Ready, Set, Pack!

The past few months, Andi and I have poured over every inch of our house and either sold, donated or purged dozens of items. Now, all that's left this week is to pack and move our things. Sounds easy enough, right? We're downsizing from a 3,000 sq. ft. house to a 2,000 sq. ft. condo unit, so the goal is to only bring what's truly important to us.

Two more "sleeps" in this house, then we'll officially move on Friday, April 1. I haven't felt very sad about leaving this place, but perhaps I'm too wrapped up in the process to notice. There have been a few moments, like bathing the kids in the bathtub one last time, that have given me pause. I remember cautiously bathing a tiny Baby Tory - still learning my role as a new parent - in that very same bathroom. But, of course, it's not the bathtub that makes that memory so special; it's Tory, and she's coming with us!

Purging / donating / selling so many of our things has actually felt therapeutic. It's crazy how much *stuff* a family can accumulate over time. Dozens of frames, knick-knacks and vases filled shelves and walls all over our house (things I didn't even like all that much!) and now they're gone. It's refreshing to open closet doors and see empty shelves and neatly organized items. Maybe a move every five years is necessary to cut down on the clutter.

Donating things has been a good lesson for Tory. She's watched with eagle-eyes as I've given away toys, furniture, clothes and other household items, and was upset until I explained they were things we no longer needed. "Now it's time for someone else to use them," I reminded her again and again. Then last week, I bought some Barbies from a lady on the local Facebook garage sale site. (I know, buying more toys is the opposite of what we're trying to do, but for $20 the deal was too good to pass up.) Anyway, Tory was OVER THE MOON excited about her new Barbies and accessories. She's played with them for countless hours. The other day she ran up to me and said, "Mom, now I see! That little girl was done with these Barbies so she gave them to me to play with." It clicked, and now she's been much more understanding of our moving process.

My dining room table was the only piece of furniture I felt sad about selling. I loved that table; it was a present from Andi's parents. Fortunately, a friend of mine bought if from us and that made it easier to let it go. It helps knowing their family will create their own memories around it. The new condo has a circular built-in table, so our family has been making do without a proper place to eat this week. I set up a picnic blanket on the floor of the dining room and not surprisingly, Tory and Aden were thrilled to eat there.

Good thing it's only for a week though, or Aden might starve. He'll only sit for a minute before he's off to the next thing.  

Andi hired a "mover" friend of his to assist us with packing boxes and moving furniture on Friday. So far, everything in the basement has been packed (downstairs living room, spare bedroom, laundry room, playroom and storage room). The kitchen, bedrooms and upstairs bathrooms are left and we'll tackle those when the kids leave for Grandma and Grandpa's house on Thursday.

It won't be long now!

SOLD!

Andi and I accepted an offer on our house last Friday, eight days after it listed on the market. Wahoo! Our house is now "pending sale" as we await the final closing date of April 15.

To say I'm breathing a sigh of relief is an understatement. Eight days are a tiny blip on the calendar and yet, they were some of the most stressful ones I've experienced in a while. (What? Stay-at-home-mom life doesn't warrant many nail-biting situations.)

For me, it wasn't the actual house showings that kept me up at night; it was the constant feeling of influx. Tory, Aden and I spent countless hours in the car shuffling to and from the cabin and our various weekly activities in the Twin Cities. Chloe (+ the dog kennel) came along with us because I couldn't leave the dog at home during scheduled or potential showings. We couldn't cook meals at home because I didn't want to dirty the kitchen, and I discouraged Tory and Aden from scattering toys all over the house. Oh, did I mention we all had the stomach flu smack-dab in the middle of that?  It was... not the best of times.

The stress of the unknown was terrible on my nerves (and my poor cuticles). Would anyone like our house? How long would it take to sell? Was is priced right? My steady-handed husband gave great advice when he said, "It's out of our hands; there's no sense in worrying. Move it to the back of your mind and wait to see what happens." He was right. We'd done everything we were willing to do to show our house in the best light. Whatever will be, will be.

And, it was. Now that we have a buyer, it's easy to look back on the situation and think say how smoothly it transpired. The housing inspection took place earlier this week, and even that came back with relatively few changes. We'll move into our new place two weeks before we close on our current home, so timing should work well for everyone. 

So what's next for us? Andi and I found a new place to live in a nearby first-ring suburb of the Twin Cities. It's .7 miles away from Andi's office and he's thrilled to live so close to work. I'm excited the kids and I will see him more often during the weekdays, and happy to live in a vibrant neighborhood with shops and restaurants in walking distance of our home.

I think Andi and I surprised all of our friends and family when we announced we're moving into a condo. The reasoning is simple: We spend three days a week at our lake cabin in Wisconsin, and it doesn't make sense to own a 3,000+ sq. ft. house in the Twin Cities that we only use Monday-Thursday. If I'm being honest, Andi does little more than sleep and shower in our current home -- he's usually working! We had a too-big-for-us house that Tory, Aden and I mostly occupied.

Our new place is a hybrid of sorts; a condo that feels more like a town home. It's a brand new 3-bed, 2 bath unit with stainless steel appliances and a fabulous roof-top deck. Construction crews are still finalizing our space, so the builder/interior designer even let Andi and I select our own paint colors, flooring and granite. Best of all, the layout is perfectly functional for the way we live (at least, we hope). I'm excited!    

My goal for the next month is to purge everything we don't use/need in our current home. I've been a selling machine on the local Facebook garage sale site, and it feels awesome to de-clutter for a fresh start ahead.

We're Moving!

A sign in the yard makes it official -- we're moving!

Well, said better, we hope to move.

Andi and I listed our house for sale last Thursday. We've tossed around the idea of moving for a few months now, and ultimately decided the early spring housing market (February 1 - May 31) is the perfect time in our lives to take the leap.

Several factors played in our decision to move. For one, Andi wants to live closer to his office. Technically we live about 9 miles away right now, but with traffic (which is always in the Twin Cities) his commute becomes close to 45-60 minutes each way. This forces him to leave the house before the heaviest period of traffic in the morning and stay at the office until after traffic dies down in the evening, turning a regular day at the office into a 15 hour work day for him. Living closer to Andi's office means he could join the kids and I for breakfast some mornings and be home for dinnertime at night. He'd actually get to see the kids while they are awake during the week -- now, there's a novel idea!

Tory's nearing kindergarten age so now is the time to move school districts if we're planning to do so. I'd like to be settled into a new neighborhood and learn the in's and out's of our area before thrusting ourselves into school days. Plus, the area around Andi's office is more urban and Andi and I have decided that's really more our style. I've enjoyed living in our quiet area of the 'burbs, but we miss being walking distance from shops and restaurants.

So, here's the thing: selling a house is hard work! Selling a house with two little kids underfoot is even harder! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of stress and activity as we've readied our house for sale. We didn't have much to do in terms of repairs or maintenence on our actual home, but my Type A personality mandates a spotless interior for showings. Every drawer and every cabinet needs to be clean and organized. Every floor and every counter top service must shine. I want buyers to walk into our house and see exactly what I'd expect to see -- a beautiful home.

We've had 14 showings scheduled in the last five days ... which is a great turnout, I think. I want to say 'yes' to every single person who desires to walk through our home because you never know who will be The One. And, I want this process to move along as quickly as possible. It is so challenging to live in an imaculate house with two kids under the age of four. Thank goodness we have the cabin for refuge! Tory, Aden and I spent a long weekend there Friday-Tuesday and are heading back there again on Thursday. It's way too much work for me to keep everything clean while they're home, and it's also unfair for me to ask them not to play with any of their toys or mess up their rooms in an effort to keep things organized.

Our lives feel like they're turned upside down right now, but hopefully it's only for a few weeks. The inside of my car looks like a tornado hit, we've spent so much time in there! Though not surprisingly, Tory and Aden are handling all the shuffling fantastically. As I often tell Tory, "home is where our family is; as long as we're together, that's all that matters." 

Home Tour: Living Room / Dining Room / Entry Way

Oh, hey! Remember when I painted and redecorated my entire house this fall?

No, I never mentioned it?

Well, I did, and it seems as if the holiday season has stolen all the thunder.

Last November as Andi and I pulled together the finishing touches of our lake cabin remodel, I got the itch to update our Twin Cities house as well. It began as we shopped for living room furniture for the cabin and couldn't quite find what we were looking for. One day I said to Andi, "You know what would work perfectly in the cabin's living room? Our leather sofa set from home." So, that's what we decided to do. We moved our brown leather sofa and oversized chair to the cabin which opened up a window to purchase new furniture at our house. 

Every since we moved into our house three and a half years ago, I've dreamed of having a blue and gray living and dining room. It seemed like the perfect compliment to the chunky white trim throughout our house. And besides, I never cared much for the existing green and tan color scheme. One day Andi called to say he found the perfect gray fabric living room sofa set at a local furniture store (and he was right; it was perfect). Meanwhile, I scoured the Internet for new paint colors and narrowed my choices to the following:

Andi was traveling for a few weeks in November so my plan was to paint our entire house -- the living room, dining room, upstairs hallway, entryway, stairway, downstairs living room and laundry room -- while he was gone. "How are you going to do that?" Andi asked me one day before he left for travel. "During nap times," I responded.

He was right. Again.

How did I plan to complete all that painting in the three weeks that remained before Aden's first birthday party? It would've taken me a year to paint those rooms by myself with little children underfoot, so Andi suggested I hire a professional painter to complete the work. I did, and in one day's time my entire house was transformed by a few gallons of paint. 

Living Room / Dining Room / Entry Way 

BEFORE

Living Room / Dining Room / Entry Way 

AFTER

The living and dining rooms are Benjamin Moore Slate Blue and the entry way, stairway and upstairs hallway (not pictured) are Benjamin Moore Marilyn's Dress.

I keep a fairly minimalistic design style with few knick-knacks sitting around (life with little kids doesn't allow it), but I did purchase new living room artwork to hang above the sofa. I searched high and low for the perfect painting to match the vision in my head and I finally found it here. 

Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world, and this canvas print brings me so much joy. 

I also added a small gallery wall of photographs above the living room sofa chair. Sometimes a home can be over-saturated with personal photographs in my opinion, but we have too many wonderful photographs not to display them. 

The dining room and entry way areas remain the same aside from the new paint color. Though, it really is amazing how simply changing the paint color(s) and nothing else can truly transform a home. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out. 

Deck the Halls! My Favorite Holiday Decorations

As I stood beside holiday totes stacked to the ceiling last Monday, I vowed never to buy another Christmas decoration again. Seriously! How does a girl accumulate so much stuff? But, we all know I'll never hold myself to the rule because decorating for the holidays is one of life's simplest pleasures.

For me, it's the trip down memory lane that does it for me. Take for instance, this modest artificial Christmas tree I purchased the year I lived in my first apartment on my own. The cardboard tree box still says "Christmas 2003" stamped on its side, and every time I read those words I feel a warm tingle inside me. Christmas 2003? Was it really that long ago? It seems like just yesterday ...

This tree is a snap to assemble so when I'm the mother of a small infant and decorating for the holidays seems too daunting of a task (ahem, two out of the last four years), it's the main Christmas tree we put up in the house. In other years - like this one - when I'm willing to take on more burden, this is the "family" tree downstairs displaying all of our handmade and heartfelt ornaments. A few of my favorite ornaments on this tree are the glittery Eiffel Tower ornament which was a gift from my childhood best friend, Ashley. She gave it to me for Christmas the year Andi and I visited Paris (2010) and it's one of my favorite places on Earth. The little baby carriage is my "baby's first ornament" from 1981 passed down to me from my parents. One of the wheels is broken and it's super fragile, but I love hanging it on the tree every year. The salt dough handprint ornament is from Tory's first Christmas in 2011. I marvel over the size of her tiny hand every year. It's on my to-do list to make one with Aden's handprint this year, too. 

Several years ago, my parents downsized to a smaller house and they split up their many Christmas decorations amongst my siblings and I. I was gifted my parent's big artificial Christmas tree with all of its ornaments. My mom tastefully decorated this tree in gold ornaments and bows, and I've never changed it. This tree is a BEAST to put together though (I remember assembling it with my dad every year, and together it didn't seem like so much work), so I only put this tree up when I'm feeling ambitious. It takes an entire nap time to put it up, and that's precious time to spare! This year, the gold Christmas tree shines in front of the windows of our main level living room. It looks a little wonky because the bottom 12 inches are bare in an effort to deter a certain little boy from playing with the ornaments.

In the window behind the gold tree is one of my newest and most favorite Christmas decorations. Last year when I wasn't willing to put together this big kahuna of an artificial Christmas tree, I added hanging glass ornaments to the window. I was looking for a way to add some Christmas charm to the upstairs living room without displaying a tree in there. This year it might be overkill to have both the tree and the ornaments in the window, but I don't care - I love them. The ornaments are absolutely beautiful up close (though it's hard to photograph them against the window) and I love gazing past them to the snow-covered outdoors.

A few other holiday decorations in the living room / dining room ...

The kids' felt Christmas tree hangs on one of the living room walls, along with their Little People Nativity Scene. Tory received this nativity play set as a baptism present from my cousin Jen and it's so great. I store it with our Christmas decorations so every December it's something new and special to play with. This year, Aden particularly loves the Little People characters. When I snapped this picture, for example, I couldn't find the Baby Jesus but later discovered him in a bucket of blocks in the kitchen. A few days ago, Baby Jesus was having a sleepover with Big Girl in Tory's dollhouse. I'm glad they love playing with this nativity set because it's been especially helpful in explaining the story of Christmas to Tory.    

I received a holiday set of dishes from my in-laws for an early Christmas present this year, and I love them! It is so fun to drink coffee from a holiday mug every morning and brings a smile to my face whenever I use a Christmas plate for something like a regular ol' lunchtime sandwich. I plan to change out my everyday plates each December and use this holiday set.

 

Another holiday decoration I added this year are winter-themed apothecary jars. These sit on the countertop of the main bathroom and I filled them with tree ornaments and fake snow. I own several different apothecary jars so after the holidays, I'll repurpose them to display with some other decor and set them on the fireplace mantle downstairs.

Speaking of the fireplace mantle downstairs ...

The most thoughtful gift I've ever received are these Christmas stockings from Andi. He gave them to me on our second wedding anniversary (the traditional wedding present for the second year of marriage is cotton). At the time, I was eight months pregnant with Tory and the stockings adorning "Dad," "Mom," "Tory" and "Chloe" (our dog) were so special. It was really the first time someone called me "Mom." We added Aden's stocking after he was born last year. If there were ever a fire and I was only able to grab one thing, (aside from the obvious stuff ... my family was safe, etc.) it would be these Christmas stockings. LOVE.

A decoration that makes me smile every time I pass by it is this framed photograph of Andi and I. It's not a holiday picture, but one of us at Gooseberry Falls near Duluth, Minnesota shortly after we began dating. I remember Andi asking me if I owned winter boots and I responded with an "of course!" He was referencing real winter boots required for survival during Minnesota winters and I was thinking of my tall black go-to-the-bar boots. Ha! After I moved to Minnesota to be united with him for good, Andi's question suddenly made more sense. #itsfrigidhere

 
One final decoration that's fun this year is this Santa Claus advent calendar hanging on Tory's bedroom door. We're having fun moving the wooden candy cane to the next space each day. Bright and early every morning, she exclaims "It's a new year, Mom!" and it took me a bit to understand what she really meant. "It's a new day," I remind her, and we count how many days are left until Christmas.

I promise she's more excited about it than this.

------

Linking up with Sweet Turtle Soup, The Chronicles of We and Our Pretty Little Girls for a holiday home tour. Thanks for organizing, ladies!

Home Tour: The Laundry Room

I don't have "after" cabin photographs to share yet because Andi is traveling this week and I know he'll want to review the post before I hit publish. It's for the good of our relationship; I'll have to keep you on the line a little bit longer ....

But!

I do have pictures to share of my newly painted laundry room at home. Not as exciting, I realize, but I'm personally thrilled with the finished details considering how much time I spend there washing, drying and folding our laundry.

Isn't the laundry room the most neglected room of the house? For me, it totally is. Rarely do I spend time wiping down countertops or the washer and dryer, or heaven forbid vacuuming the rug. It's a get in / get out kind-of room where I'm usually hurling pieces of clothing in various places (washer / dryer / hampers) with a baby on my hip and a preschooler attached to my leg. I do clean the laundry room occasionally, though not nearly as often as I should.

Anyway, it's always been a dream of mine to have a pretty laundry room. A place I'd actually take pride in keeping tidy. It's the little things in life that make a big difference, and a fresh coat of paint and a few decorating details totally turned this room around for me. Here's how it came about:

If you follow me on Instagram (liveinmybubble), you may remember hearing our washer and dryer broke in September. Andi was traveling for work that week and both kids were recovering from a nasty case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (*shudder*), so the timing of the appliance failure was less than perfect. I went to Lowe's to buy a new washer and dryer set because we had a gift card there and as is always the way with this type of thing, it was a giant nuisance. Our laundry room is L-shaped and the washer and dryer are positioned on one side of the "L" in the room. The store salesman told me not to fret, that all washers and dryers are similarly sized (news flash - they're not), and shame on me for not measuring my laundry room before shopping.

Long story short, I bought a washer/dryer set too big for the allotted space in my laundry room, the washer/dryer had to be returned on the delivery truck and I ended up having to special-order smaller-sized machines from the company's website. When the special-order washer and dryer set arrived the following week, they were about a 1/2 inch too big as well. There's a cabinet affixed between our washer and dryer and the edge of the countertop was basically the problem. It was slightly too big, and the delivery men weren't comfortable pushing the washer/dryer set into place no matter how much I pressured them. I was so frustrated by this point (I just wanted to do laundry!) that I ripped out the cabinet in question and instructed the delivery men to install the washer and dryer in their respective places. Problem solved.

Except, wouldn't you know it? There was a patch of old laminate flooring hidden underneath that ripped-out cabinet. Gah. Come on, life, throw me a bone! 

When Andi returned home, I showed him the laundry room situation and he remedied the problem. The cabinet itself fit between the washer and dryer just fine; it was the overhang on the laminate countertop that was the problem. So, Andi placed the cabinet back in its original place and, ahem, hammered the countertop down on the top until it fit snugly between the washer and dryer. 

A few weeks later, we hired a painter to re-paint the living room, dining room and entry way of our house. I'd planned to do the painting myself, but Andi graciously suggested we hire a painter to save me the hassle of painting during every nap time from here to eternity. So, since a professional painter was already scheduled to visit the house, I snuck in the repainting of the laundry room at the same time. Exciting!

To keep things simple, I painted the laundry room the same color I'd selected for the living room -- Benjamin Moore Slate Blue. I'm completely in love with the results.

BEFORE

AFTER

I framed this free printable I found on Pinterest, and looking at it while I fold laundry seriously makes me so happy. Thank you, lovely Internet people, for sharing your creative talents with others!

I also purchased one of my favorite glass jars from Target (these jars are $5 and seriously the greatest thing since sliced bread!) to hold my laundry soap. Don't worry, the lid twists on tightly so kids aren't able to open it. A silver tub holds stain remover, dryer sheets and other laundry supplies.

I'm amazed how a little paint color can completely transform the feeling of a room. Now, the laundry room is clean and airy and so very lovely. It's a room in our home I'm proud to show off!

Coming up ... a home tour, with updates on the other rooms in our home which were recently painted and redecorated. Stay tuned!

7 Quick Takes: Life Lately

1.  It's Week 3 of solo parenting while Andi is away producing a photo shoot in Montana. The kids and I've had a good few weeks, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for this week to be over. Mostly, I miss my husband who I've barely spoken with in 17 days. So looking forward to Friday!

2. Two weeks ago, Tory, Aden and I flew to Nebraska to spend time with my family. This is one of the greatest benefits to being a stay-at-home-mom to little kids with no concrete schedule and a husband who travels a fair amount for work (why, yes honey, we'd love to burn a few of your frequent flyer miles on flights to America's hottest tourist destination -- good ol' Nebraska!) There was no big reason for our visit other than seeing my parents, my siblings and my extended family. Our visit was very low key compared to our whirlwind road trip over Easter weekend. Both Tory and Aden were excellent travelers, as per usual. I always feel like a supermom after successfully hauling two kids, two car seats, one big suitcase and a diaper bag through the airport by myself. It takes a lot of organization and patience, but it's worth it!

While we were in Nebraska, we celebrated my nephew Caleb's 16th birthday and my dad's birthday, went to my niece Brooke's softball game and sat around my parents house for countless hours. I went to use my point-and-shoot camera the first day we arrived and realized the battery was dead, so I barely took any photos of our trip. #fail

3. One day during our time in Nebraska, my weather-bug of a mother let me know Minnesota was receiving some heavy rain. I made an off-handed comment about how I hoped our sump pump was still working back home as our yard tends to turn into a swampy lake whenever it rains a considerable amount. My mom suggested I call my mother-in-law and kindly ask her to stop by our house to make sure everything was okay and for some reason, I felt like maybe I should. Janie checked on our house later that evening and sure enough, our sump pump had failed and water was leaking in our basement! Luckily, Janie caught the mess early. I alerted Andi who was working in the middle of nowhere and he called a plumber to remedy the issue. My wonderful in-laws stayed up all night long sopping up water with towels, pulling up carpet, running fans and handling the plumber at our house. Many, many dollars later, we have a new sump pump and all is well again. Isn't homeownership fun?! (Ugh.)

4. The morning we left Nebraska, I woke up with a bit of a gurgly stomach. I felt fine - just off, but I made it through the day and Tory, Aden and I flew back to Minnesota without incident. By bedtime that evening, I felt absolutely horrible. I think I had the flu, or a virus or something. I quickly ran through a list of local friends and family who might be around to help with the kids while I was ill and almost everyone I could think of was either working, out of town or busy. Crap! Andi's parents to the rescue ... again. The next morning, I called Andi's dad who is retired and he came to my rescue a few hours later. Grandpa Jim watched Tory all day while I laid in bed. Luckily, Aden was content to play toys and snooze beside me throughout the day. That night, Tory ended up staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house so I only had Aden to care for. So grateful for my in-laws and all they do for us. (Also? I might have to get the flu more often. I rested more in those 24 hours than I have since Aden was born and it felt pretty darn nice.)

5. Last year, I worked to find the perfect Father's Day present for Andi. He is the most difficult person to buy for, so usually I don't even try to surprise him - I just ask him what he wants and I buy it. (Okay, together we decide on a gift idea and he usually buys it for himself). Anyway, I thought long and hard and ended up creating a custom flag to fly on our flag pole at the lake cabin. I was so proud of my idea until ... the old cabin owners randomly took back their flag pole two weeks later and we were left flag pole-less.

This year for his gift, Andi and I decided to buy a new flag pole to mount to the dock at the lake. I don't really know which one to get so I'm leaving it up to Andi to order it, but I felt guilty showing up to Father's Day on Sunday empty-handed. Yesterday, I saw something I thought Andi might like at COSTCO, so I picked it up for him. (If I think he'll like it, he probably won't ... that's how that usually goes). I also bought myself a new one-piece swimming suit during the same COSTCO shopping trip and I ate a piece of pizza while waiting in line to pay for my many bottles of wine. Who am I anymore? I guess convenience trumps all these days.

6. Since Andi's been gone, Tory's taken two steps backwards in learning to sleep in her own bed all night / every night. I put her to bed in her own room every night, but I've been very lax about making her stay there. My excuses are: I'm tired; I'm still waking up several times a night with Aden; I'm tired (did I say that one already?). I'm a little nervous to hear Andi's reaction when he returns home from his travels. (Hi honey! Don't be mad, ok?)

7. For the most part, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. With a lighter calendar this summer, the kids and I have been spending lots of time outdoors. Today, we met a few of Tory's ECFE preschool class at the park for a play date and it was really fun catching up with all of them. As I drove home, I thought to myself how much I really enjoy this season of my life. I love being a mom to my kids; love being a wife (and can't wait to squeeze my husband tightly on Friday!); love being a suburbanite; love summertime.

Life is good.

Tory's New Room and the Big Girl Bed Transition

The final step in our "musical rooms project" to prepare for Baby Aden's arrival is complete. Tory transitioned to a big girl bedroom about two months ago now. It's been an interesting process, that's for sure. The physical act of changing from a nursery to a toddler girl's room was easy. Transitioning one Miss Tory from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a "big girl bed" ... well, not so much.

So, the room make-over part first:

I originally decorated Tory's nursery in a subtle lavender color with white and black accents so nothing was too "baby-ish" and needed to be replaced. (Of course, that hasn't stopped me from making updates here and there over the last two years). Here's a few pictures of her previous "baby nursery" for reference, taken shortly after we moved into this house in July 2011. 

Items which have changed in the last two years -- I removed the cube bookshelf (seen above) and replaced it with a glider rocking chair which has since moved to our living room. I also added white floating shelves on the wall in place of the cube bookshelf.

When designing Tory's new room, Andi and I went back and forth deciding if we wanted Tory to have a twin-size or a full-size bedroom set. At one point, we decided to go full-size and use an extra headboard and frame we have in storage, but then Andi measured and realized it's actually a queen-size bed. I thought a queen was too big for Tory's room so the decision was made to go with a new twin bedroom set. I wanted white, but finding a "girlie white twin bedroom set" proved to be somewhat difficult. We couldn't believe how much junk was out there for options! Some larger, fairly reputable furniture stores in the Twin Cities don't even carry white bedroom sets for girls. Amazon.com has some, but reviews about shipping damage deterred us from that option. We looked on Craigslist and a few garage sales, but nothing was just right. Finally, quite near the end of our shopping rope, we found the perfect set. 

Tory was as much over furniture shopping as we were

Here is Tory's new big girl bedroom, complete with a new white bedroom set and some of her favorite toys previously kept in the play room.

New bedroom layout

I adore all things monogrammed so with this set of room updates, I did treat myself - err, I mean, Tory - to a new wooden wall initial sign to hang above her dresser. This replaced the black, white and lavender name plaque I'd originally made for the room. With new pink and white twin bedding, the old lavender fabric and black frame didn't tie to the room anymore and I'm much happier with the monogrammed wall hanging. 

Previous name plaque

New monogram wall hanging

I splurged on new pink bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. When I first designed Tory's nursery, I was determined not to have a typical pink nursery for my girl but now two years later, I actually love how the pink compliments the lavender walls. The quality of the sheets, quilt and duvet are very nice, so hopefully she'll have this set for years to come. The white twin bed skirt was purchased separately from here. The safety bed rail is a hand-me-down from one of Andi's co-workers. 

I left the vinyl wall decal we originally printed to showcase three 8x10 photographs above Tory's bed. Every year around her birthday, I replace the photos with updated shots of my big girl. Still waiting on images from Tory's 2 year shoot in September to add to these frames ....

Finally, Tory's transition to actually sleeping in her new big girl bed:

Coincidentally, Andi was scheduled for work travel most of September so the pleasure of transitioning Tory to a big girl bed was all mine. By confession, she wasn't the greatest sleeper in her crib. Tory has always woken up 1-2 times a night and I usually had to soothe her back to sleep again. We've tried all the Cry It Out methods and sure, they work for a while but something (sickness, traveling, spending weekends at the cabin, etc.) throw us right back into an evil crappy sleep pattern. 

Back then, however, Tory was confined inside her crib. She'd started to climb out if I left her in there to cry but I never rushed right into her room to reassure her of my presence. I knew Tory wouldn't be one of those dream kids who stays in their big kid bed and calls for the parent to retrieve them. She's a little monkey by nature and has had no problem scaling Andi and I's fairly high master bed for some time. The minute Tory's new bed arrived, she climbed in and out on her own with no problem.

So, mixing Tory's light sleeping patterns and her ability to get in/out of bed on her own means I've been getting up with her 1-4 times a night to re-direct her back into bed ever since the dang bedroom transition in mid-September. When Tory wakes up in the night now, she doesn't even cry out for me. Instead, she grabs her pillow, sippy cup and a few toys, then high-tails it into the master bedroom for a sleepover. Since I'm already up with pregnancy insomnia half the night anyway, I do a pretty good job of re-directing Tory back into her bed. It just stinks I have to get up with her several times a night. I also have to wait until she falls back asleep again, or she follows me right back to my room. Naps seem to be going okay in the new bed. Tory will sleep 60-90 minutes in her bed which is comparable to what she slept in her crib. 

Our lake cabin throws an interesting twist into the big girl bed transition. We moved Tory to a full-size bed there (she was sleeping in a pack n' play before) and she has yet to sleep past 11:00pm in that bed. Since August. It's hard to develop a consistent routine of familiarity because we're only at the cabin on weekends.

So, in summary, the big girl bedroom transition is: rough going. I think we made the right decision in transitioning Tory from a crib to a bed before Baby #2 arrives but, man, I wish she was a better sleeper. Really, I've been wishing that for the last 26 months! I hope Tory grows out of this light sleeper / up several times a night phase and eventually, I know think she will. I mean, teenagers love sleep, right? Eventually she'll love to lay in her bedroom all day ... I just have to hold on until then.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about bringing a newborn baby home in a few days AND dealing with Miss Up All Night at the same time. How I'll nurse a baby and put Tory back to sleep several times a night will prove interesting. Usually, all bedtime routines in our household fall to me since I'm the stay-at-home parent, but Andi has agreed to help when the new baby arrives. Tory, on the other hand, may have another thing to say about that as she screams for "Mommy" when Andi or anyone else tries to help. (Maybe waiting nine days before my due date was a bad time to work Andi in the bedtime mix)? I'm trying not to worry about it because the new baby is coming (soon!) and we'll have to figure it out. So is the life of being a parent ....

A Baby Boy's Rustic Nursery

When I think about my dream baby's nursery, two versions come to mind:

For a girl ... soft, tranquil, girly; lavender walls with white accents.

For a boy ... muted walls and calming colors; a soothing space with a manly presence.

******

When preparing for Tory's arrival two years ago, I created my perfect version of a baby girl's nursery. Newborn babies don't care much about their surroundings but I spent countless hours in her room, rocking my baby girl to sleep, changing her diaper and folding her adorably tiny clothes. I wanted a space I felt comfortable spending time in, as well as one fit for a baby girl. To this day, I love spending time in Tory's room. I'm not one for traditional baby "theme" decor so with a few simple changes, I've been able to transition Tory's original lavender nursery into one for a toddler girl. (More about Tory's updated "big girl bedroom" in another post).

So, when designing our baby boy's nursery, I knew I wanted to decorate in the same vein. I envisioned a calm space where I'd spend time rocking my baby boy and one he'd also be able to grow into over the years. When I came across the idea of a rustic nursery, I knew it'd be just perfect for our boy. The trick was to decorate a space that felt rustic without feeling too "cabin-y." I didn't want red and black checkered plaid, for example, or a room that felt like it was ripped from an "up north" catalogue.

Like most decorating projects we do together, Andi and I brainstormed ideas for Aden's nursery and settled on some key design pieces fairly quickly. I searched for crib bedding with colors to tie the room together and initially, I couldn't find much for boys' rooms that wasn't transportation-themed, nautical-themed or animal-themed. Then, I saw this crib sheet from Aden + Anais and thought it was perfect. We chose to paint the walls Ashen Gray (which is the wall color in our master bedroom and I love it) and accented the nursery with dark red and light blue colors as per the circle medallions printed on the crib sheet. We're using the dark wooden crib and changing table previously purchased for Tory.

I knew I wanted one main focal piece in Aden's room to be hung above his crib. And, I knew I wanted it to either include pictures or our baby boy's name (there's perks to selecting a name before the baby arrives)! So, Andi commissioned one of his employees who's a woodsmith to custom-create a name plaque. The sign is made from wood, stained with Aden's name on it and has a blue metal star in the top corner. I absolutely love it. The name sign gives a powerful presence to the room, and it's so classic at the same time. It's exactly what I pictured when I envisioned a rustic baby boy's room.

I also made a mobile to hang on the left side of the name plaque above the baby's crib. Now, truth be told, Andi wasn't crazy about having a mobile of any sort in the nursery. I'm not sure why exactly. But when I saw this star mobile online, I knew I had to have it. I was just about ready to click "purchase" one day when I noticed the mobile was made of paper. FOR FIFTY DOLLARS. Um, no. I decided to try my hand at making a version of the star mobile myself. I bought an embroidery hoop for $.99, a roll of white string for $5 and a paper star punch for $13. I used the center ring of the embroidery hoop (the one without the metal clasp on it) and hot-glued white cardstock stars to string hanging from the hoop. Once the mobile was hung from the ceiling, I snipped the star strands at various lengths to give the mobile some dimension. I am so pleased with the way it turned out and love how it ties nicely to the rustic metal star on the name sign.

As an infant, Tory made quite the beaver marks by chewing on the crib rails with her teeth so I also made crib rail protectors from fleece (like I did for Tory; albeit, after the damage had already been done to the crib). I bought two yards of fabric and measured it against the front and sides of the crib. Then, I used the same method as a "tie blanket" by tying strips of the fleece around the rails. The red fleece looks brighter than it really is in these photos. Its dark red color matches the crib sheet's medallion pattern.

While searching for nursery inspiration, I stumbled across this saying: "Let Him Sleep; For When He Wakes, He Will Move Mountains" and it nearly brought me to tears. Maybe it's something about having a son, or a feeling of pride only a mother can feel from her unborn baby, but I know Aden will do great things in his life. I wanted this saying to be displayed in his room somewhere, so Andi had one of his graphic designers at work create a custom canvas sign for us.

Also on the changing table is a brown/silver table lamp, a basket to hold diapers, wipes and ointment and Aden + Anais changing pad cover matching the crib sheet.

Finally, to the left of the changing table are three stuffed animal heads hung on the wall. I originally saw these online, but they were too expensive to justify purchasing ($45 for one animal wall plaque). Then a few weekends ago when we were browsing a local shop by the cabin, I spotted these stuffed animals for 1/3 of the cost. Plus, I feel much better about supporting a locally-owned store by the cabin than a bigger online retail store. Hanging stuffed animal taxidermy in a baby boy's nursery might not be everyone cup of tea but every time I see them, they make me smile. They're pretty stinkin' cute. I also displayed Aden's baby book (a gift from my friend Ashley) and a light-blue framed photograph of the baby's sonogram on the floating shelf. I'm sure the contents of this shelf will evolve over time as Aden receives more gifts for his birth and baptism.

The only item missing from the nursery is a rustic red wooden growth chart (similar here). A friend of mine makes wooden growth charts as a side business and Andi's parents are gifting one to Aden for Christmas. It'll hang on the wall left of the doorway (not pictured).

I am so pleased with the way Aden's nursery came together. I think it's the perfect representation of the "rustic boy's nursery" I envisioned. His room is a bit on the small side, so the only thing I may do differently is add our existing glider into the nursery at some point. Spacing is a bit tight with it in the room, so I have the rocker in the living room for now.

The only thing to do now is welcome home our beautiful baby boy... and the countdown is on with only thirty-ish days to go!

Kids' Play Room Makeover

Our new kids' play room is finished! It's a big step in readying our home for Baby #2's arrival which goes something like this:

#1 Disassemble home office, sell hardly-used desktop computer, remove furniture DONE

#2 Move play room (currently upstairs) to downstairs' old office space DONE

#3 Decorate Baby Boy's nursery (formerly upstairs play room)

#4 Move crib and changing table from Tory's room to Baby's nursery; replace with new "big girl" bedroom set

Sixty days remaining on the baby time clock. No sweat, right?

BEFORE

Old Office

AFTER

New play room

(Pardon the iPhone photos ... I didn't want to trouble Andi to take wide-angle photographs with his good camera.)

Andi's mom and dad volunteered to paint Baby Aden's nursery one weekend while we were at the cabin and it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get started. The first step in the play room remodel required moving Tory's toys to the basement, which then meant we'd actually have to start playing in the basement. Truthfully, that's been half my hesitation. I know that's where our new play room is located so we'll have to play down there eventually but our basement is cold and it's a basement and I don't wanna....

The other part of my hesitation in starting this whole process is that once the play room is moved and the nursery is finished, Baby Boy's impending arrival is REAL. I can't wait for him to arrive - to meet him and smooch his little cheeks - and yet, I'm really nervous about the ways our lives will turn upside down when he does. By not having a nursery, it's almost like having a second baby is this wonderful fantasy and we can go on living our lives just as they are while we "plan" for him to join us. Completing the nursery means there will actually be a real baby who uses it. Hold me!

Also, also? I am not looking forward to moving Tory into a new "big girl" bed. Sleep transitions are scary times and her move to a big girl bed at the cabin has not gone well. 

Nursery painting day was this past Saturday which meant everything had to be moved out of the old (upstairs) play room and Baby's future nursery needed to be taped and ready for my in-laws. I'd rather have a root canal than have toys scattered all over my house with no assigned "home," so the painting date gave me the oomph to finish the kids' new play room last week.

Andi painted the old office space (which is now the new play room) when we moved into this house two years ago, so the walls were still in good shape. Three of the walls are a light gray color (Ashen Gray) and one wall is a darker color (Urbanite). I wanted the play room to be colorful and cheery, but I also dreaded the idea of painting over the dark wall. So, I decided to buy a large IKEA EXPEDIT shelving unit in white to contrast against the dark wall. We'd need toy storage anyway, so I thought this would be the cheapest / easiest way to kill two birds with one stone while avoiding painting the room all together. I used colorful storage bins I already had to fill cubbies within the shelves.   

I purchased this wooden See You Later Alligator sign to tie the bright, cheery colors together. I love how the sayings give the room a fun, playful vibe.

My lovely husband arranged to have the IKEA EXPEDIT bookshelf delivered and since he asked me for a list of "anything else I needed," I decided to throw a bunch of other stuff for the play room onto my list. So, I also got this artist's easel, a white kid's table with bright-colored chairs, and these wall hooks to hang backpacks and bags. (The colorful kids chairs weren't in at time of purchase, so I need to go back to IKEA to pick those up).

Lastly, I wanted a gallery for the kids' artwork, so I bought these frames on sale to make a wall collage. I selected various colors of frames to match the "see ya later alligator" print and the storage cubes in the room. My big idea was to glue clothespins to the tops of each frame so I could easily add/remove artwork from the frames, but for some reason no glue on Earth will stick to the frames I purchased. For now, I put pieces of scrapbook paper in the frames to give them color. I'm planning to take the glass out and fill the frames with cork board so I can just tack up artwork as needed.

Since there's a window in the room (which is lucky since we're in the basement!), I also added yarn above the window to hang pictures or artwork as well.

Shout out to my husband who put the bookshelf together and hung the frames, hooks and wall art for me without one complaint. I excel at dreaming up ideas for room makeovers, but I definitely couldn't have pulled the play room together without his help.

... and, that's it! This was a fairly simple room makeover since no painting was required. It's the addition of small details like the frames and storage cubes which really pulled the color scheme together. In all, we spent around $250 for the IKEA shelving unit, wall art, kid's play table, easel, picture frames and wall hooks (the shelving unit and wall art being the two big ticket items).

I'm happy to report, Tory and I have played in the new play room a few times and it hasn't been that bad being in the basement. I "suited up" in a hoodie and Tory insisted on wearing her fleece jacket (which was overkill because it's not that cold downstairs but whatever, kiddo). It was nice to spread out into the downstairs living room space to play and I forgot how comfy our sofa is down there. Plus, there's a TV and a fireplace so that'll come in handy this winter. On top of all that, I'm close to the laundry room so maybe my "Mom Productivity" will be off the charts now that I can play and knock at chores at the same time.

New play room = complete. Now, onto the baby's nursery!