Long Overdue Nursery Pictures

Okay so these are LONG overdue. We kept saying we were going to take pictures of the nursery after we____ (fill in the blank)_____. So I just took some today on my day off because the sun was shinning in the window and Micah was enjoying just hanging out. So here are some pictures! (only 6 months later...)

Here is a shot looking into the room. As you can see in this post, Andrew refinished the dresser and added the top. He also painted the night stand and created the abacus. The last thing we bought was the Alphabet Animal print and this is probably Micah's favorite thing in the room. If he is crying - we just show him his animals and we get smiles all around. We just liked how it brough together the yellow and turquiose!






Micah's Animals upclose. We found it at Gordman's.

And here is Micah's crib in the corner. Andrew created this cool mobile for him which he is now starting to love to look at. My mom made the bedding out of our inspiration fabric: Martini Mustard by Amy Butler.  

And here is Micah's 2nd favorite thing in the room- his bookshelves (and this is my favorite!) Andrew made the shelves and we filled them with books galore. We also have a few pictures of Micah in there when he was first born as well as some stuffed animals. Micah loves to look at and read books (he gets that from me!)

  


And Micah with his 3rd favorite thing - his nightlight. Who needs toys when you can have a nightlight?

Back to the Grind

Well now that Micah is getting a bit older, we have decided it is time to get back to some home improvement projects. We just couldn't stay away! Now our problem is picking which one to start - we have compiled quite a list over the last few months. Needless to say Andrew is extremely excited that I no longer have a giant belly, swollen feet, and lack of energy to keep me from helping out. We have been working on getting Micah to enjoy the Baby Bjorn so he can join us on the fun!


Here is our list
1. Paint the wall in the kitchen an accent color. Yes - paint again. I believe this will be the 4th different color on this wall. We have decided we need a bit more color in the kitchen area so we are thinking a dark blue/gray? Also some furniture rearranging will go on - just not sure where it will go!

2. Paint the half bath. Again - this will be the 4th different color of this bathroom. I refuse to paint again since I have done all the other paint jobs. This one is all Andrew!

3. Create a photo collage on the wall in the dining room area. Our inspiration comes from our favorite blog Young House Love. Check out their photo collage! Also we bought some curtains for the area that we want to hang up. The wall on the left is where we will put it!

4. Create some artwork for the kitchen area that has our accent color - orange. Yes, orange is going to be our accent. At first I was a little like - what? But I guess orange and blue (go Warriors!) are accents so we will see if this all looks good. I am warming up to it, but just worried we won't find much orange to go in the kitchen. Anyone seen any orange hand towels??

5. Finish the master bathroom - or start the master bathroom. We have never touched it (literally - we do not even use it!) This one might take a while longer (also we need some time to save some $$ to make it how we want it!)

So that is our list of things to do. We plan on starting some of them this weekend - and when I say some I just hope we get one partially finished! Things just seem to take so much longer with little Micah around. But that is okay - we are enjoying all of our snuggle time with him :-)

New Dresser

So the nursery is starting to come together - and I can't be more excited. Our favorite piece so far is the dresser. Andrew and I had been looking for a Mid-Century Modern piece on Craigslist and thrift stores but they were either too expensive, in horrible shape, or Victorian style (less is more as Andrew says!) Andrew really wanted something that he could refinish (since he had never done that before he of course wanted to learn!) but we weren't having any luck. We thought we should just order the dresser that matched the crib - but the reviews online kept saying it was really cheap and falls apart. Then one night we decided to check out a local thrift store that we hadn't been to for a while. We didn't see much but Andrew got to talking with the owner about what we were looking for and played the baby card ("It's our first baby and we are really excited and we want this dresser as a changing table") Lucky for us, the guy was "goo-goo ga-ga" over babies and showed us a dresser he bought to refinish himself. He said he bought it for $25 and would be willing to sell it for that. We were in love and were sold!

But this is what it looked like... (The lighter color drawer had been sanded - got a little "sand happy" before I could get a picture taken!) So this weekend Andrew and his dad got to work on making this piece in to a modern baby changing station. Andrew is now dictating the process for me.

1. Sanded down everything - including the laminate top. The handles are mahogany and the drawers are walnut. Power sanded with his new random orbital sander. Hand sanded the finer details.

2. Once sanding was complete, they bought a water based walnut stain. Water based dries fast and has less nasty fumes (thoughtfully thinking of the pregnant lady in the house!) They used walnut so the mahogany would have the same color as the walnut.

3. They brushed on the stain, wiped it off, and waited 3 hours. (cleaned the garage while they waited!)

4. After the 3 hours, they put on 3 coats of polyurethane (clear coat) using Andrew's dad's sweet sprayer. In between coats they wet sanded it to get a super smooth finish.

5. Dresser dried overnight and *poof* - a "new" beautiful dresser/changing station for baby v! And here are some fun detail shots Andrew took for your enjoyment! "Check out the piloti on that thing" as Andrew says. Architect humor... Solid wood construction and dovetail joints...they don't make them like they used to! Andrew's first "purchase" for the baby... (ball was free) And a little sneak preview of our nursery fabric theme...stay tuned for the updates!

Baby Update

Okay all - my one and only belly picture to be posted so get a good look. I'm feeling large and in charge (as I like to tell my students) and seem to lose my ability to move around more and more each day - but it is all worth it. The little one inside there loves to move around during the day. I feel a lot less kicks and a lot more twisting and turning. Every once in a while I look down to see a little something pushing up on my belly. Andrew doesn't like this - but I like to tell baby I'm there by pushing back! Not sure baby really appreciates that as I usually get a big kick in response. Baby has a little attitude!
So we are at 30 weeks and 4 days. Only 9.5 weeks left! Crazy to think about. June will be here soon enough and we will see if we have a boy or girl and if baby V really does look like Andrew as our 20 week ultrasound pic showed. This picture gives you the same view I see all day everyday - but notice I can still see my little toes!

With the day soon approaching Andrew and I have been hard at work on the nursery and getting the house ready. (probably Andrew more at work since I am somewhat limited when it comes to paint and fumes). My wonderful, handy, baby daddy husband has sure out done himself with some great modern wall decor. The first is his abacus. We got the idea from the abacus from Crate and Barrel that is multi-colored. With our limited budget, we knew we could not spend $150 on one piece of wall art (that was over our entire wall art budget!) Baby needs diapers more than an abacus. Although I now fully expect baby to be a great mathematician...Anyways - my creative husband got to work and now we have a beautiful, modern piece of decor that not only looks like it came from Crate and Barrel, but matches our nursery colors. It isn't on the wall yet as we don't have the dresser in there - but I can't wait to just share this picture because I just love it so much!

Stay tuned for our next project - the mobile. It is getting closer to being finished so we will give an update when it's done!