Designing a shared room: Picture frame bow holder

I thought it was funny that my last post about their room, was the same day Eliana arrived. If you missed reading that post you can read it here.

I decided, after jumping on the "bow" bandwagon, that Eliana needed a bow holder. Once again, Pinterest came to the rescue. I used this tutorial to make the picture frame bow holder.

Picture frame DIY cost: 

Frame: $2.50 (thrifted)
Chevron fabric: $2.00 (SAS fabrics wholesale)
Grey polka dot ribbon(4 yards):  $1.00 (SAS fabrics wholesale)
Hooks: $1.00 (Walmart)

Total: $6.50!!! 

Total time: 1 hour

Has to be the ugliest picture I've ever seen, but the frame is big and sturdy. I love these vintage frames too.
 
I liked the distressed look the frame already had, so I sprayed a light coat of creme paint so it would match the shelve it would be hanging by.


This project was one of the quickest and easiest projects to do, but I love how it looks. I've seen holders like this in boutique shops selling for over $50 too!

Designing a shared room: It's finished!

Well, I'm happy to announce that Parker and Eliana's room is pretty much finished. I have a couple other pictures to hang on the walls(Eliana and Parker's newborn photo's), and we are still deciding on the curtains for the other 2 windows, but other than that it's done!

With being in the hospital for so long and on bed rest at home prior to that, I didn't think it would ever get completed. I've been busy since I've been home and made the last push to get the final touches in place.

If you want to read the other posts related to this project, I will link them here.

Inspiration post

Painting the room


The view as you look in from the bedroom door. The bunting/flags are made from felt. I actually used these for Parker's birthday party as well. The cradle I thrifted for $10. I'm so excited to use it to take some newborn pictures.


A peek inside Parker's tent bed. We added a little hook at the top to tie the Hungry Caterpillar mobile. Everything to make this tent, except the Hungry Caterpillar fabric, I bought from a thrift store. The tent is made from 2 queen sheets, the doors are made from a sheer curtain. The pillow that Parker lays on was also made from heavy duty velvet curtains and the stuffing was made from tons and tons of scrap minky fabric I had been keeping. I spent a total of $20 in materials to make the tent bed.  


The curtains were cheap curtains I purchased from Walmart, and I added a border of Hungry Caterpillar fabric to the bottom and made also made some matching curtain ties.


The shelf was also thrifted for a couple dollars. I spray painted the shelf and because the other hooks that were on the shelf were broken, I removed them and put on some hooks I already had from Parker's room. 


We will be adding some curtains to this window as soon as I can pick them up. The newborn photos will be hung on the empty wall on the left.


The mobile was made using the tutorial found here.
I made a few changes to the design. Instead of wrapping the embroidery hoop with twine, I used some sticky ribbon that I had from scrap booking. I also used some vintage lace ribbon to hang each piece, that I found at the thrift store instead of using the twine.


The crib bedding is from Pottery Barn, which I bought at a consignment shop. Since I was purging a lot of Parker's toys and clothes he'd outgrown, I didn't pay any cash for the entire bedding set.


All the frames on this wall were thrifted. The letters I bought from Michaels and just spray painted them. I have a couple more pictures to add to this collage wall, but I haven't found any frames at the thrift store that I like yet. 


Here is a before and after picture of the room taken from roughly the same angle.

And that is it! Thanks to so many inspirational ideas from Pinterest, I think the room turned out amazing. Could not have done it without Pinterest.

Now, the waiting game begins for Eliana's arrival.


 

3rd trimester already!

I didn't realize how much actually changes in two weeks, especially when your pregnant.



How far along: 28 weeks

Weight gain: another 2lbs gain for a total of 10lbs in 28 weeks. At 30 weeks with Parker I had gained 28lbs! Though he was measuring pretty big on the ultrasounds and had a decent weight considering he was born at 35 weeks.

Movement: Today, I can tell that Eliana is sitting transverse. Her head is definitely pressing into my right ribcage and her butt in my left, with her feet kicking away down low. Ever wonder how to tell which way the baby is without an ultrasound? I believe the most popular site to teach you how to do this is spinningbabies.com. Just scroll down the page to see how you can do belly mapping.

 

Symptoms: Not much in the way of symptoms. I'm starting to feel a bit more run down throughout the day. When I sit in the car to long I get very uncomfortable. Contractions are still down to a minimum.

Sleep: Sleep is still great!

Best Moment this Week: Finished the mobile for Eliana this past week. Their room is coming together so cute. Still have the banner/bunting to make and finish hanging up some pictures. Since I finished all the major projects, I will be focusing on Parker's birthday party coming up.





 What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound next Tuesday, Aug 14th!

Designing a shared room: Painting chevron stripes

It feels good to say that we got all the painting finished in the room that Parker and Eliana will be sharing. It's a little ironic because I don't paint, but I wanted to do something special for this room. Now we may not even be staying in this house for as long as we had initially planned and will more than likely be re-painting in a few months.





It's hard to see the grid in this picture, but it's there. 

Just a note: We used the white that the wall already was painted as the second stripe color. This allowed for a lot less time and money spent on this project. From what I've read, if you are doing two different colors, it's recommended to paint the whole wall one color. After that has dried, then you will do the grid step.

After researching quite a few tutorials on how to have the "chevron stripe" look in the room. Most of the tutorials included a lot of measuring, calculating distances, angles and more measuring. I'm pregnant, my brain is not functioning at 100% at the moment.

Tools we used to draw grid:

Spiderman #2 pencil..(lol!)
12"x12" thick card stock paper (x2)...usually in the scrapbook section of craft stores.

Make sure if you use this method you write "TOP" on one side and on one of the pieces of the card stock. We found that they aren't perfect squares and if you don't place the card stock the same direction each time, it will result in the grid not lining up. 

The second piece of card stock paper you will fold in half, diagonally. This piece is what you will use to draw the diagonal lines for the stripes. 






We did write "new paint area" in all the sections that would be painted. Again, pregnant brain...I knew that I would mess something up if I didn't mark it.





 And here is the finished wall. Amazing the character the room receives with just a little paint.  I LOVE it!!

Paint color: Fudge Truffle from Olympic (Lowe's)

We used less than a quart of paint to do this project and we had to paint 3-4 coats. We still have 1/4 of the can left over.

With the painter's tape, roller, pan and paint we spent less than $20 on this project.

And just for fun, some pictures I took this morning.

Designing a shared baby/toddler room

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with a girl, I was so excited to start a little nursery for her. I'm not big on the traditional pinks and purples and I have to keep in mind that she is sharing a room with her big brother so I will keep the ruffles to a minimum.

We had recently started to decorate Parker's room in "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme, but I didn't want that theme for the baby's side. Thanks to Pinterest I have found so many ideas that I would love to incorporate into the room they will be sharing.

We did pick up the nursery bedding last weekend. We kept the bedding fairly neutral, to make coordinating a bit easier. Not to mention I have always LOVED the lamb bedding from Pottery Barn. I decided not to buy the mobile. I'm not a fan of that and hope to be able to find some whimsical I can make to match the set.

Source: ab.pkimgs.com via Tiffany(Bohemian Baby Couture) on Pinterest

I'm dead set on doing chevron stripes on one wall in the room. It will be more of a light brown than pink. I think they are so cute!

Source: projectnursery.com via Tiffany(Bohemian Baby Couture) on Pinterest

I will definitely be doing a picture/sayings collage wall in the room. I'm so bad at putting up pictures in the house and this will be a must do project for the room. If you see the cute flag/bunting banner in the lower left picture, I would also love to do that in the room as well.






We have 3 windows in the room and we just purchased curtains for two of the windows and so for the third window, where the crib will be, I'm going to be making some ruffled curtains. I hope to have enough time to do full ruffles the length of the curtain, but if that doesn't happen I will do a few rows of ruffles along the bottom border.






We decided to forgo the toddler bed with Parker and instead I'm making him a hanging "tent" bed. Here is the basic pattern I will be using. I will be making the main portion solid white or creme and the top a brown to match the crib set and then will be adding Hungry Caterpillar applique' accents all around and making a couple Hungry Caterpillar pillows. I'm still researching the mattress. I was thinking at first to buy a rounded crib mattress as it would fit pretty good, but it's still up in the air.

Aww, I would have LOVED to have this when I was a kid. How cool would it have been to sleep in an awesome tent like this! Maybe it's just me...






The closet in the room is small and seems nonfunctional except for hanging clothes and hiding toys. I'm debating painting the closet a light coordinating color like they did in this nursery.

Source: projectnursery.com via Tiffany(Bohemian Baby Couture) on Pinterest

Now, just to get to work! I'm so excited about the project, yet I know it will be a lot of work.

23 Weeks 114 days to go....

Just had a very exhausting weekend, working all day Saturday and the heat has kicked into over drive. It sucks to get into your car and it's like sitting in an oven. I think we hit 110 the last couple days. It's amazing how much it drains your energy. I held off posting this week because I had my OB checkup yesterday and wanted to post about that. I talked to her about my plans to have a natural delivery. She told me the hospital has alot of great amenities including a spa-bath in the labor room which you can labor in if you would like. I heard that laboring in warm water helps to relax you and being in a total state of relaxation helps with the contractions and helps to move labor along faster. They provide birth balls, also to help move labor along, and also you can have a massage during the first stage of labor. We discussed what I wanted and she just asked that I allow a closed IV line being put in my arm just in case complications arose, this would save time. We both agreed about if I can't handle it or if baby seems stressed, all bets are off. It's nice to have an OB who really listens to you. I have been having a few more contractions then normal and alot of back pressure and pain, and I was thinking it was because of a possible bladder infection. My OB took a urine sample and said it looked like there could be a slight infection. She checked my cervix and it looked good and also took a cervical culture to rule out any infection there and started me on a low dose antibiotic.

We have done more work on the nursery, set up the play corner, hung up some decor and paintings. We are still looking for curtains, dresser, and a bookshelf which is pretty good I think. I bought some super cute soft books for Parker's play corner and want to find some other cute things I can put there for when he's at that stage.

How far along: 23 weeks (going by 10/3 edd)
Weight gain: I have gained 15lbs total, had a big gain this past month. I think I averaged about 2 lbs a week since my last appt. If I continue that weight gain with 16 weeks to go that will be another 32 lbs.
Stretch marks: No changes
Symptoms: I can tell my appetite has been picking up quite a bit. I have to be careful and make sure I'm nibbling on some healthy snacks every hour or so or I will eat too much at my next meal.
Sleep: I have noticed that I have been sleeping better but I think the heat is taking everything out of me. I'm so much more exhausted every day.
Best Moment this Week: My hubby and I made a painting for Parker's room. It perfectly matches his decor. We felt like one wall was just too bare and so I told my hubby what I wanted it and he just drew it and I painted it. I love it!
Food Cravings: Peaches, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Grapes, Oranges, and milk.....my hubby laughed too.
Labor Signs: Had a few more contractions than I normally do. Possibly because of a bladder infection.
Belly Button in or out?: In, I really don't think it will ever become an outie.
Wedding rings on or off?: Still on but I'm noticing that my fingers are definately swelling my rings are making big indentations on my fingers which they never did before
Movement: He moves all over, even as I type now. He loves the sound of Nolan's voice when he reads to Parker at night. My cat even saw my belly do this funny roll because of Parker and got this funny look on his face.
Milestones: Getting the nursery started and almost finished.