Happy October

Oh my - it's October! Our baby's birth month is FINALLY here!  I feel like I have been pregnant since the beginning of time.  I'm doing everything I can to prepare and am starting to understand why people say you'll never actually be ready.  We have (almost) everything sorted out on the home front, and with our doctors, and we've done our reading, and now I am just trying to plan my transition at the office. 

Have you ever had to plan three months of your day job ON TOP of your day job?  It's really not fun and is making my head spin.  Each day flies by faster than the previous and I just don't think there are enough hours in the day to get everything organized for the 13+ weeks that I'm gone! 

Now onto the fun part of my day - putting the finishing touches on the nursery.  I'll post better pictures later this week, but here is a collage that gives you a little glimpse of the room.  I decided to leave the frames empty for now - as I'd really like to fill them with photos of our friends family with Billie once she's here!

Tomorrow should be an eventful day as we're finalizing my car sale (we sold my Jeep on eBay) and I have my first appointment with the midwives at St. Joe's hospital.  I sure hope everything runs smoothly now that I've finalized the caregiver switch at 37 weeks (eek!).  I have a feeling everything will work out just fine though. 

Weekend Update

Another weekend just flew by - how does this keep happening?  I suppose time is going by so quickly because our baby is due in just three weeks - and we are sooooooooooo ready for her to get here!  My niece, Lee Ellen, was born in Austin this weekend and is doing great - I suppose we're next on the baby train.

I finally finished the curtains for Billie's nursery and found some sheets.  The only thing we have left to do in the nursery is fill her frames with photos! 

I was able to work on a few projects this weekend as well:

• I finally finished the beer/wine label covered TV trays which have been sitting around unfinished for months.  I bought the TV trays at Goodwill and have been salvaging beer bottle labels which I modge podged to the top of each tray.  Now I just need to paint the base and add a protective coat to the surface! 
• I added some contact paper to our laundry room shelf in an attempt to get the laundry area a bit more organized.  We have a LOT to do in this "room" but that will come after the office, I suppose.
• I started painting the floral settee!  Yes, I am painting fabric with Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint.  Right now it looks terrible because I'm trying to paint off-white over a dark print, but I'm hoping it will look nice after a few coats.  I had originally planned to reupholster the piece, but thought I'd give this a shot first since it would be much more cost effective and hopefully easier. 
• Matt added a handrail to the staircase, which I just need to paint.  Hopefully, my dad finds it helpful when they come to visit next month to help with the baby.
• Matt also added some trim to our IKEA shelves in the mudroom to give it a more finished look!
• And we scheduled some one from Home Depot to come out and take measurements for our office blinds - it's time to cover that nastiness!  I'm just going to have them replicate the blinds that we installed in the media room.

Here are a few photos from our weekend projects! 

Next on the list:

• Order frames for Billie's room
• Paint hand rails
• Finish painting the settee
• Finish the TV trays
• Sell some completed furniture (red end table, black chairs, white chest of drawers)

The Office

It's hard to believe that we've lived in our house for 2 1/2 years and our office still looks like this!! 
 

We replaced the carpet and had the walls painted (a very boring color), but that's about it.  It hurts to look at these photos - I hate it so much!!

The closet comes in handy though since our "master closet" is about 3 feet wide and can only fit my in-season clothes!!  And I'm not sure what's going on on the right with the cheap built-in shelves, but that's obviously where we store our suit cases.

The windows make me want to vomit and the dry wall damage makes me want to cry - because we've already had the dry wall repaired once (and the recent flooding did us in again)!  And don't even get me started on the light fixture.

I do, however, love the desk and chair that I inherited from my grandmother (although I think it needs a little re-staining work).  And we FINALLY hung the wall organizer that my boss gave me, which will be great for organizing paperwork, envelopes and other office supplies.

Well, I'm finally determined to take on this nasty room now that we have just over 3 weeks of sitting around waiting for this baby to make an arrival!  Of course, I've been scouring Pinterest for months and months and have a few ideas that should at least help me get started.

I've been debating over what to hang on the walls for some time now and love this simple IKAT fabric "art work."  I ordered several swatches online today and can't wait for them to arrive. I'm not quite sure where we would have room for something like this but we shall see.

I'm also loving these painted/uphostered chairs from Miss Mustard Seed....

...and would love to do something similar with my little thrift store love seat that I purchased for $40 over a year ago in Idaho Springs.

Look at all of the beautiful details!

The only problem is, I don't know how to reupholster or sew.  Ruh roh.  But, I need to learn and I kind of want to give it a shot (with my mom's help).  Crazy, I know.  But, if it looks like poo 1) I'm not sure if I would care that much because no one ever goes in our basement 2) I can always have it professionally reupholstered.  I just don't feel like paying someone $700 (plus the price of materials) to have done when it could be a fun little experiment. 

I also have some unfinished, plane-Jane magazine file boxes that I plan to cover with a fun fabric (thanks to organizingmadefun.com for the tutorial).   

I'll keep ya posted as the plans come together.  Our first (not-so-fun) step is to replace the carpet pad that got ruined in the flood and probably add some base boards! 

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks around the Buchanan household.  And, unfortunately, I haven't had much time to take on any new arts and crafts projects.  We've been trying to complete the nursery, which has involved many trips to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, IKEA, Pottery Barn Kids, the Container Store, etc.  I think I purchased nine different curtains and three different curtain rods before finding the right match.  And I'm still having a hard time finished them as I'm combining some sheer beige curtains with black out shades - and I don't know how to sew (definitely one thing I hope to learn in the new future).  Anyways, I think I'll have them finished tomorrow and will be sure to post some pictures.

We also had some water damage from all of the rain that we received in CO and I am trying to clean up that mess.  I am one of those people who can't focus on new projects until the house is in order, and it looked like a hurricane went through just about every room, which made taking on any new projects impossible.  There was a small leak in our new mudroom ceiling, which created a giant hole in the dry wall.  We also had some water damage in our basement (in the basement).  The dry wall was damaged and the carpet pad was destroyed.  We had to rip up the carpet to dry it out and remove all of the furniture - so it's a complete disaster.  But, it could have been worse, I suppose. 

Luckily, I have the day off today, so I'm going to take a load to Goodwill and get organized.  We also have to sell my car, get a ski rack on Matt's Four Runner and do some last minute baby prep.  We're going to try and be a one car family now that we are the proud owners of this bad boy. 

Everyone in my family hates my Jeep and complains about how unsafe it is and I'm tired of hearing them bitch, so I'm just letting Matt sell it.  I guess I don't need to be driving little Billie around in a car that vibrates downhill, has a broken passenger door lock and makes ridiculous noises when I drive over speed bumps. 

Aspen Birdie Nursery Mural

Well, the nursery wall art is now complete...and it actually didn't take as long as I'd expected (which never happens with my DIY projects)!  I was originally planning on hanging a mirror above the crib, but started to worry that it may fall (and look a little bare/boring). We did some brainstorming on Friday night and decided to paint aspens with minimal leaves and branches in an effort to make the wall and room less cluttered looking.  The room is very small so we have to be careful when decorating.  We did a few Google searches and found some aspen tree decals that I used for inspiration.  Then, I just took my pencil to the wall and outlined/painted the first tree.  Once that was complete, we determined where to add the second tree and little birdie friends.  After several coats of high gloss paint and a few tweaks (and back aches)...it's now complete.  I just love the love birds that rest perfectly on the top of the crib.  Hopefully, sweet little Billie Elizabeth will love them as well when she arrives in just 6 weeks!

 

I was having trouble getting a good photo of the mural...I guess the lighting isn't the best.  Or maybe it's the photographer...but here is another shot with the natural light coming through the window. :)

And these are the "Billie Balls" that I found on Etsy!  Thought they were quite appropriate and like the pop of color that they add to the nursery.

 

Now we're off to Linger for brunch with some friends.  It's been on my list of places to try for a long time!  I also glad that that horrible Texas football game is over with and my husband is back to normal again.  The screaming, yelling and beer drinking were a little extreme last night when Texas was losing to BYU...but at least I could enjoy some painting during that debacle. :)

Labor Day Weekend...and Nursery Decor

I finally had some time to check several long-overdue items off of my to-do list this weekend.  We enjoyed three amazing days at home with no plans whatsoever (for the first time all summer, I think), and it was so relaxing! 

 

I ran lots of errands and went on several walks with the doggies (although, I got a little ambitious today in the mid-afternoon heat after walking at least 3 miles w/ 3 dogs while 8 months pregnant).  I also napped (a rarity for me but that walk did me in - it was HOT today) and bought some adorable clothes to keep Billie warm this winter.  For some reason I started panicking that she was going to freeze in the colder months so I stocked up on a warm fuzzy onesie, a couple of hats, her first pair of 'boots,' a precious cardi and a dress with printed tights for the fall! 

 

I mean...could these be any cuter!!!!!!

And I finally got around to the painting that I promised my friend several months ago.  I'm pretty happy with the finished piece for little George...and thought the safari theme suited him quite nicely.  He is George of the jungle after all. :)

 

I've also decided to tackle a big project before Billie arrives in about 7 weeks and am going to paint some sort of pretty tree décor on the wall behind her crib (which I have no idea how to do).  I'm running out of time but can hopefully pull it off her in the next few weeks!  I'll be sure to post my progress - fingers crossed that it turns out nicely and isn't a big fail.  I'm hoping for something along these lines....more to come soon!

Clearing the Clutter

Matt and I had three goals that we wanted to accomplish before our sweet baby girl's arrival in October, and I'm pleased to say that we're getting very close to finishing them. 

First, we wanted to get the back yard in order so that little Billie (who will be named after Matt's grandmother) would have a nice yard to play in that didn't consist of random trees, weeds, branches and dead grass.  If you look closely, you can see the old pots pictured below looking nice, shiny and red alongside our water feature below. Nothing goes to waste around here. :)




Fun place for babies to play, right?



We had the fence build a few months ago and stained it ourselves.  The "fence" before consisted of chicken wire, stumps and trees, so this was quite an improvement.  After the trees were cleared, sod was laid, sprinkler system was upgraded, flower beds were designed, and new trees were planted, this is where we stand now.  





Arg - don't even get me started on the holes in the sod...boo.  I guess we'll worry about those next season.

We still need to do some finishing touches (add some plants along the fence and mulch the flower beds) and maybe hide the car port a little bit more, but that will come in due time.

Here are a few pictures of the side yard improvements as well:



Behind the deck

See that nasty bench behind Matt?

 


Same old bench after a deep clean and fresh coat of paint! 

As you can see, Matt planted some plants, laid some mulch and added a lattice to keep the dogs from digging under the deck.  We will soon have a fire pit on the flagstone where we plan to roast marsh mellows with little Billie and our neighbors.  :)

 



Matt also built a gorgeous water feature in just a few days which we decorated with pretty plants.  It helps drown out the noise from the busy street on the other side of the fence.  We even have a couple of gold fish in the bottom pond who help us out by eating mosquito larvae.  I gave the little guys to Matt on his b-day (along with a cordless drill) and he was beyond thrilled.  ha!

 

That's the salvaged red pot that I mentioned above




Not too shabby, eh?
 

Our second goal was to finish our mudroom, which started out as a screened in porch.  This wasn't just any porch, it had dirty brown carpet, yellow plastic covers for the screens, a metal floral awning and a security gate on the insite that made getting into the kitchen really fun.  It would get REALLY cold in the winter which made walking from the garage to the kitchen totally awesome as well.  We called it our trash room - and I was SO happy when we had it completely destroyed and rebuilt.  Several neighbors complimented the new addition as well, which means that they equally hated the eye-sore on the front of our house.  Here the only photo I can find of the disaster before we took a sledge hammer to it:

And here is the mudroom now! 

We just had these lovely shelves from IKEA installed yesterday and I couldn't be happier. 

I still need to get everything organized, work on the décor and remove the excess furniture, but I think it's a little better, don't you?

And finally, our third goal was to transform the guest room into the nursery.  It currently looks like a tornado passed through the room, but I can (oddly enough) see my vision coming together.  Sweet Billie be here in less than two months (if all goes as planned) so I have some work to do!  Thank goodness for the long weekend ahead!