I do all my own stunts

The busiest room in the house

The nursery:  

I seriously don't know how those mommy bloggers do it.  My twins are 11 months old and I'm just now getting around to sharing these nursery photos.  Although they are not yet literally walking, they have been running circles around me daily (and nightly) since they were born.

Before:

And after:

Nearly all the elements of this nursery were handmade.  The curtains I had planned on sewing myself, but ended up in the hospital on bed rest for the better part of 8 weeks, so my mom graciously did the honors.  She also sewed the liners for the organizer boxes to match the dust ruffle on the cribs.

See:

All the bedding was sewn by my mom.  Amazing!  I am still in awe.  

I made that pillow case with the silly owl fabric one day while the girls were napping.

Look familiar?  I wrote about my Beatrix Potter decoupage dresser project here.  

All the artwork is from vintage story books that my mom found in the basement of an old bookstore that was going out of business.  That is Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin in the middle.  I love the creepy pose he is striking.  There's something so wonderfully disturbing about animal portraiture.  I can't get enough of it.

More of my mom's handiwork:  

The bird mobile was one of my projects.  This gem of a DIY idea came from one of my faves:  design*sponge.  

As you can see, we've got sort of a cacophony of colors, textures and fabrics.  Despite this, it is a very calming and welcoming space.  I think the handmade, vintage feel of the room is charming.  And we managed to give it a very feminine quality while still heeding my husband's request that there be very little pink involved.  As our household's only male, he was feeling a little outnumbered when we found out we were having two girls.  

Functional and beautiful - the best of both worlds.  We spend a lot of time in the nursery.  See:  

Storybook land

Beatrix Potter Decoupage Changing Table/Dresser

When I found out I was pregnant, my mom, who had been eagerly anticipating this event for a very, very long time, immediately jumped into action.  She, of course being very familiar with my tastes, knows that I have a fondness for vintage items and began hunting for unique, classic nursery decor.  She hit the jackpot at a local bookstore that was sadly going out of business.  They had a number of old prints and illustrations from children's books that had been gathering dust in the basement of the bookstore since the '50's.  She scooped up a bunch of these treasures at thrift store prices.  Among them were these fantastic Beatrix Potter illustration panels.  I remember being enthralled with the adventures and misadventures of all of these characters when I was young, Tom Kitten, Benjamin Bunny, The Tailor of Gloucester.  And the colors of the illustrations are so calming and lovely, perfect for a nursery.  At first I wasn't quite sure I could incorporate the panels into our decorating scheme; they were an odd shape for framing, but I had to put them to use somehow.  

So I decided to get crafty.  

Here's what I did:  

1.  I found a changing table on Craigslist.  The girls would need a changing table, of course.  It was actually in pretty good shape.  Just not my style, see:

2.  I removed the drawer pulls and roughed up all the surfaces with sand paper to give the paint something to adhere to.  

3.  I chose a new paint color.  I finally went with 'Gumdrop' from Benjamin Moore.  I used their High Gloss Impervo oil-based paint, because I read that it is the best for repainting furniture.  It is fantastic paint.  But, all you pregnant ladies out there, fumes from oil-based paint are very, very harmful to your baby.  I didn't know this at first, but it's true.  Thankfully, darling, patient Brian was lovely enough to do the painting for me.  This crafting thing is definitely not his gig, but I think he did a great job.  

4.  Brian painted the changing table and the outside edges of the drawers.  Then I measured and cut the illustration panels to fit the inner rectangle of the drawer fronts.  I was very deliberate with my measuring and precise with my cutting.  I think my patience paid off; the panels look as if they were designed specifically for this piece of furniture.  

5.  I then used a sponge brush and Mod Podge (which ROCKS, by the way) to adhere the panels to the drawers.  I've learned that the key to a great Mod Podge project is applying a very thin coat.  It dries pretty quickly - about 15 minutes.  Then I sealed it with 3 more very thin coats.  

6.  I then drilled new holes and put in some awesome glass drawer pulls.  I found these at Rejuvenation.

7.  Et voila.  Fancy decoupage changing table for the twins' little nursery storybook land.

Daffodil and Mary

Mary came with our house.  At one time she presided over an intensely overgrown yard choked of all daylight by dozens of unpruned trees and a 6 foot privacy fence.  She stood underneath a sickly noble fir that the previous owners had brought back from a hiking excursion in the Cascades. Our neighbor told us that they were wont to engage in this sort of activity and our jungle-like front yard proved it.  I have described before our unrelenting siege in taming the profusion of plant matter that we inherited with this house.  The overgrown vines, trees and weeds were formidable adversaries, but the darkness was the real enemy.  The lack of sunlight was depressing, but it was also very damaging.  Even Mary's noble fir had hardly a needle clinging to it when we moved in.  Had the previous owners exercised some restraint in their plant gathering expeditions, many of the organisms in the yard could have been salvaged.  But as it stood, we had to clear out truckloads of debris.  What we were left with was blessedly sparse, but beautiful.  Three gorgeous japanese maples survived, as did a collection of quaking aspens and about a million bulbs.  

My apologies to all you snowbound folks across the country, but our weather here in Seattle has been fantastically warm and uncharacteristically not soggy.  The bulbs have popped up and are starting to bloom.  I am hesitant that I might jinx it, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying it.  And it seems as if Mary, from her new perch at the base of our chimney surveying the front yard, is enjoying it as well.  

The grand reveal

Kitchen 2010

Our little kitchen project is finished!  

Although the less than desirable view into our neighbor's carport/art studio/toolshed has not changed, nearly everything else has.  Our parents joined forces and generously gifted us with a new dishwasher, a disposal, the plumbing services required for both appliances, new countertops, a new bank of drawers and countless man hours installing these items, sanding and refinishing cabinets and painting, painting, so much painting.  It is one of the most amazing and elaborate Christmas gifts Brian and I have ever received and we are so thankful.  

If you saw my previous post, you can see how desperately we needed this.  The final result is fresh, calm and uncluttered.  Plus, we now have what feels like an acre of counter space.  The pristine surfaces and clean lines make me supremely happy.  It is shocking how much of my mood is wrapped up in having an orderly living space.  I almost couldn't survive the three weeks in a cloud of sawdust, pouring my cereal and making toast in the living room every morning.  I was not a very nice person to be around.  Now, I can finally breathe again (Brian is relieved).  

Additionally, we replaced the flooring, repainted all the walls, trim and cabinets inside and out.  We also did a few little tweaks here and there like replacing all the light switchplates and hanging a piece of art over the electrical panel.  If someone can explain to me what purpose having the electrical panel located smack in the middle of the kitchen serves, I'm listening.  

We also added a few shelves to display cookbooks and for keeping spices handy.  

A few more views:

I am in love.  

First major DIY exploit of 2010

Kitchen Makeover Sneak Peek

The impetus:  A dishwasher

There she is.  She is so lovely.

For Christmas, Brian and I were the recipients of a supremely generous and coveted gift from both my parents and his parents.  A dishwasher.  Our house, having been built in 1938, did not feature one of these blessed mainstays of modernity and we just chalked it up as part of the charm of living in an old house.  We are not too pansy to get our hands wet.  We hosted annual Thanksgiving feasts for 15 people and did dishes for 2 days afterwards.  'Man up!' we said, and man up we did.  Until we didn't feel like it anymore.  

Well, we've finally stepped into the 21st century and Oh, it's glorious!  I positively adore loading the dishes, studying the user's manual, pushing the tiny buttons and watching the glittery lights illuminate.  Most of all, I love inspecting the final result after the cycle is finished.  Glassware - not a smudge.  

I wrote a while back about how much I loathed our kitchen, especially its imaginative color scheme.  So, with the installation of our fancy new dishwasher, we decided to roll up our sleeves and give our entire kitchen a much needed makeover.  Take a look at these photos and you'll see what I mean.  

Gah!  Look at those cabinets.  I told myself that they were 'retro' and after I saw their similarity to Betty Draper's kitchen on Mad Men, I told myself that they were 'cool'.  But one can only delude oneself for so long.  Even I saw that they were in horrible shape.  And tell me, how is it possible that a house can exist for 70 years without one owner having any familiarity with a cleaning product?  

We are not entirely finished with the makeover.  We still have a few touch-up projects to complete, so the grand reveal will have to wait a bit.  But I wanted to share a few quick photos of what the heck I've been doing for the past 2 weeks, besides neglecting this blog.  

The kitchen's single element I adored and insisted on incorporating into the makeover were the super retro red drawer pulls.  We sanded and refinished the cabinets and drawers and decided to paint them all white to give it a simple, clean look.  

As you may have guessed, we said goodbye to the hideous lavender and lime green color scheme.  We repainted all the trim a crisp white and for the walls we chose Behr 'Puddle' from good old Home Depot.  We splurged and got the 'Premium Plus Ultra' paint.  It supposedly has less fumes and combines primer and paint in one can.  Can you believe it only took one coat?  

We also gave the interior of all the cabinets and drawers a fresh coat of paint.  Have you ever attempted this?  It sucks.  But the result is well worth it.  I took the opportunity to reorganize everything as well.  Having everything in its place makes me absolutely giddy.  

Hopefully we will have everything complete by the end of this weekend and I can share with you guys the fruits of our labor.  It can not come soon enough.  Painting 8 hours a day for 2 weeks allows you a lot of time to dream up fantastic new art, crafting and knitting projects.  I can't wait to get started on something new!