelphobia Continued

Yes.  I realize it's Wednesday.

And I realize that Wednesday's are primarily dedicated to Helpful How-To's here Behind the Stone Wall.

(What?  You didn't realize that?  Well.  It is.  So there.)

But we're all aware of my tendencies, right?

So today, I may or may not get around to a Helpful How-To....

But in the meantime, remember my mantel envy and my immense envy of everyone with a fireplace/mantel?

Well....

Do any of you stalk Layla like I do?  (I, of course, am referring to figurative blog-stalking.  None of this, "Every-breath-you-take-Sting-crap.)

And did any of you happen to see her amazing Presto-Change-O from last night?

Um.  Yeah.

The girl gave me an idea.

It wasn't in her Presto-Change-O, per se.

But in her inspiration pics.

Namely.

This one.

Yes, this picture came straight from her inspiration board.  And I am fully giving her credit for it. 

I know.

You don't see what I see.

But for clarification.

Let me tell you what I see.

I see my electric stove.

Sitting inside of a build out fireplace wall.

I.e., I could BUILD MY OWN MANTEL....

Or rather, Techy could build my own mantel, since he is clearly so handy with power tools.

Now that it's out there...you probably shouldn't run and tell him about it.

He is still trying to get the sawdust out of his nose hairs from the last project....

So yeah.  Let's make this our little secret, K?

And here's to Layla, for always providing amazing inspiration.

P.S.  This is the second time in 2 weeks that I have walked away from her blog with full intentions of making her brilliance part of my home.  Wanna see the other one?  Check it out here.  Um. Yeah.  Never have I been so in love with white, white and more white.

Stop In

And no, I don't mean the food stores...

I would actually be referring to my guest post over at Honey Bear Lane.

And while you are over there, you can drool over her puff quilts...oh.my.heavens.

I swear, before baby #2 arrives I WILL learn how to make one of those!

Anyway, head on over!  I look forward to seeing you there!

Helpful How-To: Making a Cork Wreath

A small eternity ago, I woke up with a brainstorm involving cork.

Specifically, wine corks.

And I don't drink.

But that wasn't going to stop me from the brilliance that came to me in my dreams....

So I begged all my Facebook friends to contribute their unused corks to my cause.

And I got just enough to complete this project.

Tools needed....

One Cardboard ring. 

Any old cardboard will do.

I cut this one out of a Thirty-one box.

One Glue gun.

About 25 glue sticks.

And about 300 corks.

Start by gluing the corks onto the cardboard. 

Pattern doesn't really matter at this point. 

You are just trying to build a base.

Once you have the cardboard mostly covered, you can start layering.

I pretty much stacked, layered, and glued my finger tips off.

I wanted them to look haphazard.

Then I just glued a ribbon around it.

And hung it.

Easy peasy!

I LOVE it.

I love how every cork has a different design.

And for the record, since I have about 13 wreaths in every room of my house, I eventually removed the ribbon and I am now using this as a centerpiece around a candle on my dining room table.

I absolutely LOVE it.

Now if only I had more corks for the other cork inspired projects I dreamed up that night!


I am linking this project to Beth's Tuesday Tutorial Series.






As well as Amanda's Weekend Bloggy Reading party!

Happy Crafting, ya'll!

The Nook...Semi-Revealed

After 3 weekends of work, the nook is finally done. 

And by that I mean, STRUCTURALLY done.

It is by no means where I want it to be yet.

I haven't decorated the walls.

I haven't finished the pillows.

But we officially have somewhere to sit.

And we officially have somewhere to eat.

Which by Techy's standards would mean that it is done.

Oh to be a man.

And not care about such silly details as decorated walls or pillows.

But I thought I would take this opportunity to show you where we've come from compared to where we are today.

And sorry, but this is as good a before as you are going to get...

A picture of us coloring Easter Eggs 2 years ago.

But to be fair, it hasn't changed much since then....

It needed SOMETHING.

So we started with a little bit of this....

Very carefully, I might add. 

I wanted to be able to reuse the trim....

But then I searched out my own personal stud to help with the heavy labor portions....

And he helped me build some boxes...or you know he built them without me...whatever....

And then he tested them out...

Sometimes he likes to pretend like he's high faluting with his fancy Arby's Christmas Stemware, circa 2004.

But then we had to get some wood to cover the boxes.

Let me just tell you, this dude LOVED us.

It's funny how every Home Depot employee avoids the line at the saw....

Techy's tenacity came in handy, when he followed this guy around until he came and cut our wood for us.

Only to take it home and realize our measurements were ever so slightly off.

Undaunted, we moved ahead covering the boxes.... 

And realized that we have never been so thankful for the fudge factor that trim allows for.

Next we measured our lids and positioned notches to hold the lids on....

Which may or may not have required me to climb in the boxes and mark the corners.

But it was totally worth it, since our lids now fit perfectly, with no shimmying.

Then came sanding, woodfilling, caulking and priming.

Also where I fell in love with wood filler.

A little helpful tip that you are probably well aware of, but that I didn't know until last week....

Wood filler is extremely user friendly, sandable and paintable.

Caulk is totally paintable, but totally not sander friendly. 

Meaning I really only used caulk for corners.

Everything else got a healthy dose of wood filler.

Now back to the action.

Or the non-action.

Because I didn't take ANY pictures of the upholstering process.

But it involved alot of foam, stapling, batting, and every last square inch of the denim fabric that I bought 2 years ago for $2.00 a yard.

Not to mention the buttons I covered. 

Which may or may not have caused a few less-than-choice words to slip out of our mouths when they kept falling apart while we were trying to sew them on.

Yeah.

Techy just LOVED that.

But in the end, they were so totally just what I was looking for! 

Now all that's left is making the pillows, decorating the walls, covering my chairs for the outside edge (high chairs have to go somewhere, ya'll!!!) and hemming up my rug (the binding makes it an inch too long, so that should be fun).

Sorry for the teaser pic, but really, it was all I could get as I was running out the door this morning.

Trust me when I say it turned out better than I could have ever hoped! 

"Pull"ing Me in Other Directions

Disclaimer:  Welcome to "Pun Day" here on ye olde blogge.  The day where I use as many stupid puns as possible. 

With all the love our breakfast nook is getting these days, it's only natural for me to crave some beautifying in other areas of my house as well.

Namely my hideous kitchen.

Ok, ok, ok.  It's not SOOOOOO hideous.

But as a homeowner, there are certain things that bother me that no one else would ever even notice.

And one of those things is my nasty drawer pulls.

The previous owners had the original sassy brassy drawer pulls...

Credit

But, in good taste and good cents (pun intended) they spray painted them.

Sound familiar?

So.like.me.

But I am over it.

Further over than Donald Trump's comb-over.

No?

More over than Sunny and Cher?

No?

More over it than the Cow is over the moon?

Heh...guess the "Goodnight Moon" reference is lost on you folks.

But you get it.

Right?

Because I read blogs?

And look at magazines?

And watch HGTV?
And happen to hate seeing the paint chip off of my current pulls?

And I happen to be obsessed with these babies.

Credit

And imagining them in my kitchen....

Looking something like this....

Credit

Does funny things to my insides....

Or maybe that's just gas....

All the same, I want them.

And I want them now.

Too bad the nook has taken up most of our extra $$ these days....

Guess I will just have to start saving my pennies....

Until I can stop fantasizing about drawer pulls....

That's what she said!

The Fan Fan

Credit

As almost all of us, or at least those of us who were not sleeping under a rock are aware, the big day is finally over....

Typically, this has never mattered at my house.

Um, hello, remember???

But this year, it means something all together wonderful.

For all of us.

Because a certain someone set a construction deadline for us.

Said deadline being set to begin immediately following the Super Bowl.

Not that I will be able to talk anyone into picking up anything reminiscent of a drill or scattering ANY sawdust until at least the weekend. 

However, prior to bringing the beautiful banquette project to Techy's attention, I spent alot of time contemplating and even building the argument for how I would convince him that this was our best option for the space.

And truthfully, I was a little disappointed when he caved so easily.  (Read: picked up his pom-poms and cheered with glee at the proposition....)

In true Leslie Knope* fashion, "I'm very glad that you agree with me, but I actually worked really hard on my argument. Is there any way I can still, kind of, yeah?"

So, since Techy agreed so quickly to the banquette idea, I had to come up with something to defend, right?

And I did.

You see, we have this ridiculous, never gets used, ridiculously placed ceiling fan (centered on the room people, not over the eating area...duh!!!) in our breakfast nook area.

And I, for one, see no need for it. 

Because 1.  I hate it.  and 2.  It's ugly.  And 3.  The lighting is all harsh and ugly.  And 4.  Did I mention it's ugly!?! 

I mean seriously, if I am going to make my breakfast nook all pretty, why would I leave that hideous fan NOT CENTERED over our eating area?

I mean, come on.

Does that make any sense.

So, here's the thing....

I have a great idea in mind.

I just have to talk Techy into it.

A.K.A. I am going to have to argue for it.

And I happen to know it's going to be one of those fight to the finish type things.

Because Techy is a big fan.

Get it?

I know.

Cheesy.

But he loves that ugly old ceiling fan.

Guess I better start my prep work now...

Wish me luck!


(Dear World, I love Leslie Knope.  She reminds me of some people I know...  If you have never seen P&R, you are MISSING OUT!)




Yeah, I know.  You don't have to watch it all. 
 
I'm just a big fan.
 
HEHE....