Guest bedroom

This  post originally was just going to be about the fact that we added Crown moulding to our guest bedroom. Then I realized that I have never posted about our guest bedroom before. See we don't really have that many "guests" but I was sick of having two empty rooms on that side of the house (we would literally just dump stuff that didn't have a home). So maybe 6-12 months after we moved it, I decided to make one of the rooms into a guest room. My parents were in the process of converting my old bedroom into a "man cave" so I took the bed, sold my old bedroom furniture and decided to make it work.
Since the room doesn't get a ton of use, I didn't want to invest a ton of money into it. I selected three coordinating fabrics from Joann's for curtains, pillows and a headboard. I ended up using the fabric sample to have Lowe's color match paint for the walls. I made the headboard using pegboard. I used this tutorial and picked out a fun zebra print and used solid black fabric buttons for the tufting.

I made the curtains myself using fabric and hem tape. It was very easy and they have held up surprisingly well. I simply hemmed all 4 edges and attached them to the rod using curtain clips.

I purchased all the furniture at Ikea. The dresser and two nightstands are both the Hemnes collection in black-brown. The two side lamps are Magnarp table lamps. The floor vase in the corner is the Havtorn collection and is available in two colors, we went with the black.

The mirror was actually a Kirkland's find. There was one right by our house that went out of business. I think it was under $20. 

The bedding is a duvet set from Ikea. The trunk was  moved in from another room and currently houses my sewing machine. The black pillows were handmade but the red center pillow was a Kohls find. The pictures over the bed are from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

 The room remained 90% done for the past year. The only recent addition was the Crown moulding. Because of the texture of our ceilings, we didn't really have a nice smooth line where the wall met the ceiling. This is probably the best example.. notice the right side of the wall.

While we were doing the nursery moulding, we bought a Pro-pack of Crown and realized we would probably be able to get both rooms done with the one pack. We did end up having to buy one additional piece to account for the cuts around the closet but its DONE. And its amazing how much crisper it makes the room feel.

Nursery Rugs

I never thought it would be so hard to pick out an area rug. When I first started designing Charlotte's nursery, I fell in love with the Addison Rug from Pottery Barn Kids (PBK).  Tim and I both liked the design and it was the perfect color pink. However, once we hung the curtains we realized it was just going to be too pink.

I LOVE Pottery Barn Kids. I don't love their prices or that they charge a ton for shipping and handling but overall, I think they offer quality products. While I wasn't set on having a rug from PBK, I knew the colors would match perfectly which was a major plus. Their rugs pretty much only come in two sizes that would work in my space 3X5 and 5X8. I was really hoping we could make a 3x5 work, mainly due to price, but when we taped it out on the floor it simply looked too small. So then we taped out a 5 x8 rug onto the floor. At first I was thinking it was too large but after Tim centered it in the room, I felt like it could work.

I looked on the Internet and narrowed it down to several rugs:

1) Pottery Barn Kids' Addison rug- I thought it was a gray but it turns out it is a true tan
2) PBK's Chevron rug in gray
3) Overstock Moroccan Gray rug 
4) PBK's Chevron rug in Pink
5) Overstock Soho Gray Rug

As you can tell from the pictures above, I was clearly leaning toward gray. So last week while I was on my way home from working in Tampa I pulled off at the Pottery Barn Kids in old Hyde Park. They offer "free design consult" so I showed the clerk pictures of the room and she too agreed that we should go with the gray. Then she remembered that she JUST got a brand new grey rug in that day that hadn't even made it to the floor yet. I waited while she lugged the rug downstairs and was immediately sold. They accepted my coupon and loaded the rug into my car and I was off.

Tim was out of town again but I managed to get the rug home and rolled out. Its called Floral Bouquet and while the colors are perfect, I didn't love it.

Even though I had text Tim a picture, he told me to wait till he got home to see it in person before returning it to the store. A few days later I got an email from PBK again with a link to some new rugs... one of which was the floral bouquet I had already purchased. They also had another new rug called the McKenna. As soon as I saw it, I know it would work so much better in the room due to the medallion print: its mimics the pattern in the bedding without being too matchy.

So I had Tim load the rug back in my car when he got home and I tried to return it for the McKenna rug but they did not have it in stock. And of course shipping was an additional $47... not what I wanted to hear. Luckily, the sales people are always so accommodating. They ordered the rug for me, waived the shipping, honored my coupon AND had the rug shipped to my house. It came in the mail yesterday and we both agreed that it works so much better.

Unfortunately, the room isn't looking quite a clean as in the above picture. Its was a dumping ground for baby shower presents that we need to go through and organize. I  also need to buy a no slip mat for under the area rug once we get everything else put away. So excited that the nursery is almost done :)

Some Progress

We have slowly been adding one or two things to the nursery each week.... well at least trying to! After we finished the Crown, my next project was to find curtains. This ended up being a fairly annoying process. I purchased the Dahlia pink bedding from Pottery Barn Kids which I love. I knew their "bright pink" window panels would match but they didn't sell them in stores. So I thought I would try to find blackout panels at a few local stores first.

My first attempt was Bed, Bath and Beyond. I was surprised to find they actually did have several different pink colored black out panels in store. Unfortunately, they don't sell them online but they were $24/panel before my coupon. I purchased one to try it and it was too magenta so back to the store it went.

The next day, I stopped by Babies R Us to see what they had. Luckily, this time I brought a crib sheet with me to color match. I found the PERFECT match...

They are the Sweet Dreams Twill Window panel in Bright Pink. All of the Sweet Dreams panels come in either 63 or 84 inch length... except the Bright Pink, that only comes in 63 inches. So unfortunately, this went back to the store as well. I will say, I thought $39.99 for one panel was a bit steep!

So after checking JcPenny, Sears and Buy Buy Baby, I finally just ordered the original curtains I liked from Pottery Barn Kids. Like I said, I originally wanted a curtain with a blackout liner but at PBK's that meant I was paying $59 for one panel. I decided that since I already had blinds on the window I would just get the traditional Sailcloth panel without the blackout liner. That brought the price down to $29/panel. I am SO glad I did not spend the extra money on this as the curtains are nice and thick and the blackout is not needed at all!

I picked up some Oil Rubbed Bronze curtain rods,rings, and tie backs at Kohls with some coupons I had. They also had a buy one get one for $1 sale so I really didn't end up spending much on that.

We also picked up some raw wood shelves at Hobby Lobby. Tim stained them to match the dark wood in the dresser and crib.

While staining them was not a problem, hanging them was a quite the project! Floating shelves always have the same hanging mechanism which is never spaced evenly or centered leading to unlevel shelves. After some trial and error measurements, we finally had shelves!

The only other thing to get accomplished to date are two pictures we hung up Friday night. I picked up two 11X14 white frames at Joann's last weekend. They were matted to fit 8x10 prints and on sale for 50% off plus an extra 25% off during their coupon commotion sale. So both frames with tax were under $20. I then ordered these prints from PrintsbyChristine on Etsy.

We hung them on either side of the dresser/changing table.

Still have quite a things to get/do. I think my last "Big" purchase will be an area rug which has been an ongoing issue for me the past few weeks ( post to come). Everything else is minor so we are on our way to completion :)

Patio Furniture

After wrapping up the front patio floor, we we eager to get furniture for the area. I shopped around several local stores and ultimately ignored the "Don't do it" commercials from Leader's and purchased my patio furniture at the home improvement store.

Since the color of our house is green, we wither wanted to stick with green or go with something neutral. It seems like red is all the hype in outdoor furniture lately so it took a while to find something I liked. I was watching a set at Lowe's but apparently I wasn't watching close enough because it got clearanced out and I missed my chance.

So then I came across this set at Home Depot. It is Martha Stewart Living Charlottetown Collection and came in a green color. The best part was that it had a "new lower price" when I bought it. Thanks to a 10% off coupon, some Christmas Gift cards and 6 months of no interest, we are the proud new owners of patio furniture!

Side note: Looks like the price went back up! I got the sofa, one rocker, one standard chair and two end tables on sale for $513 plus tax. Similar sets at Lowes were right around $1000 and that was MUCH cheaper than Leader's.

Oh.. and we made one other purchase. A propane fire pit which doubles as our table. It was a total splurge item but we LOVE it. They actually don't have the exact model I purchased on the Lowe's website but it looks very much like this, only shorter and wider. It is by Allen and Roth and was $399. We had budgeted spending around $1000 on furniture so the fire pit was a nice added bonus thanks to  the sale we scored on the furniture.

I thought the furniture would take up most of the front patio but as you can see in the picture below, we still have a TON space!

The fire pit comes with the plastic "weatherproof" covering. We plan on making something a bit more secure in the upcoming months. We have had a couple of windy days and the existing cover has blown right off.

I originally planned on putting an area rug out there but now I am not certain. The area is under a tree and I feel like it will be a lot of upkeep. Even though we sprayed all the cushions with Outdoor Scotchgard, we don't keep them out unless we are using them. So right now they are stored in our garage cause I have yet to purchase an outdoor storage box.

Such a huge improvement from two months ago, right?

Butterfly Baby Shower- Decorations

This will be my final post on the baby shower. It was two months in the making and I am really pleased  with the way everything turned out.  Since Lee Anne's nursery theme is Butterflies, we wanted to carry that over into the shower. I search Pinterest and Etsy for various invitations that could be customized for a baby shower. I narrowed it down to three and then let Lee Anne choose. We ultimately ended up purchasing this party pack from Pixels N Ink's Etsy shop. Melanie, the owner,  was VERY helpful and offered suggestions on wording since Lee Anne did not want to disclose the baby name at the shower. I would highly recommend purchasing from her! 

We printed everything on card stock with the exception of the candy bar labels ( we just used regular computer paper for that). Every night while watching TV, I would sit with my cutting mat and X-acto knife, cutting everything down to size. There are several different ways to construct the banners. I originally purchased brads and then thought about using the double sided tape method. Ultimately, I used ribbon and a regular old hole punch ( as demonstrated here) to hang the banners.

The party pack also came with several "signs" ( Food, drinks, gifts, etc). I planned on using 4 of the 6 signs in the pack. I just purchased $1 8X10 frames from the Dollar Tree. They only came in black so I simply sprayed them either white or pink to go with the corresponding sign.

This punch was AWESOME! Recipe found here. 

The gift bags were also fairly simple. I purchased small gift bags in mint and pale pink at Iparty. They were on sale for .53 cents each. I also picked up some hot pink tissue paper. Our party pack came with "Thank You" tags. I simply used my 2-inch punch to cut them to size and attached them to the front of the bags using glue dots. Inside the bags went..chocolate bars, hand sanitizers, mints and a homemade pink and green cake pop.

As for games, we played two free games I found online. First we played a game called "Baby Sweets". Someone reads out a common pregnancy word ( ie: Baby Giggles) and the guests have to come up with a candy for that particular phrase. So the answer in this case was "Snickers". The prize? You guessed it. A snickers. We played this with about 10 different candies.

The second game is a free online printable Celebrity Baby Name Game. Its was harder than we thought for most of the guests. I think the most anyone got right was seven. In sticking with our theme, First place got a Butterfly Plug and Sweet pea air freshener from Bath and Body Works.

The last little thing I put together for the shower I used both as a decoration and a gift. I know that the "monthly onesie stickers" are very popular. Well I wanted to do a clothes like type of decoration at the shower. So I decided to combine the two. I found this adorable monthly onesie printable ( for FREE). I mirror imaged the numbers and printed them on transfer paper. I then purchased 12 onesies and adhered the decals onto the onesies. I hung three up at the shower and wrapped the remaining as a gift for the mom-to-be.

A few other pictures from the shower I wanted to share before wrapping up. We actually ordered this cake from Sam's Club and they customized it to our theme for no additional cost. It was only around $17 for half a sheet... it was both beautiful and delicious!

I used the labels in the party pack to label the food ( types of sandwiches, dressing etc). 

The water bottle labels...Call me a ditz but I struggled with this one. I made water bottles for my wedding and purchased the expensive water bottle labels you print on and adhere. To keep costs down, I didn't want to order more supplies. Then it hit me...Contact paper. I picked up one roll at the Dollar Tree. I cut the contact paper slightly larger then my label(again just printed on card stock) to form a water proof seal when adhered to the bottle. Worked out perfectly... no leaking and the labels stayed attached!

I just got this "cooler " of sorts with a Chrsitmas gift card and coupon to Pier One!

I promise this is the last Baby Shower post... I think I have over shared enough for everyone! :) 

Clearance Valentine's Day Decorations

Since it is officially February, I felt like it was acceptable to take out a few Valentine's Day decorations. I still have more to do but this is what we have so far.

I picked this up  90% off at Joann's after Valentine's Day last year. This year, it found its home on the front door. I think it ended up being around $2.90.

I also picked this up after last season at Kohls. I think they were also 80-90 % off. I think they were $1 each?

And because my dogs wear bows everyday, they too got into the Valentine's Day spirit!

Wordless Wednesday: Spring has sprung

Easter decorations I picked up on SUPER clearance last year!