At long last- It's Judah's Nursery!

Before I show you what baby Judah's nursery looks like today, let's take a trip down memory lane.

Here was the room when we bought the place:

Isn't that color hideous? So we changed it to a creamy yellow.

And is was used as my 'office,' or more accurately- where I dump all my school things in giant piles and leave them. That, and it was my where I kept my clothes- since the master only has one closet. The room was a bit ridiculous, as you can see.

Then you may remember we ripped up that nasty gray carpet and found this underneath. Clearly, we had our work cut out for us.

But after lots of time (really far more than it should have taken), we now have a gray and aqua nursery:

Definitely an improvement. Of course, there is still things that need to be done (isn't there always?). I still need to touch up the molding where Bill got floor stain on it. We also are (someday) going to add quarter rounds to where the molding (does NOT) meet the floor (there is a gap from where the carpet pad was). Also, the floor in the closet still needs to be finished. And I need to paint the door to the hall. And the inner part of said door frame.

This was the first nursing chair we got. I found it on Craigslist. I would love to one day make a slip cover for it (step one: take sewing machine out of box).

And this is the second nursing chair we got. I decided I wanted a glider (the other is a rocker) and we ended up getting quite a lot of Target giftcards, so we put them all together and bought this guy (and matching ottoman). Turns out I actually like the Craigslist rocker better. I usually nurse in the rocker (the arm rests are at just the right height for the baby on the boppy). We generally use the glider as the reading chair. It is pretty handy having two chairs in the nursery. That way Bill and I can both be in there at the same time and be comfy.

There are two windows in the room- one southern exposure and one western. Therefore, the room gets a good amount of light. We have roller black out shades, but the freaking things are already broken. They only roll up on their own about half way and then we have to manually spin/wrap them the rest of the way. Once that good old sewing machine makes its way out of the box I would like to make black out roman shades. Until then we will use (and curse) the roller shades.

I realized while taking these pictures that a regular lens just doesn't cut it for shooting a room. I need a wide angle lens to be able to capture the room so that you can really get a sense of where things are in relation to one another and to get an idea of scale.

Judah was very patient with me while I took pictures of his room.

3rd Time's a Charm

At least, I hope...

I started painting the trim Saturday afternoon. I was a bit very cocky and didn't tape anything off. I kept reading in diy blogs about all these ladies who don't tape... that is unless, their husband's are the one's painting. But, for them, no tape. So, I figure, hey, if they don't need tape then I don't need tape.

I was wrong.

I figured that out pretty quickly, before and real damage was done. So, the painting was put on hold until I taped off all the trim. I used frog tape and am pretty happy with it. I think it is a bit better than regular painters tape, but I'm pretty unexperienced when it comes to painting rooms, so don't take my word for it.

I got the first coat or paint down around the time Bill got home (he spent the day in Seattle with a friend).
Here is how is looked after one coat.

Obviously, better than what it looked like with just the primer, but still far from being an even coat. A second coat was most definitely in order.

Today, I painted the second coat on the trim.

I think the white trim really makes the gray pop.Unfortunately, two coats was still not enough. The trim was painted such a dark brown before, the white just doesn't cover it all the way. I'm sure if I had done a more thorough job with the primer it would have, but I didn't. So... coat number 3 is in order. Before that happens though, I will have to sand off some drips. 

I put on the paint a too thick in the beginning because I was trying to cover the brown completely in two coats. Which was a mistake. So, yeah, trying to get cut corners just gave me more work to do in the end. I also removed the tape off of one wall before I realized it was going to need a third coat. So there is some more work I have to re-do.

I did realize that this was the very first time I have ever painted trim. It was definitely a learning experience. Next time I paint trim I will be that much wiser and more experienced. Growing up I never painted, my parents house was completely white and I never touched a paint brush there. I didn't paint a room until we bought our house. The nursery was only the 3rd room I've painted, and it was the first ceiling and the first trim. This room is our first real foray into home improvement and we are surely going to learn quite a bit.

Hopefully, I'll finish the 3rd coat of paint this week. I would like to think it will get done tomorrow, but I highly doubt it. I will have a few hours at home before Bill gets home from work... However, I think I will be pretty wiped out from Valentine's day at work with the kids. Being pregnant, I am pretty wiped out after a normal day at work, add in the excitement of Valentine's and I just don't know if I will have the energy to paint... I might just be more than happy to lay on the couch and watch TV on netflix.

One day this week I'll get it done though. I will. And this 3rd coat of paint will do the trick. It better.

Flooring Surprises

Bill pulled up the carpet in the nursery this week... which led to a couple of surprises.

1. It is not sub-flooring, but our regular wooden floors. Albeit, in horrendous condition- as seen in the doorway from the nursery to the hall.

And 2. WTF is that? It is covering the floor in the closet and creeps out into the main room as well. There are some random small patches of it in other areas of the room.

So now that the carpet is taken care of (he even removed all the tack strips this morning!), it is my turn to take care of the trim. My goal is to do it today- or, at least, start it today. First, I am in need of some lunch (left over palak paneer and butter chicken from India Mahal- yum!) and a nap. But, you know, after that I will totally start painting the trim.

After I finish the trim, Bill is going to take a sander to the floor and see what can be done. Hopefully, that will take care or mystery material and random thick paint splotches. Then we will be able to stain and refinish. This room is our first major overhaul in the house, but you have to start somewhere. This whole thing is definitely a learning process... Here's hoping the end result is decent!

In other baby preparation news, we are going to convert our current cat feeding unit/bathroom junk storage into a changing table. Here it is before:

 
It will need to be painted and the mesh cabinet door replaced with something, you know, opaque. Also, I will switch out the handles and drawer pulls. After that it should make a decent changing table. I had been entertaining hopes of finding a cheap-o dresser on craigslist and refinishing it like the youngsters did, but, alas, that plans seems to be in vain. I've been checking craigslist like crazy, but the dressers never seem to be right- either too expensive or have too many issues. Oh well. This little storage unit should work just fine as a changing table. We have some spare dressers that need some work (they are tall units though, so don't work as changing tables), but they will get the job done for clothes and all that baby stuff. I'm not in love with the dresser I plan on using, but it is free... which is very nice. Hopefully, some fun paint will help endear it to my heart.

Also, I'm doing laundry. Nothing exciting there, I usually take care of that on the weekend. However, I somehow ran a load without adding laundry detergent. Oops. I'm afraid the legendary 'pregnancy brain' is starting to happen.

Okay, time for lunch. And to get caught up on Glee. And take a nap.

Oh, right. And paint trim.

Tortoise Pace

The important part is that he won the race, right? These slow plodding steps we are making just means we are going to be love it that much more in the end, right? Right??


This weekend we installed the light fixture in Judah's room, as well as, one in our upstairs bathroom.
This is the new light in the nursery:

And, here is our new bathroom light:

We put some CFLs we had laying around into the light fixture, and as you can see they were not a matching set. The light they give off is very different. The left one produces a warm light, while the right one is cool. That will need to be fixed... I just need to do a more thorough search of the laundry room closet to see if I can find a mate to one that is in there.

I finally touched up some minor paint spots in the nursery. Nothing big, just little bits where wall paint got on the ceiling of vice versa. It was a super minor job, yet it still took me 2 weeks to actually do. But that's okay, because slow and steady wins the race. Right?


I also put switch-plate covers back on. I bought one new one, because the light switch plate was dark brown and that just would not do. So I bought a cheap-o white one. Which looks lovely. It kinda makes me want to replace all the covers in the room, even though they are already white because they have paint spatters on them from the previous owners (who obviously did not remove them when they painted, they just tried to paint around them).

Here is a sneak peak at the floor under the carpet.

Isn't it pretty? Haha. But the real question, could we just sand it down and paint or stain it and have that be good enough? I'm hoping the answer to that question is yes. Maybe next weekend we will actually get around to ripping it out for good. Maybe.

In other news, and maybe as an explanation (excuse) as to why so little has gotten done is I got a cold. I was a bit freaked out at first, what with being pregnant and all. All I knew is I was getting sick, but wasn't sure if it was a cold or the flu. The flu (specifically a fever) is very bad while pregnant. A cold is a pain in the ass, but not such a big deal. I felt all achy, my throat hurt, my head hurt, and I was super congested. I made sure to take my temperature periodically, but luckily there was no fever. Phew. So, I've just kinda been taking it easy and drinking LOTS of fluids.

I've also been perusing the interwebs for baby stuff. And, dear god, crib bedding is either A. ugly, B. super expensive, or C. both. I think picking out the bedding has been the most frustrating thing to register for. I don't want to get something I don't love, but I also don't want to spend (or have anyone else spend) $400 on a crib set. Seriously, that is ridiculous. I tried Etsy, which definitely has cute options but is expensive. Of course, I would feel better paying the artisan $400 than a giant store, but that doesn't solve the I-don't-have-that-kind-of-cash problem. I think I am either going to have to settle with a crib set that I don't love (but do like/can tolerate) or crack out the sewing machine and make something myself.

Here are the current contenders in the I can afford/kind of like category:

 

 

All are available from Target.com.

Carpet Weekend

We did our research at Lowes today. Blurg. Totally more expensive then I was hoping. And, they won't give you an estimate in store about how much it would cost to tear out and haul away old carpet. To get that estimate you have to put a down payment of $40 and have them come to your house. The $40 is all fine and dandy if you decide to go with them, then it just goes toward your carpet purchase... but, if you decide you don't want to go with them they keep the $40. Seems to me like you paying money to get a bid. Hmmm, I don't much like that. And even with our rough estimate based purely on carpet price per sq foot the cost was more than I wanted to spend... especially for something I don't really want. What I really want is nice hardwood floor like the rest of the house, but that is definitely not in the current budget. Some day, some day...

I've used Flor tiles in the past (as a hall runner upstairs). I am very happy with their products, so we decided to check out how much it would be do wall-to-wall flor tiles. Sigh, out of our budget.

However, that led me on an internet journey seeking out other modular carpet tiles. Low-and-behold there are other carpet tile options out there. Cheaper tile options. Within our budget tile options. The websites for the discount places definitely are not as user friendly as Flor. The images are not as detailed and their are no side images showing the thickness of the pile, but whatevs. It will do. Now we just need to figure out which we want and we are on it.

Here are the sites we are looking at:

http://www.carpet-wholesale.com/carpet-tile-squares.htm

http://www.icarpetiles.com

and

http://www.focusfloors.com/

Anyone out there used and of these companies? Any feedback to offer?

Other than that the weekend has been pretty low key. The in-laws came up to visit yesterday and they brought up a crib from my parents house. It is sleigh style crib in dark wood. I'm not crazy in love with it (I would prefer a more modern streamlined crib and for it to be white), but I am crazy in love with the price (free!). Me might end up painting it white; it just really depends how it looks all set up in the room. We shall see.

The best part of the weekend was having Bill home- ALL WEEKEND. He is know on his new Mon-Fri day side only schedule. Which. Is. Awesome. It is just so nice having him home so we can do little errands (like going to Lowes) and hang out. I really enjoy having him around and not spending the majority of the weekend home alone. Yay, new schedule!  Yay, getting stuff done together! Yay!

It happened. Sort of.

We actually did (most of) what we said we would do. We painted the nursery to be!

But... we did not paint the closet (ran out of blue paint and gumption) nor have we painted the trim (the carpet's pile is too high to be able to do a decent job) and we did not remove the closet door...

Here are some befores:
(But first, a warning. I just got a new iTouch and all the photos are from that. So not very high quality and pretty grainy. WTF on the iTouch having a crappier camera than the iPhone.)

That photo was taken at night. I swear the room was not neon yellow.

And here it was during the day- this is definitely closer to the buttery yellow it used to be.

Ready for it? Here are some as it is now. I'm not saying after, because this is most definitely not finished. Or anywhere close to being finished. But, at least we are making progress. We have 5 months to get to the after stage. It will happen! I have faith (and an inflexible deadline- give or take a few weeks).

I primed the trim. I have the paint. It will just take some time (and carpet removal) before the trim is a nice glossy white.

This would be the sunrise from one of the windows in the nursery. If that apartment building wasn't there we would have a killer view of Mt. Rainer. But it is, so we don't.

We were planning to rip out the old carpet this weekend, but we did a little test to see what was underneath (hoping for nice hardwood floors). What we found was wood. But it was not nice. It was some sort of sub-flooring. It was definitely a bit lower than the wood floors in the hallway, the planks were wider, and not so pretty or shiny. Oh, well. It was a fun idea.

Now we are going to look into getting the carpet replaced. I think we will go to Lowe's tomorrow to get some info and figure out costs.

The major questions are:

• Should we replace just the nursery carpet or all the bedrooms?
• Should we tear out the old carpet ourselves and remove it or have the installers do it? It will really depend on the cost for that... It sure would be nice to have them do it all for us, but I have no idea what that will do to the expense.
• If we do the other rooms, where will be put all the furniture during the installation process? 
• If we do the other rooms, should we pay to have them move the furniture in and out? After all, pregnant peeps are suppose to avoid heavy lifting and all that. So Bill would have to a one man show on moving furniture (or enlist the help of some very nice friends).
• And, of course, there are those super basic questions that revolve around style, color, pile, yada yada.

Hopefully our trip tomorrow will be enlightening and not frustrating. Also, hopefully, it will be far cheaper than all the dollar signs that are currently floating about in my noggin. I mean, it can't be that expensive, right? Rentals get the carpet redone fairly often and what not.

Any advice out there? I some of you out there have gone through this already and have awesome advice to send our way. Right? Right????

Decisions, Decisions

Last week, I was all, "Ooooh, aqua and yellow, how fabu!" But, now, I am not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I love me some aqua. I really do. But do I really want it on the walls or do I just want it in the accessories? And, the yellow? That I am not really sold on. I just kinda figured it would be a safe bet, since the walls are already yellow.

This week, I think I just might be leaning toward gray or brown walls. But, the problem is, I'm just not sure! Accent colors would still be cream and blue (be it aqua or turquoise or...).

Even last week during my full on love in with aqua and yellow, I still posted images of nurseries I love that are gray and brown!

Exhibit A: Modg's nursery.

Exhibit B: a nursery from ohdeedoh.

And, here are some more pretty gray nurseries from Project Nursery.

And:

I think one thing is for certain. I will needs to be getting some of birch tree decals. Because, apparently, I love them. So shall my fetus. They are available from this dude. Now, I have tried to use decals before with little success. They just wouldn't stick on our walls. I was able to get them to stick on our doors, due to the lack of texture. It worries me that perhaps these awesome tree decals wouldn't stick as well. But.... I see them in so many nursery photos that I think these must be a some super decals- THAT ACTUALLY STICK TO WALLS. One of my girlfriends who is pregnant is also planning on getting some. She is farther along than me and will be ordering them sometime in the near future. So, I plan on getting her full report before buying my own.

But look of how cute! (These images are all from his etsy shop)

I think my favorite is the top one... which happens to be the exact same one that Modg used, and pretty damn similar to the ones from project nursery.

The real dilemma is not the decals... the real dilemma is what colors to paint the walls, ceiling, trim, closet.... Aaaaaahhhhhhh!

Images, as promised... of nurseries!

Perusing the interwebs I have discovered some amazingly beautimous nurseries out there. I have also seen some barf ugly hideous ones, but we won't really talk about those, mmm'kay?

We are turning the spare bedroom closest to our own into the nursery. It currently has yellow walls, horrible blotched brown trim, a white ceiling, and who-knows-how-old stained gray carpet. We are thinking we will paint the trim white, the ceiling a light aqua, and rip up that horrible carpet (here's hoping there is some pretty hardwood underneath, but if not there is always flor!). There is a lot of work to be done in there, and we have a 6 month deadline.

Anyway, on with the pretties!

This awwwwesome nursery is from http://www.modgblog.com. Love the aqua, love the wall decal (of the trees), love the paper crane mobile. And, oh, that glider. Finder a glider is harder than one might suspect.  There are a lot of ug-oh gliders out there. But, this one, oh-this one, loves. However, totally out of my price range.

This pretty nursery is from http://www.younghouselove.com. This nursery inspired my dream of a blue ceiling. I also plan on stealing their floating DIY  mobile, and perhaps their curtained closet. But, I might just keep our nice old wood door to the closet. I will steal their painting the inside of the closet the same color as the ceiling...

Here are more cute nurseries from http://www.ohdeedoh.com, which is the kid section of http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/. 

I actually think this crib is pretty similar to the one we are inheriting from my brother and sis-in-law. What I really love here is the poofs and paper lanterns.  And, of course, the color scheme- yellow and aqua. 

More aqua and yellow (no pink and red for my future baby's room though...).

Oh, look at that, more aqua and yellow. In our nursery the scheme will be switched though, since the walls will be yellow and the accessories and textiles will be blue. PS love the glider. Sigh.

Last of the blue and yellow nurseries (for now anyway)...

Here are some more nurseries (with different color schemes):

And example of using flor tiles in a nursery. I might even get away with reusing the ones that are currently in our hallway.

I like the overall cozy feel of this room.

Love the wall decals, and the use of paper lanterns...

Okay, enough nurseries. I'm hungry (like all the time now) and I'm gonna go watch How I Met Your Mother with the hubs.