mirror and stuff in the nursery

We finally put the mirror up in the nursery. The glass was broken and we were waiting on replacement glass and then we had to paint it. Anyway it's up now!

The other night I whipped up some bunting to put on it. I kind of wanted a different kind of bunting because this style is all over the place, but it's so easy to do and it's still kind of cute. I just took some of the paper I used for the blocks on my wall and sewed it to some yellow bias tape I had on hand.

In other news, I filled this little white frame with an M I found on the net. It's a drop-cap from Daily Drop Cap.

And I moved the chair over to the corner beside the crib.

I also put this super sweet hair clip holder on the closet door. My friend made it! She's so talented...

Anyway the room is done for now!

mila's nursery

Hey there.

Remember I was working on a nursery? I'm not entirely finished working on it, but I'm still waiting on a mirror (hence the graphic placement above) in addition to a few other details and I don't have patience to wait any longer, so I'm showing you what I've got so far. Why not?

I had a lot of fun working on this room. More fun than I think I had working on Leo's room and I think that's because I gave myself the challenge to use what I had around the house. Obviously we had to get a new crib (Leo will be in his crib until he's 20 if I have anything to do with it) and a dresser, but most other things I had on hand. Just as a reminder, here is the post about what I started with in terms of colours.

[image above] I looked everywhere for a dresser. Well not everywhere, but I knew that I didn't really want another ikea dresser if I could help it. My friend C sent me a pic of this from kijiji and I thought it was perfect for the room. It was only $30! For the most part it's in good shape, but it does need a bit of work. The top needs a bit of sanding and I'm thinking of painting it white. We changed the legs because it was a tad too high for the change pad. We got those at Home Depot.

(The little piece of white on the floor under the dresser is a piece of diaper in case you were wondering. Let me know if you like it and I'll tell you where I got it... ;))

The frames are from ikea that I sprayed gold (Lindsay has an awesome post about how to get the perfect look. I did not follow her instructions because I did these awhile ago - I just sprayed a couple good 'ol coats on these and called it a day).

The first picture is from my sister that she gave me years ago that I hadn't put up yet. The second is an e. e. cummings quote I got from etsy. The third picture is also from etsy and is called Girl in the Yellow Suit by Lisa Golightly (what a great name!). I actually had this as favourite since I was pregnant with Leo. When I found out I was having a boy I put it on hold, but quickly snapped it up when I was pregnant this time around. I love it and was so excited to add it to the room.

Here is a little shot over the crib with the little bun squirming around. Mark and I have been carrying these square canvases around for years in the hopes of having an 'art day'. Not sure what type of art we were going to do, but I decided to use them in the room.

She seems to like them, non?

First I sprayed the sides gold (kind of roughly - I was looking for a certain unfinished look) and I used some modpodge to glue some craft paper to the surface. We used two-sided tape to hang them so they don't come crashing down on Mila when she's dreaming about sugar plums.

I wrote about the mobile here. I found it on etsy and love it. I think Mila loves it too. Doesn't she look like she's cheering?

The pillows were made with left over fabric and I made the crib sheet which I wrote about here. (You can't see them, but there are little Mila hairs all over the sheet leaving her with a little mohawk type hair-do.)

This shelf was in the room when it was a spare bedroom. I don't have much to put on it but figure I can just add little trinkets or books as I get them. We decided to keep the honkin' boom box from Mark's university days. He can't bare to see it go and I wanted something in the room for music. Again... using what we have.

I wanted to put a family shot of us in her room. Not sure what we'll put in the other frame - I found it at my Mom's place and thought it suited the room. The little jade dragon is something my sister picked up on her recent trip to China and I covered an old jewelry box with more craft paper to add a bit of colour to the room. The photo behind the framed photos is something a friend gave to me some time ago.

I picked up these cute elephant book ends from Homesense. I also have two books my mom gave me years ago about mothers and daughters to add to Mila's little library.

I made these blocks for Leo's room and decided to move them here to try to hid the boom box ;).

Mila's little shoe collection. My sister actually gave the boots to Leo but I've moved them here for Mila.

This is the glider I had in Leo's room. I was going to have it painted but it just isn't worth it. I made the pillow years ago and wrote about the lamp and clock projects here and here. So far the pouf is working well for my feet while nursing.

Again, just waiting on some glass for the mirror. It's the same mirror we used in Leo's room (we have two). I made a change pad cover but you know... it's in the laundry. Babies are messy! Did you know that??? The laundry basket is from Fabricland of all places. Also we had the rug already. Not my first choice but it does the trick.

I'm not really sure what to do with this little corner. I want the plant in the room, but don't really have anywhere to put it. My neighbour had this ironing board, so I decided to take it but it's a bit wobbly for the plant. I want to make a shelf for the rad so maybe it could go on that.

Here's a wide-ish shot which includes the curtains I made and our jet engine ceiling fan (Good thing we're short 'round here because you'll likely get a good hair cut if you're over 6 feet tall with that thing).

So there it is. I'll add more pics once I get that darn mirror done. What do you think?

lamp shade cover-up

Leo is in daycare again today, so I made a list of things to get done.

• Drink coffee at my favourite cafe - done!
• Make lots of turkey burgers for the freezer - done!
• Fold the diapers strewn over the living room - done!
• Watch Rookie Blue - in progress!
• Lamp shade cover-up - done!
• Nap - not done yet!
• Baby delivering - ya...nope.

While I'm waiting to get in a nap and a baby delivered, I thought I would show you my lamp.

Here's the before:

Looks fine, but the colour was a bit off so it didn't look right. I had some fabric left over from my pillows etc so I decided to cover the shade with it.

A bit of sewing and glue gun action and tadaaa!

Much better and more fun.

Ok now time for that nap.

Hanging Origami Stars

Still no baby! She seems pretty cozy in there to be honest! We had my in-laws over for dinner so we had a little bet to see when she'd come: my father-in-law says tomorrow, my mother-in-law says the 8th. I say the 14th. For some reason I have an even number in my head.

Anyway, while we're waiting, I thought I'd share a pic of the mobile I ordered for the nursery. I wanted to make one myself with origami birds, then I came to my senses and started looking for something from someone who know what they were doing.

I found this origami stars mobile in yellow from Etsy seller theStarcraft and fell in love. Can't wait to get it and hang it!

Happy (long) weekend!

nursery update: curtains

Can I tell you how much less I've been on the computer these days? I used to spend at least eight hours a day on the computer for my job etc. plus extras for blogging and blog reading. Now I'm on here probably 30 mins maybe a day if that? It's quite crazy really. That's what taking care of a toddler full time will do I guess! I kind of expected it though. Don't want to be on the computer all day while he's with me.

Anyway - to the nursery. We're getting there! Over the weekend I finished and (Mark) hung the curtains. It makes such a difference to have curtains in there - just fills it up some how.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a West Elm shower curtain and sliced it in two. Then I bought some yellow fabric to add to the bottom so they were long enough, and then finished the edges. Pretty simple, but I like the impact of the yellow with the grey and white stripes.

I find it tough taking photos of curtains because you're basically taking a picture into the light (I could shut the blinds but I don't like them!), but here's an artsy angled shot for you to get the jist.

Not sure where I'll put that pouf, but I think it'll end up over on the other side of the room by the glider.

Tonight I'm hoping to finish up a few things in the room: a change pad cover I started last night; we also have to change the legs up on the dresser we got from kijiji - it's a bit too high for the change pad; hang some of my diy art and figure out what to put on our shelving unit. Oh and put all the clothes away!

This Sunday is my due date, but honestly I don't think this little gal is coming out any time soon!

nursery update: clock

When I started thinking about this nursery, I wanted to be able to use as much of what I had already on hand. If I had to fix it up - that was fine.

Every nursery needs a clock. Well there was a clock in this room and it was pretty plain; an old orange Ikea clock that I think my hubby had in university. I kept looking at it thinking that there must be something I can do with it.

Enter the wonder world of blogs! I found this DIY sunburst mirror on the House of Fifty blog and decided to put a little sunburst in my clock.

Here is what I started with. Kinda blah.

I had some skewers in the pantry and some leftover candy sticks from my Stella & Dot party that I thought would work well for the spikes.

Then I just started gluing with my glue gun, marking off 12, 3, 6 & 9 so the skewers would be even.

All done!

I taped up the clock and started to spray, quickly realizing that the stuff I was using was way too strong for a preggo to be using. So it sat in the garage for about two months until last weekend...

Here it is post-spray. It was kind of a blessing that I waited because I decided to change up the colour and opted for gold instead of the shimmery grey I had purchased originally. 

I wanted a new clock face so I downloaded a template from the World Wide Web...

Once I got the right fit, I flipped through my little paper book to find some designs I could use for the face.

I printed the clock on this paper originally, but it was kind of boring. So I kept looking.

And this is what I chose! Kind of a goldy with teal flowery paper. I just used Modge Podge to stick it to the old clock face and then reattached the clock arms (are they called arms?).

There are still a few things to do to fix it up. My clock face doesn't go to the edge in some spots so I think I might put some type of border around the edge. Also there are a few fly-aways thanks to glue and spray paint that need to be tamed.

Overall not a bad transformation. I only hope the clock keeps working. It's already stopped once! I think it just needs a little kick in the pants...

what I've been up to

Getting good deals on train stuff: table $25 (online mom-to-mom group) and construction site track set $49 (Chapters)

Picking flowers from the garden - loving the hydrangeas and rose of sharon in the yard

Makin' stuff for the nursery

Hanging out with Gramma

Going for walks with Leo & Flash the cat (he will follow us like dog the whole way if we let him!)

Keeping the cousins busy at a wedding with Thomas the Train

Attempting self family pics....

Dancing with Gramma

Cooling off at the park (I feel like I'm a bit of a paparazzo here - taking pics from afar)

nursery update: pillows!

I'm going a bit pillow crazy in this room, but it's only because I already had two pillow covers made and I had two mini inserts that were taking up room in my spare room so I thought ahh why the heck not? I'll make more pillows! So last night I made a couple small pillows for the glider. They're so cute and small! Then I fixed up this second pillow above (it had a little tear) and just threw that on the pouf.

I think I'm taking all my colour cravings and throwing them into this one room....

This week I also picked up a shower curtain from West Elm to use as curtains for the room. I'm going to slice them in half and add some detailing to them. Still need a curtain rod and a dresser! I wanted the Edland from Ikea but they don't sell it anymore the bums.

Well that's it for now! Not much on the baby update - well actually this week the midwife thought the baby might be breech, so I went in for an ultrasound this morning and she's all good. Head down thankfully. 

Oh and I got a ticket outside of the hospital because I have baby brain and parked in the wrong spot. Thankfully the parking guy let me off - even after he wrote the ticket (unimaginable!). What am I going to do when I don't have this belly to help me out anymore! ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!

nursery update: pouf & ultra-mini sneak peek

I got the pouf done today at naptime, but not without some weird looks from my hubby. You see, when I saw the plans for this pouf a light went on in my head and I thought This would be the perfect project to get rid of all those old towels I'm sick of looking at... But when I brought them out to start stuffing, the hubster thought I was crazy for using old towels stating we'd need them for the kids and he uses them for hockey. So I left him some towels for hockey and got to stuffing.

Well that only got me stuffed halfway, so I went on the search for some other stuff to stuff. I've got everything from an old ironing board cover to a couple holy porch pillow covers and finally fiber fill and leftover foam from when I made my rocking chair seats last nursery time.

When I was finished, the hubs asked: "What is it for exactly?" 

"Something pretty! :) I don't know." 

I'm sure someone will sit on it or the kids will play with it. I just wanted to make one! :)

We also installed a ceiling fan in the nursery this weekend. I was going to opt for a pretty light, but I thought I would be practical instead. We got AC, but we still need fans in some rooms to keep the cool air circulating. We chose this white one so it would kind of blend in with the ceiling and we're quite happy with it.

Finally a little sneak peek at a corner of the nursery. I'm going to try to incorporate some golds into the room. This painting was given to us by my Mom's best friend who is an artist in BC.  I think it fits nicely!

So Happy Monday! It's my first day as a SAHM for a bit - things will get crazy I'm sure when #2 makes her appearance!

Steph