Nursery Pictures

As of yesterday, the nursery is DONE!  I seriously love it, it is my favorite room in the house!  It's also the only room I've been able to completely design from scratch, and it was SO fun to do.  I go in there and just sit and look around. I wanted it to be calming and sweet but also fun and playful with pops of color, and I think it turned out just perfectly. I poured my heart and love into this room, and I can't wait for Xander to occupy it!  

Here is the 'before' picture.  We were using it as a catch-all junk room after we moved in.

And here it is now!

The view from the door

Left wall

Right wall

There is no overhead light in the room, so we had to bring in a lamp

I love the meaning of his name and I hope he grows up to fulfill it.

This is James' child, superheroes are a given :-)

Most of you probably don't care, but for my records, and for the select few who might, here is a breakdown of the items in the room.

Crib - Craigslist, $40

Dresser - Babies R Us, a gift from James' grandma

Glider chair - Babies R Us, a gift from my parents

Storage ottoman - Kohls, $24

Accent table - already owned, free

Lamps - Target, $60

Curtains - DIY using plain white panels from Target and green paint, $45

Bookshelves - Ikea, $30

All art - frames from Ikea and Target, $45, all the art was DIY that I printed from home for free

Changing pad cover - Etsy, $23, a bit of a splurge but it was too perfect to pass up

Xander letters - DIY using wood letters, scrapbook paper, and Mod Podge, ~$45

Pom pom mobile - DIY using yarn I already had, a crosstitch hoop, and ribbon, $8

The little superhero toys, the wooden miniature rocking horse, the blue teddy bear, most of the books, and the ABC blocks were gifts.  

I painted curtains!

I've been searching for the right curtains for the nursery for months now, and I just couldn't find anything I liked.  I was going for a wide green stripe or chevron pattern; something statement-making and not too busy.  My second option was to attempt to make no-sew curtains, since I can't sew/don't have a sewing machine.  But unfortunately I just couldn't find any fabric at our local fabric store that really jumped out at me, and it is hard to tell exact coloring online, which made me hesitant to try to order some.  I was about to give up and just get some solid green curtains at Target, when I came across a tutorial on painting curtains.  

I found plain white curtain panels at Target for $10 each, plus I had a coupon for half off one panel.  At $15 total, I figured I wouldn't be out too much money if the project totally flopped, so I decided to go for it!

First, I washed, dried, and ironed the curtains.  Then I painstakingly taped off my stripes with regular painters tape that I had on hand.  I wanted wide stripes, and my curtain panels are 84" long, so I taped off twelve 7" stripes (6 green and 6 white).  This was the most tedious part of the process because I had to get the lines straight.  I did the best I could, but the bottom stripe on both panels ended up a tiny bit slanted.  You really can't tell though when they are hung.

Then it was painting time!  I put down a plastic drop cloth (very important, the paint bleeds through the fabric), taped my panels to it so they would not slide around, and got to painting with a small foam roller.  I used a quart of regular flat paint from Lowe's mixed with some fabric medium from the craft store.  The fabric medium supposedly allows you to wash the curtains later without the paint running, but I'm not sure I will ever try that.  The instructions on the fabric medium said to mix it with paint 2:1, so since a quart is 30 ounces, I would have had to use 15 ounces (almost 8 bottles) of the medium, and I was scared it would dilute the paint too much, so I only used about half of the recommended amount.

The fabric really soaks up the paint, so I did two coats, using about 3/4 of the quart.  Then I immediately took the tape off before the second coat had time to try so that it wouldn't pull any paint up with it.  And voila!  Crisp green stripes.  I really like them.  

 Here were my few small issues in case anybody tries to do this based off my experience.  I think I got a little sloppy when doing the second coat on the second panel, because the paint didn't go on quite as smooth as I had hoped, and you could tell.  So I took a foam brush and put some touch up paint on the thin spots instead of doing a third coat over each stripe.  Well, the touch up paint dried differently, so if you look hard, you can faintly tell where I applied touch up paint.  I think the solution would be to just roll an entire third coat on that panel, but it is not very noticeable and I don't want to, so I think I'm just going to live with it.

There are still a few little areas where you can tell the paint isn't quite even when the light shines through it.  But since I am not using these to block light (there's a shade on the window for that purpose), I don't think it will really matter.  However, I would not use painted curtains on any window that didn't already have a privacy/light blocking treatment on it for this reason.

My last issue is that the painted stripes are kind of stiff and "crunchy."  This might have been remedied had I used all of the fabric medium, and you can apparently also lightly sand the painted areas to make them softer if this bothers you.  I don't really care all that much.

Overall, I am very happy with my custom curtains!  They are the exact color and pattern that I wanted, and they only ended up costing about $40 total, which is pretty good for curtains.  The ironing and taping process took me a couple of hours, and the painting took another hour or two, plus drying time.  I think they really add a fun color punch to the room, and I can't wait to add the finishing touches.

Garden and nursery progress

This past weekend my sweet mom flew up for a couple of days to help me paint the nursery!  It was so nice to see her and get to spend time together!  Here is the before picture of the nursery:

And here is the after!

The crib :-)

We still have a lot of color to infuse through curtains and decorations, and we will be adding a rocking chair/glider.  But I love the soft gray and white, I think it is sweet and calming.

Paint makes such a difference in a room!  Remember this hideously green guest bathroom that we inherited? (I love green, just not such a bold color in such a small, windowless room...it's overpowering.)

A couple of weeks ago I decided to repaint it.  I used some tan paint that I already had lying around and now it looks like this!

Ahh, so much better.  Now the shower curtain can be the star instead of the Kermit the frog walls.

In addition to painting the nursery, my mom helped me revamp the flower beds lining the walkway in the front yard!  She and James did a lot of digging because we have clay here in Maryland which is not conducive to growing flowers, so we had to dig out the clay and replace with garden soil.  I definitely could not have done that by myself and I am so thankful for their help!  Here's the before and after shots.

This was taken before we moved in, and the flower pots up at the front did not stay with the house.

And here it is now.  

We removed the ugly bushes by the front door and planted knock-out roses instead.  They should look great when they grow bigger.  And don't you just love the cheery marigolds and begonias?

Speaking of plants, my veggie garden in the back has taken off! One of my strawberry plants has given me about 5 little strawberries so far, and I just found two little green tomatoes that are starting to grow.  So exciting! It's a lot of work to garden, but I love the payoff.  A lot of beauty and some homegrown veggies are worth it.  I'm loving having my own house so that I can do these projects that I couldn't do in an apartment.  So fun.

Tomatoes and basil right after planting

Tomatoes now.  The basil quickly got eclipsed by the tomatoes and never grew.

Torticollis is not a turtle disease

So last week in my update, I said that my job as a nanny was over and now I was going to have all this free time to get things done.  Apparently God had other plans because Tuesday night as I was going to bed, I moved my head a tiny bit and my neck got mad and screamed at me.  All night.  It was pretty awful, I couldn't move my head from it's very tilted position without getting charlie horse-like cramps in my neck.  At one point I was nearly resting my head on my own shoulder because that was the only position that didn't feel like my head was going to rip off.  It was a long and very tearful night.  My wonderfully amazing husband stayed up with me all night, bringing me ice and hot pads and Tylenol (the only thing I can safely take...otherwise I'd have been at the hospital begging for a muscle relaxer), and then he took off work all day yesterday to take me to the chiropractor and just help me out since I really couldn't do much at all.  The chiropractor diagnosed me with Torticollis, which can apparently happen quite randomly with no apparent cause and take 1-4 weeks to heal.  I'm calling it a pinched nerve, because that's what it feels like, and people actually know what that is.  Torticollis sounds like a turtle disease or something.  Today, after the ice/heat/tylenol/repeat cycle and finally getting some sleep (I think I had 4 pillows supporting my neck), I feel MUCH better.  My neck feels bruised when I touch it, but I can actually move my head most directions if I am very careful, which feels amazing.  But I am still taking it very easy because too much movement hurts.  You don't realize how pivotal your neck muscles are (har har) until they rebel.  Even something like lifting your arms uses those muscles.

I am so thankful that I have someone to take care of me when things like this happen, and that it happened after I stopped working rather than before.  I would have had to call in sick for several days since you can't take care of a baby when you can't move!  And I'm thankful that baby is kicking away in there, seemingly unfazed by my trauma.

So I guess my to-do list is going to have to wait for a little while.  In the meantime, I used my free time this morning to whip up a little mood board of my ideas/vision for the nursery!  My mom is flying up to help me paint it in a few weeks, YAY!  I am so excited to put Xander's room together and get everything ready.  

Pardon my lack of mood-board skills, I only had Microsoft Paint to work with :-)  I think it's going to be my favorite room in the house when it's done!

It's Spring!

Spring has finally arrived!  Just a few weeks ago it was snowing, so we are all very excited for the warmer weather!  No more coats and gloves.  Around here, forsythia, Bradford pear trees and cherry trees are everywhere, so we're seeing all kinds of beautiful blossoms.  Flowering trees are something that I didn't see much in Houston, so I soak it all in.  

Forsythia

Bradford pear

Some kind of cherry tree

This weekend I planted a veggie garden in pots on my patio!  I'm so excited; hopefully my first foray into edible gardening won't be a total bust.  I now have two tomato plants, two bell pepper plants, two strawberry plants, a zucchini, a cucumber, and a basil.  I also planted some Dahlia bulbs on a whim.  My patio looks nicer now.  It's fun having a backyard!

James and I also went up to Babies R Us to get some stuff for the baby.  We ordered a dresser and we bought the crib mattress. I was hoping to find a dresser I could refinish on Craigslist, or one from Ikea, but both of those options didn't work out.  The dresser that I liked online from Ikea turned out to look different and plastic-y in the store, and nothing was showing up on Craigslist for months due to our strict specifications.  The nursery is very small, so in order to maximize space, I need a dresser that is not too wide, but wide enough (and short enough) that I can use it as a changing table.  I just couldn't find anything so we splurged with some money we were given from James' grandma and just bought a dresser.  Then we went over to the mall and James made a build-a-bear for him!  It was really fun and I am super excited to be working on the nursery.

At 23 weeks, I am feeling pretty good, but definitely slowing down.  Things like gardening and running errands make me sore and tired now.  I have to sit down and rest more frequently and I'm having issues with my lower back, which was a trouble spot for me before being pregnant, and now it is flaring up again.  It's getting harder to get comfortable at night too, as well as doing things that require bending over. My belly gets in the way. I know it's all par for the course, and really it's not that bad in the scheme of things.  I just have to remember that I can't do as much now and not overwork myself. 

One fun thing that happened this week is that James felt Xander kick for the first time!  James poked my stomach where Xander had been kicking, and he kicked back!  It was really neat.  I'm so glad to have had a nice, productive weekend in the beautiful weather!