Monday Lovely: Today is the Day

Although our master bathroom has been finished for about a year and a half I haven't really gotten around to decorating it. I am s l o w l y getting back into the groove and picked up a shower curtain (we had just been using a plain white liner because I couldn't find a curtain I liked. How embarrassing. I have a severe, constant case of of Analysis Paralysis.), a towel bar (yet-to-be-hung) and some picture frames so that when I found some works of art I could just hang them quickly before I over-analyzed what kind of frames my future artwork needed.

Little A and I took a trip into Urban Outfitters to pick up some Father's Day items for Z (we found this, which he loves for its practicality and I love for its old-fashioned-key-lookingness) and I discovered a little bowl in the same shade of green that our bathroom is painted. It also features some bright reds, blues and other colors as accents. I decided this is the color scheme for our bathroom and I bought it (for $2.99 on sale). So now the hunt is on for vibrantly colored accent items.

A quick search on Etsy and I discovered a little treasure from this shop.

I love its motivational message (and, boy, could I use some motivating these days), bold color and great font.

.

Monday Lovely: Beautiful Bistro

Are you familiar with Terrain? News of this chic home/garden/landscape shop's online arrival has been all over the Internet like (expensively priced) moss on a stone. And I'm sure its popularity isn't hurt by the fact that it happens to be a sister company to the store that is to Utah women what crack is to junkies.

I was browsing through its pages and thought this red patio set was so dreamy. Can't you just imagine lounging around in this cheery, red chair, drinking a refreshing glass of lemonade and reading a favorite magazine? Yeah, I can't either. Who has time for that? But in another life I would totally be up for it. Especially with this chair's gorgeous, high back.

And I would love to set my cool, refreshing drink on one of this adorable flower-shaped table's wire petals.

If you like this table and chair, too but don't want to drop the pretty big bones it would take to buy the whole set, check out this option from K Mart. Just as lemonade-worthy, I think.

.

Monday Lovely: Better looking than the TI-85 I spent big bucks on in high school

Confession: I partially chose my college major based on the area of study that required the least amount of math classes. Yayyyyy for my bachelor's degree in communication. I do think, though, that if I could use a beautiful abacus such as this one from CB2 I would rethink my dislike for counting.

Anchored properly, I know it would be the perfect wall decoration above Little A's crib. He could slide the beads back and forth, and who knows, maybe use it to do our taxes.

.

Monday Lovely: Stiletto Soaker

I was reading my new issue of Elle Decor (even though Z hates this magazine because he thinks it's pretentious and snobby and features rooms with way too much toile) a week ago and actually laughed out loud when I saw the double-page ad for this over-the-top bathtub from Sicis, a mosaic art company (their work really is spectacular).


It's fabulous, ridiculous, shiny and sporting a serious heel: everything a bathtub should be, right? I have no idea how much this costs, but I assume it isn't cheap. If I had stacks and stacks of money lying around there's no doubt I would use one of them to purchase this. Just for the ability to say, "Sorry, can't talk now. I have to sit in my giant shoe and shave my legs."


.

Anthony's Plain Plane (Ha!) Nursery Mobile

Throughout my pregnancy I entertained myself by planning the nursery decor. Not actually decorating it, mind you, since the nursery nook's construction wasn't even completed by the time we were high-tailin' it to the hospital to welcome our little bambino. But picking out fictional nursery items and doing nothing with these ideas was something that I did really well.

I had a general idea of the colors (lots of 'em), theme (none! thankyouverymuch) and style (cozy modern) but not a clue of what kind of mobile to put up above the crib. So I waited. And found some I liked on Etsy. But didn't buy any since I didn't see any I couldn't live without. So I waited some more. And then I found one when we were in Rome but Zach was being grumpy after a too-long day of walking and so he said he didn't like it (even though I think he really did). So we didn't buy that one either. So we waited some more. Then I went with Teri to a craft store for inspiration and to buy items to make one. But I didn't find anything there so still no mobile. And we waited some more.

Now, Anthony is almost six months old and as of last week he was still mobile-less. I decided that last weekend was it. We would find ourselves a mobile. I had some criteria: Definitely nothing with characters licensed by a giant movie studio. Preferably no sports-related items. [Editor's note: I have nothing against sports-related items. But let's be honest. Little A has as much chance of inheriting my severe lack of coordination as he does getting his dad's athletic genes.] Animals and airplanes are desired. Vintage-looking items preferred. Oh, and what I find must be affordable, ideally under $10. Good luck, right?

I loaded Little A into his stroller and trekked up to our favorite store, walking up and down the toy aisle. I was hoping I would find what I was looking for and stopped in the classic toy section. I was able to scoop up these little beauties.



I originally had planned to paint every airplane a different color, each in a shade that we've used in the nursery nook (currently orange, brown, red and green). But after I put them together I decided their retro detail was just too cute to cover up.

Thinking of things from Anthony's crib-level perspective (I'm thoughtful like that), I realized that staring at natural-colored wood against a white background isn't as exciting as it sounds. Actually, it would be exactly as exciting as it sounds.

So we broke out the red paint. And I slapped on some detail (using a kid's watercolor paintbrush, the only one I could round up on the spot) to the underside of the planes, making them stand out for his little baby eyes a bit better.




Mid-way through the project, I included a very important step: Impromptu nacho eating. This makes the project much easier to complete and must not be skipped.


After using some of my college-level physics to figure out how to hang them without making them tip weirdly, I strung them with fishing line. Anthony's nursery nook is super tiny (it will likely be transformed into a walk-in closet on the tragic day we must sell our beloved teeny little home) so I didn't want to hang anything from the ceiling that took up too much space, out of fear of making the room look too cluttered. Fishing line seemed perfect since it's darn near invisible.



I hung them from eye hooks and I must say they are a big hit with our little guy. He loves staring, reaching and kicking up toward the airplanes and because they are actually light-weight gliders, they flutter and move around when the air conditioning turns on. Perfect! No batteries necessary.

The whole thing cost about seven bucks. And the cool shadows they make on the wall? Those were a freebie.





key words: affordable mobile, modern baby mobiles, baby mobiles, vintage baby mobile

Monday Lovely: Letterpress prints

I never thought I'd say this: We're in the home stretch of the nursery/master bedroom/bathroom remodel. Carpet will be here tomorrow and the last of the touch-up painting is getting done today thanks to my wonderfulwonderfulwonderful father-in-law. (Did I mention that he is wonderful?)

Last night I took a soak in our new ginormous bathtub (Thanks to my sister-in-law's wonderfulwonderfulwonderful boyfriend. He got us an awesome deal on this SIX FOOT LONG tub. It's incredible. Michael Phelps may be coming over later to swim laps, I'm not sure.)

So now that I can focus on the really important things, like decorating, I ordered a few prints on Etsy that I think will make smashing additions to the nursery nook. I'm so excited to see them framed on the wall.

Bittersugar's letterpressed 'Bridge with Birds' and 'Camping' prints

.

Master Bedroom Mood Board

We have a mattress and box springs in our closet (Just some info on why you may have noticed that I'm usually wearing the same shoes every day: I have to fight a Serta for my stilettos.). A rocking chair/recliner has taken up residence next to our front door and baby clothes and supplies have been living on our dining room table. The double-sink bathroom vanity looks dashing on our back patio. And the kitchen counter has been transformed into our temporary office, complete with a printer and files amidst cutting boards and can openers.

We're living in the middle of a transition, waiting for our bedroom, nursery and master bathroom to be completed. Until that's done, we're getting creative with how we're storing things in all 800 of our square feet.

The remodeling project is still going OK, although not nearly as fast as I'd like it to be progressing. While I wait for the sheetrocking to start, I've been trying to pick out the furniture and other items so that once the "important" stuff, like uh, walls, are in place, we can just slam everything in and be nice and cozy.

Here's what I'm thinking so far for our bedroom...

I've tried to do similar colors to the adjoining nursery nook, just on a more muted palette. Now if we can find a place to store this stuff before the room is done, we'll be all set.

I think there's still some space in the bathtub.


.

Weekend Update: It's electric!

This picture sums up how we spent our weekend. Z & I decided on the paint colors and tile for the basement bathroom and are narrowing down the color palette for our bedroom. We also bought a new mattress so my poor aching back is now a happy, non-aching back and we scored a rocking chair without having to deal with a salesman who is high on drugs. Oh happy day!

Also, the electrical was finished. Hopefully we can get plumbing squared away in the next week or so and then we can drywall... As an expecting mama I don't think these projects can get done quickly enough but I'm trying my best to be patient.


.

Monday Lovely: Changing Table

Ever since I realized that we have a bun in the oven, I've been scouring craigslist, consignment shops, DI, yard sales and anywhere else that could possibly be housing the dresser/changing table of my dreams.

I'm a big fan of the European design style of combining modern furniture with older, almost country-style pieces. And since I'm loving the Amy Coe modern baby crib, I wanted to pair it (or something similar) with a used vintage-style dresser. Unfortunately, though, I haven't been able to find one. I had an idea in mind that I want a smaller dresser that sits up off the ground on legs and hopefully has some whimsical detail.

I think that this dresser obsession was started while I watched the Sex in the City movie. During the 2+ hours I stared at the big screen, I was not only completely engrossed in the girls' shenanigans, I was stopped mid-popcorn bite by the black and white striped dresser in little Lily's bedroom:

So imagine my surprise when we were in Price a few weeks ago and what did I spy just a mile down the road from my parents' home?

This little beauty.

My parents saw in my eyes (and heard in my shrieks) that it was the furniture piece I'd been dreaming of and they snapped it up quickly from the highway-side flea market (thanks, Mom and Dad!). My dad has already stripped it of its old paint and stain and discovered that it's actually an old television that has been transformed into a dresser that will soon be retrofitted into Mirando's changing table.

With a snappy new paint job and some fun knobs, maybe these or these? It's going to be the perfect addition to our nursery nook.


.