Baby's Nursery -- The BEFORE

So, in the spirit of moving forward in my nursery planning and the never-ending moving of the rooms upstairs, I wanted to show you that indeed I am progressing! After we moved Witt's room to the guest room (shew! it's finished!), I transferred all the guest room closet junk to the center of the soon-to-be baby's room. OMG. Nash meet Mess. Mess meet Nash (sorry for the cruddy iphone pic):

THANK GOODNESS my Mom came to tackle it with me. After almost 2 hours of sitting on the floor, sticking down temperamental shelf paper, sifting through bins of Nash's baby clothes, I present to you.... the baby's room - STEP 1:

The room is still blue. I (we) haven't tackled the paint job and I haven't found someone I can swindle to do it for $100. So, for now, it stays blue. Note the bench (again... insert my swoon) and that yellow pouf. Awww... so sweet and can't wait to rest my tired feet on it while rocking. 

Let's talk rug -- So, meet my old foyer rug:

I had an epiphany before my Mom's arrival that the base colors match and the pattern would work because it won't fight the stripes that are in the crib skirt. Rugs have been a challenge for me as I want it big enough to encompass the room, but not too thick to fight the "shag" carpet we have throughout upstairs. Here's the problem: the checkered pattern you see just left of the tassels is navy blue and does not work. I'll come back to this next week with my Mom's BRILLIANT remedy for this. :)

Here's a close-up of my sweet bench (lonely as it may be right now - it will find it's rhythm soon) and a look at the closet. For those of you who know me... it will not stay like this long. 

More to come! But, for now, this Mommy-to-be-again is happy seeing things move along nicely. Big hugs and thanks to my Mama for her help XOXO

PRECIOUS. Ohmygoodness.......

Had to share. Can't wait for birthday number 3!
http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/2011/04/lil-monster-2nd-birthday-party.html

My first attempt at re-upholstery

Super score at Home Goods had me reeling for weeks with the prospect of having a "custom" piece of furniture for the baby's room. It sat for almost 1 month in my garage glaring at me every time I stepped into my car as if to be screaming, "faux ostrich... vinyl... lattice print fabric". Oh the possibilities!
I've never (EVER) re-upholstered a piece of furniture... I was awful at covering my books in middle school <--- no faith in my present ability at bringing new pieces of, the ever-elusive, upholstered item back to life.  My Mom, on the other hand, had mastered this craft previously and reassured me that it was a piece of cake.

And, so I proudly introduce our new furniture family member:

I LOVE... let me repeat... I LOVE this piece of furniture and mainly because I did 85% of it myself. I was fortunate to have the help of my Mom and her experience and my Dad (and his plethora of tools no one has ever heard of at my disposal... well, that and his expertise). 

Here's the steps I took in taking on the project:

What you don't see is the ripping off of the old fabric (stock up on Advil or a bottle of wine prior to doing so) and a description of each step. Message me if you are up for taking on your own project and I am happy to walk you through it myself. 

Curls...err...Frizz Be Gone!

For those of you who don't know, I struggle with Nash's hair. Who would've thunk it? He has so little, right?! So, today my sweet friend, Kaleena, came over to do my hair and help me remedy Nash's frizz.  I had to share... he looks like a little man now.

Mid-cut:

 Before (yikes!) and After:
**excuse the poor iphone pic quality

 Love those lips :)

Easy peasy lemon squeezy or rub-a-dub... however you look at it.

Antique Brass-looking Elephant Hooks

This project couldn't have been easier. After located some cheap, plastic elephant room decor I decided to paint them metallic gold and rub dark paint on them to create the "vintage" look that I was after in a true brass piece. 

First, I found a large box to enclose my over-spray from the spray paint. Since my project wasn't large enough to deal with a drop cloth, ventilation, etc., I was able to isolate my project to an over-sized box, open the one garage and knock it out. I wiped clean the elephants and laid them flat in the box.

Next, I went at spraying each elephant until I felt they were coated evenly. Then peeled myself away from the project and let them dry. 3 hours later I returned to get the scoop by way of using the excuse of going to the recycling bin.... smart, right? ;p DRY! Whoop!

Again, I set up my area... opening the garage, grabbing an old (smooth textured) towel and the monitor (thank goodness for nap time!). This is when I used the Glidden Dark Brown paint sample:

Where to begin from here? I'd never done this so jumping right it, I covered with a generous amount along the top of it's head and along all the deep creases:

Now is when I took my rag and, in a circular motion, worked the paint into the creases and crevices. It will appear that most comes off... if too much comes off for your liking, reapply. 

After going through all three elephants, did a once-over all three to see where I felt more might be needed.  Each got almost two coats of brown paint. I LOVE THEM! The only thing I can think of they need is a layer of clear coat to seal in the brown paint.  That might be debatable, so for now, I'll leave them happily to dry in my garage. :)

I'm not the only project F-R-E-A-K:

My friend Nicole... known her since high school (eons ago *ahem*) and I've come to learn in the short few weeks since we've re-connected on Facebook that we've more in common than our desire for FB digging. I started following her blog and... I am at peace. She is a die-hard project DIY'r herself! There is more than just me :)

I particularly love this one: http://www.planetjupiterblog.com/2011/02/call-me-creative.html

Super Find Elephant Bookends... or wait... Hooks?

I've been on the hunt for some playful brass hooks that can be used for the baby's room. Unable/unwilling to spend money on any, I stumbled across these little guys at Hobby Lobby yesterday for $4.00 EACH! Love that place for their sales. I also scored an AWESOME PB looking basket for the abundancy of toys in the living room. I swoon...

Unfortunately, at a second take, they aren't heavy enough to support the weight of even 1, Good Night Moon.  So, instead, I've decided to make them into hooks (which is they're original purpose; to be hung). Problem: these little guys aren't brass nor do they look of the sort.  What to do.... SPRAY PAINT! But... I want them to have some vintage quality to them. So, I've purchased Rust-Oleum brand metallic gold spray paint and a sample canister of dark brown latex paint to bring on a rubbed look to the cracks and crevices.  To see how I did this go here.  After all day of patience, painting and rubbing in the dark paint here's my finished product: