Guest Room Updates

Our house is currently being de-junkafied.  That's probably not a word, but that's what's happening.  Our "donate" pile is outrageous with things that we honestly know we haven't touched a year.  We've been shuffling around the closets to make space for Mini M. In the process, I realized that I haven't shared the updates to the guest room.

Check out the House Tour to see how it started out.

You can see that I moved the curtains that I made for our master bedroom in here.  They felt a little more fun in here.  The wall color stayed the same, so basically we just made some changes with the furniture arrangement and accessories.

See those tiny little airplanes inside my lamp?! Isn't that fun?! Eric's mom had those for his graduation party and gifted them to us.  After long debating what to do with them, I found this fun lamp that you can put stuff in.

More accessory change-ups.  I found that globe in a vintage shop for $12!  Despite being a little dated (it still shows the Soviet Union rather than Russia) I think I still adds a lot of charm to the space.  I'm also very pumped that I haven't killed my jade plant yet!

These tables used to be in my grandma's house and I inherited them when she passed in March 2013.  I'm not sure what I'm doing with these yet (if anything.)  They are a little worse for the ware and could definitely use a good sanding and staining, but I've also thought about painting them or possibly dipping the legs in a funky color of paint.

You can see we also decided to forgo the DIY headboard from before. 

Finally, we relocated the larger Italian photo from the living room in here along with the picture painted by Eric's grandma (it's a picture of Eric and his brother Sam playing on the beach in Florida.)  Since the room is for guests it's kind of taken on a bit of a travel theme almost, so both pieces seemed very appropriate for in here.  You'll also notice that we've saved all of our travel soaps/shampoos/etc in the glass jar.  I think it's a nice touch for guests that don't want to bring toiletries.

Week 17 Update

Check out my Week 17 "By the Weeks" update by clicking on this link

Master Bathroom Reveal

Remember back to what the master "pinkalicious" bathroom looked like before by visiting my house tour.  

The scenario: it's the second week of October.  We had just found out that we are expecting Mini M. in June.  So we decided immediately that we wanted to go ahead and redo this bathroom to avoid any dust or bathroom sharing with Mini M.

What ensued was the fastest bathroom project in the history of our time together (we've done 3 bathrooms total-2 here and 1 at our other house.)  It literally only took a month.  I've never made decisions so fast!

To keep the "flow" of our house, I made it easy on myself and chose the same floor and wall tiles, grout, tub stain, toilet, and shower curtain.  All accessories (rug, soap dispenser, tooth brush holder, and baskets) are from Target.

The wall color is what I love the most in here.  It's Antique Glass by Benjamin Moore.  I never even got the sample-I just found a picture of it on Pinterest! 

Eric frosted the window because we thought it looked so nice with it's fresh white paint that we didn't want to cover it.  We also got a fan and electrical outlets since there weren't any before.  Now I can finally do my hair in the bathroom!  

What's the fastest construction project you've ever had?

Guest Bathroom Reveal

We sneakily gutted and redid our bathrooms.  Both of them.  Surprise!

Time travel yourself back to early August.  Eric and I had been talking all summer about redoing the guest bathroom but didn't really feel like we had the time to do it.  We bumped into the contractor who did the majority of our kitchen and he said he was free at the end of the month-score!  Bathroom here we come!

Click on over to my house tour to see the before pics of the "blue bathroom."  

Bye bye blue tile!  This bathroom was a total gut job with new dry wall, tile (floor and shower,) fixtures, toilet, and vanity.  A fan was also installed along with electrical outlets, neither of which we had in here before.  We wanted to do something fairly neutral, so the walls are a soft grayish white (which is kind of hard to see here-paint color is Simply White by Benjamin Moore) and all of the subway tile is bright white with soft gray grout.

We chose subway tile that goes all the way up the wall mainly just on a whim, but we're thrilled with how it turned out! Despite my previous dislike of the finish, we went with all chrome fixtures.  I think they look very clean and modern against the white finishes.  The tub was also re-glazed and man did that make a huge difference!

Accessory rundown: Target (soap dispenser,) Johnathan Adler for JC Pennies (candles and rug,) Etsy (airplane art)

The light over the mirror was probably the decision I hem'ed and haw'ed over the most, mostly because it's actually an outdoor light.  I liked the industrial feel it added to the space, but wasn't sure if it really provided enough light.  I was also thinking of resale, but ultimately that's an easy fix and if I need to change out my $39 Home Depot light when we move in five years, that's okay by me!

The floor tile was one of the things we decided to spend a little more money on since this is such a small bathroom.  It reads gray/white/slightly griege and is made of porcline.  (It's hard to see, but I'm still IN LOVE with the pattern in the rug, swoon!)

Next up: the master bathroom, aka the "pink bathroom"

Nursery Beginnings

Woo hoo it's nursery time! We've decided on using the striped room for our little bundle 'o' joy.  As you can see this is where we're starting.  Not quite baby-ready, but it can only get better from here!  

 What's going:

• The pile of stuff in the far right corner (we spent a large portion of our snowed in time cleaning out the closets to make room for the newest little M.
• The bulletin board, shoddy shelf/filing cabinet, guitar, and basically all "stuff" you see
• The drapes
• The fan (I hope! Eric's not totally on board yet)

What's staying:

• The stripes-we figure they're pretty gender neutral and we can add accents depending on the sex of the baby
• The dresser-add a changing pad plus some fun new knobs and we'll consider it perfect

The Inspiration: Girl!

• Gold, gold, gold!
• Glitzy softness
• Polka dots

 Source

 Source-Etsy

Source-Etsy

Source-Golden Sugar Studio

The Inspiration: Boy!

• Airplanes
• Bold dresser
• Orange, navy, & gray/brown accents

 Source

 Source-Etsy

 Source

 Source-Houzz

Source-Thistle Wood Farms

Realistically, we're not going to start until we find out the gender of Mini M. so not until early-to-mid February.  Stay tuned!

First Trimester Wrap-Up

First trimester of my pregnancy has came and gone-I say this like I'm so far along-16 1/2 weeks, thank you very much! This may be bordering on TMI, but so many people ask me about cravings, how I'm feeling, etc so why not write a post about it? (Or at least that's what I'll keep telling myself!)

Morning Sickness:

Not an issue.  I didn't blow chunks once, which I was super surprised about because I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat. There may have been a hand full of days that I felt "yucky," but I only thought I might get sick once. And that was at the Home Depot (for those of you who might be wondering.)

Heartburn:

Oh the heartburn!  In the past I've had ulcers and my GI doctor tells me I have a highly acidic stomach to begin with, so unfortunately heartburn is my lot in life.  I had it mostly under control prior to becoming PG by *mostly* giving up coffee, dairy, and soda, but it came roaring back with a vengeance around week 5.  At this point it's off and on, but I was eating Tums like nobodies business for weeks straight.  Seriously.  Should have bought stock in Tums.

Acne:

Check.  All over my chin?!? WTH?!? I've NEVER had zits there before.  

Dry skin:

Oh my word, I don't know if we're having an extremely dry winter but my skin is like sand paper!  Another thing I should have invested in: Curel lotion.

Cravings:

At least this is a somewhat fun category!  It's really surprising to me how quickly these have changed.  Over the coarse of the first trimester I've wanted: roast beef deli sandwiches (really ALL deli sandwiches,) Eggs Benedict, Caesar salad, brownies, sausage, lasagna, steak, and beer (!?!?) For those of you that don't know, I don't even LIKE beer!  Obviously there are several of these items that I've not been able to indulge in because I'm trying to follow all the guidelines (sorry beer!) but other things I've been doing in moderation.

Aversions:

Let me reiterate, I did not have morning sickness.  However that increased sense of smell really discouraged me from eating lots of things that I typically enjoy.  I didn't want anything creamy. Potato or butternut squash soup.  Ice cream.  Cream cheese.  The idea of eating broccoli wasn't very appealing to me either.

I think that's probably as far as I'll go without getting too personal. :0)

Pregnant and/or mom friends, what kinds of cravings are/did you have during your first trimester?

Furry Visitors

Over the Christmas holiday, we had the pleasure of hosting Eric's sister and brother-in-law from Phoenix, along with our fur-nephew Enzo.  Seriously they were some the nicest and easiest house guests we've ever had!  They vacuumed, replaced the food they ate, and showered us with gifts (coffee, a slick new toaster oven, and a Groupon for carpet cleaning.)  Jodie and Jason, you guys rock!

It was a bit of an adjustment for my furbabies (let's just say Jozie did not provide the warmest of welcomes for her cousin and Wyatt was MIA for the majority of the week.)  Poor Enzo was sweet as could be, but apparently Jozie felt the need to protect me, her food, the cat, the bedrooms, etc.  Many areas of the house were off limits in her book.

Just like Caesar (the Dog Whisperer) says, walks are key!  We had to wear out the hounds so that they Jozie wouldn't have enough energy left to snarl and bully.  Caesar talks about integrating them into a pack by walking together because of the hunting mentality that walks provoke.  Caesar, you win again!

Eventually everyone settled their souls and got along (picture us singing "Why Can't We Be Friends?" at the beginning of the week and "Kumbaya" by the end.)  Even Wyatt made brief appearances!

Did you have visitors over Christmas?  If so, how'd it go?

I love...LAMP!

(Couldn't resist the bad Anchor Man reference!)  

Anyways, I've been pining after this gorgeous West Elm Industrial Table Lamp for forever and a day.  Thanks to some Christmas money, I was finally able to snag it (with the help of a 20% off coupon!)

Also notice the new filing cabinet.  A good chunk of my snowy Sunday was spent organizing this puppy.  That is of course, after my boyfriend willingly put the wheels on for me! For a while I'd considered wanting to paint a filing cabinet to look like this, but I think I'm happy to let the lamp steal the show.

Here she is up close.  Isn't it just such a happy color?! I like the "pop" it brings to the space.  (That space being the back side of the man cave, to provide you with some orientation.)

What fun colors have you added to your small spaces recently?

Merry Belated

Christmas break was a whirlwind of family celebrations, visitors, baby showers, and now let's tack on two snow days to wrap it all up!  

Though late, the sentiment is still all the same: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Eric, Lauren, and Mini M.!