Details, details, details

First I would like to say thanks to everyone for your kind comments. K and I worked hard and had the help of many to get the room just the way we wanted it. As for the recliner, we bought it at a local baby furniture store "The Baby Room". The manufacturer Dutailier, can be found in many nursery furniture stores. Here's the link http://www.dutailier.com/nursery.php

A closer look at the change station / dressers. I opened the top drawer so that you can see our cute AppleCheeks all washed and folded ready for our little Bunny.

A little bedtime prayer that both K and I used to say when we were little. We ordered it from enduringarts on Etsy. The frame is from Ikea.

We got the alphabet and numbers prints from Etsy as well. These ones were from Modern Pop. We got the frames from Ikea and the mats are from our local flea market, custom cut to fit.

A collection of books we have started for Bunny. They will kept in the wall book shelf under the wall mural just as soon as the book shelf is built. K and my dad are making it so we might wait until after Bunny comes.

I love the colours in this photo. Kids toys are always so brightly coloured and fun. I can't wait to sit on the floor with Bunny with the sun pouring in and just play.

The pillows my aunt made. The two orange ones have styrofoam beans in them, the blue one has soft batting.

Week 33 and 5 days update

Last night I went back to prenatal yoga. I was away for 8 weeks due to our prenatal class. Boy do I wish I could have done both. I've been experiencing a lot of back pain, the last few weeks. The yoga helped keep me stretched out and aligned, that's what my chiropractor told me. I've had to sleep in the recliner the past 6-8 weeks in the nursery because sleeping in a bed results in an achy back in the morning.

(picture from google)

I knew that I would be stiff and the positions would be difficult. It's amazing to see how much my body has actually changed. I had a hard time 1/3 of the time, but it really felt good to stretch things out.

My prenatal class was taught by two labour nurses at the hospital that I will be delivering at. The yoga class is also taught by a labour nurse from the same hospital. That means when I go into labour and go to the hospital I will have my midwife, but will also know at least one nurse on duty, hopefully.

There are only 6 weeks left, 5 weeks of work. The time is getting close now. I've been training my mat leave replacement this week. She's doing well so far. I'll be glad to not have to bundle up and take the train into work. It's getting really cold outside and my coat doesn't close in the front.

This Sunday is my baby shower and I can't wait. After that I can wash everything and get all of the nursery packed away. That means there will be finished nursery pictures coming soon. I will also be able to pack my hospital bag and some stuff for the baby. K and I will also be installing the car seat in our car. Can't wait to finally meet this little person and be a mommy.

Nursery Nightable

We were lucky to inherit a few items from K's sister when her family moved last year. Below is a night table that she originally got from Ikea for her son's room.

After priming and painting two coats of Benjamin Moore's "Jack-o-lantern" the night table is now a side table for the recliner / glidder in the nursery and will hold all of my "baby" books. We spotted a fun and quirky lamp from HomeSense a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it.

So much has been done in the nursery. I hope to take some great pictures this weekend and show you the progress in the room.

Interview with a Temp replacement and a Fabric Igloo

On Tuesday we interviewed our first candidate for my mat leave replacement. She was very talented and seemed professional. Just like when they hired me, there is a 3 hour Word and PowerPoint test that is given. It's all about formatting and making two documents using a few instructions and a print out of what the document should look like. It's not about getting both documents done. It's about the quality of what is done, and what formatting techniques you use to do so. She has almost 10 years of experience using PowerPoint, however she didn't score to high on the test. I was a bit disappointed. Our HR head assured me that most people don't score very high on the test. I'm not to concerned with the score more than I am concerned with the person's ability to not only do the everyday job, but act as a support for the rest of the department. Often they ask me to help them do something when they don't know how. If I don't know I tell them I will look for an answer and get back to them. Good old Microsoft help. I know this is something they could do, but they don't have the time. My replacement should be able to at least pull up the help window and get more of the test completed. So the search continues.

In other unrelated news, here's Milo on Sunday and his fabric igloo. While my sister drew the mural, Milo played with our Ikea futon cover. He rolled and burrowed in it till we could no longer see him. He slept there for a few hours peacefully.

Not every Monday is a "Monday"

I was off work today. I had some blood work and tests to do at the hospital for the baby. After we went to my aunt's house to give her a thank you gift for all her hard work. She has sewn all of the nursery decor for us. She made the drapes, crib skirt, floor pillows, bassinet sheet and bumper pad for the bassinet. Bunny is so lucky, they all look wonderful. I wish I could show you pictures, but K is really set on having one big reveal when the nursery is all put together.

So instead I've included a picture of the laundry room rack / shelf finished. K painted it white to match all the trim work. We got some neat boxes with windows for shoe storage and some white wooden hangers from Ikea. K's shirts hang dry now and our dress shoes that don't get smushed under all of the everyday shoes in the coat closet. At last the laundry room and the coat closet are done.

After my aunt's house we went to see our nephew play hockey. He's only 7. It was so cute. His dad even told us that he seemed to be pushing a bit harder because he knew we were there watching. On the way home, K stopped to get the mail. Guess what finally came ... the fabric for Bunny's quilt! We are so excited. I can actually start the quilt for them now.

A productive Sunday

Progress on DLN's quilt along has begun! I finally went to the store and got myself a compass. I've been meaning to get one all week so that I could get started. Today I put pencil to paper and made my template. I also was able to trace out 108 petals onto the lining and cut them all out. It was a productive day for my quilt along.

Here's a sneak at some of the Amy Butler, Daisy Chain fabrics I will be using along with a few others that are on order. They may seem to "feminine" for a boy's quilt, but I might end up making this quilt as a lap quilt for myself. I have another quilt in the works for the baby anyway.

My sister also made some progress on the nursery mural. She is drawing and painting a huge tree on the wall with birds that will sit above the change table. As you can see she had some supervision throughout the day. Milo is definitely a people cat. He doesn't need to be on your lap, he just likes to be in the same room. He sat in the room with us for most of the day.

24 weeks and Halloween

Here I am at 24 weeks. I can't believe we are already at our 6 month mark. The room I'm standing in is now the painted nursery. It's painted a creamy yellow. My sister started the wall mural painting this weekend. The change table and night table are both in the nursery too. We have to repair the crib, hang the drapes and then we can start with the real decorating. I can't wait.

Over to Halloween news, here's our front porch decorated a few minutes before our first kids showed up. It's nothing too scary or elaborate. I couldn't stand on a ladder or finish the decorations I wanted to make. The pregnancy has limited me in some ways. I guess it was a good thing though, most of the kids in our neighbourhood are under the age of 8 and were scared enough of our house. Overall it was a great evening. We had close to 200 kids! yikes.

Trick or treat!

Nursery - Part One

So now that I have shown you all of the ideas we have had for the nursery it's time to put it all into action. Below are some pictures of what the room looked like before and some "during" pictures from 2 weeks ago.

This room is usually used as the "catch-all" room. Files, blank cds, my wedding dress, suitcases, a futon to use it as our back up guest room. Although I'm ashamed to admit we have actually let people sleep in what seems to be our storage room. So sorry :)

Painting - this corner will be where the rocker will go. I've now begun my search for a light fixture. It has to be gender neutral. I was thinking a ceiling mount drum style, but K isn't to keen on the style. He suggested a chandelier style, but I'm afraid it will look to feminine. So the search is on. Anyone have any suggestions?

Yes those are snorkeling flippers, what don't you have flippers still in the package somewhere? As you can see this room hasn't been used to it's potential. It used to be my art room. When K and I started talking about having a baby we decided this room would be the best one. That triggered a little TLC in the back bedroom where my art room is now.

These Ikea dressers were used in my parents old house when K and I lived in the basement. We were only there for a few months after the wedding waiting on our house to be complete. They were just enough storage for each of us on either side of the bed.

I've seen many kids rooms and nurseries where the closet was transformed with drawers and shelves into a much more organized space. I thought it would be a good way to use the dressers. Unfortunately they didn't fit. Actually they were too big by 3/8" - how frustrating. Thankfully dad and Kenrick were determined to make them fit. After some modifying and removal of the tops they were able to make them fit. This weekend they are going to install a piece of MDF as a new dresser top and we will paint it to match the room. Now the dressers look like built ins and the Bunny will have lots of clothing storage.

More sad before pictures

I really only took the pictures while we were painting to be able to use them as before and after shots.

Stay tuned, we have another busy weekend a head of us. My parents, aunt and uncle will be spending the weekend helping us around the house some more. I hope to have an after shot of the closet top and the drying bar in the laundry room. My aunt and I will be turning the kitchen into our sewing room. I hope to have the drapes, and crib skirt done.

To Do List Checkmarks

While most people were getting together with family today for Thanksgiving dinner, K and I were hard at work. We had dinner with his family yesterday which freed up today for a whole bunch of to do list work.

After breakfast we painted one coat in the nursery. Then we moved outside to get some much needed yard work done before the cold weather moves in. K cut the front and back grass, I pruned and weeded the front garden. We cleaned the garage out and then moved on to painting some baby furniture. It was a full day that left both of us exhausted and really soar.

We got to use our new Black and Decker mouse sander. We sanded down the night stand and prepped for a fun "jack o'lantern" orange. There is a door on the front that we removed before I remembered to take some before pictures. The nightstand will sit next to the rocker and house our little green lamp we bought at HomeSense. I will have to take a picture of that and post it too.

We were hoping to get to sand and paint the change table, but after a long day we became tired and hungry and decided to wait till Thursday night to finish.

Thursday night I was downtown for a wedding rehearsal. K and I decided to hit up the ever popular "Designer Fabrics Outlet" to see about fabric for the nursery. What a hit! We bought fabric for drapes, a crib skirt, and some fun floor pillows. If you live in the GTA or can find your way down to Queen St. W, it's worth the drive. This weekend my aunt, uncle and parents will be staying over to help us with a bunch of to do things. My aunt can sew really well, in fact she's the one who got me into sewing, knitting and cross-stitch. The room is really coming together. The mobile came on Friday, and you'll never believe it - the fabric matches the mobile colours exactly, not planned either :)

More photos to come soon.

Visions of Bunny's Nursery Dancing in My Head

Here you have it folks. The sheet that started it all [well actually restarted it all]. It's a fitted sheet made by NoJo. I got it at Toys R Us. The only issue is that our crib mattress is 48" and the sheets are now made standard 54". Thankfully my Godmother sews amazingly and will be helping me modify a few of them. I also asked for her help with the bassinet bedding and the skirt for the crib. Maybe if there's time we will also make a bumper pad for the crib [for when Bunny is a little older]. So I have 2 weeks to find all the other fabrics I need for the nursery. She's going to spend a weekend at my house and we hope to get all of the sewing done. I think we will also have to fix the broken slat on the crib before then too.

A big thanks to everyone that voted on the mobile last week. K and I have decided on the one with the felt birds. K really likes the nest that it hangs from. It was helpful for you all to let us know about the delicacy of a paper mobile and also the "too much matching" of the felt numbers mobile. Both very good points and ones I hadn't thought of until you all pointed it out. Thanks

Of course we also ordered the two alphabet and numbers posters. I think they will go above the change table. Not really sure yet. Simple white frames from Ikea will do the trick. Hopefully we can also get two nice mats to them.

Finally our rockn' recliner! We were originally going to recover a rocker from K's mom. It was a great size for me, but a bit small for K. Once we priced out labour and materials to recover it and getting an ottoman to match, it was pretty close to the same price to buy a new one. I'm not a huge fan of ottomans, so when the store owner showed us this one I fell in love. It rocks like a rocking chair, but with the flick of a switch it stops moving and you can push back to recline. I also like that when the nursery is ready for retirement the chair will fit in with our decor anywhere else in the house.

More Room Inspirations

Thanks to everyone for your feedback on the mobile. I think we are leaning towards the felt birds. In related nursery news I have gathered some room shots from Flickr that are going to be a source of inspiration for us.

First, these two images of reading / feeding corners. The blue one below is where the original idea came from. Funny, most of what's in this picture isn't going to be the same. The bookcase is the same Pottery Barn one that both K and I love. We hope to build one similar and paint it a lovely shade of blue. The girl who made the blue nursery for her daughter really grabbed my attention when she talked about her love of books and the collection that she had on her own. For art in the room she used images of book covers from a large collection of best books and had them framed. The wheels in my head started to turn and I began to see, books, letters, numbers and vintage primary colours. I then remembered a polka dot fabric that I had seen before [picture to come soon]. This began the search for vintage toy and book rooms. Both ideas are gender neutral and slightly muted primary colours began to feel more like a kids room.

Meg's playroom room was also a jump off point for our nursery design. This room in her house is where the kids play, read and watch movies. I love the light walls. It allows the colors in the furniture and fabrics to really pop. Meg also framed some family favorite book covers and hung them above the bed. She used great vibrant fabric to draw colour and pattern into the room. She even used my favorite polka dot fabric on a refurbished lamp shade. The blue night table and red trunk sparked my inspiration to paint the bookcase, change table, night table and crib. They will all be different colours, but the colors will all be pulled from the polka dot bedding I found.

Books, numbers, painted furniture and vintage! Oh my!

Teddies, rocking horses and floor pillows are all so sweet. I can just see K and I now playing with our little Bunny and leaning on some bright floor cushions.


Again pops of colour with vintage inspired decor. The orange frames on the wall are fun. I love how they transformed plain white shelves into floating clouds.

Funny thing, as I was typing this post I received a message from a fellow blogger and spoke with a friend here at work. Both brought up the thought of waiting to see what we get to determine the decor of the room. Pinks and purples for a girl and blues and greens for a boy. I say funny, because just last night K and I were talking about this. We were in a baby furniture store and came across a pink crib. We both thought it was beautiful but also thought the same thing - not practical. You see even thought this is our first child, we plan on reusing a lot of their stuff for the other kids we plan on having. The cloth diapers, the furniture, even the room. They will always belong to our nursery. When our little one is big enough to move into their own room that's when the gender specific items will appear. The room should reflect them and so it's only fitting to incorporate their little personalities, likes and dislikes into their own room. Even though it can make decision making tough, I think it's almost better that we don't know what we are having so that it can't sway our decision making. There have been so many gender specific things that we have just loved, not knowing has definitely saved our wallets.

I do thank you all for your advice and tips. Trust me, when K and I saw the comments rolling in about the mobile we were really excited to see what you all thought. We do take what you say in to consideration. In fact often we take your design ideas as inspiration for our own home.

Mobiles and Etsy

A few weeks back K and I finalized our nursery design. We used Glenna Jean's Latte fabric as an inspiration and ordered a sample swatch of the fabric. The sample came in last week and we were really excited to sit down and pick paint colours for the room and the other items going in it. Sunday night we Saturday night we sat down and picked paint for the walls, the tree mural (more on this later) and the furniture we plan on painting.

After 30 minutes of looking we finally came up with a colour scheme that worked with the fabric and all the needs of the room. We stood back to admire what we had selected. After a minute of silence K said "Do you think the colours are too mature for a kids room?" to which I replied, "Hmmm..... I think you are right. The scheme looks good but I'm not sure this is what I want the nursery to look like. I was hoping for it to be brighter and cheerier." We looked at each other and laughed. "Now what?" K asked, I answered "Back to the drawing board!" and laughed.

So I sat down in front of the laptop, pulled out my home decor reference clipping binder and began searching again. I stumbled upon a fitted bed sheet that I had seen a while back that I had liked. I love polka dots and stripes, and this sheet was covered in tiny multi colored dots. Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. Not the primary versions, a bit muted to be more pleasing to the eye, but definitely more fun than beige, rust, brown and cream.

That being said we are now searching for other items for the room. One being the mobile above the bed. I didn't want a traditional singing one you buy from the store. So off to Etsy to see what I could find. I narrowed it down to three options. K likes one and I like another....Hmmm what to do?

Option #1 multi colored paper

Option #2 felt numbers

Option #3 multi colored felt birds

They will be coordinating with the two posters I bought today from Etsy below. Which do you think works well? Remember gender neutral, I'm not a huge fan of everything matching however I am thinking of more of an educational theme, letters, numbers, books, fisher price vintage toys. Bright coloured painted change table, crib and bookcase. If there is time and space I might re paint my old table and rocking chair from when I was little.

Furniture for a Bunny

Most of the furniture for the Bunny's room we have inherited from K's family. The crib, change table and bassinet were used by all 5 of our nieces and nephews. I'm excited to use the same furniture in our nursery.

One item I found that I really love is this Pottery barn magazine rack. Unfortunately I am not willing to pay US$120 for it. I have begun searching for a less expensive alternative. Anyone seen one lately? If not K and I will have to attempt to build our own. I might ask for help on this one.

I will also be painting it robin's egg blue as it will match the fabric we have selected. No we are not finding out the sex of the baby, blue just matches the colour scheme we have decided on.

(Pottery Barn Catalina Magazine Rack)

I guess I should explain why I am calling the baby "Bunny". See I've never liked calling the baby "it" when couples didn't know what they were having. I also think it's a more personal way of referring to the baby. It sort of makes them your own and separate from all the other "babies" out there. So coming up with a temporary name for our baby was something that was important to both K and myself.

Around the time I found out I was pregnant I noticed I was drawn towards bunnies and giraffes. I didn't think the name "Giraffe" was a cute name for the baby so we decided on "Bunny". The first item we bought for Bunny was actually a stuffed bunny when I was looking for a gift for Madalyn.