Lila and Olive's Shared Room

Hooray! It's finally done! Well, not so much "done" as I'm just tired of doing anything in there.

When I was pregnant with Lila, we painted this room green (Koi Pond by Sherwin Williams) in hopes that it would stay a gender neutral nursery. (The original before and after post is here.)  The color served us well starting originally with Lila, and then Little Guy, and then both Lila and Little Sister, and then just Olive, and now both Olive and Lila.

We're lucky to have a house that has three fairly large bedrooms, so I tried to split up the space into a few smaller spaces.  Here's the girls' little hand me down kitchen from the girls I used to babysit.

The dish towel was one of Johnny's grandma's, and the tiny little rug was supposed to be a giant rug that I was latch-hooking out of jersey sheets.  This tiny rug is as far as I got.

The bunk beds are the biggest addition to the room.  We bought beds that could come apart and be used as two twin beds, which came in handy when we had both Lila and Little Sister sleeping in here.  Now that we bunked the beds, Lila loves to climb the ladder and tell everyone that you "just need a yiddle courage!"

The duvets I made myself with fabric from Jo-Ann's.  The top one is backed with light pink, and the bottom one has dark pink.  The fabric at the end of the beds is left over from the valances.  Eventually they will be blankets...probably in about four years when I get around to it.

So no one in my family has supported these little poofs; we'll see if you jump on their bandwagon as well.  I saw this on Pinterest and tried to recreate it.  I like mine, but they are not as cute as the ones in the picture.  They must have used something other than tulle...ideas?  And I tried cutting them with curved edges, but they don't look any different.  I'm pretty sure Johnny still thinks I just threw tutus on the beds.

The chair was a Craigslist find back when we were pregnant with Lila, and the cute flower table was my sister's.  My aunt crocheted the gorgeous pink blanket for Olive.

I planned to do more tissue paper flowers, but that never happened either. Almost as cute as what my cousin did in her daughter's room.

Still using the same teeth marked crib that was a fabulous Craigslist find.  Lila has figured out how to climb into it, so she likes to climb in and bounce Olive.

The Boo Boo likes it too.

The girls' dress up collection is quite extensive.  They're using my old dress up box that my grandmother got me as well as all my old dance recital costumes because I was such an amazing dancer.

We took the doors off of the closet so that we could fit a dresser in there, and I am still happy that we did it.  I'm not sure how long we will be able to fit both girls' clothes in there, though.

The girls also have all of my old Madame Alexander dolls on display.  I once caught Johnny explaining to Lila that the ones on the left were wearing such weird dresses because they were from another country.  They are Little Women dolls.

And here's my favorite part of the girls' room, their little book nook.  The only problem is that now Lila is starting to try to climb up the shelves to get to books she wants on the top.  I wrote in an older post how to do the gutter shelves.  It's super easy, and they hold a lot, but I think you could do something similar with baskets or Ikea shelves for a little bit cheaper.  Gutters ain't cheap, yo.

So in the end, I'm happy with how the girls' room turned out.  Johnny couldn't understand why I was doing a post on it because he said I just rearranged stuff.  But I'm pleased with my rearranging, and I hope that eventually we'll get both girls to actually sleep in there together without waking each other and subsequently us up.

Happy Weekend!

Carter's Nursery

We had a slight set back with the girls' room in that I hung unhemmed curtains very close to Olive's crib and in the middle of the night she not only untied her "breathable" bumper in order to chew on the ties, but she also pulled one entire curtain panel into her crib while pulling off threads from the unhemmed bottom and wrapping them around her neck.  Soooo no more curtains.

But in keeping with my nursery theme, I am so excited to show you Carter's nursery today!  Carter's mommy Danielle is my good friend who lives just down the street, and she did an AMAZING job creating a calm and airy nursery for her sweet 21 month old.

The wall color is a light aqua paired with white trim and the gorgeous original hardwood floors.

A family friend of theirs made this sweet I Samuel sign.  What a perfect present!

I think my favorite thing about this room is the window corner.  The lightweight burlap curtains work so well in keeping the room feeling open.

This is Lila's favorite part of Carter's room.  Anywhere where she can sit for extended periods of time.

All over Danielle's house she has really neat prints that she's framed and hung. The Cat in the Hat is perfect for a little boy's room.  She got the prints off of Etsy and then framed and matted them herself.

I loved Carter's antiquey dresser as well.  When he moves up to an older boy room, it will be so easy to reuse it in a different part of the house, instead of being stuck with baby furniture.

Thanks for sharing your sweet boy's room, Danielle!

Livvy and Joey's Shared Nursery

I'm gearing up for a big post on Lila and Olive's new room, so I thought I would lead up to it with some of the adorable rooms that my girlfriends have done for their kids.  And Lila doesn't so much photo bomb these pictures as just stand in the middle of them and not move...so, sorry about that.

My friend Molly lives in an adorable house in Prairie Village, but with the adorableness comes the classic PV two bedroom problem.  Molly has two little ones, Livvy who is 3 and Lila's best buddy and Joey, who is 6 months and one of Olive's many boyfriends.  Molly did an amazing job of making a room that's super cute for a girl and a boy at the same time.  

The green paint is "Fresh Olive" I think by Behr.  Molly did the striping and the polka dots with a basic eggshell white.

I love love love the brown accents and also the navy stripes for Joey and the pink stripes for Livvy.

Apparently some people change their children on things called "changing tables" and have the diapers put away nicely instead of changing their child on the floor and yelling at their husband to find the extra box of diapers in the basement.  Interesting.

Gotta have the bow organizer! 

These little cuties are best buddies.  Lila was very upset to learn that though Livvy was indeed going to preschool, she was not, however, going to the same preschool as Lila (that post to follow).

And then Lila got into Livvy's bed and played "Pretend to Sleep" for almost the rest of the time we were there.

Thanks for letting us see all your hard work, Molly!

DIY Aden + Anais Blanket

I have some very exciting news for you! You know those fabulous Aden + Anais swaddling blankets that you just HAD to have for your baby but only if your random rich relative bought them for you?  Well, Hobby Lobby is now stocking the gauzy fabric that they are made out of in a bunch of different colors for $6.99 a yard!  That translates to about $4 a yard with the 40% off coupon.

This was originally going to be a tutorial, but when I realized the tutorial sounded like this: buy a yard of fabric and then hem the edges...I decided the tutorial was needed not.

I will offer up a few quick pointers, however.  The fabric is 52" wide, so if you want a complete square, then you will want to buy 52" and not a yard.  For your hem, simply iron a thin fold along one edge and then fold it over again and iron it again.  Do the same thing with the opposite side and sew both edges.  Then go back to your iron and fold the remaining edges and then sew those.  Now, granted Hobby Lobby doesn't stock any fun prints, but I think the colors are way cuter than the white Aden + Anais ones.  Have fun!

Kitchen Post Number 37

You may remember that our kitchen started out yellow, and then we painted it brown, and then I tried to paint it green but no one would let me, so then I painted it white.  I said I liked it white, but deep down inside...I HATE WHITE WALLS!  There, I said it.  I couldn't stand the white.  So one day I went down in the basement and got what was left of our living room paint and slapped that up on the walls of the kitchen.

Now we finally have a color I can live with.

And our red chairs finally have a home!

Baby Chloey's Nursery

I've been wanting to do this post for FOREVER.  I was lucky enough to grow up down the street (and around a corner and down another really long, steep street and then up a smaller hill...I mean I probably wouldn't walk there or anything unless I had to...) from my cousin who's a month older than I am.  And now our girls are lucky enough to grow up walking distance from each other too.  Anyway, my cousin Melody is super talented when it comes to decorating, and her daughter's nursery is the most adorable nursery I have ever seen.  I finally got over there to snap a few shots.

The paint color is Lazy Days by Valspar.

The crib was an Ikea purchase. $99 for a super cute crib? Yes please. I hope Olive and Lila like playing in the wooden shoe at Ikea daycare because that's where they're going to be every day when it opens.  Maybe they'll teach them Swedish. 

The polka dots were an Etsy purchase.  I don't know how she got them on so straight.  I definitely would have given up after about two.

These book baskets are one of my favorite things about the room.  I did gutter shelves in Lila's Big Girl Room (which by the way is being changed back into a guest room...wish us luck with convincing Lila to sleep with Olive tomorrow night), and for the amount of books they hold, they are quite pricey and not all that cute.  

These baskets from Hobby Lobby look a lot cuter and hold a similar amount.

The flamingo print is what inspired the room as well as the baby shower our book club threw for Baby Chloey.  The flamingo print as well as the sparkle print were both Etsy purchases, and the sparkle print was an instant download! I would have never thought of that. So cute.

Melody originally painted this piece to be used as a sideboard in her dining room, but then moved it up here for a changing table.  She attached one of the same baskets she used for books to the side for holding diapers.  My favorite part about the room, though, has to be this little door that leads to a secret storage space.  When Chloey is older, Melody plans to put a little ladder up to it and finish it off as a play room.  So fun.  I'm hoping she's also planning to host sleepovers...every weekend.  Between Ikea, my parents on Fridays, and Aunt Melody's house on Saturdays, I might never have to see my children again!

I love how all of the closets in Melody's house have these cute shuttered sliding doors.  Sliding doors are never cool, but these actually look nice.

Now just FYI, Melody decorates for other people too, not just her own adorable baby.

Isn't that a cute card?

 Love it all.

Celebrating Olive and America

Olive loves America! And she thought she would show it off in her five month photo!

Olive is rolling around and chewing on anything she can get a hold of.  She smiles at everyone and laughs particularly at her big sister.  She also knows when the United States became the United States.

I wanted to make matching 4th of July outfits for the girls this year, and I also wanted to practice my new found applique skills.  But who wants a lame old firecracker shirt that says "Baby's First Fourth"? Certainly not the Hutsons.  And fabric with Hello Kitty dressed as the Statue of Liberty? Excuse me? Definitely not American.  So we decided to go as American as we could possibly go.  George Washington.

1776.

Happy Fourth!

Olive's Quilt

My mom commissioned me to make a quilt for Olive to roll around on at her house.  And since I have nothing to do and no one to talk to past 8:00, it got finished pretty quickly.

It's the same pattern that I used for the quilt in Lila's Big Girl Room...that we actually call "Little Guy's Room" because he's the one who slept in there, but now Lila sleeps in there.  Lila's room is where Olive sleeps.  Everyone on the same page?

Olive is very lucky that she got Daddy's blue eyes...and Mommy's eczema ridden skin...that Daddy calls "Lizard skin."

You're welcome, Olive.