Liza's Room - the big REVEAL :)

Well, baby Liza will be here in less than a month.  The nursery is {almost} done and I've been waiting to share it with you until we got a few photos back from our photographer friend who recently did some maternity pictures for us!  

First, let's remember what this room looked like before {back when it was our guest bedroom}:

We started by painting it blue over spring break.  At that point, we still had NO clue if we'd be having a girl or a boy.  And even though we thought 'it' would be a girl, we still opted for blue.  I'll have to find the paint can, but it is from Sherwin Williams.  

Don't worry we didn't leave their names on the wall :)

Then, we got the crib and the dresser set up.  And then the room stayed like that for quite some time...

Until we finally found some time and energy in late spring/early summer.

Here was our list for her room:

• Add closet organization and remove closet doors
• Add shelves to display pictures/"L"/etc.
• Add shelves for diaper 'bins'
• Find rug for the floor (DIY perhaps)
• Find fabric for curtains & crib skirt
• Hang paper lanterns
• Make curtains
• Make crib skirt
• Wash clothes/burp rags/blankets/etc.
• Spray paint "L" yellow
• Hang pictures above crib
• Get chair delivered and in place
• Make a bookshelf

Although the list doesn't seem too bad, it wasn't always easy to accomplish when JW works 10.5 hours every day and I can't do too much lifting/moving by myself!  But, we're happy to say it's done!

The first pic is from our maternity pictures...pardon the rest of them.  I was eager to post and didn't edit my own!

The quilt on the back of the chair is JW's baby blanket :)

Liza's "Anywhere Chair" from PBKids, so she can fit in with her older cousins!

We like to call this the 'Twister' rug.  Maybe we've played a game or two on it :)

Diaper bag packed and ready to go to the hospital

We also like that a lot of the colors and design will be great when she wants a 'big girl' room.  And if not, most of the items in there are easy enough to switch out then!

Here's a cost breakdown:

• Fabric for curtains & crib skirt ($65 from fabric.com w/ coupon)
• Crib (Free, hand-me-down from JW's sister)
• Dresser ($285 from Buy Buy Baby - apparently they take Bed Bath & Beyond coupons...if we'd only known that or if there was one closer than 4 hours away)
• Chair ($1100 - YIKES, we spent on this bad boy because we plan on using it in the living room for years to come and because my parents have the same model chair in their living room and we LOVE it...it's a Smith Brothers in case you're wondering)
• Shelves (FREE, leftover lumber & paint from one of our many other projects)
• Closet Organization (FREE, again leftover paint and lumber and JW used a wire closet insert from a basement closet we never use)
• Bookshelf ($3 - leftover white paint and lumber and trim, and then a $3 sample of the yellow paint from Lowe's or Home Depot)
• Frames & Art (Art = $5 to print at Walgreens [rather than killing our ink cartridge]; Frames - Ryba frames from Ikea - I think they cost $10/each)
• Blue Room Paint ($30 - we had some leftover from a room in our basement and had to buy another gallon from Sherwin Williams to finish it all off)
• Curtain Panel Rings ($8 - SUPER sale at JoAnn Fabrics plus my teacher discount)
• Paper Lanterns (Free - leftover from our wedding decor)
• Rugs (the big one was $40ish from Ikea...it was a great deal and we love the playful colors; the small blue one - FREE - my mom crocheted for us)
• Mirror ($40 from HomeGoods - one of our first purchases too)
• Bins (some free from our registry, some $5/bin on sale at Meijer)
 

Well, what do you think??? :)

Liza's Adjustable Crib Skirt

I promised this post last week. 

And then I got busy.

And now I'm editing my Master's project for the kajillionth time.

I was losing some steam so I figured I'd take a break and actually get this post going.

But first a few Liza updates!

We had an ultrasound on Friday and by the calculations, our little lady is a growing 6 pounds, 1 ounce!  Her dad has begun to affectionately call her the "6 pounder".  This means that if she makes her arrival close to on-time, she'll be a little under 8 pounds :)

Because of this, we've been on a mission to have her room completed soon!  And we're close.

But, here's what I've been meaning to show you all: how to make an adjustable crib skirt.

I had seen some no-sew crib skirts and some that took way more sewing skill than I had and I opted for somewhere right in the middle.  I think you could easily make this an almost no-sew project, though, if that's not your thing.  

I also wanted a crib skirt that could adjust when we move Liza's mattress down as she gets bigger.  I saw this post, but she didn't have the directions as to how to actually create the crib skirt.  So I started measuring and brainstorming...and before long I had an idea.  But don't expect too much, I know very little about sewing.

Here's what I came up with...

Adjustable Crib Skirt Tutorial

Materials:

3.5 yards ribbon (mine was about 3/4" thick) or leftover ribbon 

2 yards fabric (just to be safe) - I only did 3 sides of my crib since one rests against the wall

Thread or Iron-on Hem Tape

{1} Measure the sides of your crib that you'll want to have a skirt hang from.  Make sure your mattress is at the highest setting.  Add an inch or two on to each width and length so you have enough for a hem.  (I worked on this while I washed my fabric to ensure it was pre-shrunk)

{2} Cut material for each panel (rather than one large piece).  Then, iron and pin a hem around each edge of the panel.  Sew these down (or use iron-on hem tape) EXCEPT for the top.

{3} Cut your ribbon into 10" strips - you'll need approximately 11 of these.  Then, fold them in half and iron at that point.  

{4} Pin three of these at the middle of the ribbon to the top of your side panels and 5 to the top of your front panel, keeping somewhat equal distance in between. (You'll be using the ribbon to tie knots, so you need to have the two ends out)

{5} Sew a hem on the top of each panel while sewing the ribbon down.

{6} Press the panels one more time before hanging.  Then, ask your husband to help you (especially if you're 8 months pregnant) tie the ribbons to the bed springs of the crib so that the crib barely grazes the floor or is slightly above - whatever you prefer.

Then, stand back and admire your work :)

This is Mocha, my brother's dog.  She was baffled by the noise of the camera.  She was also a good helper when it came to getting the crib skirt up :)

More on Liza's room soon!!!

Hello lover.

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday!!  As usual, this week has flown by on me.  I blame it on summer school starting up again.  Anyway, it’s time to link up with Jamie and chit chat about what I’m loving this week.

[1]

Fresh produce from our CSA and how it helped me to make these ‘Farmer’s Market Lasagna Rolls’ last night for dinner.  Recipe on those later today!

[2]

The rain yesterday.  Our yard was looking pretty dry (seeing as we’d rather water our garden than our lawn).  I know our garden loved the rain too.

[3]

Liza’s room is getting closer!  Here’s a few sneak peaks on what we’ve been working on lately!

Bookshelf that JW made for our little one!

Picture that my cousin, Chelsey painted specifically for Liza's room :)

Bassinet for our baby girl.  This came from my Grandma and she had used it for her kids, grandkids and even great grandkids.  And YES I will take the stuffed animals and blankets out before I use it.

[4]

This little girl is kicking and moving like crazy!  Every once in awhile her little jabs here and there are a bit uncomfortable, but I know it means she’s getting bigger and stronger.

[5]

Of course, I’m loving my wonderful husband, JW.

…and the Whit-bug!

 What are you loving this week?

Nursery Semi-Reveal

Well, the nursery is on its way!  We laughed the other day about how we were so not procrastinating with this project.  I always think of nursery completion pictures happening when the lovely preggo lady has quite the belly to show off.  I have a bump....barely.  When I was trying on a dress the other day, the salesperson did not even believe that I was 4 months pregnant.  Oh well...it'll get there I'm sure.

So anyway, JW did a lot painting on Sunday and Monday to change our guest room from this... 

 To this beautiful shade of blue.

We also got the crib and the dresser set up.  Although we are nowhere close to being done, we do have quite a few of the elements we love.  The Ikea floor lamp was actually something we bought for our wedding reception to add some lighting to the venue, but we love that it feels whimsical and not too bright in this space.  We also picked up two lime green buckets at Pottery Barn Outlet for half the price of what you can buy them for in the catalog! 

 Although the rocker won't stay there permanently, we thought it was a cute addition to the room and I just sewed up that pillow this morning with red tag home decor fabric samples from JoAnn Fabrics.  Add to that my teacher discount and I got the patterned side and a solid blue sample for $3.16.  

Like I said, we're certainly not done yet, but we're off to a good start.  We still have visions of adding shelves, finding a great chair, and putting up some prints I've been crafting in publisher.  In addition, while I was watching my nephews yesterday they both checked out the 'baby' room.   Therefore, it's been kid-approved! Braden, the 2 year old was searching for the baby.  Cutest thing ever.  He kind of gets the concept that the baby is in Aunt Erin's belly, but when you ask him where the baby is he points to his belly, ha!

So, what do you think?  We'd love to hear ideas or thoughts that you might have!

We have remodeling A.D.D.

Tonight while cleaning up the kitchen, I mentioned to JW that while we have been working on a lot of different projects around the house lately, we seem to be super-A.D.D. about getting any of them done.  Not that I mind...it's completely my style to do anything with an A.D.D. attitude.  In fact, I think I thrive in this style.  But what it means for the blog is we can't show you all these amazing reveals that we're so stinking excited about because we keep starting new projects!  So, rather than doing a super-dramatic reveal, let me give you an idea about where we are at with all of the projects we've decided to undertake.

Project List:
#1~ Turn awkward basement bedroom into ultimate guest suite.

Progress: So far JW tore out all the carpet, the weird built-in bed frame for the water bed, and painted the walls gray. 
Still to be done: We need to carpet this joint (obviously).  But the carpet is coming tomorrow -- hooray for making a quick decision over JW's lunch yesterday and getting it installed so quickly.  Once that's done we'll move some furniture back in and start decorating with a few of the goodies we picked up during our super-shopping trip this weekend!

#2~ Redo basement bathroom.

Progress: Major...like SO close to being done.  We painted it 'mint condition' a few months back and tore down the shower doors that nearly decapitated us when we used this shower when we first moved in this summer.  A few weekends ago JW ripped out the old laminate tile that was really holding this bathroom back from being pretty :)  Then he learned how to do tile, thanks to the guidance of my pops!

Still to be done: We need to seal the tile and caulk the screw holes from where the shower doors were, but we are WAY close to being done!  Oh, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to put the toilet back in as well, ha.

#3~ Stairs

Progress: The carpet and carpet pad are gone (which is good because they were nasty).

Still to be done: Carpet has been picked out and all we need is for the dudes to install it tomorrow!!  Oh, and after I painted close to the stair treads today I cleaned everything up...only to realize my lovely husband had done a little patching (the bright white spot on the left side of the pic)...so eventually it would be good to hit that with a roller too.

#4~ Nursery
(.....No picture here yet.....nursery semi-reveal to come later today)

Progress: Painting is done!  Old guest bedroom furniture has been removed and we've got the crib and dresser set up.  We also picked up a great white capiz mirror at Home Goods and a few other accessories during our shopping trip this weekend.

Still to be done: We need to find a rocker/recliner for this room.  We're on the hunt for a deal, but willing to spend a bit of cash considering we got a pretty good deal on the dresser and the crib was a hand-me-down from JW's sister.  Then we'll need to find some sort of rug for the wood floors.  My mom is crocheting one out of this beautiful, oh-so-cushy blue yarn so we're anxious to see what she creates when they get back from Spring Break.  

#5~ Office

Progress: Well, let's be honest.  This place is a DISASTER.  It's been a temporary place to house our furniture from the upstairs guest room that is tough to move downstairs with no carpet and old tac strips on the back of all the stairs.  

Still to be done: Ha, I don't even know if I can list everything -- major organizing, lots of cleaning, and hopefully a more polished, clean look when we're done.  At the same time, though, we have a hard time parting with the old ratty couch in there since it's the Whit bug's favorite and it seems to keep her off our newer furniture in the living room.

So there's an update.  I told you we have remodeling A.D.D.  Hopefully getting the carpet installed tomorrow will be a good jump start to feeling a little more finished.  But at the same time, we've placed an order for our mudroom cabinets and some cabinets that will look like a hutch in our breakfast nook, so the A.D.D. could continue...

As soon as we get one room complete, though, we'll be sure to show it off  :)