Tabula Rasa

One of my favorite things about moving is getting the chance to start over with decorating. It's so much fun to move into a clean, empty space and re-think how your furniture should go. Even if I don't have any money at the time to buy new items, sometimes rearranging my old stuff makes me feel like it's new.

Another favorite of moving for me is purging. We started our married lives in a house that was really too big for us (4 bed, 2bath), and over the years we've been moving into smaller and smaller spaces. I think our new duplex (2 bed/1 bath) is really a perfect size for the three of us. Easy to clean, plus it means I get to purge even more! Makes me feel so lightweight.

But what I'm most excited about with this new place is that it is all wood floors (minus linoleum-tile in the kitchen/bathroom). I think wood floors and white decor are my two favorite decorating schemes. So naturally the new move has me daydreaming about all sorts of lovely wood/white combinations:



Doesn't this look so clean and cheerful?

Sure it's not very practical to have white curtains that pool luxuriously on the floor when you have messy baby hands roaming through the the house, but I can always dream, right?

Oh yes, and did I mention that the new place has a white fireplace? I'm already getting giddy about Christmas decor!



So excited about this move!

5 minute makeover

When I was in Moscow a few weeks ago I picked up this painting at the Salvation Army for 50 cents.



It's a replica of an 18th century painting by Canaletto. And it was so cheap that I just had to grab it. When I got home I went to our nearby Goodwill (it's actually titled a Goodwill Superstore, and for good reason, the place is MASSIVE) and found this framed painting.

Sorry, my computer refused to rotate the picture. The artwork is kinda dated, but the frame was perfect, and it was a mere $6.99.




So I brought it home, took out the old artwork, popped in my Canaletto painting, sanded the edges to make it more shabby chic (and remove some ugly yellow paint stains), and voila!

We now have a new piece of artwork for our bedroom. And I had just the wall to put it on.

Gotta love $7.50 art!

(PS- I'm pretty sure that painting was once in a calendar or art book or something because the back of it had a whole spiel about the author. Just goes to show you can make art from pretty much anything!)

Eugene Yard Sale

I went to my first yard sale in Eugene. It was actually a compilation of yard sales held in the Lane Event Center. It was massive, busy, and overwhelmingly full of vendors and shoppers. I did score a few fabulous finds (including a hand blender that I have now used to make ice-cream shakes and fruit smoothies). But the only ones worth taking pictures of were these two cute pictures I found for Lucy's room. Lucy's nursery has a walk-in closet, which up until recently was filled with boxes of books, boxes of clothes, and boxes of things I didn't know what to do with. Unfortunately, from my seat in the rocking chair I had a nice view of all of this clutter, and it was not making me happy. So after my parents brought me down this nice white bookshelf, and after I found these two cute pictures for $2 each at the yard sale, I decided it was time to do some organizing. At some point I'd love for this walk-in closet to be an adorable play-nook for Lucy. For now, at least it looks well-organized from my rocking chair seat, and these two pictures make a world of difference. Much better!

Christmas Decor

I finally got around to finishing the Advent calendar that I started last year (hey, better late than never!). I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I managed to finish it on December 4th, so I was only a few days past the beginning of Advent season. And really it worked out quite well since we got to eat four days worth of candy in one go. :)



This year we put Dove chocolates (dark for me, milk for Joel) in each day. Next year Lucy will be old enough to appreciate getting her own treat.



The only thing I would have done differently is that I used felt glue to fix the letters to the white background, and they're having trouble holding the weight of the candies. I'm going to have to go back and hand-stitch the letters back on. Other than that it turned out great!

And here's a terrible shot of our Christmas tree. It really is very pretty, we promise!



And a cute decoration for our bookshelf:



Our santa figurines:

2 Random Comments

Yesterday Joel and I went to the Farmer's Market and picked up ingredients to make salsa. Joel is a salsa-making king, I could eat it non-stop! While at the Farmer's Market we also grabbed some honey crisp apples from another vendor, and they are delicious. The only problem is we can't finish one in a single sitting. To demonstrate how big they are I snapped a shot of a farmer's market apple next to a Winco one.

And I am also finally able to post a picture of the seat cushion I made for our rocking chair! I sewed up this pillow cover many weeks ago but never got around to hand-stitchin the back shut. So my mother graciously helped me out yesterday, and so that's one more nursery project down!

I think the back is particularly cute.

And in other exciting news, all except for finding one floor lamp to add a little more light, we are completely finished with the nursery!! Pictures are hung, curtains are up, bedding is washed and ready to be used, hurrah! So I plan on showing it off here in the next few days, I can't believe it's finally done!

Nursery Decor and a Baby Belly Shot

Here we are again, late with our 38 week shot. Oh well! Better late than never! But since it's almost Friday I decided to make it 38 1/2 weeks. It makes me feel better about the amount of time left before we see our little girl. We're both getting seriously antsy to see what she looks like and discover her personality.



And the nursery is ALMOST done! Now we're down to the decorating which is a good place to be. At least if she's born before we're done she has freshly washed clothes and a place to sleep. Here's a shot of our dresser with our most recent decor project: artwork.



Mom and I searched high and low for artwork for the baby's room. We were very picky about colors, not to mention what the artwork actually depicted. Finally we gave up on finding the perfect picture, and I decided to try another Young House Love idea: frame notecards. So while at the Fall Jolly this year we picked up three note-cards with three different animals on them. Then we went to Michaels and found this adorable card-stock that matched the nursery's color scheme. Throw in a few white frames from Walmart and there you go! Cheap and easy wall art.




Sorry about the picture quality, the lion is a little hard to see in that shot but here he is in a close-up:



Very fun, eh?

I'm still working on getting the other two pictures hung, but once I do I will show you our cute elephant and turtle frames as well.

Artsy-Craftsy and Baby Update

Recently I've been thinking about changing tables (surprise, surprise) and how a lot of babies seem to need distraction while they're on them. And since I haven't been able to find a cute mobile to suspend over our little gal while she's being changed, I decided to go with a different form of visual stimulation to occupy her. My friend Kathryn was given a toy that has black and white images on it that she said her baby loved to stare at on the changing table. When I went searching online, the cheapest I could find them for was about $30 (like this one). So I went to Michaels and found a styrofoam bifold on sale and some great black, white and red stationery and made my own! And I think it turned out pretty cute.
Here's one side, laid flat:



And the other side when it's folded.



I'll probably buy some ribbon to attach it to the wall next to her changing table if I can't get it to stay up just being propped.

And once again we skipped a week, but we are now officially at 36 weeks!



I can't believe how soon this little girl will be here. Look how excited I am!!



And one more picture for you, yesterday we went to a luau at our friend's the Church's house. We had a fantastic time. Joel found a fabulous hawaiian t-shirt for the occasion. I could not fit in to the grass skirt we had at home, but my old navy dress was just as festive.

My One Dollar Dresser

We inherited a fabulous dresser for our nursery from my Aunt Julie. The color, however, did not match our nursery (it was yellow) and so i decided to paint it. I knew I wanted it mostly white, but I felt like it would look boring just plain white... however I did not trust my hand-stenciling skills and we're already doing decals on the walls.... so I searched around on the web and found a great idea: stripes! I was easily sold because I love stripes, and my friend Hope had just recently introduced me to a great blog: www.younghouselove.com, and they had recently painted their bathroom in stripes and posted a great tutorial. So I was set! Here's the finished project (sorry I forgot to take a before picture).





It only took a few hours of painting, but the best part was that the whole project only cost me one dollar! We already had the dresser, primer, and white paint, so all I needed was a beige. I went to Columbia paint and perused their mis-tint section and found the exact color I needed! And a pint was only a dollar! Pretty neat, eh?

Thrifting Paradise

Today was my day off work (hurrah!) so I took the opportunity to go thrift-store shopping with my friend Morgan. We hit stores in both Moscow and Pullman. Morgan made off with some fabulously adorable shoes, which I do not have a picture of. And I was very pleased to find this rug for a mere $10 at Palouse Treasures in Pullman!



Don't look too closely or you'll notice a few stains, and granted the woven ends are a little ragged, and there was one ripped corner of the rug. But in my part of the decorating world that's all known as "shabby chic". Besides, it was $10, and Joel and I had wanted a floor rug like this since we got married, but were unwilling to cough up the hundreds of dollars that they cost new. Now I just need to find a proper centerpiece for the table since those flowers do not match at all. But I can't think of what would look good on the table that would tie in the rug! Hmmm... time to start scouring the home decor blogs.

Someone else has really taken a shine to this rug, so you'll get a close-up on her as well.



And then for dinner I successfully made a very yummy French bread, after fabulously bombing my first attempt at Challah Bread a few weeks ago (recipe said 3/4 stick of butter, I translated as 3/4 cup of butter).



Now, I was brave and took a picture, even though I somehow managed to get a square/misshapen loaf instead of the beautifully round loaf that the original poster's picture shows. So no laughing. It was my first try. And square or round, it still turned out delicious! You can find the recipe here:

http://ivoryhut.com/2010/01/baking-bread-made-easy/

Joel loves the bread too. I served it with baked pesto chicken and corn on the cob. Delicious!

Baby Update

Before the baby update, I had to show off this cute piece of furniture that we got to hide our tv! It's actually not that new (as you can tell from the Easter decorations on top) but I never posted the picture and since it seems like most of our posts these days are baby updates, I thought I'd start with something different!



Here we are at 25 weeks! This really has been the best part of the pregnancy so far: no more morning sickness, the pregnancy rash has subsided, and I have energy! Lots of it!



As I was organizing our study closet yesterday (so much energy!) I found a sticky note with a memory verse on it. Back when we were trying for quite some time to get pregnant I had my share of emotional ups and downs. During one of my low points I happened to be reading through the Psalms and I came across this verse:

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13.

It's such a beautiful verse with so much promise and hope in it for whatever hardship you might be going through. So I wrote it out and carried it around with me in my purse for a while until I had it memorized. Anyway, it had slipped out of my mind after we got pregnant until I found it again yesterday. The memory of how hard that period of time was and how God has delivered us from it made me so grateful. I have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Fall Decor

I may never get around to trying the crafts I mentioned on my last post, but here at least are some of the ways I've decorated our little place for fall.



Rachel and I collected this wild grass on the way back from our morning run. So far I have had to chase Whiskey away from it twice. We'll see how long they last.



The two buddies, butternut squash and cinderella pumpkin on my coffee table.




A warty gourd.



This one is my favorite. One of the things I love about U-Pick pumpkin patches is that you can cut the stems as ridiculously long as you want.



And last, my poppy flowers minus leaves. I frequently take one out and shake it to hear the dry rattling of the poppy seeds inside.



Aren't they neat? Very Tim Burton, I think. I have the same problem with my poppies that I have with the wild grass though. My cat seems to think I bought them for her as a snack.

Color Crazy

Recently I've gone a bit crazy in the decorating department. Not crazy as in my tastes have changed from New England Homes to Rococo (I'm not sure my mother would set foot in our place if they had), or I've swapped out my Monet for Picasso, but I have been experimenting with colors much more than I've ever done before. The result? Behold, my writing desk:



I know what you must be thinking. She actually painted a desk that color??!! Actually when I got it at our church's large yard sale it was already that gloriously bold color of green. And I love it!

The desk itself is charming on its own, it used to be a sewing machine desk and it has the neatest antique knobs on the drawers. But then my friend Kathryn gave me that blue lamp, and of course the only place I could justifiably stick such a brightly colored lamp was on my (almost) neon-green desk.

Now, there is one problem with the picture (ha, you say, just one??) which you decorating gurus may have noticed. The lampshade does not go at all with that lamp. I need something retro to match that style, and I have no idea what to pick... round? square? patterned? layered? hexagon bell?

Time to start googling retro lamp shades. Any suggestions are welcome!

A few pictures of our apartment

I realized I never put up pictures of our new apartment, and since I'm finally almost finished with decorating it, here are a few shots!


There's our entrance with Joel on the couch looking ready to greet guests.



And this is the outside of the apartment, with our cat trying out some new dance moves.



Our dining room table...



And a close up shot of the entry way. I will probably keep the cheery daisies up all winter long.... regardless of how many decorating rules I'm breaking.



The Hallway



Plus a better shot of the hallway.... and who, you ask, is the small child in the picture?




Yes, that would be the little nephew David.

More to come....