My Awesome House: Poppy's Room

With Poppy's 1st birthday creeping up, I thought it might be a good time to show her room. Also since I just cleaned it and it doesn't stay that way for long.

Our first year in the house, this was a storage/guest room; basically, the dumping ground for stuff we didn't want to deal with. It was nice, and a pain when we had to face the boxes. I also loved the color - Sherwin Williams "waterscape." But it was dingy, so before we moved her in, we repainted the whole thing - ceiling, walls, trim, but kept the color. My perfect blue.

Let me take you on a tour. It's a small room.

Dresser and paper vase lamp - IKEA
Quilt - my Mom
Laura Ashley laundry hamper - Marshall's $7.99

Alphabet picture cards - Ida Pearle

Glider (Dutalier) - We don't love the faded denim, but that was the only fabric it came in six years ago when my parents bought it for us at Hazel's birth - at that time it was our most expensive piece of furniture. Worth every penny, even if we had paid for it. So smooth, so comfortable. It has seen a lot of mileage.

Quilt - personalized PBK crib quilt from Ed's aunt

Screen - $20 from Craigslist. Behind it in that nook are the remnants of baby-storage-junk that still needs to be gone through.

Rug - I knew I wanted a round rug for the room but was not looking forward to the $200+ price tag nor the rigorous search for the "right" one. Problem solved when I went to my favorite semi-annual consignment sale and found this one for $30. Stain-free and gender-neutral pattern. Fine.

Pillar lamp - IKEA
Crib - $99 (incl mattress) from ebay in New York. It was a purchase of budget and convenience and it's a fine crib. Never did get our "dream" nursery set, but who needs it? I'd rather get a nice couch.

Swallows Mobile by Flensted - check out all their beautiful creations! If I was having another baby I might get this one. And if it was a boy I'd probably get him this one! Though I really don't know how you'd decide.

(And here's the final corner - not much to tell...)

So that's our little nursery. First time we've ever had one, since we were in a 1-bedroom apt with Hazel and a 2-bedroom apt with Ginger and in both cases the baby slept in our room until at least 18 months. It's a dream having a separate room for her, although it's up a flight of stairs, and that is painful at 3am. But I'll take it. My House Is Awesome.

My Awesome House: New Front Door

Our front door, original to the 1979 house, is a disaster. Totally crooked, big breezy gaps, and not very secure. It especially hits in the winter, when the arctic chill, unhindered by a storm door, pours in and we have to wear coats to be downstairs, with the "heat" on. So as I mentioned a few times, we got ourselves a new door for Christmas.

Even though it's a smallish purchase, there are way more options than I realized. It's one of those many home improvements you don't think about until you have to, and then you get overwhelmed by all the decisions - brand, material, size, style, color, decorative glass, inside handle, outside handle.

We chose our contractor using Angie's List, totally the way to go. They were great. I won't walk you through every decision - a blog post about doors is at great risk of being boring so I'll just get right to the pictures, and with a few notes. ("Before" pictures are first in each set.)I know. The first one looks cooler. It's because of the color, just so bold and Scandinavian, I loved it. But that was really the only thing it had going for it. The new door is fiberglass, and only came in certain colors. I'm still not sure we made the right choice, but it's fine.

Looking at these pictures reminds me I want to change out those lights, totally don't go with the house. Should have done that for a big impact before-and-after shot. I'm putting it on the to-do list. If you've got nothing to do, go search porch lights and send me links to something you think would go.

We went for a single door with sidelites because it's more secure and has fewer edges for air leakage. Also lets in nice light and the kids love being able to look out at who is coming and going.
But you know what I really love? The lovely tight suction sound it makes when I open or close. It has a seal. It fits the frame. The locks fit together. Just like a real door, and unlike our old one.

Inside view: on the old door, see that bolt thing at the top? Useless because it didn't fit the top piece when the door was closed. Nice. On the new door, we opted for an upper inside-only thumbturn in addition to the regular lock, for extra security at night and also so kids can't open the door when it's locked. Not that our kids are runners, but they do have a tendency to open the door for visitors/strangers without me knowing, even though I've told them not to. Now they can't, ha ha!

The night after we got it, a few friends came over and at least two of them got confused and thought they were at the wrong house - funny, right? It makes a difference, inside and out. Kind of feels like a new house when we come and go. So glad we did it. So glad we don't have to worry about it anymore. My house is awesome.

My Awesome House: Girls' Room

Until recently, the girls have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Hazel has a twin and Ginger was using the crib mattress. We never even bothered to assemble the crib after we moved in May because we were planning on getting the girls bunk beds "soon." So they just slept on the floor and we all got used to it. But Spanky's arrival is approaching, and we will need the crib, including the mattress, for her. What better time to make good on our 9-month-old promise of bunk beds?

I did do my research. I wasn't overly picky but I did look at a lot of sets, both online and in stores. I figured if there are ones I like more than others, we might as well get one of those. So we did. At first both girls wanted to sleep on top so we alternated nights, which worked well, although one night we found them like this:I thought we might have to alternate forever but after a week or so the novelty wore off and Ginger preferred to stay on the bottom. The top has become Hazel's haven, and we find her up there almost every morning surrounded by books and dolls, deep in her own imaginary world. Sometimes Ginger still naps up there for fun, but mostly she just likes to climb onto her bed through the ladder.With new beds came the urge to stock a few sets of matching sheets. With matching sheets came the desire for pretty quilts. Mom and I conspired and made simple reversible tied quilts out of two of my favorite fabrics. Cute throw pillows were pure indulgence on my part. All we needed now was an area rug to pull it together. It's not like there was one main color or theme working in the room so I needed something cute, classy and fairly multicolored. Thank you, Land of Nod.When we first moved in, the girls' room was a pale yellow that I liked. But I painted one wall Pale Avocado for some depth. And hired my artist cousin Katy to paint a dandelion on it for whimsy. I think the overall effect is PERFECT.For once in 8 years of marriage, and really 17 years of adult living (and mostly renting), I have a real, honest-to-goodness, pulled-together room I am truly, profoundly proud of. And I'm so glad I got pictures because that is cleanest it will probably ever be.One awesome room down, oh-so-many to go.

My Awesome House: Heat Lamps

The days are getting cooler around here, and we have the heat on some days. But I sleep hot so I like to keep my room cool at night, by closing the vents and sometimes opening the window. Which is awesome and snuggly and fine while we're in bed.

But the funny thing about night is that at the end is morning. And we have to get up. And it's cold. And it's especially cold in the bathroom. And even more so if you strip down, get in the shower, and get wet.

But some genius previously involved with our house, bless them forever, had the same problem, and installed heat lamps in all three of our full bathrooms. You know, the kind you find in hotels - you switch it on, it casts a high-energy yellow or orange hot light accompanied by a buzzing fan sound. And it heats up a closed bathroom quick like. It's not something you might expect, or require, in a house. And in these energy-efficient times, you may not ever go to the trouble and expense to have them installed.But every single morning this last week I have sent silent thank-you's out into the universe to whoever put those in our house. By the time I'm showered and dressed I'm almost too hot, and have to turn it off and cool off in the bedroom before drying my hair. It's a problem I'm all too happy to have.

Bed Time

After 6 years on a slightly-broken hand-me-down metal frame, a year on a built-in platform in a rented house, and 4 months of a mattress on the floor in our new house, Ed and I have gotten a bed, a real bed.Wouldn't it be nice if our room actually looked like that?

We picked it up yesterday and assembled it this morning. It was quite the cause for excitement around our house. The girls could be distracted by neither treat nor TV; they wanted to HELP. So Ed found an empty box (yes, we are still unpacking) and told them if they were going to be in our room, they had to stay in the box. The instructions came in both French and English so we gave them the French instructions and told them to supervise.When we'd gotten a little further along and were working on the corner feet and brackets, we let them out of the box. They brought in their plastic tools and worked on the styrofoam the bed had been packed in.
The assembly was quick and basically painless. It helped that the bed wasn't from IKEA. It's not quite the finished product yet - we still plan to get the headboard and nightstands, just on a different paycheck - but it feels like a new room. And I'm pretty sure tomorrow, when I only have to get up from a sitting position rather than a squat, I will feel like a new woman. Yes, we're getting there, bit by bit.

My Awesome House: Fireplaces

There are two major compromises we made in the purchase of this house: electric cooking (rather than gas) and no driveway. Kind of big ones but in the end worth it for the space, location and other cool features like my freaking awesome kitchen (despite coils.)

Now that the weather has turned colder this last week we've been turning up the heat and last night we made our first FIRE in our fireplace! Excuse me, in ONE of our fireplac-ES. We have two - one in the main level living room and one in the second level family/play room:Fireplaces are awesome and we made a whole big deal night of it. After dinner we all got in our jammies, built a fire team-effort style, played Memory and ate Sour Cream Pumpkin Bars with Brown Butter Frosting (watch for it on the VGP - "Pumpkin Week" is coming up in November!)Then after the girls went to bed Ed and I snuggled down on the couch talking (catching up after a week apart for the hunting trip) and watching the flames fade to embers. Definitely one of the most cozy, happy and satisfying Friday nights I've had in a long time. Hooray for fireplaces! Hooray for my awesome house!

My Awesome House: Office

Excuse me, it's actually the office/sewing/art studio. Officially the "second master bedroom" because it has a walk-in closet (storage, laaaaah!) and private bathroom, we opted to NOT put the girls in here because it's directly above our bedroom. And with hardwood floors, you hear every little sound and we knew we'd regret it. So the girls are sharing a smaller bedroom and this corner of the house has become my haven.

First, we had to paint it. It was a light orange that I couldn't live with. Nothing a little Benjamin Moore "Patriotic White" couldn't fix. Now it's a lovely serene light blue.Next, the IKEA unit. I love these pieces from the EXPEDIT line. An afternoon of assembly, and several evenings in front of the TV putting the drawers together has given us this masterpiece:
It's a dream come true; after years of poring and drooling over organization spreads in Real Simple, I finally have all my office, sewing and arts & crafts supplies in ONE place! And sometimes I can even remember where I put everything.

Here is where the kids can play. Drawing, playdoh, and games are kept up here. Notice the area rug separates Mommy's area from the kids'. This is awesome because when I'm on the computer and the girls want to be near me they can do something this table instead of trying to climb on my lap. Not that they don't still, but there are other options to offer them now. And the window nook is the perfect size to stow the easel when it's not being used. Did you see the magnetic paint above the kids' table? It's magnetic primer. It smells foul, splatters like crazy, and it took about 5 coats to get a weak hold. Regular magnets still slid off so I got these mega strong magnets from Amazon to do the trick. It was a fun experiment but I'm not sure I'd do it again.
So now as you read, you can picture me blogging at my desk while the girls roll playdoh or play Memory in our sweet office suite in MY AWESOME HOUSE.

My Awesome House: Downstairs Paint Job

Huh. The summer seems to be getting away from me, on so many fronts. The house is just one of them. But it's a big one. And it's not just the all-consuming painting and unpacking anymore; now that we've been here about 6 weeks it's also trying to keep the monster clean, and trying to find things again once I've found a place for them. Takes all my time.

Painting the downstairs was down on the priority list, after painting several other rooms and getting some things fixed. But I spend most of my time downstairs in the kitchen/dining/living room, and the colors were getting to me. The dining room has a chair rail trim - above was crayon orange, below was tan with white frame trim. The living room was a peachy peach that was so-so in the daytime but really offensive at night with the lights on.

I had no idea what palette to choose. Warm? Cool? Blues? Golds? I'm not down with red, and I was tired of orange. My default is to lean towards earthy stuff - brown? Green? I'll spare you the tortuous play-by-play of the decision process, but after about seven or eight samples and still no progress, my sister Maren marched me over to Home Depot where she efficiently walked me through to a decision, and it was done. Here's what I did last week.

Dining Room
BEFORE (with samples)

Primed
Trim being painted

AFTER

AFTER (with furniture, with light on and off)

Big change, whaddaya think? On top is Desert Moss, bottom is Willow Herb, both Behr colors. (Two different people with good taste told me it's tacky to paint trim in a room like this a different color - the entire lower half should all be one color - so I did the frames the same as the Willow Herb wall. I left the baseboard and chair rail white because the big window frame is white; not sure if I'll leave them or paint them.) I like it; I have a thing currently for yellowy greens. But this exercise showed me how easy the dining room is to paint, so I expect I'll change it again whenever I want.

The kitchen is in the middle - didn't do anything there yet. The living room is in the back of the house, and I went with the same colors.

Living Room

BEFORE (with samples)

AFTER

Back wall behind couch is Desert Moss; other two walls are Willow Herb. The wall to the right in the above picture is a built-in bookshelf and all brick to the kitchen so there's nothing to paint there.

We're having about 100 people to a housewarming party this weekend so I wanted to get it painted before that. I think pictures on the walls, new curtains and for that matter new furniture would complete the look, but one thing at a time. For now I'm enjoying the paint.