nursery turned toddler room

This weekend we ventured to a family reunion for the day, and in addition to seeing lots (and lots) of extended family members, we also picked up a couple of cool family heirloom pieces. 

Twin beds! Slept in by my mom and her brothers and sisters, as well as my sister and myself, and since then have been in the possession of my uncle who's sons slept in them.  And pretty soon (but not too soon) my 16 month old will make her way into one of them.

I would post a pic for y'all to see, but they are currently still in pieces and wrapped up from the journey home. But they are solid mahogany post beds, somewhat similar to this:

Not only is it special to have a family antique like that, but it's not often you find children's furniture that's made of solid wood. I'm excited to get them put together (although they'll need a little work).

Little nugget is still in a crib so that means I have to rearrange her room to work in a twin bed until she's ready for the transition. The guest room has a really comfy queen bed in it, so there's no use in changing anything about that.

Here's her room now (also don't mind the few discrepancies--by no means is has the room been styled or professionally photographed; I just cleaned it enough to look decent in a quick photo):

The crib is a mahogany Jenny Lind; the chair an 1880s re-upholstered French antique store find named Charlotte (I have a thing for chairs and naming things); the crepe paper pom-poms were hand-made decorations from my baby shower. I still need something behind the crib, but since the whole layout of the room is changing soon, I suppose that doesn't matter for the time being. The mobile will come down, since she's long outgrown it. I'm honestly surprised it's not broken; she yanks on it all the time.

There she is in all her bed-headed glory, upon her rocking horse that her grand-Papí made (shortly after this photo she was wailing for me because she decided climbing over the front of the horse was the best way to dismount.) The chair is an antique "kindergarden chair" that she got for her first birthday from my uncle (and don't tell her but it's probably going to become the Time-Out Chair). Obviously I haven't painted the walls, but I don't plan on it anytime soon. I figure, soon enough she'll have her own personality and then we can pick a color. Why create more work for ourselves? I mean I already have a half painted navy bedroom. 

And here's how the room is laid out in plan view:

And here are the options for incorporating the twin bed:

This option moves the changing table into the closet to be used for storage. Let's be honest, when you have a toddler, changing tables get used once a day, and even then it's a battle. The floor is your best option. Anyway, this is similar to how I would arrange the room if for some reason I kept both beds (my sister may take the other for her daughter).

This option repurposes the changing table as storage. It's open shelving so I would just move the toy baskets onto the shelves. 

So what do you think? 

Right now I'm leaning towards the first option, but ultimately it will depend on what it all feels like once I get it in there. It may end up being nothing like the way I've drawn them. Even still it's a good excuse to give that room some attention since all I've added since we moved in were the draperies and the photos for the gallery wall.

As usual, I'll keep you posted!

Until next time!

Before and After: A Man Cave in the Making

When my husband and I moved into our new home, he was so excited to have an extra room to call his own.  It wasn't huge, but it was his :)  The previous owners used it as a bedroom for their 5-year-old son, who apparently was really into safari animals.  Perhaps you are starting to imagine where the "before" in this before and after began.  

The little boy's room had a safari theme, complete with bamboo fencing on the lower part of the walls and a metallic gold faux finish on the top. The brown chair rail, foot boards and outlet covers were dating this 21st century room/house at least 30 years.  It's the little things, people.  It really is.  So, since the room was not exactly putting the "man" in man cave, I got to work.

After ripping off the bamboo and trim, which unfortunately was put on with a nail gun and liquid nails (aka will damage drywall upon removal), I decided to just cover that part of the walls.  I wanted to add a little more interest to the space with some wainscoting and crown molding anyway so it seemed like the perfect solution.   

Just changing the paint scheme, standard white on the bottom and Benjamin Moore's Charcoal Slate on top made a HUGE difference.  It already felt like an entirely new space.  The rest was just finishing off the details and adding the wainscoting stiles.

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Charcoal Slate

Pardon the iPhone photography and moving boxes, but you get the idea.  Quite a change, huh?  Since this photo was taken, the walls were touched up and adorned with a gallery of Jon's military memorabilia.  Once we finish up the space and decide on the last furniture pieces, I'll be sure to post another picture.  In the meantime, I hope this shows you just how much a little paint and trim can transform a space.  I absolutely love it.  And whether or not it stays a man cave or turns into another bedroom later on down the road, it'll be great either way.  No extra painting/renovations needed=music to my husband's ears.  

Unfortunately for him, my mind is still churning and working on several other rooms in our home.  A designer's home is never done.  :)  But I digress... Here's one last side-by-side comparison of the room:

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Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Quick bathroom makeover

As I might have mentioned before, we have this ugly bathroom downstairs. The plan is, within a year or so, divide it and make it into a powder bath and the shower section the backside of a new master bath. In the meantime we needed to do something to improve the look.

For about $250 we replaced the ugly counter top with a simple white one from Home Depot, installed an inexpensive faucet, and painted the vanity. The hand towel is from West Elm and the round mirror is an Ikea purchase from a couple years ago. The wall color is Olympic's Whispering Wind and the vanity is a custom Benjamin Moore color.

Eventually, the bathroom will be gutted but in the meantime I think it turned out to be a nice improvement.

navy bedroom update

Hello! Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope you all put it to good use, spending a little QT and appreciating our service men and women. 

I got a little bit of painting done on my navy bedroom--not as much as I had planned, but enough to confirm that, once again, I made a good choice ;) I'll spare you photos as this point, because apparently I'm a little ADD when it comes to painting. I have half a wall painted here, a whole wall there, and a corner over there. 

So I thought I'd share with you my other plans to pull this room together after it's all painted. (Not the best of my moodboards, but I just wanted to throw something together to give you a better feel of what I'm going for.) Here she is:

1. modern wood and metal curtain rods (this one is from West Elm, but I'm planning a less expensive similar DIY); standard white cotton draperies // 2. star pendant (already have) // 3. DIY yellow ochre linen headboard (I have the materials--I just have to find the time to do it) // 4. old church pew I'm hoping to find for a decent price around town--I see them everywhere but they're always overpriced // 5. miscellaneous throw pillows to soften up the pew (I'm also considering a bench cushion) // 6. wall paint: valspar for ace, mountain midnight // 7. light, neutral rug; this one is a Dash & Albert from wayfair // 8. two contemporary paintings framed in aged oak (already have and done by yours truly) // 9. an antiqued round gold mirror (already have) // 10. antique marble column lamp (already have) // 11. run-of-the-mill old dresser that was my husband's, painted in valspar's coastal jetty; I may also paint/replace the hardware

And that just includes the major room items--no moodboard could fit everything. The room is so big it also serves as my home office. There is also a very large dog pallet in the far corner (way too large for a wiener dog and wiener-russell, but they somehow take up all the space), and a very comfy and underutilized chaise lounge that either needs a deep cleaning or just a slip cover. I'd also like to add a wing-back chair for a reading nook, but that's probably just because the room is so big I'm looking for ways to fill it. Maybe next time I'll send you a room lay-out so you can see what I'm talking about! 

Hopefully you can see how using a bold color correctly can create a wonderful space. If you walked into the room empty with just navy walls, you may say "this isn't for me." But (as I plan) by using whites/neutrals, metallics, woods, and soft finishes, it turns into a cozy, warm, and relaxed bedroom. A place I look forward to retiring in at the end of the day. You don't even have to use "a lot of whites" as some people might suggest when selecting a dark color like navy. I'm not going for a white and navy room--too much white would just create a lot of contrast, making the navy stand out. I want the navy to stand back, creating a soft backdrop for the room. So that people walk in and instead of thinking "wow, navy was a bold choice," saying "wow, what a beautiful bedroom!" 

Until next time!

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Okay, enough of business talk, let's start this Memorial Day weekend!  While you're enjoying your cookouts, pool parties and beach vacations, please also stop to remember the real reason for the holiday.  As a wife of a soldier myself, I know the joy of having them return home safe and sound, and I can't imagine the pain or suffering of those that don't get to experience that.  Thank you to all that serve, whether here, overseas or at home (family members) :)  You do us all a service for which we are so grateful!

Nguyen Nursery Update

With only 5 more weeks to go before baby Nguyen is here, it is crunch time!

Dana, Me, Mallory and the 3A babies at my shower this weekend.

I have been working on the finishing details for the baby's nursery. If you recall I did a post a couple months back where I was trying to decide between three different design themes. Well, I decided to go with a variation of the Geometric Palm Springs theme.

This campaign dresser I scored at a local flea market. Please excuse my mess. 

The hardware on it was pretty grimy and pitted. Since Brasso did not clean them up like I had hoped, I gave spray painting a try.

After reading some reviews, I purchased Krylon's metallic spray paint in Gold Leaf. The hardware on the corners of the dresser are attached with little pins. I was afraid if I took them off they would get damaged. So, I decided it would be best to hand paint them. Martha Stewart's Brass Liquid Gilding appeared to be a good color match to the spray paint.

After painting all the hardware, the corners were a bit darker. I then took an empty glass and sprayed the spray paint in to it. I mixed it real well and then applied the spray paint with a brush on to the corner hardware. Surprisingly, it worked.

I am pretty pleased with how the hardware turned out. Stay tuned to for the final nursery reveal.

Later, lovelies.

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