Progress in the Baby's Room

As many of you already know, we gave in and hired painters, not only to do the exterior trim, but also to paint the baby's room, our bedroom, and the ceiling in the guest room. We could have done it, but after thinking about all the work that was required to prep the rooms we decided it would be a lot easier and faster to just have it done. You may recall the doors and trim in both bedrooms were stained wood. Everywhere else in the house the trim had been painted, but for some reason they didn't do two of the bedrooms. It required a lot of sanding and priming. Oh and don't forget to take a look at all the details in the windows that needed to be painted.

Without further ado - Get ready for picture overload!!

Here's how we last left things:

(I had such a hard time picking the "right" gray. To be honest, I'm not thrilled with the end result-but it will be just fine!)





And a little progress after day one:





After testing out four gray options, I made my decision. I figured better to go light than dark and we can always punch things up with some colorful accents or a colorful rug. The other decision we made was to go with a sort of two tone gray paint job. With the strange roofline in this room it's hard to distinguish between wall and ceiling. So the tapered walls and ceiling received a couple coats of gray paint as well, the regular version of the color we picked. The walls are actually 15% darker, but it's hard to tell. This was a great decision because I think it would have looked awkward with a ton of white paint going on...

And the finished product! I was hoping for a darker gray, but hey - it works and everything looks so much better painted! I love the trim painted in a crisp white! So much cleaner and more modern looking. The gray looks a little soft, but quite nice with the white dresser/changing table. Can't wait to get the rest of the room put together!

Weekend Things

I had a very long list of weekend to do's last weekend. Most of the items weren't accomplished - but some of them were! That's progress at least!

First up - Sell our old sofa and desk! The sofa was a great size when we lived in Brookline, but never really fit well into our house. That and it happened to be quite uncomfortable on your neck. You know those chairs that push your head forward ever so slightly? This had the same characteristic. It was clean and in great shape, but we'd already purchased a replacement a while back so it was time for it to officially go! After all, the area it occupied is threatening to become the pack and play/toy/reading/play area for someone. The desk was my old college desk that I got Junior year. It's a great desk, but it's really just a to-be-filed paper collector at this point. It was living in the baby's room in a perfectly sized little nook but with someone new taking over that room - it was time to say farewell to the desk as well!

I posted both on Craigs List. Fortunately the sofa sold quickly! We just had to help them transport it...and the buyers weren't exactly accommodating! We ended up doing it at 9:30pm on Monday night. Seriously?? Oh well, it's off our hands now; hands which have been filled with a (small) wad-o-cash in exchange! Not too shabby!
Here's the Craig's List picture:


(Because we're nice, and the buyers looked like they could perhaps use it, we threw in the old scuffed up coffee table as well. Those of you who know me well are probably wondering why I didn't just paint it. The truth is, it was pretty boring looking and we have no where to put it. Considering it was a super cheap table to begin with and about hundred years old (ok maybe 20,) I decided to just be generous and throw it in! The buyers were appreciative so it was worth it!)

This guy on the other hand got no takers. :(


Know anyone who wants it? It needs to go soon!

In other weekend happenings I decided to go through some of the stuff that had collected around the desk and on the desk. We have a ton of office/school supplies - such as binders and notebooks. Anyone want them? I also went through all the pens to determine what worked and what didn't. All the "keep" office supplies were relocated to the newly organized junk drawers in the kitchen. One drawer is done - but the other stills needs some attention.

Here's a little peak -


This drawer still needs help:


I'm desperately trying to train my husband to be more organized and to put things back where they belong. I realize my efforts are fruitless, but I am determined to carry on regardless. Wish me luck!

In an effort to butter him up and hopefully bring him over to my way of thinking...I did all this while making him breakfast. One of his favorites I might add. Homemade chocolate chip pancakes. (Of course I made them with whole wheat flour as I always do. Trust me, he knows and he doesn't care because they're delicious!) I also used some of the skills I learned from Mom G-K, that I hope to keep in mind in the next fews months to make life easier after the little one joins us. She taught me a long time ago to make waffles and pancakes (and cookies for that matter - or anything else!) in large batches and then to freeze in individual portions that can just be tossed into the toaster oven. So here's a glimpse at some of my pancakes that we intend to enjoy at a later date!




Throw them in a ziplock freezer bag and you're good to go! Pretty soon we'll start to think about frozen home cooked meals to stockpile! Have any suggestions?

Exterior Trim

As you might remember, a little storm came through town a while ago. Her name was Irene. For some reason, Irene decided to help us along with our long list of must-get-done items. One item in particular which was on our list, but wasn't at the top of our list (until after Irene made her appearance) was painting all of our exterior trim. Irene decided to take off most of what was left leaving us with chipped paint everywhere and exposed wood trim.

It's starting to get too cold here to be doing any exterior painting, so we knew we had to get moving if we wanted to get this done before the winter. After getting several quotes, we bit the bullet and lined someone up to get this project done.

I'll have some after pictures for you in a few days - but until then, here's a little preview of how things had been looking lately. Pretty shabby!!

Baby Bump Progression

For those who have been asking...

I've put together a little photo grouping for you. I'm missing several weeks, but that's how it goes!
I'm also several weeks behind-seeing as the little person is already almost 27 weeks baked!

Until I take some updated pictures...
Enjoy!


12-13 Weeks - Feeling sick and tired but must more comfortable in my new dress.




14 Weeks - Finally feeling a little better and helping in the yard.


18 Weeks - YIKES! Scary picture with my after work, post nap hair.


20 Weeks - Standing in our newly painted (but not quite done yet) dining room.


21 Weeks (Celebrating our 2nd Anniversary in Santa Fe)


21 Weeks (Seated Mom's Eye View - Still getting used to the new view)


21 Weeks (Hiking in Santa Fe while on our anniversary/baby-moon trip)




22 Weeks - Post Spin Class Sweaty Cell Phone Picture


23 Weeks - Feeling like I'm getting big. I know I have a long way to go but this is the point where I started to be surprised when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.


I'll try to post new pictures every couple weeks or so. It's difficult to get someone to take my picture - he makes fun of me when I ask. Nice isn't he?

The Baby's Dresser

Remember the baby's dresser from way back when? I finally got it finished. It's far from what I originally envisioned, but I'm quite happy with the end result.

You may remember that I was planning on painting the dresser yellow, in fact I did paint it yellow...and I hated it. When we left off last I'd re-primed the whole thing. Here's how it looked for a week or so-primed and ready for layer 297 of paint! :)



Ultimately I decided to keep things all white (in terms of the furniture that is.) I found some great ceramic knobs from Anthropologie that I thought would be great. They were yellow with a light green crackle glaze in the center. Perfect! I placed my order and waited for them to arrive. Of course as luck would have it, everything was backordered for months. So in the meantime, since I knew I was going to paint the dresser white to match the crib I went ahead and bought more paint and got to work (again.) I finished the painting part in the morning before work on the day before we left for Santa Fe. Phew!

While we were in Santa Fe we drove past a Hobby Lobby. We don't have that store here but I've heard they carry a large selection of handles and knobs so I forced Michael to make a stop! Good thing we did because HE picked out the new knobs for the dresser while we were there! The knobs he selected are simple white ceramic knobs, with letters on them. The letters are written in a thin black line and are surrounded by a thin black circle. I was trying very hard to get out of my comfort zone with the baby's room but subtlety won again!

The dresser is a far cry from where I started, but we both love how the dresser turned out!



Neither of these are the grey paint we're going to go with, but here's a preview of how the white furniture will look on a grey wall.