A Shared Girls Bedroom

It's been a while since I've shared some progress on our home!  As I've mentioned before, the hubby and I LOVE DIY projects, decorating a home on a budget, and making it a truly unqiue and special place.  With hubby working really long hours and my being pregnant, these obviously slowed down.  However, we've done quite a few things nonetheless and we're pretty happy with the results!  I always say rooms are never 100% done b/c you can always tweak, always add, always take out, etc.  But the girls room is about 90% done.

Before even discovering we were expecting baby #3, our girls expressed a desire to share a room.  We knew we would be trying for baby #3 soon and gladly gave in to their request!  Sharing a room is so much fun, we knew they'd have a blast!

We thought about painting the walls but truth be told ... we didn't have it in us! When we first moved to the house, we painted the walls the same green we had in our old house.  Turns out that's a horrible idea.  Each space, each room, and each house looks different!  The green in our old house was a soft, sweet muted but fun color for a nursery.  In this house it looked like radioactive nuclear material!  Just petrifying!  We lightened it up and repainted.  Eh.  It looked only half decent.  So, we painted a THIRD time.  Yes, a THIRD time to a very light pink and although it isn't my favorite paint of all time, it was significantly better and we've left it at that.

When we moved in, this is what the room looked like (not our furniture, just the paint and the rest):

3123 Ridge Pass Rd, Little Rock, AR 72227

The paint color was too dark for our tastes and we knew we' want to change that.  The built-ins are divine but you can't tell in the photo above that they were painted a yellow white.  We painted those white and now today, our girls share their room in here! :)


As you can see, our solution was bunk beds!  We bought the bunk beds & fun lamp from Ikea, the curtain from Target, the table and chairs from Ikea, the rug from JC Penney (it was in my younger ones nursery and we just brought it over here instead), and the bedding from Target.

To the sides of the bunk beds (not pictured) is a rolling toy cart and storage solution. That way the girls have plenty of room to play with all those toys in the morning!


I'm not going to lie, our book cases still need lots of organization.  For now, they're mainly used to keep things out of reach of a 2 year old (for isntance, the huge bottle of lotion that she got all over everything a few months ago).  We also have SO many books and there just isn't a pretty way to store tons and tons of beat up books.  But it's a practical thing for the girls right now and I feel that decorating a space shouldn't be for others.  This is the best solution for us, for them, and I'm happy with that!  It's our kind of beautiful.


I made this bunting to go above the mirror since it looked kinda empty.  The "think happy" and "follow your dreams" one were purchased at Altar'd State, a chain that I had never heard of until I saw it at a shopping center here, and the rest was done by yours truly.  The girls loved the fun and bright addition.

There is nothing sweeter than hearing the girls playing in the mornings.  I think a shared room is a total blessing to them.  It's made them closer, it's given them more independence (since they can play together instead of having to come get their parents), and it's given many many bouts of laughter.  Mission accomplished.



23 Weeks Pregnant

I'm roughly 26 weeks pregnant and just posting about my 23 week pregnant chalkboard.  On top of things much? I've learned that with baby #3 things run more slowly.  Literally ... I walk more slowly, I sit down more slowly, you get it.  One thing that isn't slow though?  My belly growth!  I'm HUGE.  I know people always say that, but at 23 weeks, I'm the same size as when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first and 29 with my second!  YIKES!  I think we've got a big boy in there! :)

With my other daughters, I did weekly belly pictures and have really enjoyed looking back on them.  Now that my oldest is four, she loves looking through them and seeing how Mommy's belly got so big!  I knew that taking a weekly picture this time would be difficult since hubby is working all the time and doesn't get home until way past bedtime, so I wanted something special, unique, and still manageable!

Hubby and I built a big chalkboard for baby boy's nursery that is well secured above the crib.  I plan on writing his monthly milestones there when he's born, but why not use it in the mean time?


So there I am at 23 weeks!  YIKES!  I can't imagine how much more I'll grow! :)  But as he's kicking right now and going crazy as I type, I know it's all worth it.

To make the chalkboard, we measured the size that we wanted the chalkboard (I can't remember the exact dimensions but I think it's about 2 feet by 3 feet).  Hubby had a big piece of wood in the garage and I sanded it and painted with 2 coats of chalkboard paint.  Then I primed it (meaning you run the chalk over the entire area and then wipe off).  We bought some wood siding at Home Depot (cost was $10) and stained it with some stain we had around the house.  So the entire project cost us $10 and will make for tons of fun!

One afternoon while the girls read books in the teepee we have in baby brother's room, I started designing the chalkboard.  I don't know if I'll keep a similar style for the next or not, but in the mean time, this was fun!

I use plain anti-dust Crayola chalk and had a wet rag for the many mistakes I made.  I didn't sketch this out somewhere, this is a fun rememberance and wasn't meant to stress me out!

I'll probably do another shot in a couple weeks so I can chronicle the growth and will post those here too. :)  In the mean time, I'll keep waddling around and have people telling me "wow you're about to pop!" to then seem really embarrassed when I say "nope, still have 3.5 months left."
 



First Day of School

My little baby started school this week.  Big girl, real school.  Daddy & I had a little cry about it the night before.  Daddy was emotional b/c his job keeps him from ever taking, picking up, or even seeing her school.  He also couldn't believe his first born is old enough for big girl school.  I get emotional from pride!  I'm just so darn proud of this girl.  She's already made tons of friends in just 3 days (I've received emails, been stopped in the school, etc from parents saying "my kid won't stop talking about your daughter!").  She's a social butterfly and loving her big girl school environment. 

To celebrate her first day, I had a few ideas in mind but decided to K.I.S.S.  (keep it simple stupid for those that don't remember that being incredibly popular). 

I just propped her up against a brick wall before we left and then asked her questions on the way to school.  The answers, I'm sure, would change from day to day, but the idea is the same.  Every year until she screams back "mom, this is so lame!" I'll ask these questions and take a photo.  Seeing her grow, her dreams, her food desires, and all in between, will be so neat!


You don't have to do much to ahcieve this look!  Some tips --

(1) take photos outside!  It was raining when I took this.  But natural light beats just about anything.

(2) don't bombard them with perfection.  I took 2 quick pics and was done.  If neither was "picture perfect" who cared?  I wanted the real reaction!  Her eyes are big and excited in this picture because she was so excited to have her neon shoes on and start school (she chose these shoes herself b/c they would make her the fastest kid on the playground)

(3) make sure the background is SIMPLE.  A garage door can work too, but those lines are more distracting than you might like.  A front door would work, but you need something wide enough to fit the words on the left or right side.

(4) choose two fonts and just write on top of the photo!  I did mine in photoshop, of course, but picasa (a free google art program) would do the trick just as well!

Back to school time, it's fun! :)  But this waking up early again thing is for the birds!  Here's to sleeping in on Saturday ...
 

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