Soothe Sailing Nursery Plan

No, that’s not a typo in the headline and yes, I’ve not only given the nursery a theme but also it’s own name. My main goal in designing this room is to make it uber soothing… and what color comes to mind when you think of soothing… why, BLUE of course. And when you think of the color blue, you typically think about the ocean, right? Well, I do and I’m instantly relaxed. Ok, Ok.. I know a super relaxing room does not make a relaxing baby, but a sister can dream right?

So before picking out any furniture for a room, it’s critical to know how much space you’re working with.  My very first step in this project was to measure the room and map out the furniture size and location using an online room planner.  There are a ton of room planners online, but I chose Pottery Barn’s because they have a ton of baby furniture pre-loaded that are very close to the size specs of the furniture we’re planning to buy. It was also super easy to use, so as soon as I determined that I didn’t want the glider beside the changing table/dresser, because it would also have a stinky diaper genie beside it… I just simply drug that sucker across the room with a click of a button. Easy flippin’ peasy.

Although I totally trust the room planner, I decided to do a little physical room planning and tape out the furniture dimensions on the floor. I always like to do this before putting new furniture in a room because the worst is buying furniture online and then it not fitting in the room… honestly, I think if this happened to me right now, I’d probably lay on the floor and kick, scream & cry… and only partially because I’m a crazy pregnant lady. (Jer: this doesn’t give you permission to call me this. I can. You can’t.)

So how is this color for soothing? Makes me want to fall asleep looking at it… Ok, everything these days makes me want to fall asleep. I went back and forth a zillion times before I landed on this color (Silver Dusk by Valspar). It’s actually a little greyer in person and matches perfectly with the Row Your Boat bedding set we just got from PB kids.

Is that baby elephant soothe sailing or what?

We’re installing the board and batten today and I can’t flippin’ wait! Check back next week for the full tutorial.

xoxo,

Jamie

Crushing on Board & Batten

You know that yucky feeling you get when you see the pair of shoes that you just bought on sale for 30% off? Well I get that same feeling after I complete a project and then find a better idea on Pinterest the next day. So before even starting step 1 of a project, I spend about a week collecting inspiration from Pinterest and my fellow bloggers.

Recently, I’ve been seriously crushing on some Board & Batten. I think it brings such a fresh and clean look to a room and is such a great way to add some character and definition to the space. Unlike wainscoting, Board & Batten doesn’t feel super formal to me, making it perfect for a little boy’s nursery.

Here are some of my favorite nursery’s with Board & Batten. Since I’ve been freakin’ jonesing to paint the nursery, Jer and I are starting this project on Sunday! Come back next week and check out our progress.

Pottery Barn Look for Less

Don’t get me wrong, I freakin’ heart the Pottery Barn. I get their catalog every month and have gotten so much inspiration from them over the years. And when it comes to duvet covers, they are my one stop shop because it’s honestly the best quality fabric I can find. But for stuff like baby furniture, there are just too many options to break the bank for the look.

So after we found out Baby D was a sweet little boy this week, I headed straight to Pottery Barn Kids to pick up some inspiration and of course to start filling my “oh BABY!” Pinterest Board. I will likely get all of Baby D’s bedding from PB kids because I’m in love with the “Row Your Boat” nursery theme but after a little research, the furniture was quickly taken off the PB List.

Here’s why: Can you tell which crib is Pottery Barn? Ummm… exactly.

VS

Pottery Barn Larkin Fixed Gate 4-in-1 Crib = $699 + $100 Shipping Surcharge

DaVinci 2 Piece Nursery Set – Jayden 4 in 1 Convertible Crib with Toddler Rail AND Piedmont Changer = $487.96 + Free Shipping (simplybabyfurniture.com)

Granted Pottery Barn’s version may have a finer quality wood, but they are both made of “solid wood”, which means sturdy and safe! So for me the decision is easy, peasy, lemon squeezy and even leaves a little room for a couple PB splurges I’ve got my eye on:

New Years Resolution: Get Organized!

Can “make my life simpler” be a New Years Resolution? Yeah.. it’s pretty broad. How about “organize my home in a way that makes life simpler”? I’m kind of liking the sound of that, especially since I’m T minus 5 months away from my life getting uber complicated. Since I’ve never been a rockstar at keeping New Years Resolutions (because umm… I’ve never lost the 15 lbs nor stopped eating the junk food I promised myself I would), I’m going to make every effort to show this one who’s boss. Then maybe when resolution time comes around next year, I’ll actually be successful at dropping the extra lb’s Baby D’s Mickey D’s is puttin’ on me.

So earlier this week, I made a list of all the spaces I want to organize before Baby D arrives, and I’ve already crossed off 4 of them! Woo Hoo!!! Not sure when it’s suppose to happen for sure, but this may be the start of the “nesting” phase folks…

1. Organization To Do’s:
2. #1 Organize Entryway Closet
3. #2 Consolidate 3 junk drawers into 1
4. #3 Create & organize an extra storage space in the Laundry Room
5. #4 Organize Kitchen sink cabinet
   
6. #5 Organize make up drawer
7. #6 Create & organize a “Baby Station” (a command center for all things baby) downstairs
8. #7 Organize the Freezer, Fridge & Pantry
9. #8 Organize Kitchen drawers
10. #9 Organize & decorate the nursery… ekkkk!
11. #10 Organize Guest Room/Craft Room closet
12. #11 Organize Bathroom cabinets
13. #12 Organize Nightstand
14. #13 Organize Desk
15. #14 Organize Mail Station
16. #15 Organize Master Bathroom closet

#1: Organize Entryway Closet (for $0!)

Since this is the only closet downstairs, it just has to be multi-functional. It’s smack dab in the middle of the floor plan – so although its main purpose is to house coats, it also has to house miscellaneous items from the living room, bathroom and laundry room. A closet like this can be very dangerous for housing ummm… everything, including junk, so I really had to put some thought into how to best utilize this space.

• Here’s how I approached it:
• Shoes: ugh…this was just painful to look at and impossible to find the shoes we needed. This is really just where we keep slippers, snow boots and older sneakers. All other shoes are slightly more organized in the master closet. Anywho, this just wasn’t cutting it so I started thinking about buying a shoe rack but realized I have a gazillion little racks around the house that could do the trick. The one I chose use to be in our gym. I don’t think it’ll be missed…

Coats: To create more space, I moved the lighter coats that we’re not currently wearing to the guest room closet. Since we hang our everyday coats near the door, this closet now only houses “other” seasonal coats. I can dig it…

Bins: So I had a few extra bins laying around that I thought would work well here. Before deciding what would live in them, I took everything out of the closet and put it on the steps in groups. Since this closet is so close to the living room and TV, I decided I would dedicate 1 bin to DVDs and 1 bin to games and controllers. The vacuum and other cleaning tools also call this closet their hizzouse so I also dedicated 1 bin to all it’s peeps – aka, the vacuum’s parts. Finally, I had a couple gloves, hats and scarves leftover, so I dumped them into their own bin and gave em’ a spot on the new shoe rack.

You can find some pretty random stuff cleaning out a junky closet. I honestly have no idea how this “Dance Off the Inches” DVD made it in here… wonder if Jer knows how? I mean whatever floats your boat dude

#2: Consolidate 3 “junk drawers” into 1

I’m really not sure how we ended up with 3 junk drawers, but as soon as I started getting confused as to what lives where, I threw in the towel on this notion. As I did with the closet, I laid every item from the 3 drawers on the table and was able to group them into piles. The items in the picture above were things I thought should live in the “official junk drawer” which is in the kitchen. The rest of the stuff, which was light bulbs, batteries, extension cords, etc. moved to bins in the laundry room. Oh and I got these bins from Marshalls for less than $4 each! They have a really nice rubber bottom so your “junk” doesn’t move around. These would also be great for organizing a large utensil drawer. Richmonders’: These are currently at the Cox Road Marshalls on the second row, back end cap. This Marshalls also has a lot of really great larger storage bins as well.

#3: Create & organize an extra storage space in the Laundry Room

So this is project #1 of the Laundry Room Makeover, coming soon. Jer and I recently joined Costco, which we’ve dubbed “the super secret savers clubs” because we’re umm.. geeks who say stupid stuff like that. But on the forreals, I’ve seriously got enough toilet paper and paper towels for the next 6 months. That’s wassup y’all. Honestly though, this rack has been a super helpful storage system. I’m still working on making it look a little better but it’s been a great place to store paper products, larger cleaning supplies and appliances that I want easy access to. This room is connected to the Kitchen, so it’s also great pantry overflow storage.

#4: Organize the Kitchen Sink Cabinet

This took me less than 5 minutes but has already saved me time. I’ve organized the cabinet into rows, so that I can easily grab the bottles. Row 1 = Floor Cleaners / Row 2 = Glass Cleaners / Row 3 = Counter Cleaners. The bin was a easy way to group smelly good sprays, dusting stuff and disinfectants. The drawer below the cabinet also got some love and now just mainly houses bags.

1. #5: Organize make up drawer
3.   

Looking at this honestly makes me feel warm and fuzzy. I know, I live a crazy exciting life… huh? But think about how much time I can save in the morning, knowing exactly where everything is. No matter what type of clutter you have, chances are you can group your stuff into similar piles and then all it takes is a cheapo bin or plastic organizer. I got the one above for less than $10 from Target.

So with almost half my list crossed off, I’m feeling pretty good about this year’s resolution. Every project above took me less than 30 minutes and I really am already saving time… which I guess means I’m making things simpler!

Let me know what you think in the comments and if you have any organization tips. I’d loooooove to hear em’!

xoxo,

Jamie