The Nursery

Have not posted in a while.  Mainly because we are expecting our first child in June!  It's an exciting times for the husband and I.  Though I was not so excited about making our shoebox of a house even smaller when we started discussing a nursery.  We only have so much space in the house and there are basically only two rooms...  That meant taking the "bedroom" and erecting a wall which bisects the room, making it even smaller.  But hey, we had to work with what we've got.

I was not deluded into thinking we would get any kind of sound barrier between the two spaces so I decided to use two closet doors and some rolling, wall mounted hardware to create a larger opening rather than just a regular 3'-0" door opening.  The baby's room is long and narrow.  Kind of like a bowling alley, but it does have one window for some natural light.  I am not really into gender specific nursery colors so I opted for a gray pallet.  Bengie Moore's Portland Gray for the main wall color in both the existing bedroom and the nursery.  Somehow, with the light that comes into that space, the walls look lavender at times.  Oops.  I guess I could have had it repainted, but in the end, I just didn't really feel like inhaling paint fumes for two more days so I opted to live with what we got.  The trim in the bedroom is Elephant Gray and the trim in the nursery is Habanero Pepper.  I also painted a little mural where the crib is supposed to live to match the Dwell Studio bedding that I chose.  The wall opposite the crib wall has bold, 15" Habanero Pepper stripes to add a little life to the space.  All in all, the one week project turned out quite nice considering neither the ceiling nor the floor were level.  Of course the baby is not going to care what his room looks like.  It's basically all just to please my eyes, but since we decided on doing some renovations to the house, I figured it might as well look the way I want it to, right?  Next up, doing a little rewiring of light fixtures, then on to the bathroom and kitchen remodel.  Admittedly, we have not done much of anything in terms of renovation to this house because it has always been in the back of our minds that it is "just a tear-down."  Well, 8+ years later and the ups and down in the economy, times and circumstances have changed.  We still think it's a "tear-down" but it looks like we will be here for another 1 1/2 to 2 years, so might as well spend a little money and make it livable with a kid.  More to come...

Framing and header for the 6'-0" opening.

Drywall up.

Wiring for new light switches and outlets.

Angel putting in the insulation.

The tiny bowling alley.

Other side where the crib will be...

Angel measuring out my stripes.

Frog Tape is a must if you don't paint to bleed!

Yeay!  Stripes!

My tools for the mural wall.

Blank Canvas.

Painting the first few buildings.

Finished!

Mezzanine Libraries - A lofty idea!

I have a new obsession.  The mezzanine library...  or any kind of vertical book storage that takes up entire walls.  In my next house (aka. dream abode) I think I will have to include this concept in the design.  I guess this means I should start a display worthy book collection and bespoke objects...

Anyway, there are so many clever, beautiful and charming examples I found on various blogs, I just had to share some of the most lovely.  Enjoy!

Get out the frickin' address book

Hi.  I've been so busy and tired... which is why this blogging thing really fell to the way-side.  The Holidays are full of fun and smiles on the outside, but in reality, it fills me with angst.  And I don't even invite people over to our house!  (mainly because no more than 3 people fit in it at a time...)  But honestly, I don't know how people do it!   Year after year, we have friends who open their hearts and perfectly decorated homes to friends and family.  These individuals are super-human to me.  I get exhausted just thinking about all the holiday cards I need to address, stamp and seal.  I would lose it if I had to decorate, cook, clean, shop and be cheery for everyone on top of it all!  (Hence, our yearly, super-low-key holidays where we rarely decorate and typically escape to the mountains after eating dinner at someone else's house so we don't have to cook for just two...)  So why does this time of year still make me feel so anxious?  I guess that's a topic for the therapist next session...

Anyway, The Holiday Card is a must-do item for me this time every year because I feel guilty.  I am admittedly terrible at keeping in touch with people during the year.  Which is the reason for my guilt.  I love my friends and most all of my family members, and I think about them all at some point or another, but I am just really bad at picking up the phone.  So for me, the Holiday Card is the one piece of correspondence I MUST send every year to everyone I know.  It is my message tied to an apologetic olive branch, just to let everyone know that I love them dearly, they are in my thoughts, that no, we have not moved and that yes, my life is still the same ol' uneventful one with nothing to report...  Just like last year.

It would be great if we had little ones so that we could just send those adorable picture cards that you get from tiny prints, but we don't yet and one can't possibly send a picture of just you and the spouse!  I mean, how egotistically lame is that?!?!  So the hand made card it is.  You know, because it has to look like you put some effort into it.  If you have nothing to report, and have no kids, you at least should have the time to make something heart-felt right?

Don't count on anything special.  When you have to address 200+ cards every year out of guilt, the hand made creation coming from the Libiano household ain't gonna look pretty.  Yes, there are super-humans out there who can host the holiday mixer for their philanthropy, organize the company holiday party, bake Christmas cookies for the church bake sale, make their kids behave for the dinner that they are hosting at their house for 20 and still get the gift shopping done ten days in advance, but I am not one of those rarities.