Nursery reveal + 39 weeks

After weeks of moving, unpacking, and becoming legal residents of Texas, we are at the end of pregnancy and baby boy's nursery is done! We have a two-bedroom apartment and the baby's room is actually divided into thirds - the other side is our office and music room, complete with our cellos on the walls.

Our 39 week appointment was this week, and baby is locked and loaded and ready to roll. In other words he's head down and facing the right way. I couldn't have asked for a better pregnancy aside from the exhaustion that came in the first trimester, and know I'm very blessed to be able to say that. 

His official due date is July 16, next Saturday - but we are betting on the full moon helping him out on July 19!

The nursery is a mix of old and new - and lots of art! My goal was to keep his items to a minimum in a fun, gender neutral feel using a lot of what we already had (except the crib obviously, from this sustainable baby furniture company). 

The antique dresser is mine from college, and I just replaced the drawer pulls for something more modern. It holds all his diapering supplies, the first three-six month's clothes (just jammies!), swaddles, a baby wrap, and those little baby accessories I thought would be useful like tiny socks, bibs, a teeny swim diaper, and sun hat. 

Baby's books are from our own childhoods, and his wall art is also something special to us. 

The little owl was bought by my grandparents on a trip to Mexico in the 1950s. I painted the canvas over the crib over five years ago, and even named it "The Baby's Dream," so I suppose it has been for this baby from the beginning. The little string "goodness garland" on top of the painting was handmade by a dear friend back in Pittsburgh.

Cody and I made the mobile last week from leftover guest favor tags from our wedding, zero-VOC paint from a furniture refurb project, an extra dowel rod we had laying around (doesn't everyone?), and the pom pom thing off a winter hat that got destroyed over three Pennsylvania winters.

Baby's first ultrasound pictures hang over his changing table/dresser to remind us of the awe we felt when we first saw him. I hope this memory comes in handy in the wee hours of the morning, when we are cleaning up the inevitable blow-outs I hear are headed our way. 

Last, the little fox that hangs from the corner of the green wire basket represents our first memory of baby. The day we found out we were going to have a child, we took a long walk to absorb the news in a beautiful old cemetery near our home in Pittsburgh. It was a gray and cold November morning. As we turned down a long road a beautiful red fox stepped out of the woods next to us. After a minute he turned and disappeared the way he had come -  I have no idea what that moment meant, but I found the fox ornament over Christmas, and got it to preserve that memory.

We are following the American Academy of Pediatric's recommendation to keep everything but a crib sheet out of his bed.  In the pic I'm using it to store one of his toys, but it won't stay there. 

Because he is a Cancer, we threw in a few crabs for good measure! There is the little fox ornament, and a turkey feather we found in the same graveyard we hiked through all the time in Pittsburgh, tucked into the plant.

 

While I'd like him to take naps in his room to get used to it, baby boy's main bed for the first few months is his moses basket in our room.

Those are breastfeeding supplies in the little basket - like lanolin, and granola bars for energy. We are planning to spend the first week in bed learning to feed little baby. And sleeping.

This is an Under the Nile scrappy doll made from bits of leftover baby clothes. 

Hoping that our next post will introduce our son! Please keep us in your prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy, strong baby (and parents). #unreal

The Life Changing Magic of Organizing Closets

If you read this title you probably either got a thrill of excitement, "Oh yes I love organizing! She cares about that stuff!" or you thought, "Oh S**t, she cares about stuff like that?! Goodbye blog!"

Let's be clear, I do not hate or love organizing. I love being home that feels clean and energizing and represents who you want to be. That is this spirit of a post like this :)

This spring my mother sent me a copy of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It's well-written, easy to read and super doable! It teaches you to look at the items you live with as pieces of your happiness, or your constant stress.

I found out how to personally use the author's info on my closets, the ubiquitous catch-alls and "just shut the door, no one will see" areas of our lives. If you're hiding crap in closets, prepare for inner stress that is oh-so real.

There aren't before pictures here which I know is a little lame, but just imagine a nasty full closet of cleaning supplies, office supplies and everything else. I also bought nothing to help me organize. I already had the organization helpers that you'll see in my phone pics here, I just repurposed them! Though in the end, I did buy a little old shower curtain as a reward after two Saturdays spent doing this project;)

Disclaimer: something that made this great was having the help of a little gray cat. More on her soon!

I put WillaCat to work sorting binders...and wooden figurines.

First up, the office closet!
This guy is from our office area, and has been used for everything from wedding clothes to camera gear and odds and ends that have no home on my desk. I used a clothes hanging device that let me stow the bulkier pieces like a few odd books and my camera gear. I also sorted through an entire recycling bin's worth of paper that was in here!

I used a bookshelf to house the baskets and books. 

All my craft items are in the blue bins, and I like to save cardboard boxes for shipping.

Making space in the closet also made a space for things I really need that were taking up so much space on my floating shelf. Now I only keep over my desk for what inspires me.

Cleaned-off shelf! Life changing, lol.

Second, the hall cleaning closet.
This is a simple shoe holder attached to the door. I got all the cleaning supplies off the shelves that we desperately needed for sheets and towels, and popped them right into to this thing! Yes, there are some un-sustainable cleaners in there, but we inherited those. Someday it will be full of Method and homemade good things.

Last and perhaps the most annoying, the bathroom vanity drawer. In our small bathroom, this drawer belongs to me. I just have more stuff than Cody that I need in the morning. It was swimming in bobby pins and crud  I never used including a too-big makeup bag. Now both bags contain exactly what I need to get ready quick.

I hope this inspires you to take some action on some home projects that have been bugging you. Just git'r'done!

Oh, and here's a peak at our sweet shower curtain that was my reward. It lets so much light in!

Peeping out of the toilet basket is Squeaky Green, a book by Method on all things environmentally friendly for cleaning your home.

Home style: Lessons learned from a small bathroom

We love the open-space feel of our little 1960s duplex, but boy is our one bathroom small. We're talking wee tiny! It's adorable, but storage space gets tricky fast.

This has taught us to minimize to what we actually need, and I tell you, it feels great. Mr. Einstein said it: "the measure of intelligence is the ability to change." (He'd roll over in his tomb if he knew what this post was about.) Drumroll.....it's bathrooms!!

I was lucky to have my own bathroom as a kid. It had tons of cabinets and I filled those things up with every kind of lotion and potion my that sounded like a miracle for solving pre-teen body-image issues. I aim to never have that much crap again! Whenever I visit my parents and see those still half-empty bottles of overpoweringly-scented glitter lotion (yes, still there), I physically cringe.

Having a small bathroom encourages us to only get what we need and use the most, there just isn't room for impulse buys. I've actually really enjoyed narrowing down my own personal care product needs to simple, good things that nourish my skin and hair and don't clog our virally non-existent shelves and cabinets with more than I need.  I still like trying new products, so we purposefully don't buy large bottles that we'll get sick of before we run out. (Recycle those bathroom plastics when they do run out!)

The previous owner and I flipped the space over the summer, painting the bright pink wall tiles white, and installing a new tub and vanity. I also painted it a very calming, warm gray tone that lets little colors pop out around the room.  I love this very-important-room, and wanted to share some of the ways we've adapted to it.

This is the entire space. You can turn on the shower and sink whilst sitting on the throne.

Keeping the pretty (but useful!) stuff on the glass shelf over the toilet. The pink catch-all was my grandmother's, and I store bobby pins in a washed-out jam jar.

This setup of buckets and hooks from IKEA was what my friend/landlady used when she lived here, we've kept it around since it's the perfect way to keep most-used items on hand.

I've pretty much absorbed all the space in the drawer with my makeup and brush, but hey - Cody only needs about three things for his upkeep!

Our under-sink storage are his and hers baskets wit bulkier, less used items.

Lights! Camera! Teeny bathroom - go!


Experience is the best teacher when learning to live small. What are some positive things you've learned from tiny bathrooms?