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I thought I’d share with you the “final” photographs of the Sprout’s room. It’s been in a state of 90% completion for the past few weeks, but I had a few DIY decor projects I wanted to complete before I made the big reveal. :) At this stage in the pregnancy game, we pretty much have what we’re absolutely going to need to take care of the little guy. Everything else is gravy.

Check out that fan! Mike did such a great job.

Any tips on hiding that cord from the star lamp? It bugs me.

Lamp from Lamps Plus, and the hippo I had hanging around.

The toys are keeping the crib warm till the Sprout arrives.

So here are the projects I recently completed. I’ve been seeing a lot of silhouette portraits hanging around Etsy lately, and I thought it would be a really cool idea to make some silhouettes of Mike and me to put in the baby’s room. Then, after he’s born I can add him to the trio in the middle. Cute no? I just never realized my profile looked like that. LOL!

All I have to say is: thank God for a laser level!

Remember the mobile I posted about a while back. I really loved it, but I didn’t love the price tag. I couldn’t see spending 40 bucks plus shipping when I was pretty sure I could make it myself. I bought some steel wire from Lowes and some white, black and gray scrapbooking paper and made it all for under 10 bucks. I do realize that I’ve pretty much knocked off the original, but it’s not identical and I don’t plan on making any money from it, so there!

My $7.00 elephant mobile!

Without breaking out the receipts, I’m pretty sure the entire nursery cost was well under $1,000 — considering that the IKEA rocker and craigslist crib & changing table were gifts from my parents. My biggest splurge was the FLOR area rug at around $400, but I definitely think it was worth it. The rest of the furniture we already had.

The Sprout’s due date is rapidly approaching and I am starting to slow down due to my ever-expanding belly and waning energy. I’ve only got about 8 weeks until July 21st! Holy freakin’ crap!

The nursery is coming along though, and thankfully the big things I’m responsible for are done. I painted Mike’s old furniture a nice glossy coat of black, which I think really livens them up. I painted the walls in Sherwin Williams, Harmony no VOC paint — colors: Frolic and Universal Khaki. I ordered and installed the Flor tiles. I sewed a fancy crib sheet using these SUPER-EASY instructions. I also sewed a pair of valances for the windows with some awesome Christopher Lowell fabric that was on clearance at JoAnn, but I have yet to hang the rods. Also on the list of to-dos: disassemble the crib — which has been sitting in the den for months — and bring it upstairs. Replace all the electrical outlets in the room. Install a ceiling fan. Choose and hang the artwork. Buy lighting. Obviously, some of those items Mike will have to do… :) But there’s still some time. Here’s the progress so far.

Luckily my old Isaac Mizrahi duvet cover from Target matches!

This past weekend was my shower in NJ. I have to admit: while I was a little overwhelmed at times, it was a really nice day. My mom outdid herself, as usual. I got a ton of nice things including some beautiful hand knitted pieces from my mom! Also, I would never have survived if it weren’t for my wing-man, Jenn. She came all the way up from Kansas City just for the shower. She’s the best!

I love this picture!

Me and the parents!

Funny bib from Mom. God, I look enormous in this picture!

I finally had a lull in the freelance work and spent a good portion of time on Saturday working on the crib skirt. I’m proud to say that a day later I’m finished. :) WOO! However, since I spent a lot of that time crawling on the floor cutting, measuring and assembling the pieces, my sore and tired body isn’t quite as excited. Owie! I imagine as my belly balloons even bigger, it will get tougher and tougher to keep doing this stuff. :)

I finally ordered the Flor tile samples this morning, so I’m looking forward to seeing how my tentative selections match the color scheme… Also, I’ve been thinking about other accessories for the Sprout’s room. Check these out:

“Olephant” mobile from Hanging Mobile Gallery The elephants are perfect with the skirt, except I think there should be more elephants on it. I might want to order two, but that would make it a pretty expensive mobile. Perhaps I need to do a little more searching or do what I usually do: make it myself! :) Couldn’t be THAT hard, right!?

Simple modern bedside lamp available from Euro Style Lighting. I love this lamp! One of my gripes about baby stuff is the annoying themed accessories that go along with commercial crib bedding. While cute when baby is still tiny and without opinions, I can’t help but wonder how long is a kid really going to want the cutesy matching woodland creature bedside lamp? Me thinks not too long.

Finally, I couldn’t forget the adorable Ugly Doll that I showed sitting on the rocking chair in the last nursery post. He’s too cute!

I’ve started thinking about decorating our little boy’s room, and it’s soo much fun. Considering that I have what my Mom calls eccentric taste, I haven’t really liked any crib sets or nursery themes — especially for boys. Yuck! Incidentally, the only ones I’ve liked have been OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. Also, I feel there’s no point in buying a crib set when you’re not going to use the fancy blanket or bumpers. Ooooh, safety hazards!! So I plan on sewing a crib skirt and just buying simple, solid-colored crib bedding. I found the adorable Michael Miller Zoology pattern and fell in love! So cute, yet definitely boyish. I’m pretty much basing the whole color scheme around that fabric.

I’m toying with different area rug colors by mixing and matching carpet tiles from Flor. I should probably order the samples soon to make sure they look good in person. I just love the fact that there are so many options to choose from.

My parents offered to buy us a rocking chair or glider, but I found the nursery gliders from baby stores to be huge, expensive and unbearable ugly! Maybe I’m just overly practical, but I can’t see buying a piece of furniture that will become obsolete after you’re done nursing. Lord knows, I would never put a giant nursery glider in my living room! At first I really wanted a Herman Miller Shell rocker, but after some research I realized I would rather have a chair with a high back to rest my head. Enter the Poang rocker from IKEA — modern yet functional, and most importantly, not hideous.

Finally, I found an adorable print from Alberto Cerriteño on Etsy. What could be cuter than a little boy hugging a big monster?! Nothing, that’s what. :)

Lucky for me, I don’t really need a single thing for my upcoming Halloween party… Unlucky for me, I can’t stop wanting to add to my large collection of decor, props, ambiance, etc. At this point, however, most of the items available at normal retailers don’t interest me. Sure, there are a plethora of cute things to be found, but I’m not after cute. My decor tends to lean more toward an authentic creepy vibe. Also, I am definitely not a fan of the gory animatronic atrocities at the Halloween superstores: i.e. crawling, moaning legless torso.

The goal this year is to spend as little as possible on new props. I haven’t set a monetary cap or anything, but I’m also not going out of my way to look for new things. I have, however, found a few things that I couldn’t bear to pass up.

First up are a pair of ornate plaster sconces. I got them at the Goodwill for 3 bucks apiece. They were originally a pukey green, but applying a coat of black paint and then dry-brushing with gray makes them look extra spooky. Next is an apothecary jar that was also purchased at the Goodwill for 3 bucks. I just love the idea of filling the jars with icky liquid, but new glass jars are too damned expensive!! The last item from the picture is a painted wooden skull from Pier 1. My mother-in-law mentioned that they had a nice Halloween display, and I was skeptical at first. Their Halloween stuff has been non-existant over the years. I popped in on a whim this afternoon, and saw this guy sitting on the front table display. From the looks of it, he was the only one in the store. A picture message, a quick call to Mike to confirm the purchase, and moments later he was ours. Score!

I have a couple of items on my wish-list this year (not counting the handful of small house-projects I want done before the party). Namely, a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka. Yeah, I know it’s $50+ bucks a bottle, but it’s not just an expensive alcohol: it’s booze AND a cool prop! In my mind, that equals pure perfection… Now that I think of it, other people may have the same idea and buy it up before the holiday. Mental note: must put that on my list of to-dos this week so that I don’t miss out this year!

Mike and I never bought a proper set of bedroom furniture. Not that I mind, exactly, but we were just lucky enough that all our hand-me-downs happen to sort of match. Dresser/bedside table was from Mike’s parents as well as a nightstand that functions as an entryway catch-all. The highboy dresser at the other side of the room and the cedar chest at the foot of the bed are pieces that I had in my bedroom as a teen. All of the wood tones just happen to be a similar hue. The only piece of furniture missing from the equation is a bed frame or headboard.

Years before we bought our house, I convinced Mike to help me make an upholstered headboard from a how-to I found on BHG.com. It has served its purpose, but given that Mike’s allergist recommended we eliminate the dust catchers in our room, I think it’s time to go. I removed our curtains, purchased mattress and box spring allergen barriers and special anti-allergen pillows. I even started religiously washing all sheets, blankets and mattress pad weekly in HOT water. Since then, I’ve trolled Craigslist looking for someone selling a decent dark wood headboard, but most people are selling entire sets and aren’t willing to separate. Otherwise, they’re asking more than I’m willing to spend or what they’re selling is just too hideous.

Yesterday, I got the Lowe’s Creative Ideas book in the mail, which I usually just toss in the recycling, but contained within is a headboard project that could replace our dust catching one: it’s a bamboo flooring headboard! How cool is that!? And the big plus is that we have a leftover box of flooring from when we did our kitchen (the first time), and the dark cognac color will go with the rest of our room perfectly! I can’t wait to get started. Anyone want a gently used queen upholstered headboard?

Since I refurbished Grandma’s Milo Baughman chairs, I have wanted to improve the look of the den. Something about it just hasn’t been sitting well with me, but I couldn’t place it. All I knew was I didn’t like it. And then it hit me: my disappointment with the room was with the furniture placement and wall color. The beige-yellow color just doesn’t do it for me, and it doesn’t do any justice to my fabulous chairs.

I switched the room around, which makes a huge difference. Then I took a picture and threw it into Photoshop to test out some new wall colors. I picked a tawny brown, which I think really warms up the room and makes it more cozy. I got some paint swatches from Sherwin Williams yesterday and it looks like “Tatami Tan” will be a close match.

Then, I found this groovy retro lamp on Craigslist for $10! It’s got three lighting functions: base night-light, top light, or both… The shade has seen better days, but since the den is pretty dark you can’t really tell.

When we were house-hunting in ’03, and our realtor took us to what would eventually become our home, the first thing that greeted us was the previous homeowner’s decor. They were the original owners, so everything was very… mid-century… I guess… but not necessarily in a good way. In fact, I had seen pictures of the house online, and completely wrote it off because of the wall-to-wall blue carpet. But the floorplan charmed us and it was in our price range. The only reason we put in an offer was because we learned there were hardwoods under the heinous carpet. We eventually accepted their counter-offer, and the house would soon be ours.

The living room as it was before we bought the house.

Since they were downsizing, they intended to sell a few pieces of furniture. Among those items were a pair of fantastically beautiful teak chairs — the likes of which I had never seen before — for a paltry 60 bucks! They are on the left in the above picture. I informed the seller’s agent that we wanted to purchase them. Some time later, I asked how I should pay for the chairs, since I hadn’t heard from the sellers. I was informed that the sellers’ real estate agent purchased them! I’m pretty sure they knew I wanted them… How rude!!

So here’s where I’m going with this: I was browsing the magazine aisle at Wegman’s and I found this magazine: Atomic Ranch. My heart leaped when I saw it, so I snatched it up without even hesitating. Never mind the fact that it was $7 dollars!

The inside cover reads, “A Jerry Johnson chair with a U.S. patent date of 1964 was thought to never have been put into production, yet here it—or a very similar cousin— is in a San Jose Eichler.” *SIGH* I guess I shouldn’t feel bad. I have a house full of furniture now, but it still kills me that I could have had them!

I was doing some internet snooping and looked up one of my favorite modern-day artists, SHAG. He’s got a gallery called Outré which features a number of current popular artists. One of whom is Derek Yaniger. I discovered him for the first time tonight, and I’m already a fan! Also, I have fallen madly in love with this print:

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love it… Despite trying to be tight with money these days, I’m seriously considering snatching it up. I mean, it GLOWS IN THE DARK! I’m going to have to sleep on it for a day or two, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up here eventually!

Last night Mike and I were supposed to decorate the Christmas tree. Actually, it was Mike’s idea. This is the first year he’s actually taken interest in the holiday decorating, so who am I to argue! We turned on the Christmas music, had our dinner, vacuumed the area where the tree is going, and I poured us both some eggnog. Gathering our thoughts, we sat on the couch and contemplated our plan of attack for setting up the tree.

Perhaps it was the eggnog or the soothing sounds of The Reindeer Room, but we drifted asleep and didn’t get a bleeding thing done! We woke up hours later (around 12am) and poor Mike had spilled half the eggnog he was still holding onto his crotch. Luckily, mine was empty and on the coffee table. There’s still time to do it tonight or later this weekend — as long as we don’t have a repeat of last night.