{a peek at the nursery}

People say, "Oh, you're due in July?  You have plenty of time!"

I think, "Yikes.  Only 4 more months!?!?"

Needless to say, I'm a planner.

Not a throw-things-together-perfectly-at-the-last-minute planner.

{I wish}

I am a write-a-million-lists, dream, daydream, create-inspiration-boards, steal-a-million-pictures-off-the-internet, dream some more, ask-a-million-questions, complete-in-phases planner.

{Exhausting, yes}

So here is where I am at with the nursery design process:

The bedding was the most difficult part...especially considering there are not a lot of cute baby boy bedding sets out there.   At least not that suit my specific taste {read: modern yet classic yet munchkin}  I managed to find a set that is both of these elements, and also colorful enough to stimulate Baby.  

I picture him dreaming sweet dreams while surrounded by these fabrics:

As for wall color, I want a color that was light, modern, and doesn't scream: "Nursery!" I figure the Boy will do enough screaming on his own.  Though probably not "nursery." Unless he is exceptionally verbose.

 I will be using a combo of these paint colors:

Oh, and let's not forget my {Craig's List beauty} of a crib.  I am in so in love with this crib I might marry it.  I am also secretly glad I found one I didn't have to repaint.  Here is a tiny glimpse of its sleigh-style loveliness:

Eat your heart out, Pottery Barn Kids...I paid only 100 bucks.

The next item on the nursery planning list: the changing table.  I am actually looking more for a large dresser that I can morph into a spacious changing table/baby clothing storage unit. 

My budget is $40...definitely don't think I will get out of re-painting this one.

Sweet decorating dreams to you!

G

laundry room redo!

I have shared our dining room transformation,
 and our kitchen renovation.

So I thought I might also give you a glimpse at the scary whitewashed mess that was...

the laundry room:

When we first looked at our house, I was actually delighted by this idea of this room -- a whole separate area that housed the things you generally want hidden:  the laundry, the dog, and the basement door.  Fantastic! But I still wanted it to be pretty.

It came complete with: a really old washer and dryer and white, white, white paint everywhere.  

If nothing else I knew it needed warming up...so that I didn't dread doing the laundry. Well, any more than usual.  So I went to my favorite go-to cozy color: chocolatey brown.  Since there are several different surfaces in the room {brick wall, drywall, cement, pipes, I chose 3 different shades of brown to add dimension to the room.


Besides three different yummy shades of chocolate, I added:

• a {very durable} bamboo area rug
• a bamboo shade 
• new, more modern looking bronze wall sconce
• white cabinet {bargain scratch-n-dent from Crate & Barrel}
• dark wicker baskets to hold {read: hide!} doggie, laundry, and garden supplies
• art!  Life is Beautiful canvas from Pier1, flowered canvas I had already

And here are the results...

BEFORE: Not sure why the washer hookup was under the window, catty-corner from the dryer.  Awkward! 

AFTER: Updated lighting, bamboo shade, and pops of orange warm the room up:

BEFORE: AH!  Beware the cellar door!  Plus that gray utility rug makes me shiver.

AFTER: What laundry room doesn't need art?  And a wreath?  And you almost didn't notice the scary hatch.  LURVE!

BEFORE: The dog looks like he would rather live anywhere else but in the disorganized, whitewashed mess that was his room.

 AFTER: Cozy, chocolatey, laundry-licious.  {Yep. I went there.}

And there you have it.  A warmer, comfier laundry room.  Even the dog looks much happier. :)  Mission accomplished!

Hope everyone is having a beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday {at least, for February.}

G


Linking this post up to these fun link parties...click on the buttons below to get inspired!

{the inspired nursery}

Soon {as in 2 weeks} 

we find out what kind of Baby Ford is blooming inside me!

I have been dreaming a lot 

about nursery design and what kind of 

lovely space to create for

Baby...

Each of the pictures below has something in it I am going to incorporate in our nursery 

{aka place I imagine I will be spending oodles of time!}

So I want it to be cute.

And girlie...

or, um, boy-ie.

Can you guess what design elements I might be using as my design {inspirations}?

This nursery is simple yet super fun!  Love the pops of yellow on the valences and lamp.  I feel this shows you can use fun, rainbow colors, yet tie it all together. Also, the pale gray walls add a little neutrality to it.  

{source}

 Okay, if I have a girl, there will be pink.  Lots and lots of pale, girlie pink:

{source}

 Love, love, super love this nursery.  I would like to transport it to my house.   Simple and elegant:

{source}

 This nursery is a little too ornate for my particular taste; however, that chaise lounge is calling my name, and the brilliant turquoise poms are dreamy like clouds.  I want to nap in this nursery:

{source}

I love that this room is fun, simple, and modern.  It has plenty of color, but is not too overwhelming:

{source}

I love the different shades of blue in this little baby boy's room.  Plus, doesn't that tiny onesie hanging on that itsy-bitsy hanger just get you all teary-eyed and make you want to have lots of little babies???  {Okay, maybe that's just me and my hormones...}

{source}

I love the contrast between the white sleigh crib and the vintage gray walls.  And while the butterflies would be a little much in our small space, I adore the oversized piece of art as the focal point behind the crib:

{source}

Well, if nothing else, surely you can guess what color Baby's gorgeous crib is!

G

{there will be books!}

I love books.  

The feel, the look, the smell -- the complete and utter escape you experience when being lost in a good story.   It is only natural that I have a not-so-secret hope that my unborn babe also loves books.  

As I plan the nursery, whether we have a rambunctious little boy or a girlie girl, I dream that baby is surrounded by books placed on pretty shelves, like this one:

{source}

 Or perhaps with books that have adorable polka-dots and flowery patterns on their bindings, like these:

{source}

Maybe there will be old, lovely gems with titles like Dancing Star and Elizabeth Captive Princess {can you even imagine the tales?}, tied with a gorgeous white ribbon, like these: 

{source}

I've been slowly building my "kiddo library" over the years.  My recent additions are these pretties from Anthropologie:

The rest of the books are not as pretty.  Some are old and tattered, and were well-read throughout the childhoods of myself and my three siblings.  I cannot wait to read the same stories my dad would fall asleep reading read to us.

More nursery additions to come...including...

the crib!

Can't wait to share our fabulous Craig's List gem!

Time for me to go fall asleep reading read.

G

kitchen re-do: {a room to cook in}

Considering that before I got married I did not cook at all, it may seem strange that three years later I feel the most important room in a home is the kitchen.  The fact is...

 I fell in love with cooking

{and I'm trying my best to like baking as well.}  

Therefore, when we moved into our current home a year and a half ago I pushed pretty hard for a kitchen makeover!  Our shotgun-style home has pretty small rooms, but even so, the space in the kitchen was NOT being maximized.  I knew we could design better.

Here is a look at the {BEFORE}

I wasn't a big fan of the mustard-colored walls, white countertops, white appliances, white floor tiles...so we ripped it all out!

 And here is the {AFTER}

Pretty much we replaced everything: dark cherry, more visually interesting cabinets, granite countertops, natural stone floor tiles, stainless appliances...oooooh and do you spy my potfiller???  Yes, I do actually use it. :)

{BEFORE} : a strangely-placed refrigerator (you had to walk sideways to get between it and the tiny center island.

 {AFTER} : We instead did a peninsula, allowing for more counter space, and put the sink in a spot where I could look in on the dining room...instead of facing a corner full of cabinets!

Uh, the TV above the Ikea metal shelf (aka pot rack, $15) was completely my husband's idea.

I never always watch it. Hey, I spend a lot of time in there.

:)

So that is my kitchen...a place I love to cook in - or at least spend a lot of time trying!

Happy Monday!

G

{decor dreams} two thousand eleven

I like to dream big.

Now that I'm pregnant and spend a ridiculous delicious amount of time napping {I completely adore you Baby for this!} I also spend a lot of time dreaming and planning various home design projects...

Here are my Decor Dreams of 2011:

1.  Baby's Nursery!

It will go in this space...

This is one of the Jack and Jill bedrooms on one side of our 2nd floor.  We currently sleep here.  I have so many cute plans...but we will have to wait and see if we are having a boy or a girl. 

So, when Baby sleeps here, where will we sleep?  That brings us to #2...

2.  Master Bedroom Suite Redo!

This is the room we will one day sleep in...

currently the guest suite.

Pretty boring!

• Going to revamp with:   New wall color! 
• Our modern bedroom furniture, adding a few pieces.  
• Rip out carpet and refinish hardwoods underneath
• California-style closet design
• New window treatments.  Thinking bamboo shades...bliss!
• Dual vanity -- I we need more counter space!
• New tiled shower.  With rain shower fixure.  Uber -bliss!
• Updated floor tiles.  Something more spa-like and less, well, white.  Yech.
• I better stop dreaming there...that already sounds like more than we can handle!

3. Finish my photo wall!

You can't really tell, but these three photos take up a very small portion of a very large wall as you ascend our steps.  These same three photos have been all by their lonesome for the past year.  Honestly I have more pictures and frames...why is it so hard to get them up there?!?!  Oh yeah...I have a beautiful little being sucking the energy out of me sharing all the nutrients I lovingly scarf down. :o)

Okay, enough dreaming for me...for now!  

What are your decor dreams for 2011?

G

{bits of christmas}

I must sincerely apologize.

I have been a very bad blogger lately. As in, completely MIA.

My only excuse I can give you right now is this: sheer exhaustion!

The holidays have finally taken their lovely hold on me, so I thought, just to stick my toe back into blogging, I would share a few bits and baubles from my home at Christmas so far...

{the smell of cinnamon-scented pinecones}

{some red and gold lovelies from the tree}

{shiny foil with deliciousness inside. p.s. these will not last long}

{our tree. white pine. freshly cut}

{Christmas sugar cookie baking. my very first time. can you believe? so yum. so messy.}

So this is Christmas so far at our Kentucky home --

much love to you and yours!

G

thanksgiving tables: inspirations from martha

As I sit here on my lanai in gorgeous Maui, Hawaii {yes I realize how how evil I sound right now} I can't help but feel a twinge of sadness that I will not be celebrating a traditional midwest Thanksgiving feast surrounded by friends and family. I won't get to eat turkey, or my personal favorite: mashed potatoes and gravy. I won't get to dress up a dinner table with the "good" dishes and make everything warm and festive for any guests.

What I can do is go to the beach, relax in the sun with my hubby, and feel extremely thankful for this vacation and the beautiful things that are going on in my life right now. Thank you, God!

Oh and thank you Martha Stewart, for posting such lurvely photographs on your website of Thanksgiving table settings. Gives me some ideas for next year...and makes me feel a little bit more like it is actually Thanksgiving over here in tropical, 80 degree, Maui.

I love the blue and shiny gold color scheme used here:

Okay, this blue feather tucked into that slate gray ribbon (which Martha suggests using as a headdress later - fun!) is so absolutely cute. I think the green glasses add an interesting pop against the gray:

The rustic simplicity of this scene makes my heart flutter...which happens really anytime grapes are used. Don't they look luscious?

Some more to be thankful for, even if you are not in Hawaii...a short work week, time with your family, and a good excuse to get creative and decorate a fabulous holiday table!

Much love!

G

PS: Want to enter a fun Thanksgiving giveaway? Click the link below:

no headboard needed!

I typically follow the established rules of bedroom furniture placement.

Rule #1: Always place the bed on the wall opposite of the door. Logic is that you walk into the bedroom and your focal point is your lovely bed.

Rule #2: Don't place your bed in front of a window. (I think this may be more of a mystical rule. Like bad ju-ju may come in your window at night and give you strange dreams...)

Rule #3: You must have a headboard, whether it be part of your bed or some sort of artistic piece that acts as a headboard.

Don't ask me who made up these rules. What I've found in decorating my home is that some rules are meant to be broken!

For example: We have no headboard and our platform bed is placed directly in front of the main window in our bedroom. Which happens to be a gorgeous tri-window with an amazing view of the vibrant red and orange fall leaves on the old trees on our street.

So it is not a headboard. Or a piece of art. But it is rather artistic.

Oh, and I do have strange dreams at times...but I don't blame the window.

{Probably is the glass of wine and plate of pasta I ate before going to bed!}

What is outside your bedroom window?

G

{tale of an ikea dresser}

I bought my Ikea Hemnes 6-drawer dresser back in my college days, when I was living in little studio apartments, working 50 hrs a week and going to school full-time. I needed something cute and cheap. {Ironically, for as thrifty as I was, I also splurged on a Pottery Barn couch for $1400. Which we still have. And I still love.}

I assembled the dresser all by myself, with love and care. You should have seen me beaming with pride when it was complete. {ps: I have a weird fancy for assembling furniture.} The "faux-oak" color matched with my Pier1 living room coffee/end table {also still have} and my cheap Target kitchen table {again, still have, though used now as the kiddo table brought out only at holidays.}

Now my bedroom, shared with amazing hubby, looks like this:

We still have Ikea furniture, but it is the more modern-looking Malm platform bed with nightstands. The old reliable dresser just doesn't match! So, blog friends, I painted it! Believe me, I was nervous as you are reading this, thinking, "Ikea stuff seems cheap, the wood has a faux finish on it that does not seem paintable...seems like a bad idea, G! Why not just buy a new dresser at Ikea -- they are cheap!" Uh, yeah, cheaper than PB, but I decided I'd rather pay $15 for paint than $180 for a new dresser. Sooooo....

...stay tuned for the for the finished product - I will post the "after" pics very soon. You might be surprised at this re-do!

{I know, I know...I'm a total tease!}

Has anyone else dared to paint Ikea furniture???? I'd love to hear!

G