the boys' bedroom

Oh, this room.

Sarah reminded me that I never really showed pictures of the "completed" version of Crawford's nursery. That's because I never really felt like it was finished. I didn't love the paint color (especially in pictures! EW!). This post and this post and this post show a bit of the room, and you can get the gist from these pics:

The decision to stay in this house for the foreseeable future meant we needed to seriously consider where to put baby #2. We sort of have to have a guest room because most of our family lives out of town, and we regularly have friend guests too. So I guess the decision was easy to put both kiddos in one room. Crawford's bedroom is probably the largest in the house anyway, so it wasn't going to be difficult to make space. We sold the bed, dresser, nightstand and bench which freed up a ton of space for a larger dresser and a second crib (both from Children's Fair, this line). Other than the paint (thanks to my dad!) and the additional furniture, not too much is different.

Changes:

• name decals (from this etsy store)
• mirror above the bookshelf (which was downstairs previously)
• rain gutter bookshelves (a Pinterest fav). We really needed more storage for diapers, so the new shelves freed up lots of space on the bookshelf for another bin (and I added labels so we can keep them organized).
• I switched the pelmet boards so the monogrammed one (with Crawford's mono...) wouldn't be quite so front and center.
• One of my favorite new additions to the room is the trunk between the beds. It was my dad's foot locker from the Marine Corps, and it is a perfect place to store extra linens.
• We also maxed out the storage and organization in the closet, thanks to lots of Ikea tools.
• Matching bedding is still on the wish list, but I didn't want to wait to post pictures until we decide to spring for two of these bumpers and crib skirts.

Obviously we still need a mattress for Lawson, but since he will start out sleeping in our room we're not too stressed about getting one soon. It still is a little freaky to see two cribs in there and know we'll have TWO kids to put in there before we know it, but I'm getting really excited about these boys sharing a room - hopefully for a long time! 

living room update

Before:

After:

Couch- Factory Direct Furniture

Lamps- from my sister, spray painted, new shades

Side tables by couch- Ikea Lack hacks (2 tables per side)

Pillows- mostly ones we already had, 2 monogrammed ones from Ikea

Curtains- Lowes!

Club chairs- E.F. Brannon custom order

Ottoman- Target

Bookshelf (for toy storage)- Pottery Barn Kids

dining room - the (mostly) after

As a refresher, here are the before pictures of the sunroom-turned-dining-room. And, some progress pics here.

As we (David/Randy) made a bit more headway on the room construction, we (I) realized the completion date was going to be precariously close to David's sister and her family coming to visit. They have four kids now, and I knew we would need and want as much space as possible so I encouraged (read: was annoying and persistent) everyone to get it finished before their arrival. Last week turned out to be nutty, but we got it finished. David made the VERY wise decision to hire John Bryant to come help get stuff done around the house. Some things had just gotten a backseat because the room had taken priority (clean out the gutters, put together our new grill), but he was a total lifesaver to have help. He was at the house Tuesday night until 10:30 laying tile because it HAD to get done that night in order for the timing of the rest of the week to happen. Oh, and a tree fell on the house mid-week, and he took care of that too. Whew. It really was a nutty week.

Now, some pictures (and a few scattered words - mostly for my future recollection):

Table score at the Pottery Barn outlet!

Then, this happened. Lovely, right? We actually had someone come give us an estimate to have this tree limb cut down a few weeks ago, and he told us it didn't need to be. Nice. Fortunately it came down very slowly over the course of a few days, so it didn't cause much damage (a dented gutter and part of the deck rail that needs to be re-nailed together).

And, the finished product! Complete with farmers market flowers David brought home on Thursday :).

We got the chairs from Pier One when they were running a sale, but our local store only had five in stock so my parents picked up the sixth one. The brown pillows were on the porch before, and they are a bit faded but who cares? I've had the baker's rack since my Birmingham house, and now it's finally getting more use. We certainly still have some styling to do - oh, and a boat load of touch up painting. Oops. Turns out I'm pretty horrible at painting... But, all in all we can call it complete. Tonight was our first family dinner in there, and it was so wonderful. I'm loving it already!

ch-ch-ch changes

The decision to stay put in this house has meant that we are going to move forward on a few house updates/changes that we've been noodling on. So far, here's the list we're working on:

Boys' room:

• paint! - Dad is coming next weekend to help (slash, do it)  
• add 2nd crib (for Lawson) - we have an offer to borrow one! yay!
• move bed out 
• buy large dresser
• add more storage... somehow

Guest room:

• switch mattresses with the one from Crawford's room
• get rid of old mattresses - CHECK! The only accomplishment so far :)
• switch bedding with white stuff from Crawford's room

Living room:

• new furniture! couch, 2 chairs, side tables and storage something-or-other

Dining room:

• everything! 

Rest of the house: PURGE. I've been a getting-rid-of-stuff maniac! Thank goodness for the Chattanooga Area Moms Resell Facebook page. I've actually made a little bit of money, and hopefully we'll be able to sell several other big things (piece of junk breakfast table, bistro table, bakers rack, bed/dresser/nightstand from C's room, anything else not nailed down) to make a dent in funding the new stuff we plan to buy. 

I know, this is a boring post, but it is helpful for me to be accountable to the plans we have in motion! And, it will keep my future posts a bit more organized as we accomplish some of these things. Stay tuned!

dining room - the before

This is the current view looking towards the screened-in porch. We're going to remove the door and open the wall to the right of it to the bar counter. 

I definitely am going to miss this relaxing space in our house! Though, let's be honest. "Relaxing" time these days is spent in my bed asleep (or in my bed reading a book, or in my bed watching tv... etc.). We inherited the chairs/ottomans/tables from David's parents and we need to find a temporary place for them because they are awesome and we aren't getting rid of them! Same goes for the amazing heater (a Christmas gift from the Bryants a few years back). 

This is the current view out onto the deck. We're going to move the door from the house to this door space.

And... the wall to the house. And the box. David and Matt moved it into the yard beyond the deck, so we'll be able to keep our storage without taking up valuable deck space.

We have ordered the windows, but now have to pick out:

• paint color (should we repaint the kitchen too [we really don't want to]? the same color as the dining room??)
• tile (should it be exactly like our kitchen tile? travertine?)
• light fixture (probably a fan to help with airflow... we'll need it in there. something like this?)
• table!! yay!!! no idea what we want... or what the space will actually accommodate. We'll probably have to wait until there are real walls and no furniture in there to figure this one out.

The windows have been ordered so there's no turning back!