Nursery Diaries: It's Finished & Rhett likes it!

Dreaming up this nursery was so much fun!

I guess the mix of anticipation, childhood flashbacks, and the flat-out thrill of looking through baby shower gifts made this enjoyable for us.

I must say though, Rhett's nursery was a total group effort- Mom, Mandy, Laura, Sandy, Great Granny Hazel, Dennis, Aunt Judy/Brandy!

We all did a little something to pull it together.

So, here it is...

The painting is incredible!

Rhett's Aunt Laura (D's sister) did this for him. I gave her a swatch of fabric and told her the colors and waaalaaaa...a custom painting we will enjoy for years to come!

We keep some of Rhett's toys in the chest.

This hook is handy-dandy!

-Rhett's books-

I really really really wanted this bookshelf from Potterybarn.

It's well worth the money!

Oh, and the nightlight...I found the giaraffe at a consignment shop and then bought brown lights to put in it. So cool!

Duke is modeling the bedding in this photo.

Found the fabric and then Mom & Mandy made everything! I may reuse the curtains in my living room one day. I tried to pick things that I coud reuse around my house.

Great-Granny Hazel made his quilt. It's actually twin sized so we can use it in his "kid" room one day. The back is a navy/light blue stripe.

The monogram was done by Lacy Mae's in Alabama. Shalla does a great job!

This is were we hang at 3:00am.

This looks messy but it's actually organized. Rhett has a lot of stuff- especially shoes.

Most of these shoes are from his cousin, Christian.

WE love hand-me-downs!

Tried to get Duke to pose with the doggy door stop, but he gave me the cold shoulder!

Nursery Sneak Peak!

Operation E.B.K. Nursery is nearly accomplished!

It's all Thanks to these two wonderful sewing (sweat shop workers) geniuses!

My mom and my sister, Mandy, came all the way from sweet home Alabama to make curtains, bumper pads, a crib skirt, an ottoman cover, and a huge sewing mess!!!! And did I say they did all of this in 3 days?!? They must love little Rhett!

(This is was our kitchen table)

Here's the before nursery video:

And here it is now...

Take a sneak peak of Rhett's nursery:

I still need to hang things on the wall and organize, but Rhett could basically move in today and be just fine.

The crib quilt still needs to go to Granny Hazel to be quilted (I'm thinking it's gonna have tan seersucker on the back) and I still need to find the perfect chair pillow. Which I think I found at Target the other day?!?

None the less, I adore his nursery.

I look at it a million times a day- even when I have to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom. I have to look at it.

Putting up the crib made it feel real!



In other news... we've reached melon status.

The 8th month Honeydew has reared it's round head! Dude! I'm 34 weeks on Friday and still lovin every second.


Your Baby: Month 8
Baby’s senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing your lullabies! (& dancing to Brad Paisley- concert tonight!) Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow (yay!) and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.



*Next blog... Baby Showers... Oh Boy Oh Boy!*

It's a "fast" rabbit!

Me and the "Chinese cabbage" (29 weeks) had a little adventure last week.

We made the trip out to Chincoteague, VA or "chink-o-teague" as the locals say to recruit students at their tiny little school.
C. Island is a little over 2 hrs. from my house, so I decided to make the most of it!
I stayed here! Miss Molly's B & B in Captain Jack's room.

I decided 2 years ago that if I could get a B & B to match my hotel price limit for work then I'd stay there. I love supporting the local economy, plus it's just plain cool! You meet new people, you get to look around an old house, breakfast in the morning... etc!

Fresh Squeezed OJ, apple stuffed french toast, bacon, cherry blueberry muffins, and good company! Why wouldn't you stay at a B & B??The book Misty was written at the B & B- its a book about a wild horses and the pony swim...
Chincoteague, VA is home of the famed pony swim. Wild ponies live on this island and every summer they herd them across the sound to a different pasture. People come from far and wide to witness this event... I think they raise a lot of money for the fire department by doing it. Pretty cool! While at Miss Molly's - I met the a sweet lady, Jennifer Ward, and her daughter Josie (13). We met on the back porch of the B&B and had a fun visit over tea. I found out that Jennifer, a Physicians assistant by trade, writes books on the side. Below is a picture of her first book- it's a heartwarming story about a puppy dreaming of a forever home! I must say it was pretty inspiring talking to her. Here's this woman with a full time job, 2 kids, husband, life, and she squeezes in a book! And... she gets published on her first try. I could tell that she was a very real person, after all she and her daughter were on a little "fly by the seat of your pants" adventure of there own. I can't wait to do that with our little one.
(click on the picture to buy the book- I did!)

Oh and the shopping/antiquing at Chincoteague is awesome!

I picked up this cool little piece of art for the nursery.

I'm not going with a bunny theme, but this was just too cool to pass up.

It's a 1920s metal kids toy. It even has metal whiskers. Dennis and I have been calling it a "fast rabbit," it's a case of the nursery will not be too sissy-fied.

I think it will look cool on a shelf over the crib or on top of the armoire.

Saw it on Ebay for $175... People, you know I didn't pay that much for it... really!

Ashley's price $39.00!!!

I should be on that new show "Pickers"- 2 guys travel the county and find priceless antiques, make deals, and then make moola. I swear I could do that!

Prime example:

I found this cool dresser at a goodwill last week. It was marked $69 dollars- I "charmed" them down to $45. (Actually, I just asked to pay $45. It works everytime- try it!) I thought it would fit in the nursery closet as the dresser, but it was an inch too short.

That's what I get for doing the "arm test" aka: using my arm as a measuring tape... I knew the closet was 2 1/2 arms. I know, it's stupid, but It works most of the time. I was only off by an inch. :) Dennis thinks this is hilarious!

Anyway, so the dresser didn't fit, right? So I posted it on Craigs list for $125 and sold it less than 24hrs. later for $100. The guy who bought it... will be using it in The Elizabeth Inn, a new B&B on the Elizabeth river.

What a great ending!

Nursery Diary #3: Paint & Purchases

We can check paint off the list. Check!

Sherwin Williams- "Relaxed Khaki"

We used Harmony paint. It's the non-toxic-okay-for-pregnant-people-paint. It works pretty good & I am even feeling harmonic-like feelings, not to be confused with hormonal, now that this is DONE!

I wouldn't be having these feelings if it weren't for this guy!

Dear Mr. Weekend Warrior, I love you!

He wood-puddied, he painted, he undid the nail damaged walls...

he smiled for the camera...

I even tackled a little project of my own. I painted over the PINK on the changing table.

I used the khaki color, but I'm not sure if I like it. I may go over it with a creamy blueish color.

Before:

After-ish:

Our weekend was wonderful! One for the books...
We smiled and talked a lot about our little guy. We got a lot of some stuff done and it feels good. This pictures sums it all up for me...

Life is really good!



Now onto the Purchases:

Today I stopped by a few antique stores on my way home from work/Emporia, Virginia. Just check out what I found: TREASURES!

1913 ANTIQUE WICKER BASKET BABY SCALE
$15 Bucks!

I think this will make for a cool birth announcement picture. Don't you? I can even imagine using it as baby shower decor on the food table...

(I'm tickled about this find- I just browsed ebay and found a similar one for $200)

And the Oscar goes to...

4.9lbs

I also found this:

A new office chair! (Time to chunk the old ugly one)

It's property of HBUHS... HBU High School- where the heck is that? Grand total: $10 bucks

And then this cute little Jenny Linde high chair - $15 bucks! I adore this high chair. I wanted one that looked like a piece of furniture and this one has it all + a story. The guy told me that it came from an old grandma with 19 grandchildren! Whoa!

Nursery Diary #2- Linens and Details

LINENS & Things! Finally...

My sister, Mandy, and I spent a whole day searching the beach for the perfect linens. We found them and I STILL absolutely love/adore them. Here (again) is a picture of the before nursery:

Doot,da,da, Doooo ...

Here's my baby boy COLOR Palette!

Let me explain:

The pattern on the fabric is very cool. I going for a coastal/shabby/comfy feel in the nursery.

I'm on the hunt for a cushy cream rug with lots of texture. Stay tuned!

I've also purchased a few things:

This creamy blue chest will serve as the rocking chair side table and extra storage.

I'm thinking of putting little tulip feet on it. I told you that I have a thing for chunky-furniture-legs and cool feet.

I also purchases this Beautiful bassinet. It's going to go next to our bed while he's teeny tiny. I think I found a mattress to fit from Wal-mart and I registered for a cute green and white sheet set at Baby's-R-Us.

This bassinet and the sideboard changing table are 2 of my favorite nursery purchases!!!!

Mandy and I picked up this awesome framed bunny picture at TJMAXX.

Right now it's hanging above the changing table.

I tend to like more nautical looking pics, but I refuse to do a "theme" in the baby room.

My style is coastal and shabby... it's where starfish and bunnies can live in the same decor family. (Hope, that's for you!)

Dennis is making this little fish mobile to entertain our little guy.

I found this picture in the Serena and Lily nursery book- I suggest it for anyone in nursery decorating mode.

www.serenaandlily.com

In other news, I want to talk about my Friends and Family! When I say I have awesome people surrounding us, I mean it!

Check out this closet:

I think I've purchased, maybe, 5% of the things in this closet.

Two of my dearest girlfriends + my sisters, have beefed-up my maternity clothes collection like you wouldn't believe. I feel Prettier and more Stylish than ever thanks to them.

And...

Then there are the baby clothes.

You can see I have 2 bins of clothes up top and half of the closet full of sweet little boutique clothes. He will most definitely be well-dressed!

And, finally, the crib:

My sweet Aunt Judy and Uncle Bobby gave us this awesome Pottery Barn crib. My litte cousin, Rosie, used it first and now our sweet little guy gets to cuddle up in it. I love that it's been used before! Plus, if I were to have my pick on the PB website- I would have totally picked this one. Pretty cool!

Nursery Diary: Before

First of all, I'm writing this from my rocking chair!
Okay- a little history-If you could see the Before/Before picture, you'd see a big queen bed and a massive dresser. Those are both clearly gone thanks to Craigs list and Grandma Rebecca...

and here it is as of today:

I have big plans for that ugly black ottoman. In the picture below there is an upolstered blue and white stipped chair. I want to have the ottoman recovered in a fabric like it (pink or blue striped)- I want the fabric to go all the way to the ground so you can't see the ugly scuffed legs.

On the new changing table is a lamp. I bought that cute little starfish lamp at TJMaxx the other day. It's very cute!

Just look at those chubby furniture legs- I have a thing for wooden legs!

Watch out pirates!
One day I'll take pictures of all the great legged furniture in my house.

I've known that this piece would be in a nursery for a long time- I bought it for $100 from a crazy consignment shop guy. It's been like 4 years and I still remember that guys name was ROY. Weird.

(NOTE: Inside this armoire are all of my old formal dresses/prom/winter formal/& my wedding veil... and Liz's wedding veil, and Laura's wedding veil!!! :)We've all worn it on our big day!)

Didn't want to leave this out- CLOTHES. Both Girl and Boy- collected from loving neighbors and friends.

Another View

Still need:

Crib: My Aunt Judy is passing along a beautiful white Pottery Barn crib. It's in Oklahoma & I don't know how I'm going to get it.

Rug: I want a really great cushy, crawly one.

Linens: (bed and curtains) This is where I may splurge. My sister Mandy is going to learn how to really really sew this year. :)

Dresser: It's going in the closet- I'm looking for something small.