Nursery Reveal

Wow! Time flies when you have an infant! Our little one is already four weeks old and she completely rules the roost. Between staring for long periods of time at her adorable long eye lashes, to whiling away the evening hours rocking an inconsolable baby with reflux, it is hard to get anything else done around here. But alas, the reason I am here today: the nursery!

The whole concept of the nursery started with these watercolors. When I was eleven I wrote a short story about a tree. A few years ago my mom and I thought it would be great to turn that story into a children's book and she graciously offered to illustrate it for me. I knew the second that I found out I was pregnant that these pictures would be in the nursery no matter what gender our little blueberry turned out to be. I picked my favorite nine pictures and wrote the story on the matting inside the frame. Mr. loves to read the story to little H when he changes her (that's his unofficial job - and he is great at it!)

The rest of the nursery evolved from the watercolors. I found this idea for a bird mobile and turned it into a stationary piece of art for the wall instead of a mobile over the crib.

I found the chandelier at Ballard Designs, and it is definitely my favorite item in the room. Mr. installed a dimmer switch so that we could turn the lights way down at night to prevent waking little H during changing time. 

I bought this reclaimed teak bookshelf years ago from my favorite furniture store that is sadly no longer in business (Campo). H's uncle brought the dolls back from several business trips to Japan, the old doll was mine when I was little and was given to me by my grandmother (H's namesake), and the little pink elephant was made by me - my first foray into making stuffed animals. Not easy!

This closet wraps up the final stage of project pepto. More on that later. 

This was a dress that H's namesake made for me when I was little.

Perhaps I should take off the chair slipcover and steam it? Meh. Who has time for such things?

You might remember this piece from when I painted it? We thought it would be nice for little H to have something of her namesake's in her room (she was named after my grandmother, did I already mention that?)

I hope you have a lovely weekend! Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes shots of the nursery renovation...

Project Pepto Phase 1: The Master Closet

In this last post I explained the plan, and I showed our awkwardly small closet (singular). What I didn’t mention was that we were this close to moving to the burbs in search of closet space. (feel free to scroll down to see the pictures and skip the boring story :)

Our closet situation certainly wasn’t ideal, but we were willing to make do until we could figure out where on earth we were going to pilfer a few feet of square footage for a bigger one. We were ‘fine’ maintaining the status quo until one horrible fateful day. 

This horrible fateful day we happened upon a new construction open house in the suburbs (about 30 minutes from our home). This particular house had all the usual accoutrements of a builder home - big kitchen with bigger island, three car attached garage, an actual ‘master suite’ - and we still weren’t impressed. Our little cottage had character, a history, was close to the city, within walking distance of restaurants and a market. This newly built house was...well...too new. But then something awful occurred. 

I happened upon the master closet. 

 o.k. not the actual closet (this one came from here) but this is what I saw in my head, along with a choir of angels, and a beam of heavenly light coming in through that window.

We have never once considered moving to the burbs. We love our urban neighborhood. We are city people. But standing in that cavernous (to me at least) closet I became a weak woman hatched an immediate plan. I would sell my house. I would pack up all my stuff. I would move into this closet, errr... house. All the way home I explained to Mr. the many merits of having a closet that size. “You wouldn’t have to get dressed in the other room,” I explained. “You could actually buy that new pair of basketball shoes you have had your eye on because you would have a place to put them!”  Yep we needed that closet. 

Then we drove back to our lovely tree lined street and I knew that I couldn't leave. Not even for that beautiful closet.  So we buckled down and hatched a plan (together this time!) to stay in our cottage. Enter Project Pepto.

Behold the completion of phase 1: 

new french doors - view from bedroom

Using stock shelving from Lowe's and closet organizer components from Ikea we were able to create a space that works for our needs. Scivvies, socks, and other small items go in slide-out baskets. (wow, did I really just publish a picture of my scivvies for all to see? my mother would be horrified!) The basket on the top shelf holds necessities such as lint roller, stain spray, febreeze, shoe shine kit, etc. I did initially intend to take pictures of the empty closet, but I was so excited to fill it up that it stayed empty for exactly 2.5 seconds. An empty closet? Not in this house!

Her side. Plenty of space for my healthy love of shoes and handbags (I even have space for more!). Having everything up off the floor (except for my snow boots) makes swiffering so much easier. 

In an effort to make the closet feel more like a dressing room, and less like a storage facility for clothes, I hung some framed hand painted porcelain buttons that belonged to my grandmother, along with an old key my husband brought back from Brazil (it was a gift from a sweet old lady who fed him often). 

His side. Having a place for everything has really helped us keep our bedroom clean. Getting dressed in the morning is also easier and quicker. There is no more running around to various closets/rooms to find that favorite scarf or pair of converse sneakers.  

This window was here already and we considered taking it out to have more wall space. We decided instead to place the shelving in front of it. It partially covers the window but not to worry, the window is still fully functioning so if a fire breaks out and I am stuck in the closet I can still make a clean getaway. (I love a good emergency plan, don't you?) In hindsight, we are so glad we kept the window as it adds much needed natural light. And because we wanted maximum light and maximum privacy (we get dressed in here!) we decided to put up privacy film instead of window coverings. 

A chinese garden stool provides a place to sit and put on shoes.

Sir Leopold approves of the new closet space. 

And just in case you forgot how the space looked before:

Stay tuned: We are in the process of phase 2 of Project Pepto.

Project Pepto: Curing Our Space Problems

While we are quite smitten with our house, there are still some quirks we can’t overlook. (Does that mean we would make terrible parents? Are we unable to love unconditionally? Should I be comparing home ownership with parenting? )

The most pressing problem areas:

The closet situation in the “master bedroom:”

In case you are thinking to yourself “what’s she complaining about? this is a normal sized closet” let me clarify. This closet is three feet wide. Oh, and it was the only one in the room. As a result, my clothes were packed in here so tight that if I bought one more item of clothing it would have had to stay in the car. I had sweaters in the linen closet, shoes in the front entry closet, and out-of-season clothes under the bed. Mr.’s clothes were in the guest bedroom closet (equally as large) which turned problematic when we had overnight guests and he had to go traipsing through in his skivvies to get a change of clothes.

The other problem area: the dining room.

I told you the whole house was teal and pink!

Big enough for the table but nothing else. 

The solution?

This room cured heartburn, nausea, indigestion, upset stomach, and...closet space

I know what you’re thinking: this isn’t a solution, it’s another problem (and a pepto colored one at that). Oh yee of little faith. This little room packs a wallop. Within this tiny 7 x 10 footprint hid untapped potential to quiet my seething desire for both a closet AND a dining room. 

Here is a rough sketch of the space before:

and here is the plan:

Phase 1: Close off door to 'pepto' room from the hallway and cut opening for new french doors into master bedroom.
Phase 2: Expand dining room by moving wall two feet into 'pepto' room.
Phase 3: Close off old tiny closet in the master bedroom and open it up on the other side to create a bigger closet for guest bedroom.

Stay tuned for the after pics (yes, I'm tired of these pastel before pics too!) from the recent completion of phase 1: the master closet. For a sneak peek look here.

P.S. These lovely ladies have been so kind to mention us:   

Carolyn at My Backyard Eden featured our bathroom renovation on a recent post. Thanks Carolyn!

Kimba at A Soft Place to Land included us in this post. Thanks Kimba!

Head on over to their blogs to check out the other great projects they featured.