Bedroom Updates

In an effort to get a lot of house projects done before there's a little baby requiring our weekend (and 24/7) attention, we've been working through some back burner projects both large and small lately.  The baby's room had to get done, of course, but we've also bought a new sofa bed and storage bed and wardrobe for our own storage.  And, we painted our bedroom this past week and have plans to paint the dining room next weekend.

Below are two images of our bedroom, one taken in 2011 and one taken yesterday.  The recent one is not finished, as I still have to hang the St. Andrews poster back up and "zhush" the room a bit more, but I know which one I definitely prefer!

2011:

2014:

Sofa Assembly Math

This +

this

= this!  :)

Nursery Montage

I'll probably do a more complete summary of the nursery's transformation from our guest room (formerly my grandparents' room) at some point, but for now, here's a series of photos showing some of the stages (mostly taken from the same angle, except the ones showing the paint samples by the window).

IKEA in the House!

In preparation for the baby and to create more general storage in the house, we ordered a bunch of furniture from IKEA and it came today.  And because life is never simple, the delivery came before the scheduled time, while I was at the oral surgeon's getting a wisdom tooth extracted.  !!!  Luckily, I have a lovely friend who lives locally and was able to run over to our house to sign for the packages for us.  Thank goodness!

Here is what the packages look like on our porch right now:

Note to potential thieves: the porch doors are locked and the packages will all be coming inside once my husband gets home and can help me move them!

Here's what it inside all those packages:

Tarva dresser, for the baby's room (you may recognize it from the nursery plan from Tuesday).

Fjell wardrobe, which we have been in love with since we first saw it (proof!).  The baby is kicking Justin's clothes out of the guest room closet, so we needed the wardrobe (since our closet in this 1934 house is tiny).

Currently, we have big storage boxes under our bed that don't work (Justin has to wake me up sometimes and ask me to roll over so he can get to them in the morning).  Hence, this storage bed with two big drawers on each side.

And finally, an awesome sectional couch that opens into a full-size bed.  See where those tags are sticking out on the left?  That section rolls out and pops up like a trundle bed.  My Mum and Dad - God bless their hearts - will be starting two days of regular child care for us in the fall, so we needed the sofa bed for more sleeping space.  Besides, with two dogs who love to be on the couch with us (the hounds) and a baby on the way, we thought we needed a bigger couch as well!

2013, Week #33

August 12-18, at your service:

Knight House in the August sun.

There's a dog shape in the bed!

Lunch.  :)

One of the patio finishing touches, thanks to my wonderful hubby - an air conditioner screen!

Summer afternoon in the garden.

The ell.

My boys.

How's a girl supposed to go to work with all this cuteness in the bed?

Cherry tomatoes from the garden for lunch today.

 

Missed this!

A beer in the hot tub last night = ‪#‎lakelife‬.

:)

More canoe ride photos - Belle Isle on an overcast day.

Swim break in this little cove. ‪Beorn‬ is a terrible swimmer. ‪

Canoe dog!

I know I'm all sandy, but can I bring my bone inside anyways?

2013, Week #26

Halfway through the year! Here are my photos from June 24-30:

Almost ready for sand & bricks! 

Veggie garden update: cherry tomatoes & chives in; cukes, string beans, and yellow pear tomatoes are next.

Almost everything local: tomatoes from Marini Farms, basil & chives from the back yard, sea salt & EVOO from Spain (I think?).

So exciting to get to this moment! 

Kobe stopping by my garden house for a visit. 

This happened more than once.  ;)

Patio done enough for a patio party!

2013, Week #23

Here are the photos from June 3-June 9!

Hammock's too wet to actually BE in, but look how pretty it is!

Snapping turtle visitor in the courtyard at work one morning.

Back to the season of bike rides through the national historic park after work.

It's a wall!  (the first of a few retaining walls in the ongoing patio project)

Sunday afternoon stone wall building.

More retaining wall progress!

Loo Improvements

Look, we made something pretty in the bathroom!  Err, that came out wrong.  I mean, we made the bathroom pretty!

Before:

Within a month of moving in, I ripped down my grandparents' wallpaper in here, one of the least offensive ones in the house.  Why?  Heaven only knows.  Plus, it had the wonderful side effect of making us live with bare plaster for over two years.  Which was mostly fine to start with, until the mildew crept in.  Sigh.  I never said it was a good idea.  The bathroom is mostly fine (though the tile is not our style), but we discovered a few things we wanted to do when we got around to clearing things out and painting.

After:

Behold!  Paint on the walls & ceiling!  Flat white ceiling pant and semi-gloss paint in "pencil" on the walls (both with a packet of mildew preventative added).  You'll notice we also added a shelf/towel bar (cheapo IKEA brackets spray painted black, a pre-cut piece of poplar from Home Depot, and a branch from one of our dog walks).  Plus we tossed in a tray of oft-used toiletries, a lovelier hand soap bottle, and a jade plant.  We had also changed out the glass bulb cover last year from a kinda funky shaped one (hard to see in the before pic b/c the light is on) to a simple round one.  Even in the craptastic artificial light of an evening, the loo looks so much more cared for now and it's a lot more functional.