My Hero

The definition of hero is different depending on who you talk to. For some, a hero is a man in tights who flies around Metropolis and saves small children from high rise windows. For others ~ say Lucy ~ it is someone who rescues her favorite floppy disk from under the stove. For me, it is my hubby.


As you know, we have been working on some small house projects before this little bun in the oven makes his big debut in March. And when I say "we" I really mean Ed because, let's be honest, he's been doing all the manual labor. Sure, running back and forth to the tool box to grab the flat head screwdriver counts for something, but Ed has been busting his butt to get things finished around here. He even took 4 days of vacation to get the Master Bathroom in order so that we didn't have to live out of shoe boxes anymore.


I was in NY for work when a bulk of the work was done in the bathroom so I don't have a ton of "progress" photos. But really, what do they matter when you have an after that looks like this:


We are loving the lighter color (Burnished Clay by Behr) and the contrast that the green curtain and towels make. It really opens up the small room as does the new light fixture. The best part is that there are no more water stains on the wall. It's amazing how a new coat of paint (or 3 coats of paint) makes walls look like new!

The last thing to do in here is to hang a glass shelf over the toilet, but Ed has reached his max for the week so we are putting that on hold until next week. Fine by me. Seriously, he has been busting his butt - on his vacation no less! He drives himself crazy to make sure that everything is perfect and even though I think he is a little nuts, I love him for it. :) For this (and many other things) he is my hero.

Love you Bubby!! xoxoxo

So Many Choices, So Little Time

Things in the nursery are coming along nicely, but I have hit a wall regarding some of the textiles for the room. I am not a big fan of the "bedding in a bag" options that are available at our local Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us stores, so I have decided to take another route. The bedding for the crib is going to be very simple - more color focused vs. theme focused. Besides, from everything I have read, it seems that infants really can't use the crib bumper and quilt that come in the bag so I decided rather than waste the money, we'd invest in some good sheets and some fabric for the curtains and crib skirt.

Since the room is primarily blue and white I thought, why not bring in a pop of color to make the room bright, cheerful and fun. What color you ask??


Yes ~ YELLOW! I love the contrast that this bright yellow makes against the blue walls and white trim in the room. And I have to admit, it's not quite 100% my idea. I was actually inspired by this nursery which uses yellow as an accent color:


True - the wall color in this particular nursery is more grey than blue, but I think my yellow concept will work just as well. So now I have to choose a fabric for both the window valence and the crib skirt. I thought it would be easy until I visited the fabric website. I had a Project Runway/Mood moment as I scoured the pages and pages of options. But alas, I was able to narrow the playing field a bit. Here are a few of my favorites:


I'm digging the elephants or the giraffes for the valence and one of the patterns for the crib skirt, but I'm having such a hard time choosing! I received swatches of all options in the mail today so you KNOW that I will be hanging them in the room to get a feel for them.

A local seamstress will be helping me make both items since my sewing skills do not go past sewing buttons on shirts using thread and needles courtesy of the hotels I have visited. So I ask, any favorites from the above options?? I am definitely leaning in a particular direction...but I can't tell you which. That would just ruin the surprise! :)

A Seat with a View

In addition to the nursery and master bath projects, we had some home improvement activity taking place on the first floor over the weekend. When we first moved in, one of the first things we thought of when we looked at the bump out window in the front of the house was "wouldn't a window seat look great there?". Well, we finally put those words into action.

Our awesome contractor, Doug Kidd of Kidd Construction, arrived at 8:30 am on Saturday and got right to it. Doug is like a little gift from the heavens. There is nothing that that man can't do. He installed all the windows and sliding glass doors in the house about a year ago along with the chair rail in the kitchen and did an amazing job so we knew we were in good hands with this project. He set up shop out front and got to it.


And of course, Lucy was on hand to make sure that things ran smoothly.


Once the frame was in place, Doug installed the "seat" which is also the lid to the storage area below.


It took about 4 hours to build the custom storage bench and we couldn't be happier with the outcome. Now all we need to do is have a cushion made and we will be all set.


While we had Doug here, we also had him install a recessed light in our very dark kitchen...and let me tell you, I am SO happy we did. I can finally see what I'm doing when I make dinner!!


As I said, Doug is a Godsend. We can't wait to have him back to tackle more of the many projects on our house list. All in good time. And all in good tax return. :)

The Nursery: Take Two

It has been another exhausting weekend, but I'm happy to say that we are one step closer to the final stages of Operation: Decorate Nursery. If you recall, we started out with a nursery that looked like this:


It was essentially a dumping ground for all those things that didn't have any other place to call home. We then cleaned it out, took you on a little tour, and started painting once we found out we were having a little boy. The nursery went from this...


... and this...


... to this...

...this...


...and this.


Dad Q. was on hand again for some final trim work and he did a mighty fine job. Seriously, put a good brush in this man's hand and he can cut the paint in like a pro! And he donned some new paint duds this time around. :)


Then this was delivered:


Yes, that's right. The baby's furniture is here!! Thanks to the help of our burly neighbors (Chris, Ed and Shawn - Thank You!!), Ed was able to transport the boxes into our freshly painted nursery. Very exciting!

Since we have no patience, we dove into those boxes like it was Christmas morning. It was quite a scene ... one that Lucy took in from the comfort of her blankie.

Actually, she was not really that interested. :) The beautiful dresser was 100% built so all we had to do was put it into place. Not so much on the crib, but it was a pretty easy set up. I was expecting the worst and was pleasantly surprise. Lucy was a little more lively during the crib stage, but only really showed interest when it was complete. She is Union; she was on break.


So after a little staging, we have a nursery that looks like this...


... and this...


and this.

We are VERY pleased with the furniture in the space and can't wait until the glider gets here. Of course there are still shelves to be hung, a rug to be bought and decorating to do so once that is complete we will share the final reveal. Lucy (and Ed) can't wait!!

Some "To Do's"

In addition to fixing up the nursery, we are also taking this pre-baby time to tackle some other projects in the house. If you are a home owner, you know that the list of "To Do's" is never ending. I actually have a "To Do" notebook and 3-ring binder filled with lists and ideas for future projects (nerd alert, I know!). This coming weekend, we are going to be checking a few of those projects off the list.

Our friendly neighborhood contractor, Doug Kidd, will be on hand this Saturday to build us a window seat / storage chest in the front window bump out. While we don't have a full on bay window, we do have an 18" bump out giving us plenty of room to create some much needed storage in the living room. With a new custom cushion (that I'm hiring someone to make) it will give us some extra seating and be a great vantage point for Lucy to look out the window.


As you can see, this area is kind of bare, but in the next 2 weeks or so there will be a total transformation. In addition to the bench, we (meaning Home Depot) will be installing new blinds so that we can finally stop everyone on the street from checking us out.


Another happening this weekend is the minor remodel of the Master Bathroom. Ed has been working hard to get the walls into shape so that they can be primed and painted. Since this bathroom has no window and flat paint, the walls had started to look shoddy so we knew it was time for some updating. While we can't afford to do a major remodel, we do plan to paint, add a new light fixture and medicine cabinet as well as some glass shelving. Once tax time blesses us with some cash flow, we will be adding a clear glass shower door, a canned light in the shower and a vanity for storage. Here is what the bathroom looks like right now...


...not a pretty site. But things sometimes need to get ugly before they can be pretty again. Luckily, we have another full bath on the 2nd floor so we've been living like this for the past week:


FYI - we decided to add a medicine cabinet to this bathroom as well so that our child's future toiletries do not need to live in boxes on the toilet bowl.


So it looks like we have another exhausting weekend ahead of us. Luckily Dad Q. will be back in his snazzy attire to help us finish the trim in the nursery. Gotta love a man with a paint wardrobe!