Fern's Room

Like I said before, I really love getting a room ready for a girl more than a boy.  (For the record, I have yet to "do" Burl's room.  So sad.)  With Fern's room, I wanted something soft but wild.  Something simple but unexpected.  Part of her room still feels cold.  There aren't toys on the shelves.  We're still missing signs of life and play on the floor.  She's not even two feet long yet, so her room occupancy is pretty low.

For now, the only things in her room are the things that I have put there.  Originally, I was going for an aqua/coral-pink color combination, but it ended up being a whole-lotta-aqua with a coral-pink chair.  But, her room is still growing and we're still working on things.  

Here's what the room looks like when walking from the hall:

I'm still looking for some material that I like for the windows.  The white needs to go, because I'm ready for some texture.  Some dimension.  Whatever the professionals call it.  The white is too boring for me (words I never thought I would say), and I need some design that has aqua and/or a similar color to the chair.  Everything I've seen just doesn't seem right.  Suggestions welcome.

Say hi to the coral chair.  The chair is perfect and I'm so glad I snagged it when my friends were moving cross-country and couldn't fit it in their moving bins.  Thank you, Caroline.  (See her blog HERE for some dang-good writing.)

That empty frame-a list minute throw-on-the-wall.  It's not going to stay.  I'm envisioning some large pictures, maybe some that Kate took.  

Next up is her little changing area:

I think this spot is pretty dreamy.  Let's start from the top and work our way down:

The light fixture is just three white bird cages that I strangled with white Christmas lights.  Christmas lights used as actual lighting always makes me think of college decorating-almost as classic as the red solo cup.  I think that Christmas lights are sold with textbooks or something because every good college student uses them at one point in their college days.  Wrapped in some bird cages and it almost looks like a funky chandelier.  

That mirror, a darker shade of the dresser, I found it in my attic.  Bonus: the mirror is somewhat distorted and makes its subject skinny.  Skinny mirrors make the world go 'round.

I'm way too tall for a normal changing table, so I like to use a tall dresser instead.  This is one that I bought from Deb.  It was originally black and white, so I painted it the same aqua as the laundry closet.

That little stool was made by my father-in-law.  Each grandchild has one.  Until Fern can use it, it's where Burl stands to watch me change her clothes.

Her crib is the same crib that we used for Burl.  I made the bedding: a quilt and a 3-layered ruffle bed skirt.  That's right, 3 layers, triple threat.

The painting is stellar, am I right ladies?  I was going to try to paint it myself, but that last month of being pregnant I got a little overwhelmed.  Creating a painting just wasn't going to happen.  So, I called my friend, Jenny, and asked her if she would do it.  And wa-la, she came through for me, big time.  Way better than I could have imagined.  

I worked hard finding the perfect color aqua material for the bed skirt.  I found it online and had a sample sent to me.  By my surprise, the color matched perfectly to the aqua that I used on the laundry closet and the dresser.  When I pointed out this absolute miracle to John, he was not nearly as amazed as I was.  He said that I pick that color all the time and I probably had a t-shirt that color.  For the record, I do.  And I have some chacos, dress, earrings, and cardigan that color.  I like that about myself. 

Also, I made this little lamp for her room.  It was very easy to do.  I think it's pretty cute.

I would like to say that all these ideas were my own, but they weren't.  I found a lot of inspiration from Pinterest.  For links to the tutorials and resources, feel free to check out my board for Fern's room.

Sometimes

Sometimes Burl gets to do stuff that is fun.  Sometimes.
Those fun things, they require concentration, heavy breathing, and focus:

Pipe cleaners through a strainer: big work.  Heavy breathing to the max.

Painting: something he's attempting.  We tried finger painting but it just didn't seem fun.  Hand him a stick, aka paintbrush, and he's hooked.

Thanks, Lydia for the invisible paint that only turns colors on the special paper.  Mama like.

Sometimes, I let Burl eat lunch with a friend, whether that friend be stuffed or 

not stuffed.  Burl likes some company.  Just give him a minute with the pizza.  

Sometimes, after he eats the pizza, he likes to get wild.  Like, take his shirt off and ask to hold his friend wild.  (Look at that little belly button peeking to say hi.)

Sometimes, I let him pull out all the pots and pans to play.

Sometimes he cooks, but most of the time, he does something else.
I have no idea what he's doing.

And sometimes, more often that I would like to admit, Burl watches TV. 

His current favorite being Little People.  

And sometimes, I hope he thinks I'm the cool mom because that's what parenting is about: me and making sure my kids think I'm the coolest.

Royally Great

My friend called.  She read my post about being the unofficial photographer of the family, which leaves me out of some of those fun, candid shots that we're all going for.  She said that she's learning about photography and enjoys taking pictures of newborns and asked if we would like for her to come over.  

Uh, yes please.

She came over and snapped 4 million pictures, made us feel very relaxed, and did a great job. This is the closest that we've had to professional pictures.  Kate, thank you so much.  You got some great ones!

Mad props, Kate.

Somewhere In Between Cotton Candy & Rainbow Skittles

Think white and pink.

Think fluffy.

Think soft.

Think cotton candy.

Think shabby chic to the max.

That's where I would have gone had I put together a nursery for a girl a couple years ago.  But, somewhere along the way I got saucy.  I wanted something more vibrant.  Something wild.  Then I saw the picture below and it made me want to go wild with color:

So cool, right?  (Credits from HERE.)  Then, I started working on things and realized that I might be wanting something more colorful, but I wasn't ready to drink the wild-with-color-kool-aid.  Even though her room is not completely done, I'm at a good place.  And, I think that I found the sweet spot between cotton candy and rainbow skittles.  Pictures coming soon.