Skirting the Issue

I love the skirted table that Erika had made for her daughter's second birthday. The fabric is very inexpensive, and she chose red so that she could use it again on holidays (how festive will it be on the 4th of July?).


Our dining room table's surface takes a beating when we have guests and it would be nice to have a floor-length cloth to use when we pull the chairs away. Ana Spiro has a lovely ticking-stripe cloth on her desk.


A box pleat would be pretty, too, and that might be a little more in-line with my sewing abilities. Now, where's my measuring tape?

The Plan for Baby's Room

When we found out Baby Bonds was on his or her way in May I thought that surely by November the nursery would be nearly complete. Ahahahahahahaha. We are, unfortunately, not even close with t-minus ten weeks to go, give or take (take being more likely as Wes and I were born 5 and 3 weeks early, respectively). I could offer a host of excuses, but why bother? The good news is that we're getting there (that halleluiah chorus you hear is our mothers).

Here's the plan (by the way, we won't know the baby's gender until D-Day):

The walls will stay the same color (see it here), Blue Shamrock by Olympic. A vintage chest and new Jenny Lind crib (which should arrive by this weekend!) will get a fresh coat of Pumpkin Seed by Martha Stewart for Home Depot. The chest's old hardware will get a good scrub. The white Ikea curtains will be trimmed with green ball fringe from JoAnn's and will be hung from the brass-look rod above (from Home Depot). The pink chair will be covered in flax linen from Lewis & Sheron. The crib bedding is simple, with white linen bumpers from Pom Pom at Home and a flax linen skirt (made my yours truly following this method). The green and white striped fabric is from my stash, and might become a pillow or perhaps a cover for the changing pad that will sit on the chest. The light fixture is similar to this one, and I bought it for $7 at a prop sale two years ago. I have some ideas for "art" that I need to price, and we still need a rug, at least a lamp or two, and a small side table to go with the chair (though the garden stool I already have will do just fine).

So, it's kind of a hodge-podge, but I like it, and let's be honest, the baby will not care! And don't worry, if she's a she, I'm sure I'll find a way to add some pink here or there.

Painting the Kitchen Floor

Making Room for Baby has turned into Starting a Million Projects. Well, really it's starting a couple of projects, which have led to other projects. Case in point: High on Wes's list of priorities has been moving our washer and dryer from the middle of the kitchen into a closet in the breakfast room.


But to accomodate them, the closet had to get bigger. So the entire wall had to come out. I am getting a pantry out of the deal (HOORAY!) but now we have to deal with the floors in both rooms. The peel-and-stick linoleum tiles have been doing more peeling than sticking lately so I was not sad to see them go. I was a little sad though, to see more linoleum and then lovely vinyl tile underneath.


Since we aren't yet ready for a full-on remodel, we've decided to paint the subfloor. Now, do I want a big checkerboard, stripes, or solid?

Photos: Cottage Living.

A Last Look at the Guest Bedroom

When I painted and decorated the guest bedroom last summer, I had in my head that it was temporary since we always planned to turn that room into the nursery. We didn't, however, expect to be doing so quite so soon. So, I'm a little sad to see it go. Especially now that I have this fabulous new-to-me lamp that really pulls it all together!


I can't take any credit at all for this Craig's List gem, as it was Joi who spotted it and included it in her Minneapolis round-up. I feel in lust immediately and e-mailed the seller to see if he was interested in shipping it to Alabama. Obviously, he was, and it is now happily at home under a yard sale shade I picked up for a $1 last summer (I knew I would eventually use it!).


The rest of the room is looking a little scary. The 10-inch square recessed light fixture is gone, thankfully, and the patch it required is joined by an even bigger patch -- a casualty of my paranoia about the "water spot" you see on right. Oh well, we were going to have to paint the ceiling anyway!


The room is also home to Random Pink Thrift Store Chair (under $30!), which will hopefully become Beautiful Nursery Chair sometime in the next 6 months.

Could I Do This?

I've got curtains on my mind lately. Particularly the lack of them in our bedroom. I love these Greek key-trimmed beauties featured in Coastal Living and wonder, could I make these? I could save some cash by using a drop cloth or other inexpensive fabric, and I feel good about my box pleat-making skills after making the skirted desk. Wes could break out his carpentry skills to help me with the body of the valance, and surely my limited sewing skills could handle a trim. If not, a little hem tape would do the job.


Lewis & Sheron has a pretty and affordable Greek key trim ($12/yard).


This flat tape might be interesting ($8/yard).


But I am especially leaning toward this blue and blue geometric ($12/yard).

May Backyard Progress

In addition to our deck, we've been sprucing up a little spot of the backyard. Our house only opens to the yard from the kitchen into the carport, so we moved the fence and gate into the carport (from the edge of the concrete you see here). It seemed a little strange at first, but there is still plenty of room to maneuver around a car, and it's nice to be able to leave the back door open when we are in and out without fear that Maddie will escape.

We also planted a little sod, moved three hydrangea to the inside of the fence (and added a fourth) and planted a few hosta. This part of the yard gets basically no sun, which is nice when sitting on the deck, but makes flower-planting challenging.

Still left to do here: add some stepping stones to the deck and the stairs that lead down into the yard, plant a few more shade-friendly plants (impatiens and ferns), and replace the top of the cinder-block wall with more attractive brick (which we dug out of various places in the yard). Oh, and finish the deck railing, but I'm still in no hurry for that.


I had lofty dreams of a small garden, but we really don't get enough sun for that (boo!). But my little herb garden -- planted in a galvanized tub we drilled holes in and placed in the sun in the middle of the deck -- is doing beautifully! I think it's about time to eat some basil.



They hydrangeas seem to like their new spot, as the fence shades them from the hot afternoon sun. They don't have quite as many buds as I'd hoped -- perhaps they need a good feeding?


The new set-up with the fence makes outdoor-dog washing a breeze! My bathroom drain and I are very thankful, as this girl is one hairy beast. I think I might have to get over my vanity and shave her this summer! Eeek.


For a dog who loves to swim, she sure does hate getting a bath. Here she is expressing her displeasure at being photographed instead of toweled off, brought inside, and given a treat for decent bathtime behavior.

Day 999: progress inside and out

We have been busy, busy bees lately! Our backyard deck is coming along nicely after four Saturdays of work at countless trips to Lowe's.


Wes has braved cold rain, humidity, and mountains of mud to get it ready for our wonderful spring weather. We have a large and very private backyard (more so when the trees have leaves on them) and have been looking forward to having breakfast, lunch and dinner out there since we moved in two years ago.


Wes' Dad and our friend Ben have lent their hands, and I even helped mix concrete one weekend, but it has really been Wes' labor of love and I am so proud of (and thankful for) his hard work.


Meanwhile, I have been working on a little makeover in our bedroom (here is my inspiration). It was the first room in the house we painted, and I can't really say that I ever loved it. At first it was a bit difficult to admit that I'd made a "mistake," but after going through three paint colors in the office, I decided there wasn't any harm in painting the bedroom again. Paint, after all, is one of the easiest and least expensive thing to change, and usually has the greatest impact.

I painted the walls China White and the ceiling 1/2 formula of Palladian Blue (both by Benjamin Moore) and I love it. After the China White went up I wasn't sure I hadn't made another mistake (this is my first foray into white walls), but now that the ceiling is done it's perfect. Now if I can tear Wes away from the deck for a minute, we can deal with the space our lovely recessed square lighting left us, hang the new light fixture (well, it's new to us) and caulk and paint the crown, and we'll be in business!