Harper’s Room

I wanted to title this post “Harper’s Nursery,” but I really don’t feel like she is a baby with a nursery anymore.  It is turning into a little girl’s room.  She just turned 1 last Friday, and I can’t believe how fast she’s growing.  I guess it’s technically a nursery — she still needs her crib and changing table, but she is rapidly turning into a little girl right before our eyes.  She plays in her room, with her toys.  It is her very own room.  She is getting more and more independent every day, plus she’s mobile and has a hilarious little personality starting to shine through.  I think her birthday gave me the little motivation I needed to finish her room like I wanted it, and I finally got it all set up and photographed today.  Enjoy!!

If you’ve been reading, you’d know that I’ve been busy painting things for her room – including her changing table, a side/magazine table, a wall shelf, and her dresser. Here are some “before” photos, and you can see the finished product in her room photos!!

Here is the entire room from the doorway:

So as a refresher, here is what it looked like when we first moved in:

And here’s a shot of it that I took today (at almost the same angle):

Lots of new details!

So here’s the breakdown on Harper’s room:
Crib: IKEA
Crib bedding: Olivia by Dwell Studio for Target
Recliner: La-Z-Boy
Blinds: Home Depot
Rug: Target
Bookshelf: Way Basics
Dandelion Wall Decal: Etsy
Pom-poms: Michael’s by Martha Stewart
Changing table: Hand-me-down
Baskets: Wal-Mart
Dresser: Thrift Store
Side table: Hand-me-down
“H-A-R-P-E-R” Wallpaper Letters: Land of Nod
Lamp Set: Fred Meyer
Wall Shelf: Hand-me-down
LOVE Print: Oh Brooke

This is my new favorite room in the house! What do you think of Harper’s room??

Busy, busy…LOTS of stuff coming soon!!

Okay…I know I’ve been MIA lately, but it has been a crazy, crazy week!!  My daughter is 1 today, I can’t believe it!!  So I’ve been very busy planning her party, and I haven’t been online a lot (which is amazing for me!) so I’m sorry!!  But don’t worry — please keep coming back because there will be a lot to publish very soon, and I’m very excited about all of it! Now to just find time to blog it all!

Here is a picture of my sweet little girl, 1 year ago today…practically to the minute!  She was born at 11:11 PM PST.  🙂  If she was born 49 minutes later her birthday would have been 8-8-08.

Yes, that is a little scary looking, but even with the tubes she was still a cutie — just look at those lips!!  🙂  She was born 6 weeks prematurely and she had to be in the hospital for 2 and 1/2 weeks before we could come home!  It was the longest 17 days of my life.  But she did great — no one can tell us why she made an early appearance, she just had it in her mind to come into the world her way!!  And she was perfectly healthy in the hospital (a lot better than most of the babies in the NICU!), she just had to get a little stronger to feed herself, etc. Textbook perfect pregnancy, I have no health problems, so it is a mystery, but she is in perfect health as well and always has been!

And here she is as she is today — as you can see from that smile, she is such a happy girl.  I can’t imagine our life without her now.  🙂  She is crawling, almost walking, babbling, pointing, comprehending, and constantly smiling.  She is so fun! More and more so every day!

Anyway — as her birthday party is in 13 hours, I’ve been very busy planning and crafting it all together. I think you all will be so excited to see what I’ve put together!! If I can pull it off, that is — KIDDING!! So be sure to check back here for lots of pictures, and a re-cap of my sources. If you follow my updates on Twitter, I’ve showed a few sneak peeks of what I’ve been up to!!

I’ve also been working very hard on her bedroom, and I am so close to having it finished, so after the party buzz is over, I’ll photograph her cute little room and post it here soon! For now, here is a little glimpse of what has kept me so busy:

See you next week!!

Rookie moves…

I love DIY and crafty projects, there is no denying.  Who doesn’t?  But I do not claim to be super crafty myself.  I am learning, but I admit I am a total wannabe.  Spice Girl style.  I feel like I could be so crafty if I was taught some techniques, but on my own I’m way awkward.  That’s how I was through art school – as long as I have an assignment, I can do great work!  Work that passes me off for someone who knows what they are doing!  But I am not a ‘think-outside-of-the-box’ type of girl when it comes to creating things for myself.  Like I said, a wannabe.  This is usually how my projects turn out – glad to see the Petersiks are human! 🙂

(image via younghouselove’s flickr)

Thank goodness for my husband — he is so super handy.  He fixes a lot of my mistakes when I need it.  🙂  My adventures in crafting and DIY’ing usually seem to go like this; just this past week I’ve been painting everything I can get my hands on a nice glossy white for my daughter’s room.  So far I’ve painted her changing table, a magazine side table, today I finished painting a wall shelf, and my next project (before next Wednesday) is a dresser.  The changing table and side table went pretty good – I spray painted both of them because they had lots of turnings and carvings, and I knew a paintbrush wouldn’t be able to get it all evenly – so I was pleased with myself there, but then I attempted to tackle the shelf, paintbrush in hand.  A few things went majorly wrong (I can’t believe I’m revealing this, but maybe you can all give me some tips!!): first, it was about a million degrees outside when I did this.  I was covered by shade, but it was in the high 90’s.  Hot weather + wet paintbrush and open paint = clean paintbrushes for each coat, and lots of cleanup later.  I went back to put on the next coat (always later than I thought I would be able to — I have a busy 11 month old!), so the bristles were hard as a rock and you can’t clean that up without paint thinner.  Boo.  They’re soaking as we speak.  Second, one of the brackets on the shelf turned — somehow! — while it was drying, so it was stuck in a crooked position because of the paint.  I finally found one of Glenn’s razor blades and freed the bracket, and I had to re-paint where it was stuck, which was fine because that bracket needed another coat anyway.  But still — pain(t) in the butt!!  And third, and this is the biggest rookie move of all on my part, I painted the shelf and left it ON NEWSPAPER.  Paint loves to act like glue with newspaper, which means lots of newspaper stuck to the back of my shelf.  I knew this was going to happen, but it takes me 3 times as long to get back to something as I assume…razorblade bailed me out again, but it took almost an hour to get all of the paper shreds off.  I should have painted one side, while it was propped up on something, then flipped it over to paint the other side, leaving it elevated and away, far, far away from the Modoc Record archives.  🙂

(image via pink loves brown’s flickr)

Be on the lookout for my next post on how it all turned out!!  I’m learning, so that’s okay.  And I have a good attitude and can admit my mistakes!  What a fun thing to learn by trial and error, right?  So…I would love to know your DIY/crafty tips so that I don’t run into problems like this again. I can hardly wait for Centsational Girl’s FAQ: In My Toolbox – Part 2!! I love seeing posts like this, so I can fuel my wannabe DIY soul!!  And a big thanks (again!) to Brooke at ohbrooke! for the link to the Centsational Girl site!!

So cute, and so easy to put together!

As my daughter’s first birthday is coming up, I’m in a hurry to try to finally finish her room!  She was born 6 weeks early, so I feel like I didn’t get a chance to properly put it all together like most nesting moms-to-be would.  It is a very cute room, but with a newborn I didn’t get to finish all of the projects that I had in mind!  The paint on the upper half of the room was all that was done when I left for the hospital, so it has been a slow project, but I finally got a few projects done this week so here I am to share what I’ve been up to!!

First of all, I am no way being compensated to promote this product.  I just found something that interested me and I wanted to share!  I discovered the company “Way Basics” a couple months ago, and have been going back to their site all the time ever since, but I haven’t bought anything until now.  They sell modular storage furniture, which is made of recycled paper in the form of “Z Boards” that you can put together how they intend, or you can be creative and have fun with them!  They are having an awesome Summer Sale, and I saw their Rectangle Plus 3 in pink on sale for 50% off (for $33!! As of today…), so I decided that it was such a bargain I would try it for Harper’s room.  I would love the white, or even the “Kraft” series for my office, but I wanted to try it before I make a bigger commitment.  The cool thing about Way Basics furniture, is that it is held together with peel-and-stick industrial strength tape!  No screws or nails, just peel the strip off and stick it together — sooo simple!!  And it is super strong, plus the way it is put together keeps it strong; it rests on the horizontal boards, and there is a backing board to keep it all together.  Anyway, I love Harper’s new shelf.

I taped a little video of me putting the shelf together so you can see how easy or difficult it would be, which took less than 10 minutes.  The video, though, is only 43 seconds long because I used Gawker, which is in timelapse.  🙂  Enjoy!!

And here is the shelf, put together and filled with some of Harper’s stuff, except when she decides to play with the toys I carefully placed on it. That is why the books and breakables are on the top 2 shelves!!

And there she goes…

By the way, Way Basics is holding a “Messy Room Contest” on Facebook, and I submitted a photo of my office/craft room — a room that I haven’t gotten to organizing yet — and guess what?!?!?! They picked me as one of the contestants!!!!!! Come to think of it, I don’t know if that is good or bad, ha! But anyway, I need lots more votes to win so I need your help! You have to become a fan of Way Basics, but as you can see from the video, they make some pretty cool products, and they don’t post a lot so come on, help a girl out!! The prize is $250, which I could put to really good use for shelving in my office…and by shopping at Way Basics, I could buy a ton of organizing products!!

I hope you enjoyed my video — have a good week!!!

Ah, the life of a fire wife…

Us at the county fair, 2007.

I have been with my husband for 8 years now, and as the girlfriend and wife of a wildland firefighter (he is an Engine Operator for the BLM, so he drives, runs the engine and the crew), I am used to the summertime when he has to go off-district and can be gone for 2 weeks at a time. Well, it is a million times different this summer for me. I miss him terribly this time, and he has only been gone for 4 days!! This is because of a few reasons; 1) we live in Likely — small and isolated (although only 20 minutes from the “big” town, where many of my friends live) so it can get a little lonely! Thank you to my Twitter and Facebook friends for the chats! 2) I’m not working at my dayjob (I work part-time at a school so we’re out for summer), only from home right now so I rarely leave my house! 3) We have our baby Miss Harper for the first fire season, and without Glenn coming home at night it’s only the 2 of us 24/7 — which I love, but it’s nice to let daddy take over for a little while, and it’s nice to have visitors.

I’m writing this post for Melissa’s “A Beautiful Life” blog party at The Inspired Room, and so I just want to publicly shout out a big “thank you for all you do for us” to my husband, Glenn, and to let him know how much we miss him around here! He works very, very hard for us and me, and his entire family, are so proud of him. But his off-district fire is actually perfect timing as his birthday is coming up, as is Harper’s first birthday (I’m surrounded by Leos!!) so he will be home for his birthday, and her party!!

At my Grandma’s birthday party, 2007.

At my best friend’s son’s first birthday party, 2007.

He is the funniest guy I know (we laugh every day), we have a relationship that has grown amazingly (with our ups and downs, but it has all made us stronger), and it all gets better and better every day. I love you, honey!!! Be safe and come home soon!! Here are some of my favorite pictures of him and us.

Our wedding day, October 18th, 2003 (this is my favorite picture EVER!)

Mexico cruise, 2005 — the black hair phase.  🙂

My 10 year high school reunion, 4th of July 2009

In Costa Rica, April 2009

At a friend’s wedding, 2007.

Camping at West Valley Reservoir — using our camp trailer for the 1st time, 2006.  It snowed a lot, good thing we had a trailer!

Wow, I’ve had a lot of hairstyles over the years… 🙂  Love ya’, babe!  Thank you for giving me our beautiful baby girl, and thank you for being my handy-man around here!  You are the best!!

Watching grass grow…

Update: I’m linking this post to Julia’s Hooked on Fridays blog party at Hooked on Houses, and the Frugal Friday Linky Party at the Shabby Nest!  Thanks, ladies!!!!

We have finally gotten back to the backyard project — although the mountain of gravel is still there, ugh. We do have someone who is going to come get the rest, so hopefully they’ll come do that soon! Anyway, we’ve fenced off the sections that will be grass, planted, fertilized and watered, so now we’re waiting…and watching the grass grow! Yes, we have grass!!!

Here is what we’ve been up to:

I cannot wait to 1) get the gravel out of there, 2) have enough grass to take the fences down, and 3) actually like my backyard. It hasn’t happened yet, which is unfortunate during the summer!! Patience, Lindsay, patience…

This Is Why I Don’t Have White Furniture…

Because every home needs a pet, and every blog needs a dog, I thought I would take some time to introduce you to the rest of the Christensen family — meet Keno and Molly, our adopted mutts that we love so much and think of as our oldest children!

First is Keno, our eldest.  We adopted him from the local animal shelter when he was 4 months old. A small little puppy…if we would have only known HOW HUGE he was going to get! I kid…but he is really a big (GIANT) teddy bear.

He was born in January of 2002, and we adopted him in May of that year.  We told the animal shelter we wanted a puppy, so they brought us to where they kept the puppies.  There were 5 of them; 4 girls (all sisters) who were gorgeous gray hound-looking dogs, and then this little awkward male with big feet.  I was gawking at these shiny-coated sisters, who were huddling with eachother in the corner of the pen they were in, when I felt something on my leg.  I look down and this little black puppy with big feet and even bigger brown eyes was up on his hind legs with his front paws on my shins saying “Pick me, pick me!”  So we did.  We took him home and he immediately took over our bed and has been there ever since.  He is part lab, maybe part Rottweiler, and who knows what else, but he is a sweetheart who loves to spoon (seriously!) and loves to get his butt scratched.  He can eat chocolate and rat poison and live through it, and will eat anything else that you give him — can’t you tell?  Yes, he outweighs me at 140 pounds!

Next is our middle child, Molly.  By the way, these are not original names.  My husband has had 2 other Kenos and 1 other Molly.  We originally named them Rocky and Maggie, but it just didn’t fit, and I guess we’re not that original, ha!  Or at least his family isn’t.  🙂  Anyway, Molly’s birthday is October of 2002, and we adopted her over Superbowl weekend in 2003.  Nobody wanted Molly because she had a fungus on her face, but we saw through the skin spots to see what a sweetie she was, plus she was on medication and it was supposed to go away (which it did!).

We got her from the same animal shelter that we found Keno at, and when we arrived she had just gotten a bath because she had been rolling in cow manure.  She still likes to do that.  We told them we wanted a little dog that likes to play with big dogs, and the first time we saw her she was standing on a big sleepy dog and biting his ears.  Keno and Molly became instant best buddies and I am scared for them for the day either one of them goes because the other one might die of a broken heart.

Molly is part Sharpei, maybe part Border Collie and who knows what else!  She sleeps a foot away from the heater while panting like she’s going to pass out and she trims her own nails.  She will also lick you to death, so we have to watch her around Harper!  Especially because Harper will lean into the dogs, open her mouth and let Molly go to town.  Gross!  But a funny story to tell when Harper’s in high school.

And as the headline says, these two are the main reason that I cannot allow myself to buy white furniture, or even a white slipcover!  Especially now when it’s hot and they shed like crazy…you can tell by the discolored fur on Keno’s back leg.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Young House Love and decor8 look, but I just CAN’T.  Between the mud and the fur and the drool, my furniture would look like a New York City sidewalk.  I need some colored camoflauge, people!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the dogs, plus some for scale to see how giant he is!

We have this one framed in our “reading nook” in our living room.

And here we are circa Christmas 2005 in our old rental house, before Harper! Our original children. 🙂  There were a lot of funny outtakes trying to get this shot since we used a timer.  Pretty funny!!  And why did we leave the TV on in the background?? Haha!

I hope you enjoyed meeting the rest of the Christensen family!  They would love to meet you…and let you take them on a walk! 🙂

This Makes Me Want to Re-Paint

I love, love, love this kitchen.  Well, more specifically I love the color scheme.  It reminds me of the gray that I have in my living room, and I’m tempted to carry the color into my kitchen. I’ve actually had a lot of positive comments about the bright color I have now, which made me take notice of the subtle colors I’m attracted to. I’m not sure about the semi-bright green (“Misted Fern” by BM) I have now but a girl can dream.  Always looking out for the better color, or side table, or rug, or ceramic garden stool.  Which brings me to this kitchen from House Beautiful.

I love the white cabinets, gray background, and black and green accents.  What do you think?  It might actually help me tie in the “I am too cheap to buy stainless steel appliances” white and black appliances that I have.  🙂  Don’t judge me.  It’s a starter home!  The only problem I have now is my stock blonde “wood” laminate countertops. They’re in good shape so they’re staying for now, but we are planning a kitchen remodel – SOMEDAY.  Our kitchen is way awkward with no storage, so it should be fun!  But I can always repaint!

On another note, I just helped a client choose countertops from a color selection of meganite.  Ever heard of it?  It’s an acylic solid surface.  She wanted black countertops, which would have looked great, but after seeing a friend’s dark acrylic countertops (which were full of scratches) she voted for my lighter selection, which should hide the scratches.  Soapstone would have been so beautiful…but so expensive!

I can’t wait to see her “after” pictures!  I’ll have to post them as soon as I get a picture.  Have a good week, everyone!

(images via House Beautiful and Meganite)

{E-Decorating} Tonya & Cody’s Wyoming Bedroom

Tonya and Cody asked for my help, ready to move the babies out of their room because they wanted an update to their bedroom (which is already an amazing room to work with) with some rustic modern style.  They love neutral and natural colors and furnishings, but with some contemporary style.  The bed and headboard, green chair and ottoman, black desk, rug, and black gun cabinet had to stay, while everything else was able to go, so I got right down to work to put a plan together.  Tonya’s biggest issue was the bed. It really can only go on one wall (unless you get rid of the headboard — not happening according to Cody) because of the angles of the roof — something you don’t realize will be problematic until you live in the space. I’ll let the pictures do the talking!

Here are Tonya’s before pictures:

As you can see, the bones of the room (and rest of the house) is new and updated, so they wanted their decor to be calming and a restful space to enjoy away from the kids. The floorplan is a “U” shape surrounding their master bathroom, with a lot of difficult angles and tight spaces, so I had to focus on low furnishings and camouflaging to make use of wasted space.

Here is their new bedroom floor plan (click the photo to see it larger):

The main differences are that the desk will be to the left of the bed, the chair and ottoman will be in the entry, and the new furniture is around the walls. See more info. below!

And here is the plan I came up with:

And here is the color/material board breakdown:

1. This room will be a palette of green, brown/blacks, creams and a little red in the existing rug and bathroom paint.  This first color is the wall paint color, a soft, sagey (yet masculine) gray-green to coordinate with their existing green chair and ottoman, and ground the room in a nice, earthy color.  It will also bring out the greens in the rug, and tone down some of the other main colors.  If possible (but it will work either way) I would like the headboard and floor mirror to be stained a deep brown/black stain.  This color is called Misty Air (OC-44) by Benjamin Moore.
2. This is the ceiling and trim paint color, a nice warm cream that will soften up the ceiling angles and warm up the space.  Sea Haze (2137-50) by Benjamin Moore.
3. I chose to darken up the duvet with a nice chocolate brown organic set with lots of fluffy texture.
4. These wall mirrors with java-colored shelves will add some sparkle (especially with a few candles flickering on them) and reflect the warmth of the ceiling.  These (I chose them as a pair) will go on the flat wall on either side of the bathroom door, off the foot of the bed.
5. I chose black grommet curtains for both windows to add some modern pop and to make sure to block out the view as the neighbor’s house is right out of the window behind their bed!  This will also tie into the black desk, gun cabinet, and new brown/black furniture.  They will have to be hemmed for the low window.
6. To soften up the modern black curtains, I’d choose a double rod and add these graphic (yet rustic-patterned) sheers underneath.  Layering always helps finish a room.
7. Another great contemporary decor statement would be these block shelves, which come as a set, and will go above the existing desk.  The desk will be moved to the left of the bed, on that same wall.  The existing photographs and artwork (which is now on the floor and the gun cabinet) will go here, along with some candles or accessories that Tonya already owns.
8. These black and white ikat print throw pillows will add more rustic, yet contemporary, charm to their bedroom while coordinating with the other patterns in the room.
9. Tonya requested some natural textures and botanical touches, so these willow branches (maybe even 2 or 3 vase-fulls around the room) will add some height and camoflauge in those awkward spaces.  So speaking of camoflauge and awkward spaces, the gun cabinet will be pushed away from the corner as far as it can go and turned 90 degrees (with the door facing the room), and the vase of willow branches will be placed in front of the door.   Another spot that could use a vase of willow branches is in the opposite end of the “U”.  Back there is a built-in countertop, sink and mini-fridge with a mirror above it.  However, the slope of the ceiling is so sharp that unless you’re standing right next to the countertop, you can’t even stand in there.
10. This is the vase that the willow branches will go in.  Self-explanatory, right?
11. What do all quiet work desks need?  Why a nice little lamp!  Again, the desk will be over to the side of the bed!
12. This is a black and white woven throw, which would be a nice touch on the green chair and ottoman to make a new little reading nook.  The reading nook will be located in the room’s entry, which is where the gun cabinet is located.  This will also help to camoflauge the awkward corner that is left right there. (Note – this throw has already sold out!! So I’m substituting this organic version in natural or clay.)
13. Tonya and Cody’s bedroom could definitely use a little more storage — so let’s cue the new dresser!  The nice thing about this dresser is that it is low enough to fit under the angles of the ceiling, and it also will triple as a media cabinet (to hold her printer) and a changing table (which is what it technically is).
14. I thought this console table with storage baskets would be a nice storage piece for right next to the entrance; a spot to drop change or watches, and it could store some books as it is right next to the reading nook.
15. All reading nooks need some light, and I loved the shape of this floor lamp.  Another piece that would camoflauge the gun cabinet with some height.
16. As to not leave the other far wall bare, this black/brown bookcase will be laid horizontally underneath the low window in the room, providing storage and display space.
17. This side table will add some more natural texture with its woven base, and a little sparkle with its glass top.  These could be used in the reading nook, next to the armchair, or even against the bathroom wall (under the mirrors) off the end of the bed.

And there you have it!  Tonya and Cody’s rustic modern bedroom, set in beautiful Wyoming!  We can’t wait to see what they come up with!

If you’d like your own custom color/material board and e-decorating package, then visit this site or contact me to get started!

I {Sew} Can’t Wait!

I can’t wait to finish this project!  Well, my mother-in-law will probably be doing most of the leg work as I’m re-learning to sew, and she is much, much better at it — I guess I just don’t trust my skills yet!  But this is the fabric that I bought which will be the new shower curtain in our bathroom!  It’s a super soft, creamy linen which I matched to a lighter shade from the paint chip card that is the wall paint and I can’t wait to get it up (and replace the green and red graphic print curtain we’ve got going on now!), as well as get new towels to match the curtain!

I just hung the fabric up to see how it looks and I can’t wait!  It will really lighten and brighten up the room.  I was going to sew a floor-to-ceiling length panel for some drama, but I’m really worried about blocking ALL the light in the shower.  I think the light panel will let more light through the panel itself, but the ceiling light is what brings the light in and I need to be able to see when I’m shaving!  What do you think?

The new panel almost makes the pistachio green bathtub look great in there!  Yes, we’re that lucky to have a green bathtub.

So what do you think? Ceiling height shower curtain or standard 6 feet??  I can’t decide.  And how great does the linen look with my super cushy bath mats?? 🙂