Well apparently I'm just going to update the blog on a once-a-month basis, which is dumb, because I have been a project-monger lately. Lots of little stuff for the kids, and a lot of started but not finished projects too. I even started, and finished some, Christmas projects! I know, I'm shocked too.

So why can't I seem to get a post together? Hip pain. Back pain. Lack of functioning brain cells. Yep, those excuses all work.

So anyways, let me show off the biggest accomplishment thus far in getting ready for baby Rae. Her nursery! BTW - there will be a crap ton of pictures in this post. Just warning you.

 So here's the overview of her room. I can't tell you how in love I am with this room. :)

 Here's her super simple window valance. I love that all of the eyelets I picked for her room did not need to be hemmed. Yay for no hemming!

 Showing off some stuff in the built-ins. Look how much more storage room there is! Love! The first picture has pictures of me and my great-grandmother together, along with me and Mom, my great-grandmother, my grandmother, great-uncle and aunt. Dana is also in there, and the other picture is from several Easters ago when Dev gave Harrison a little dandelion. So sweet! Oh and the flowers in the second picture are from Dana's wedding!

 Here is the chalkboard art with a Shakespearean quote on it. Rae is gonna have to be fierce with 2 older brothers. :) The other picture is of my sisters when they were 2 or 3.

 I'm glad I managed to save stuff from both Steve's and my childhood to give each kiddo. This baby rattle was made by my grandfather for me. See, it even has my name on it. My sisters have matching ones as well.

 For all of you that love an Ikea hack, this one was super simple. I merely wrapped beads around the base of a ho-hum lamp to spruce it up a bit.

 Here's some artwork I made for Miss Rae. I did some web searches for cute butterfly quotes and I really liked this one. Below you'll see that I had to add some bling to it with stick-on rhinestones.

 There's the closet! I am so in love with how the dresser and mirror turned out. The dresser was a leftover from Harrison's nursery, and the mirror actually goes to my dresser, but I'm not a fan of it. At least I wasn't until I painted it black and put it in her room. The curves of the mirror will help all the corners that are going on with the dresser.

 Ok so this picture is upside-down and I don't know how to fix it, but I wanted to show off the Ikea rug for her room. I love how the gray really helps ground the space. You'll also see the blanket I crocheted for her. Very first crocheted blanket people! I don't think I did to shabby. :)

I guess most people would consider the crib the main even, and really I'm no different. Not to say that there's less work involved in this crib than in other places in this room, but the crib really was a labor of love. From Stephen painting it black for me, because really, after 2 boys the white on the crib wasn't so white anymore. To agonizing with my mom at Hancock looking for the right combos of white and eyelet to achieve the look I wanted. There are a lot of whites out there people! The whites I ended up going with are more of a blue white, but the crib sheet actually looks a little pink because of her ceiling. Then there was the cutting out of everything, because I wanted the crib skirt to have the scalloped edge of the eyelet, but the bumper to be out of the middle, and then we ended up going with a seersucker for the contrasting fabric because of its texture and it didn't compete or take away from the pattern of the eyelet. The bedding for this crib was one of the most planned things in the room. Second only to the built-ins, but the built-ins were easy comparatively.

So here's a closer view of the crib bumper. You can  see the delicate floral pattern of the eyelet. Below that is the crib skirt. You can see how intricate the eyelet pattern got towards the edges.


Here's a view of the mobile that I made from Rae's perspective. I really love my twig and butterfly mobile. Although getting it to hang just right, was kind of a pain. Luckily I used fishing line and you can't see just how many strings are attached to the stick.

Here's another view of over her crib. You can see the one hook in the ceiling holding up the mobile. I also love the addition of the boys' christening outfits on the wall. They are so excited to have some of their 'stuff' included in her room. You can also see the size difference of the boys. Dev's christening outfit is about a 9 month size, and we christened him at 4 months. Harrison's is a size 6 month, and he was just about 6 months old when he was christened. I also included the shoes they both wore.

Here are some close-ups of the butterflies. I just used white cardstock for them, and used my silhouette to cut out 5 different butterflies. I then strung them up with beads on the fishing line and went to town on my stick.


Here are some better views of each christening outfit. My grandmother made Harrison's outfit and per my request included the touches of blue. Stephen was pretty adamant that the boys' not wear a dress. The hangers were regular plastic hangers that I wrapped in satin ribbon to gussy them up a bit, and the door knobs were a gift from my mom. You know you're an odd duck when you get excited about door handles as Christmas gifts. :)

 Devlin's christening outfit was made by my mom, and again I requested the blue. I'm glad I did too, because lord did that child love to spit up and the blue hid a lot of it! Mom has also claimed making Rae's christening outfit. I think it was the 2nd sentence out of her mouth after I told her that she was having a granddaughter. She's very excited to experiment with some heirloom sewing techniques she's been working on.

 So here is my great-grandmother's side table, painted pink and topped off with a silver platter I 'borrowed' from mom about 10 years ago. I'm pretty sure that counts as mine now, right? I just topped it off with some fake roses and a mason jar to hold nursing essentials.

Here's the glider that has survived a lot, and then we improved on her by adding the zebra print!!! I love this chair!

Here's the opposite wall from the crib. The boys helped me a lot with this side of the room. I asked for their opinions on the the art and the letters, and I think they did pretty well with arranging everything. :)

The letters are just MDF letters topped off with glitter cardstock. I do love my shiny, glittery things.

The artwork is from The Graphics Fairy, that I printed out onto watercolor paper with our laser printer, and then the boys helped me paint them. I love how all of them came out.



 So here are just some of the crochet projects I've been churning out for miss. Pinterest has been especially deadly for me when it comes to baby stuff, cause I see all of it and then I have to try it!

 Oh and here's the inside of the dresser drawers. I didn't forget them either. I had some leftover contact paper from other projects so I pulled it out to add a little color to inside her dresser.


So that's her room. One of these days I'll get around to showcasing the crocheted projects I've done.

Its been a bit since I've posted anything, but I'll tell you what! I have been using the time wisely and the nursery is almost ready! No, we don't have clothes or a car seat yet, but hey....I have a crib and a glider so Rae will be able to eat and sleep. Two very important things. Course that doesn't address the issue of getting home from the hospital, but all in due time *snicker*

So there's maybe 10 weeks before Ms. Rae debuts and there's only one thing left for her room, and I think maybe I've figured how I want to tackle it, but for now I'm going to show off what we've done to date. So beware of a lot of pictures.
 Some of the trim didn't want to come down. I had to beat.....with a hammer.


 Some of the walls didn't fair to well either. Thank goodness for spackle and sandpaper!

  
 Next up was paint! My small fry helped out a bit too. he's not too shabby with a roller.
 Its very important to have a dog lie down in the middle of your work area. It makes things go smoother. I swear she's the only dog that isn't afraid of a saw.
 So here's the new built-in framed in. Hubs did a good job and we figured out just how out of square her room is.
 Then the base cabinets. My time as kitchen designer was put to good use here. One can learn a lot in 3 months!
 
  Harrison and Hubs are having a serious discussion about shimming and leveling up the bookcases.
 All leveled up and ready for the moulding!!!


 Moulding makes all the difference in the world! And a good helping of caulk will hide all the gaps and what not. On to paint!
 First coat.
 Second coat.
Third coat.

I have never been so happy to finish painting something in my life.
 Some trinkets start to spruce up the shelves. The purple flowers are leftovers from Dae's wedding (7 years ago!), the rattle is my baby rattle that my grandfather made me, and some of Steve's old books are up there. There's also a nice collage of my great-grandmother, grandmother, Mom and I going on in the picture frame. Plus my baby blanket up top. Lots of room for more stuff!

 One old dresser + one old mirror + black paint and white accents = amazing!  The dresser was originally H's dresser from when this was his nursery, the mirror goes to my dresser, but I don't use it, because I have a gargantuan mirror in my bathroom. Oh yea, the ikea lamp is also from H's nursery, but I wrapped some blue beads from walmart around its base to pretty it up.
 Here are the boys' christening outfits. I love how the little touches of blue tone down the potential girliness of the pink and aqua. I also love that I was able to include something of theirs into her space.
Here's a canvas I painted up for her. I did some web searches for a fun little phrase for above her crib and I like this one's sentiment.

Here's the crib bedding I made. It was not as big a pain as I imagined it would be, but I still hate working with batting. There's nothing fun about it. Love how it all turned out though!

Here's the view from the doorway! Like that hot pink blanket? I do.....I made it too. Lots of homemade touches in this room. My partner seems to like it as well. I haven't shown off everything, but I'll have some better pics when the room is all done, because I'm going to get the hubs to take the pics with his super fancy camera. Right after he gets done with his last project for the room.

Hope you guys have enjoyed the tour so far.