I’ve been completely consumed doing some more nesting projects in order to get ready for this baby boy to arrive.

We’ve been debating how to rearrange the kids rooms to make space for baby brother. Isaac and Emma have been together on bunk beds since Leah was born. I always felt a little bad having Emma in a boy-decorated room but she never seemed to care.

One idea was to move the 2 bigger kids downstairs (who weren’t ready for that kind of move after a 3 night trial) and give baby brother his own room. I love having babies sleep undisturbed. But in the end we figured it was best to move the girls in together and then have the boys together. Works out nicely, really. Why it took us months to figure that out is beyond me.

I wanted to take this bedroom switching opportunity to redecorate. I was completely tired of the paint in Leah’s room. But what to do? My 8 year old Emma is totally over pink and is loving lots of awesome shades of blue. My dear 3 year old Leah is in love with pink and purple. So when I saw this pin, I about died and went to heaven. I wanted that exact room for the girls. The problem was, though, that I couldn’t fit 2 bed side by side. The room is just way too tiny so I had to go with bunk beds which have turned out just fine but maybe not as cute as the room that inspired me.

Now that I’m looking at this pic, I think I need to lower the two darling flower prints, yes?

I copied the gray paint idea, though mine might be a bit lighter. I had major drama picking out gray paint. I’m such a coo coo head. I did lots of research on gray paint and had a list of popular colors from online. I got all overwhelmed by the variety of tones.  I didn’t want to drive all over town looking for the perfect color so I went to Kwals because it is the closest to my house. I came home with a sample called Seattle that looked perfect and painted a huge spot on wall. It was so hard to tell what it would look like with the funky pink background. I decided that it was too dark and too blue, especially when Emma came home and called it blue. What to do?

I went back and couldn’t decide if I should buy another sample or just bite the bullet on a full gallon. The cost of this room was stacking up. With the help of the paint guy, I ended up buying a gallon of Spray River thinking it was lighter and warmer than the Seattle color.  I painted half a wall and still didn’t know what I thought. Maybe too light. Not enough color. Should I go back to add more color? I kept going because it seemed like the easiest choice and I wanted to be done. I was worried that it was almost too white but thought that adding punches of color with accessories might dress up the room enough.

I wanted to make both girls happy with the room by using plenty of pink and blue. When I saw these new comforters at Ikea, I knew they were perfect for the girls room. Sweet but colorful and I just couldn’t beat the price, especially with wishing I could make homemade quilts but having no time or energy to do that.

Now for the fun accessorizing-

I learned to make homemade tissue pom poms.

I hung up curtains and sewed up a little flag banner with fabric scraps that I had on hand. The flags might be my favorite thing in the room. I had the idea to make it one night while I couldn’t stop tossing and turning. Love it.

I painted the backside/inside of a little billy bookcase.

Made some doll bunk beds with duck tape.

And hung up little picture frame shelves from Ikea for storing small stuffed animals and books. My girls love their knickknacks so I knew I needed to provide limited space for their treasures.

I’m so happy with the way everything turned out and so happy that I’m done. The girls love the room and so do I.

{Don’t be too freaked out with the leopard gecko on Emma’s head. She loves Lizzy and holds her whenever possible.}

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Isaac was initially sad about losing is bunk mate but after I gave his room a thorough cleaning, took off the top half of his bunk bed and did a little furniture rearranging he loves it again and is happy to show off his big boy room and points out the fact that he’s going to share with baby brother when he comes.

I had an old bookshelf I moved into his room and created a little place for his knickknaks too.

Now, it’s time to sort old baby clothes, buy a pack of new born diapers and maybe bust out the diaper changing pad and bassinet.

I have a million and one house projects floating through my head. The challenge is getting them all done before this baby arrives. It’s completely overwhelming to me when I think about how I’m going to get it all done by my wee little pregnant self. So why am I doing it? Who knows!

But I’ve been able to check a couple things off. Yea!

A month ago when I went to Idaho, I had my hubby get the carpets cleaned in the house so we wouldn’t have a bunch of little feet running around on wet carpet. When I got home I looked at my empty rooms and at all the furniture piled up in the areas that hadn’t been cleaned. It felt like we were just moving in and we had a fresh start to arranging furniture.

What a great time to improve things, yes?

My first thought was to find a better home for my ugly computer desk and cords galore. This gave me the idea to tuck it in the little space behind the couch. Our tv and sectional were centered in the room leaving some empty space along the far wall.

Now, imagine a toy room chuck full of toys. Imagine a table in the middle of that mess with a sewing machine and a cutting mat on top of it. Well, that table is where I’ve been doing most of my crafting. I had some storage going on for my sewing supplies but it certainly wasn’t the ideal situation. Because I don’t have my own room to make into a craft room, I needed to get creative.

Now, if only I could find a decent before picture.

I think Jeremy had the idea to skooch over the tv and couch, giving more space for… what?

A CRAFT CORNER!! My very own space! Yea!

Now, I know it’s not terribly glamorous, nothing worth pinning, but it’s an improvement for me. Isn’t this how most of us live anyway. Not all of us can have perfectly decorated dream rooms.

Maybe I should have cleaned up a little better before I started snapping photos. But hey, I’m all about real life.

I really should get rid of the fake tree. Jeremy doesn’t like it and it kinda cramps my space. I was afraid of melting it with my iron the other day. Yikes. Adding some fun, bright art to the walls would make it even better.

I’d also like to get a new iron board cover. Something cool and modern looking. I can tuck the iron board, cutting mat and sewing machine behind the couch if I want it to look really nice and clean.

I splurged on this Expedit from Ikea. It’s perfect for craft supplies. I already had most of the Itso bins from Target and the little drawers full of scrapbooking stuff. I added the lables and tidied everything up.

The best thing is that the kids tend to leave my stuff alone and I don’t have to step over a ton of toys while I’m working away.

Yea, yea!

Hello, ya’ll. I don’t know about your neck of the woods but it’s turning into a lovely spring here, around our house. It’s been nice to open the doors and windows and let the house breath all the warm fresh air. I’ve also banned the children from playing in the basement and have forced them to play out of doors for most the day. It’s so nice to see a little bit of color show up on their cheeks when they come in for dinner. Ahh! Everything seems better in the spring, doesn’t it?

Well, I’ve been wanting some new springish subway art for my wall gallery. There are quite a few on Pinterest to pick from but nothing that was exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t want anything about Easter because that holiday is going to come and go in a flash and I want the subway art to last a bit longer than that.

So… I’ve created my own.

I’m going to share it with you too. You can download it by clicking here. When the image shows up on your screen, right click and hit Save Image as. Select where you want to save it and your computer should then download the image. It is 8×10 inches so that you can just print it at home on some white paper and throw it in your frame. Easy peasy!

Please leave me a comment if you downloaded. Hope you are enjoying your spring as much as I am.

I’m not sure I’ll ever try a real painting art project again. I just don’t have the natural talent that it takes.

Here is my second attempt at painting an art piece for my front room. Believe it or not, I spent about 6 hours on it. Argg, my poor aching pregnant back.

I painted over my first attempt… and I do like it better than that herringbone disaster but there is something really scary about hanging up a piece of art work that you did yourself. Do I want people to walk in and say “Oh, did you paint that?” I’d much rather have them say, “Where did you find/buy/get that?” See the difference. Obviously homemade vs. a cool piece of purchased art work. I really don’t know how to feel about it.

Am I being silly? It must be time to move on.

I did have this darling little model who wanted to help me out though.

She has a massive scab on her upper lip from a face-plant she did while playing outside.

Ah, childhood. She could care less about how my art work looks she just wants me to take pictures of her.

If you remember, I started a redecorating project a couple months ago. I’m slowly making progress. One of the biggest elements of my room has been to reupholster Grandma’s old pink wing back chairs.

I can hardly believe that I have finished reupholstering my very first project. Why I ever decided that a traditional wing back chair would be the place to start is beyond me but I’m done with one.

I’ll admit that it’s been a challenge. Taking it apart took several days and plenty of movie watching to keep the brain occupied. I was so careful to learn how the chair was put together as I went. My hands were so sore taking out staples. Bajillion of them!! Even finding the fabric was difficult. We were going for a charcoal gray and ended up with this mysterious dark taupe color. It was so hard to find good fabric. I ended up special ordering fabric from Joann’s that was half off. I had to wait and wait and wait for it to come in.

Once I finally took possession of the fabric I was worried that I’d forgotten how to put it back together again. Luckily, I took notes and pictures. I reused everything I could; piping, stuffing, and even those scary looking metal pieces. It is easier to put staples in then take them out so that was nice but I went slow and tried to be as accurate as I could be.

I did the best I could.

I think every single fabric piece has its flaw though. I guess that’s the beauty of homemade. I just hope they aren’t to noticeable to most who walk in my front door. Check out my notes at flickr on this pic below if your interested in how bad of a job I did.

Hard, I tell you.

It’s done though and I’ve learned a lot. Now, how on earth do I motivate myself to do the second chair??

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When I was almost done with this first chair I saw this pin about painting upholstery fabric.

Hip hip hurray! The house finally feels like it’s getting put back together.

I’m so in love with my new board and batten wall. It was such a nerve-racking project. In the end I’m soooo happy I went through with it. It’s made a big difference in my front room. If you are thinking about doing something like it yourself, “I say DO IT!”

I wont type up a tutorial for you because there are already tons out there. But I’ll tell you the basics of what we did.

First you know that I made up some mock up photoshop pictures to get an idea of what style I wanted in my room. Thanks for all who voted. The grid style was the winner by far… so that’s what I went with but eliminated the bottom grid.  I think it turned out just right.

Second, I taped off the wall with the blue painters tape to get an idea of the exact height and measurements I wanted. I think I changed it 4 or 5 or 6 times and finally was so sick of it that I just went with it.

Next, I painted the wall white. I thought this would make the final coat at the end easier and it did.

As far as my supplies went, I bought mdf handypanel that was sized 1/4 in thick and 2×4 feet (I went thin because I didn’t want to have to beef up my tiny baseboards). This was the cheapest option I could come up with. It was only $5.68 for a sheet at home depot and I only used 2. With the help of a neighbor with a table saw we zipped the panel into 3 inch wide x 44 inches tall boards. I also bought 15 feet worth of window molding to match my existing trim and 15 feet of preprimed mdf trim that was something like 1 x 1/2 inches for the little ledge to top off my molding with. Also a tube of liquid nails and a tube of paintable caulking.

Next, I will tell you to measure twice or even three times and glue up your boards once because we had to redo some of the boards. Luckily we had some mineral spirits on hand and that wiped the liquid nails off the wall just fine. Whoo! Close one.

With the help of my good neighbor we got the boards up on the wall in a jiffy. What would I have done with out him?

The next day I caulked and mudded the seams best I could. Don’t look to close okay because it’s not a professional job at all. He he.

I was so excited to finally get the boards all painted! Yea! I might recommend prepainting all the boards and then touch up at the end but I dunno, it worked out fine to paint them on the wall and only took a couple hours for 2 coats.

I love my little ledge. I was unsure about it but love it now.

I’ve finished sewing a few more accent pillows too to go along with my Anthro inspired pillow. Wooh! Luckily sewing a square is a lot less intensive than putting up board and batten.

I think my front room is really coming together quite nicely.

Now, I shouldn’t have an excuse for picking the kids up late from school. Ha!

Now that I have freshly painted walls I figured I needed to get the frames and things off my floor and back onto my wall even though I was enjoying that clean wall feeling. My family needs their house back.

I’ve been wanting to change things up on the big old wall in the great room and now was the perfect chance. I’d seen so many cute wall collages and wanted to do something simillar.

Here’s some inspiration-

or something like this-

I tried really hard to find a Before picture of my wall because, of course, I didn’t snap one when I took everything down. The only thing I could find was a silly video that Emma and Isaac made back in the summer. If you watch in the beginning you’ll get a glimpse of my wall. I was super tired of the hanging vase and dusty shelves.

From 2011-07 (July)

I gathered all the frames that I thought would look decent in my gallery. I started by arranging and rearranging the photos on the floor. I’d seen this method but was too lazy to cut out a bunch of paper. I just went for it.

I was afraid of it looking too cluttery since this great room can get so messy is such a well used room. I took out the smaller frames and thought it looked much cleaner. I dunno, is less more or is more better?

And here’s the finished product. I made a few last minute changes once I had everything on the wall. I used velcro command strips so I didn’t have to bother with nail holes. Loved them although they aren’t the cheapest option. I bought some craft paint and painted the wooden frames and rubbed a little stain on them. The white scalloped one had 4 different colors happen to it. It was a bit frustrating because my little craft paint was the wrong color and I repainted it 4 times. It took up my whole afternoon but I’m happy with the way it all turned out.

Even the hubby made all the “appropriate noises” (as my mom says) when he came home from work.

I had an empty frame that I wasn’t sure what to fill with so I printed out a Valentines Subway Art. I thought these colors worked great with my new color scheme. I’ve always had my eye on subway art but had no where to put it. Now I can switch it out for different holidays.

You can grab it here too if you like.

So my next project is a board and batten wall for my front room behind my couch. If you are unfamiliar with the craze you can check out a some great tutorials and examples here and here and here. I was hesitant on whether or not I wanted to put in the extra work but now I’ve seen a ton of board and batten projects all over the internet and I think it can make a room look so great and put together. But of course I can’t decide if it should be a traditional low style or a high modern looking one or maybe even a grid style. Everyone seems to have their own little twist to it to make it look good in their own houses. Most the examples I’ve seen are higher up on the wall.

I whipped up some mock photoshop versions to help me get a visual idea.  I have this vaulted ceiling and partial wall on the left that make it difficult for me to know how it’ll feel in the room. Ideas?

Low: about  anywhere between 32 to 40 inches high, just enough to see it above the couch. Actually when I look at this picture, maybe lower.

High: 63 inches high, about my eye level.

or grid: still high but with the grid look

Whatcha think? Are you laughing at my photoshopped board and batten walls? Are you thinking about doing it too?

Want to vote because I’m such a poor decision maker?

Thanks very muches.

I can’t make a decision to save my life. My mom knows this. My sister’s know this and my husband knows this. I like to get peoples options.

So when I started paint my front room on Friday and was a bit hesitant on the paint color Erin and I had decided on, classic gray. I had to get every girls opinion on the planet. I had 2 neighbors come over, a friend who was dropping off her daughter for a play date and my mom all come in through out the afternoon and give me their options.

It should have been a clue that I was so unsure because later that night when I had finished painting, I hated it. It was just too white (lacked enough contrast with the trim) and gave off a blue cast. I had thought that it was a warmish gray color from the paint chip and couldn’t tell that it was going to glow blue from the samples I’d painted on the wall. I guess I should have done more research than just looking at paint chips.

So after some tears and a restless night of sleep, I decided that the worst decision would be to live with it. So back to the paint store I went the next morning. I bought 3 more paint samples.

Honestly, looking at this picture I feel a little ridiculous. I understand that it’s hard to tell much from the picture. I know the paint looks tan. Comparing apples to apple, yes?  But first of all, it’s crappy light and secondly, I need someone to tell me to stop using my junky 2 megapixel cell phone camera. (Where on earth is my real camera? haven’t used it in ages.) But have you ever had a paint disaster? It’s an awful feeling. Money wasted. Body super tired. Kids grouchy from mom painting all day. And husband not wanted to help anymore. Sigh.

With the paint samples, we, meaning only me and Jeremy (despite the fact that I wanted to call all my neighbors, sister’s and mom (again)), decided on Edgecomb Gray. (The far right square on the wall.) I had seen it in real life on a friends wall and it had great reviews online. It must be a good, safe, proven choice.

After a very long day of painting, I’m very happy with this beautiful, warm grayish neutral. It was a ton of painting. Not only did I paint the front room but the wall wraps around into the great room and includes the entry way. Big vaulted ceiling. Gosh, I’m tired and sore.

I do feel a little silly painting a neutral over with another neutral. Especially after all this work of doing it twice. I’d really love for it to look noticeably different and improved to others. In real life I think it looks different. My beige/tan color had a bit of a pink hue to it that I wanted to get rid of. The new paint does look great in my house, works with my blue/gray walls and really freshens things up despite the lack of drama. It feels so good I hardly want to put pictures back on the wall.

Before:

After:

My forearms are sore, my back hurts and I’m desperately tired.

On to the next project: Board and Batten wall.

Sorry for my absence. Apparently I can not multitask very well so blogging gets put on the back burner. My energies have been getting used up in other areas of my life.

So what have I been doing? you might ask.

I have been completely and totally obsessed with redecorating my front room. It all started with joining Pinterest. Have any of your lives changed because of Pinterest? Sheesh, mine has. Not only does it give me another reason to be on the computer but it gives me great ideas for cooking, sewing, things to wear, things to do with the kids, and of course decorating ideas. Lots things to keep me distracted from my blog.

So, after hearing that my sister in law found a very affordable interior decorator to help her get that put together look to her own house, I couldn’t resist checking her out for some of my own decoration dilemmas.

My front room has always been place for yard sell furniture and dusty old things that I don’t care to much about. The problem with that is that it’s the first room you see when you walk into my house. I don’t mean to be vain but I want people to have a good first impression when they walk into my house. I want it to be fun, inviting and well put together. I felt like it was time to spruce things up.

My house is very earth toned. I love earth tones. I am naturally drawn to browns. But I really want to add some fun color in the mix. I’m dreadfully tired of burgundy. On the internet I see lots of fun turquoise and oranges, bright yellow and greens. I can’t help but want that. Ahh.

This whole thing actually started in July when I was wanting a bright, fun painted old piano for my front room.

I was a bit stumped, though, on how to do that in my very warm, earth tones house. If I had one room all bright and colorful how would that look or flow with the other rooms. I didn’t know. I thought I’d have to pull down everything off the walls and start all over with a clean slate.

That’s why I enlisted the help of Erin.

She came over, checked out my room, talked about what I was wanting and created a vision board for me. Now before you look to closely at it, I think the hot pink art work is very distracting. It is not going to be like that in my room. You have to try really had to imagine those green. I told her I was happy to do things myself to save money and so she found some art work I could easily make my self. We’ve also picked out a different rung that I think is cuter and the modern chairs are going to be Grandma’s wingback chairs reupholstered for a little more classy look.

Things I’ve done so far:

1. bought a cheep beat up round mirror and painted the frame silver.

2. bought a new lamp, which I’m not loving and might return (unless I decide to do this to the lampshade)

3. I have also stressed and stressed over the pillows. I like her suggestions but was not in love. I have looked and looked all over the place. You can’t imagine what a big ordeal I’ve made out of it. Maybe I’ll write up a whole post about my pillow drama, but in the end I made a pillow inspired by this one and now am ready to get on with some of the other details and coordinating pillows.

The things I’m really excited about getting going on:

1. the board and batten wall against the couch wall.

2. painting the walls a warm gray color.

3. If I ever acquire a piano, painting it a cheery yellow.

4. I might attempt making my own curtains. Maybe something like this but in white.

So that’s it for now. It’s crazy how consumed I’ve been with it all. I’d love to have it all done in a month or so. Perhaps I’m nesting. Ya, let’s blame it on that. I always enjoy seeing before and afters so I’ll keep you posted about it if you’re interested. And maybe a anthro-inspired pillow tutorial. How about that?

Ta ta for now.