Cozy Corner for Luke's Room: Sneak Peek

I picked up some items from Target today (above) to create a cozy little hideaway for Luke's room.  Every child needs a secret spot of some sort to which they can retreat.  I have a feeling I'm going to crawl in a lot too. I'm hoping to get it created tomorrow or at least by the end of the weekend.

I've been seeing lots of great forts, tents, and other hideaways and reading nooks on Pinterest, and I am smitten.  Here are some that I like, and one of these is the inspiration for the one I'm making Luke. Can you guess which one?

From Sew Liberated. This blog features a very kid-friendly home.

Great use of space here.  This one found at Apartment Therapy.

I love the magical feel of this tent and room.  Found on Pinterest via Tumbler.

Love the alphabet and the string of lights.  This one from Apartment Therapy as well.

Love the colors here and all the cozy rugs and pillows.
Found this on Pinterest.

Carnival Tent Display

Three elementary schools, one from the city of Huntsville, one from the city of Madison, and one from Madison County teamed up with The United Way to hold summer reading carnivals this past week. I signed up to volunteer at the public library's table at the county school, and I also volunteered to create a display for the story time area.

I went straight to Pinterest for ideas, and I created quite a Pinterest board dedicated to all things carnival. I can't wait to throw Luke a carnival-inspired birthday party! This backdrop from a wedding was my main inspiration:

This image and other pictures from the wedding can be found on the  Style Me Pretty blog.

I said I would never make these paper fans again after making them for a bridal shower this spring, but I gave in and made them anyway.  I used needle and thread to hold them together last time, but this time I used a hot glue gun, which made the work a lot easier and quicker.  I don't know which caused me more injuries, though--the needle or the hot glue. I am dangerous with both.  There are many tutorials out there on making these fans. Here is one from Crafty After All.

I had an old copy of Heidi that was a hand-me-down given to me when I was young.  It was falling apart, so I decided since this was a summer reading carnival, using pages from a children's book seemed appropriate.

I had plain red printer paper to use, and the other papers are digital scrapbook papers that I printed from my computer.

The draping of the display, which was not perfect and drove me crazy, was done with plastic tablecloths from the dollar store.  I cut each tablecloth in half lengthwise, and then I folded the cut halves in half lengthwise so there would not be as much transparency.  The wind was against me the day of the installation, and I was completely by myself setting it up.  With that said, I guess I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I was very impressed with the tape I used to attach the display to the brick.  I will purchase Scotch Tough Duct Tape again for similar projects.  It held the display securely all day on brick in full sun, and it came off easily and did not leave residue.

The font I used for the "READ" sign is a free font aptly called Carnival and available from Dafont.

Here is a list of the scrapbook papers I used for my fans:

The solid blue paper (with great texture, I must add) is from the Sending You a Papyrus kit from Scrapyrus Designs.

The red and white chevron paper is from the Shining on Me kit from AH Designs.

The yellow polka dot paper is from Mommyish, and was part of a Pixels and Company Collaboration titled More or Less.

The blue polka dot paper was created by Captivated Visions for the Everyone Has a Story Kit.

Luke's Crib

The crib is on its way and might even be here this afternoon! It is the Mercer Modern Convertible Crib by Babyletto. I purchased it from BabyEarth.com but they also have it at Target.com (same $399 price tag, though).

I just love this crib, and it is going to match the vintage dresser and chest of drawers I'm using in the nursery well once I have the sides and drawers painted white (I'm leaving the tops brown). You can see a picture of the chest of drawers at the bottom of an earlier post.

I love that the crib has the drawer at the bottom. I plan on storing extra sheets, blankets, etc... in there. It also comes in all white or all brown. The toddler rail is already included as well. Thank you to my parents for buying this for us.

I'm still undecided about whether to have a bed skirt made for it. Maybe I'll wait until I get it assembled (until Lee assembles it) to see whether it really needs one or not.

Alive and Kicking

I know that Baby Luke is an active little fellow because my lower abdomen gets real tight and a bit uncomfortable at times due to him growing and turning about. But night before last I felt him kick for the first time. I was in bed trying to go to sleep, but I guess he thought it was party time. He kept me awake on and off all night long and into the morning kicking. The kicks can be felt from outside my belly but they are real subtle. They feel to me like a really soft thump or flutter, almost like really strong, rogue heartbeat. I have continued to feel them on and off throughout the day and night since that first night. I guess I will eventually get used to them and hopefully they won't keep me up at night. They are reassuring, though.


As you can see from the picture above, I definitely have a baby bump now. I wear it proudly. Here I'm sporting my favorite pair of maternity jeans and favorite black tank. I love the high stretchy band on these jeans. I'm not going to want to quit wearing them after I have the baby...they are so comfortable.

This whole thing has been getting very real lately. I woke up this morning feeling a bit stressed out. I have so much to do before Luke gets here and I've got school work to do at the same time. It's only one class, but man do I not feel like thinking about that right now. I think I'll take Fall semester off. Everything was made even more real yesterday when I made some purchases from Etsy for Luke's room. Here's what I bought:


How cute are these brass owls that I got from Bloomdar Vintage? The handles on Luke's dresser and chest are brass, so the owls will go very nicely sitting on top of one of these.


The perfect first stuffed animal for Luke's nursery because it has both the fabrics I'm using in the room. It can double as a pillow and is from Bellamina. She also makes bookends and doorstops, but I'm trying not to get too carried away.


Every room needs storage, right? These fabric bins are so adorable and can hold toys, diapers, or whatever else I need them to. I purchased them from Baffin Bags.


I decided to choose the chevron blanket from Urban Tot that was featured in my last post. I just love this fabric. The reverse side will be a soft, fluffy fabric that is cream in color.

I fabric store in Fayetteville, TN (about 45 minutes from my house) has ordered the owl fabric and it will be in mid-to late July and I'm waiting for the chevron fabric to come back in stock from an online seller so that I can make a bed skirt and curtains from it. I've still got to get in that room and clear it out before I can turn it into a cute nursery. But first I've got to study...I've got a test to take by Monday.

Boy, Oh Boy!

We are having a boy!

During the ultrasound yesterday Baby Luke was quite an active little guy. He was rolling and flipping and moving his arms about, and he flashed us several times. I am relieved to finally know the sex and to learn that he is developing normally. I am almost in my twentieth week but Baby Luke is measuring a week or so ahead.

Now that I know he is a he, I can get serious about designing the nursery. I have decided to start over and put the vintage fabrics I have been collecting into storage. If I ever decide to have another baby and it happens to be a girl, I'll pull them out and create the nursery I initially envisioned.

I am still sticking with a woodland theme and I'm also going to keep a color palette that is gender neutral and very colorful. I have found some cute Robert Kaufman fabrics created by designer Ann Kelle that I would like to use and have included pics of them below. I just love the cute owls and the colors.

I love the colors in these fabrics. I really like the turquoise and orange, but that is too close to orange and blue and we are a crimson and white household. I think I'll pull out the turquoise, red, yellow, and brown to feature in the nursery. Pretty much the same colors I was going to use before.



I already found some really cute items on Etsy that are made with these fabrics.



This rag quilt from Humble Pie Originals is just perfect. I love it!



I am just loving the chevron pattern. This is such a cute blanket from Urban Tot.





A boppy cover and mobile from Snowflake Crafts. The mobile is part of a set that includes a quilt, pillow, and crib skirt. I do want to have a crib skirt made...probably out of the chevron fabric. This boppy cover has minky fabric in brown on the reverse side.



Check out this great mega set! Humble Pie Originals makes this as well.



This sensory toy/lovey is made by MB Designs. This is so colorful and it proves that a wide range of fabrics and textures will work wonderfully with these three Robert Kaufman fabrics.

Now I just have to track down the fabrics to purchase them and find someone to sew some stuff for me. That is if I stick with this theme. I'm really loving it right now, though.

Baby Shower Idea

My best friend Jennifer visited me this weekend and was such a big help. She did the aisle-by-aisle thing with me at Babies R Us so Lee wouldn't have to, went with me to Motherhood Maternity to get some more clothes, helped me organize and determine what I still need to add to my baby registries, and she helped me clean out the master bedroom. This last one was a tough chore for me to do by myself, but now that it's done I feel that I can begin to tackle the rest of the house.

Jennifer is also helping to throw one of my baby showers (looks like there might be 3 or 4), and she remembered me telling her way back when about a cool idea I got from a blog...I think it was the Naughty Secretary Club blog. The idea was to have shower attendees help decorate onesies for the baby. Jennifer went ahead and brought me some craft paint and brushes that she had, but she also brought me some canvases in smaller sizes like 8x10 that she also had no need for anymore. The light bulb went off in my head...instead of decorating onesies, my shower guests could help create artwork for the baby's room.

So, I have another item to put on my before-baby-gets-here to-do list. I will come up with a design to put on several of the canvases (I'm thinking of a cohesive grouping of some sort that incorporates woodland critters), draw it on each canvas, and then at my showers my guests will all get to pick up a brush and some paint and contribute to the artwork. I love this idea. I really wanted some activity for my showers, but I'm not that big into the more common shower games, especially the one where chocolate is melted into diapers. I already told some people that if that occurs I'll leave my own shower. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

Now I just have to keep cleaning and organizing the house so I can make a space to start creating the design for the nursery art. And, I need to wait until a week from today when I hopefully find out the sex of the baby before I start getting too carried away with the design plan and artwork...wait, too late for that :)

Hey Jude, I Love Your Room

This is a nursery like no other. It is full of vintage goodness and designer flair. It looks really high-end, but it was done on a $1000 budget and most of the projects were DIY. The colors are so 60's and 70's and it is filled with vintage furniture, but it looks amazingly modern. A job well done to this family.

I found this room this morning on HGTV's Rate My Space. I've been having second thoughts this weekend about the design plan for my baby's nursery, so I decided I'd browse around Rate My Space for some inspiration. Specifically, I'm worried that the vintage fabrics I have been collecting are more on the girly side and may not work as well in a boy's room. I only have a little over a week until we hopefully find out the sex of the baby, so I should just settle down and wait until then to start worrying about the design plan that I've been putting together for over a year. But, I can't help myself.



I love, love, love the wall art. This is totally a project I could start and actually finish. I don't know that this fits in well with my nursery theme, but I'm thinking I could do a project like this for the living room using our last name.



The details and accessories in this room are fabulous, especially the pillow. To see more views of this room go here.

I do wonder how this room will look when it begins to fill up with a hodge-podge of toys and other baby and kid-related items, but I am still totally in awe and will use the great ideas I see in this room as inspiration for other rooms in my house.

Nesting Bug

I've got my appetite back and some energy back and now I'm getting the nesting bug. My desire to nest spans the whole house. It is not confined to the nursery. Right now I'm focused on the living room. I don't really want to clean and organize, which is the main priority right now, but I want to decorate.


This living room seen here.

I always feel at war with my living room. The main problem is space planning. I have a few things in the room that I like but it still needs a lot of work. One thing I'm obsessed with right now is putting things on the walls like photographs and artwork. If you have ever been to my house you may have been surprised by the very blank walls. The only thing on the living room wall currently is a 2010 calendar purchased in Italy that is still on the month of May (Maggio in Italian). Lee and I had beautiful photos of us made recently, but I need to order the prints and figure out how I want to display them.


This room found here. It's a Pottery Barn room.


Another Pottery Barn room seen here.

I like lots of different design styles, but I think I feel most at home with a cottage or country feel. I like a lot of Pottery Barn rooms as well. The rooms in this blog post represent the feel I want in my living room.


A Florida beach house seen here.

Woodland Finds on Etsy

This adorable growth chart wall decal can be found here. The colors are customizable as well.



These great art prints are from Neve Designs.



Graphic Spaces makes bookends out of a variety of forest critters and even makes a bookshelf to match. The owls are my favorite.



I really want a bird mobile made from the vintage fabrics I've collected. I love this one from Baby Jive.



Here is a very practical woodland-themed item from Potato Patch. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get when it comes to organization.



This adorable owl plushie is from Fong Studio. I'm hoping to have one of these made from my vintage fabrics as well. I'm just loving owls right now.



More owls. This fabric basket is from Blota. I think fabric baskets are great organizing tools for nurseries. Maybe I should have some of these made special as well.



This adorable acorn hat can be found in Adrienne Kinsella's shop. I'm already getting way ahead of myself and thinking about what I want baby to wear during his or her infant shoot. There are so many cute hats, diaper covers, and booties out there for babies.

These are just a few items I fancied when I did a search for woodland items on Etsy. Only a couple of these will make it to my baby registry. It would be easy to go overboard on the woodland theme. I have found plenty of stuffed animals, wall decals, onesies, and blankets and other woodland-themed items on Etsy that may also make it into my registry.

I've got to really get serious about putting together my registry because one of my baby showers will happen in July or August. Invitations will need to go out next month after I hopefully find out the sex of the baby. I hope baby is cooperating on that day, becasue I am ready to start buying some of those adorable baby outfits I keep seeing.

Design Plan for the Nursery

More than a year ago, I started getting really excited about designing the nursery. I think my discovery of Ohdeedoh and Inhabitots fueled my designing-for-baby fire. I started seeing fabulous, creative nurseries and children's rooms featured on Ohdeedoh and eco-friendly, modern designs in furniture, clothing, toys, and other products on both Ohdeedoh and Inhabitots.

I already knew then that I wanted to create a gender-neutral space for baby that wasn't pastel in color, but I also did not want a nursery-in-a-bag design purchased from a department store or Babies-R-Us. I'm still sticking with this plan and I'm thinking that I don't want to know the sex of my child until after he or she is born. I may change my mind on this one, but I know I want to create a space that is not overtly boy or girl. If I have a girl and she decides that pink is her favorite color, we will then paint the walls, furniture, etc... pink. And if it is a boy and he wants pink I have no problem with him having a pink room.

I want to design a colorful, playful, unique space for my baby that will take him or her into toddlerhood and maybe even to preschool and beyond. Seeing all of the great rooms and products on Ohdeedoh and Inhabitots had provided me with a lot of inspiration and shown me that creating the nursery of my dreams is possible.

I quickly became fixated on creating a woodland-themed nursery, a theme that is very popular right now. I love animals for the nursery, and I love the idea of using animals that can actually be seen (or that at least exist) in my part of the world. For example, squirrels, owls, songbirds, foxes, rabbits, etc...



While browsing through the baby items on Etsy, I found this beautiful bird quilt at Tanneicasey that was made using calico fabrics from the 1970's (the opening photo is a close-up of the quilt). It is colorful, features some woodland critters, and it was made using vintage fabrics, which makes it an eco-friendly option. I bought it immediately, and it has guided the design for the nursery: I will combine the woodland theme with a primary and secondary color scheme that incorporates vintage calico/patchwork fabrics circa the 1960's and 1970's.

Etsy, Ebay, and local thrift/antique stores have provided me with an ever-expanding collection of items to use in the nursery, including vintage fabric, vintage framed crewel artwork and kits, and other accessories.

Someone with sewing skills will have to help me turn these vintage fabrics into pillows, curtains, floor cushions, etc...



I outbid a couple of people on Ebay for this cutie. I can't remember how much I bid, but I know it was under $15. It is a vintage sew-and-stuff pillow. Maybe with a little guidance I can sew and stuff it myself. It is not really a woodland creature, but I love cats and the baby will have to interact with the cat that is roaming our house.





How cute is this train? The fabrics are perfect. Each section of the train snaps together to the next, so this can even become a toy for baby later. I think I got this on Ebay for about $10.



I could not resist this colorful afghan at less than $4 at the thrift store. It is in good condition and doesn't have that terrible, musty smell a lot of linens found in thrift stores have.











As you can see, I went a little crazy with the vintage crewel and embroidery. Three of them are kits, and I cannot do needlework to save my life. My mom and aunt are both good at cross-stitching (my aunt can knit as well), so hopefully they will contribute their skills. I am at least going to attempt to learn before it is all said and done.


I picked up this chest of drawers along with a matching dresser at a thrift store a few years ago for only $75. They were in our bedroom until last year. I plan on stripping the paint (could be lead in there) and refinishing them with white, environmentally-friendly paint. I don't know if I will paint them entirely white or maintain the brown, woodlike finish on the tops and legs. I've even considered encasing everything but the drawers in brown. The dresser will also serve as the baby's changing table.

Now I just have to clean out that room so I can move ahead with the design.