Content

Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age...or maybe it was the two glasses of wine with dinner - but I had the urge to share: I am content. More than that - right now, in this exact moment in this sliver of time, I'm feel lucky. Fortunate. Just...happy.

Is that really effing annoying to write? Are you reading this rolling your eyes and snorting with disdain? If so, I'm sorry... because there's more...


We spent the weekend building a playset. This big cedar swingset / fort / slide / picnic table. It is, in a word, effing AWESOME. And fits so perfectly in the back corner of our backyard it's almost hard to imagine that it was never there.

Except for the sore arms. And backs. And just pure body exhaustion that comes from two full days of hard graft. But it's a good tired. A "job-well-done" kind of tired.

And I can already foresee hours upon hours of happy playtime for my girls. And that? Is one of the reasons I'm so content.

And thank you to Gramma and Grandpa Vallier for visiting this weekend and helping us get the monstrosity up. We couldn't have done it without your help.

My girls are happy.

And so am I.

Happy Sunday,

xxoo.S

So we decided...

You voted which wallpaper you liked best and we (sort of? not really at all actually...) listened.

I just pondered over all the designs again with the Hubs (can I tell you how much I love "tipsy on a few glasses of vino" Hubs? He's awesome. And cute. Even cuter when I've also had a glass-and-a-half) ... and in just that 10 minute conversation I was totally reminded why we got married. We have the Exact. Same. Taste.

(Except with shoes. Don't get me started on his footwear. Because I have impeccable footwear taste. (Trust me. I do.) And he never listens to me about shoes. It. Drives. Me. Bonkersbananas.) (Yes, that's a word)

So to give you the vote counts (since most of you voted via Facebook, and you can't see that here).
#1 = 1 vote
#2 = 4 votes
#3 = 1 vote
#4 = 10 votes (clear winner! Spoiler alert - we're not going with it... sorry!)
#5 = 0 votes
#6 = 3 votes
#7 = 1 vote
#8 = 1 vote
#9 = 1 vote
#10 = 1 vote

Design #4 was the clear winner... and we both lurve lurve lurve...

(drumroll please)

#8!

Have I mentioned how much I lurve this design? I wanted to go more traditional. I really did... But in the end I couldn't do it.

Thanks for all the responses - it was great to get feedback! And if you're ever in my powder room (after it's finished) and want to rub in my face just how bad my pick was and much better yours would have been - well - I welcome the debate!

xxoo.S

Dress Up

I think I started planning Maddie's 3rd birthday this year sometime in the summer. Like I mentioned back in August, I totally ripped off the idea from my craftalicious friend, Vone. Invitations went out sometime in the middle of September, and even though I know it's totally gauche to mention gifts on an invite, I did anyways (because I'm classy like that) and suggested that dress up items would be a fabulous gift idea...

And so the Princess Party was taking shape (because let's face it - 90% of dress up clothes seem to involve princess items of some kind - and since Disney makes it so easy with all their branded crap everywhere, who am I to buck the trend?)... and again, like I mentioned earlier - I was OBSESSED with making an adorable little catchall where Maddie could store all her dress up clothes.

So I did...

I cannot explain just how happy I am with the result - I just love love love this little storage/dress up chest/wardrobe thingy. The inspiration came from this post on the blog, Craftiness is not optional.

***


How I built my version:
I used pine boards that I bought in 72-inch lengths in 12-inch widths. I had two of the boards sawed in half (you can do this right at the Home Depot store) so I had four 36-inch lengths. The third board I had sawed down to give me two boards at 34-inches and a bit left over. Add a one-inch dowel and I think the total came to under $20 for all the wood.

For the two ends I used a large tupperware bowl as my "curve guide" (yep, I'm all kinds of professional in my carpentry skills) - and then used a jigsaw to make the cuts and a belt sander to even everything up (because my jigsaw skills are jittery at best). The two sides of the bottom box were the 34-inch pieces, the other 2 inches are allowance for the 1-inch thickness of the end panels. Bottom of the box is 36-inches long. I then drilled 1-inch holes in both end panels for the dowel, glued the inside and fitted the dowel in (this part was tricky as one end was a bit loose, while the other was very tight - why? I have no flippin' idea). Screw it all together, sand and paint. Voila - you are done.

For the letters, I used a stencil package I found at Michaels - letters are 3-inches high. I wanted something a bit larger, but selection was not really what I was looking for and to be honest, I was too lazy to make my own. To paint the entire piece, I used the same paint I used for Maddie's furniture in her "big girl" room makeover (Benjamin Moore Aura Satin finish in Cloud White) - even on plain pine I only needed to do two coats - have I mentioned how much I love BM paints? The letters were done with plain ol' craft paint from the Dollar store I had on hand.

I will be adding hooks to either side for hats/scarves/boas etc - definitely a good option for adding more storage abilities.

Things I Would Do Differently Next Time (a.k.a. Learn From My Mistakes!):
The pine boards I used were rough cuts - there were more expensive "project" boards available, but I'm cheap and didn't want to spend the money. Next time, I'd probably just use MDF and have it cut down in the store. At least it'd be straight, and not have a million rough parts that needed heavy sanding or knotty holes in it.

Using MDF would also allow a bit more flexiblity on the measurements. Length-wise the piece is pretty perfect (it will fit her closet well) and height-wise I don't think you need it any taller for a 3-year-old. However the bottom box sides could probably be shorter (say 8-10 inches instead of 12) without losing much capacity, and I'd make the box/sides wider - like 14 inches at minimum.

The sides could use a bit more interest - like adding another curve (like an S-curve instead of the C-curve I used) - without losing actual integrity in the strength of the piece. This was my original plan, but my jigsaw skills were beginner at best so I wasn't risking it.

Lastly - next time I will NOT be stenciling my letters. I hated this part - it was such a pain in the ass. Because of the size of the stencil pages, I had to wait for letters to dry before doing the next one - or did the letters out of order (which was risky on spacing, but ended up working okay). And since the edges looked quite rough, I ended up free-handing the entire letter all over again to smooth everything out and fill in - so yeah, next time I would just free hand or trace with a pencil and then free hand. Something different from what I did anyways.

***

So that's that. I'm not sure Maddie really understands how magnificently cool this thing really is (don't you totally wish you had one as a kid??) - but the parents at the birthday party were impressed enough with it that I was able to satisfy my ridiculous ego. ;-)

And Maddie? Well, she just keeps going up to it and marveling at all the amazing dress-up clothes she now has - thank you again to all our wonderful friends and family!

xxoo.S

Katie's Room

Hey! Remember when I droned on and on and on and bloody on about all the cool things I was doing to decorate my new baby girl's nursery? Well looky looky ... it's finally done (and she's only 10 weeks old).

Indulge me while I take you through a walk through...

She's all "Dude - come on in and take a boo around at the room my Slacker Mom finally finished. I'm partial to the pillows as you can probs tell."

The layout of the room and adding a daybed to the mix means that the only spot for the rocker is right here, jammed up against the crib. Not the biggest fan of the aesthetic, but wasn't about to lose the rocker. Also of note in the above pic, my ADORED wainscoting (we used a thin-thin-thin moulding to create the illusion of boxes as I wanted a dainty look in the room - end result is exactly what I had envisioned in my head - which is all kinds of awesome). I especially love the freshness of the white wainscoting against the blue painted walls - with the pops of cherry here and there, which just makes it kind of fun.

I love this rocker. It rocked me as a baby. Has since rocked many hours of Maddie's life in the wee hours. And now it helps me lull my Katiebear back to sleep when I'm not taking the short-cut and just crashing with her in the oh-so-available daybed.

My absolute favourite part of her room. This is a project Maddie and I tackled during our week together before Katie was due. I had purchased a pkg of 10 canvases from Michael's and over the course of a few days, I helped Maddie decorate them all and we chose the top 5 to use as the background for Katie's name. It was a great way to incorporate Maddie's efforts into the room, make her a part of the process and give her something to show off when visitors wanted to view the nursery.

This picture gives about zero credit to how cute this little corner of the room is (blame my photography skills). The little sock kitty on the antique children's chair (that I'm sure is covered in lead paint and is definitely on the project list before Katie can start gnawing on things) and of course my birdcage with my super-easy-to-sew bird softies (pattern courtesy of Spool).

This is my attempt for you to see the lovely birdcage in all it's adorable glory. Aaaaaand, another photography fail...

The bed in all it's glory without a distracting 2 month old to take away from all my fabulous-o pillows. I went a little crazy on fabric purchases (Pink Panda Fabric - it was my addiction) (Also? Ignore the monstrosity white pillows that I made, thinking I'd make some cool rectangular pillows to act almost as arm cushions out of my old bumper pad - they are an example of good idea... POOR execution. But they sit there until I can get up the energy to do more stitch ripping). Oh - and you can also see the wall decals in this pic that I purchased on Etsy the day I found out it was a girl! I think they play off the Amy Butler Lotus-patterned drapes very nicely.

Overall, a success. I love the colour scheme. I love how fresh everything feels. I love how (most of) the projects and small ideas worked out. And hey, she's sleeping in her crib fairly well at night these days (*knocking on wood frantically*) ... so I think she likes it too.

Thanks for indulging me...

xxoo.S

Kid-free

With the Hubs away on a weekend fishing trip (it's opening season of Pickerel and he has strict instructions not to return home empty-handed!), we decided it would be a great weekend for Maddie to go visit her grandparents while I stayed home. It's meant to be a relaxing weekend for me, but of course I made a list within minutes of these plans falling together, of all the things I want to get accomplished.

I love my lists.

Except at the end of the weekend when I look and see only 1 or 2 things crossed off.

But I'd say as long as one of those items crossed off is "paint the effing nursery" then I will have gotten my job done. Because aren't you tired of listening to me talk about how I need to paint my nursery... how it's going to get done THIS weekend... how I MUST make sure we finish it that week?  Yes, me too.

Well, I'm happy to report the first coat is up. The blue coat. And it's.... bright. (This is a nice way of saying that a Caribbean sea snuck in the nursery window and threw up all over the walls).

I was going for "tiffany box blue" ... something in the realm of light turquoise-blue and less "baby-boy-boring-nursery-blue".

Well. I succeeded in it not being boring.

Am hoping that just the first coat is drying so dark because I am painting over a putrid peachy-beige colour (that inhabits almost every wall in our entire house, and will get painted over in the next year because h.a.t.e.). So maybe the dark base is making the first coat seem a little..... bright?

And yes - I realize you usually use a primer in these cases - but all these fancy new paints have "primers built in" - so you think you're saving yourself a step.


All said, I fear I may be having colour-remorse. We'll see - I don't think I can make a decision until the second coat is up and the wainscoting is painted white.

Would love to show a pic of what I mean, but we have well and truly lost our camera. I've search high and low and I think it's been left behind somewhere or another. Which sucks, as for a point-and-shoot that was over 5 years old, it really was a fabulous camera (Panasonic Lumix). BUT this means since we're in the market to buy a new camera now, that I'm looking at all the fancy DSLR models. Because, why not, right? Welcome any suggestions!

xxoo.S

We were ready for you long weekend!

With the in-laws confirmed as built-in helpers and babysitters, we made the commitment - this weekend was:

BIG. GIRL. BEDROOM. WEEKEND.

Oh that's right - it needs the caps.

We took advantage of the outrageously gorgeous weather and painted up a storm in the garage. With the door up. As people walked by, looking on suspiciously, at an enormously pregnant woman painting a dresser.

It's low VOC paint people! I am safe! I am thoughtful of my little unborn sprog! I promise! 

I didn't really yell this at them. But I wanted to. Oh how I wanted to...

So... drumroll please... it's done. The deed is done. She slept in her big girl bed for a nap and all of last night. She doesn't seem to understand yet that she is fully able to escape the bed, should she wish to do so, at any time. AND THAT'S FINE BY US!

We caught the entire "unveiling" on video for all eternity, and if I ever find some spare time, I will post that - because the squeal of delight she gave upon entering the room was flippin' fantastic. And made it ALL worth while. As did her repeating "you turned it over" with a massive smile on her face, while she opened and closed every drawer of the dresser about 50 million times. For the record - "turned it over" means (we think) you changed over my room. Not that we literally turned shit upside down. Because, duh - clearly that's not what she meant. (That's totally what I thought she meant at first, and I was all - no, everything is it's right place. Oh, you don't mean literally? Right - I'madumbass.)

It still needs some art on the walls - but I need to figure that out. And get some paint to cover up the patching of a few holes. And find a bed skirt, because who thinks about a bed skirt in all the planning? But here's the pics anyways...

Zee fancy white iron bed that I covet and wish I could be 10 years old again for... 

thank you Costco!

My childhood dresser, that was someone else's before it was mine. 

It has been blue, pink, white, stripped + varnished, and now painted again. 

With new hardware. Dontcha just love the lil pink glass knobs?

Her reading "nook". Again - can I tell you how jealous I am of her room? 

Because dude. I want a reading nook.

The infamous chandelier for the closet. 

Adorable, perfectly sized, and matches the dresser hardware perfectly.

She likes it.

xxoo.S

Knobby

The knobs for Maddie's "big girl" room furniture finally arrived. And it didn't cost me a cent in Custom's charges. Which is fabulous because I'm a big cheap-o! Each knob comes in it's own little plastic bag emblazoned with MADE IN TAIWAN on it. Way to make my antique "reproduction" knobs feel special. Thank you, eBay seller.

So this weekend is now officially the "big girl room transformation" weekend. When we're done I'll post the results, and you can comment about how beautiful and wonderful it is and any other comments will otherwise be lovingly deleted. ;-)

xxoo.S

The hard graft weekend

After spending a week in Kingston, away for the March break visiting Grandma & Grandpa V, our little Miss M was lovingly returned to us Friday afternoon.

We celebrated by zipping out to a Raptor's game and leaving her with the Grandparents for the evening, yet again.

Oh Maddie - we love you. But we also loved our platinum seats (although the game was less than loved - they took a bad beating).

That's okay - we had vowed to stick close to home for the rest of the weekend. And stick we did - in the garage. Cutting mitre joints out of the tiniest mouldings you ever did see. I shouldn't say "we" as I left the cutting and measuring up to the Hubs and his dad. I did join them at Home Depot to buy supplies. And I had done all the measuring for the room weeks ago. So I feel like I did my part. And Hubs got to play with his saw. And learn stuff. And hang out with his dad.


But I did help with the installation and the mudding and sanding. The result is looking fairly spectacular (if we do say so ourselves) even without the paint or any furniture.

For the record - wainscoting (or really "trick-the-eye-mouldings-in-the-shape-of-proper-wainscoting") is not impossible or even all that tough. But it IS time-consuming. Like several evenings of measuring and leveling and drawing out all those boxes on the walls. Then many hours measuring and cutting and measuring and cutting. And more hours spent gluing and mudding and sanding. But the results we are more than happy with.

Now our focus is back on Miss Maddie's room. Her "big girl" room. We have the bedding. We have the bed. We have (some of) the furniture painted. Now we just wait for the knobs to arrive through customs. And paint a few frames for some wall hangings. And then it's set up time.

Once she gets settled into her room and doesn't miss her crib anymore, then progress will begin again on the nursery.  Since she was already calling the nursery (while we were working in this weekend), "Maddie's big room", I'm pretty sure we should make sure she loves her room first to avoid any pre-emptive jealousy.

And what's not to love? As of this weekend her walk-in closet features a newly installed pink crystal chandelier (another project checked off with help from Grandpa). I would show you pictures, but let's wait until we actually have things set up for you to see it in all it's glory.

And last but not least, we are also proud owners of a functional doorbell once again.

As exhausting as "project" weekends are - don't you love that fulfilled feeling of accomplishment when you collapse onto the sofa on the Sunday night?

xxoo.S