Henry's (finally finished) room

For most of my pregnancy, I said we would deal with the baby's room starting in January.  Get through the little remodel project (where I last left off this place) and the holidays and then conquer that chaos.  What is now Henry's room spent the first five years as Paul's office until we remodeled and then it became a guest room/catch-all/overflow from Paul's office.  I didn't realize how much treasures Paul had stored in the closet.

It was quite an undertaking and the room wasn't quite cleaned out before Henry made his appearance. My mom came for a visit in late January to be at my baby shower and to do some little projects in the baby's room.  We installed a custom closet system and she thankfully volunteered to paint the nursery.  I loved the color of what had been the guest room.  It was an aqua blue but we repainted to a yellowy color after the remodel so it would better flow with the living room since it now opens up to that room.  I didn't select the same aqua color for Henry's room but a couple of shades lighter (and love it just the same).  Henry dropped when I was about 38 weeks pregnant and was sitting on my left hip, making walking pretty painful.    I'd gotten most of the furniture put together (it's almost all IKEA) but was having issues with the crib's bottom slats.  Paul's parents came over the weekend before Henry was born and helped finish the crib as well some other odds and ends projects around the house.  I spent the last two weeks before Henry was born doing a few little things that could be accomplished while crawling or walking as little as possible (making up the crib, folding/putting away clothes, etc).   Paul scoffed and told me to stop but was grateful when, during the first week after Henry was born, he commented to my mom that he really needed a burp cloth, pulled out a little basket and voila!  Burp clothes! Of course, I should have been packing a suitcase but that's a story for another time. . . .

When Henry started rolling a couple of months ago, Paul realized he had to get the rest of his stuff out of the room since there were cords and wires and other interesting things for babies.  That got me inspired to finally complete Henry's room. 

Looking in from the bedroom door.  The window faces east so Henry has a great view of the mountains.

Happy boy in his jumparoo.  I love the ABC print and the mirrors.  When Henry's outgrown the jumparoo, I hope to make this a little play area with a table and chairs.

Buckets with toys and books under the window--I'd intended to use brown as an accent color but found these at Target.  They were what I was wanting just in a different color.  And the more I look at them, the more I like the green accents in here.  And we don't call them polka dots but lizard spots (thanks, Paul).

I didn't know if I wanted a glider originally.  Henry slept in the bassinette in our room for the first two months and when we moved him into his bedroom, we put the small recliner from our bedroom in here as well.  Turns out,  Henry likes to rock/glide so we purchased this a couple of months ago.

Gratuitous picture of Jubjub

The crib and the prints from Henry's 1-month photo shoot.  I finally settled on the quote over his crib when I saw it was from Shakespeare's Henry VIII.   Putting it up was another project I saved for my mom to help with.

I made the pillow covers.  Sewing is a skill I don't let many people know I can do (it's not a favorite thing but I do enjoy it from time to time).  I also tailored the valance, joining two panels into one.  A friend made the stick horse that I purchased last December at a holiday fair because I knew it would coordinate with the bedding (and it is really cute and its name is Charger).

Henry's already well-stocked bookcase. :)  The giraffe print was one I purchased years ago and was one I knew I wanted to hang in the nursery.  We used the animals/polka dots bedding because of this print.

The changing station and dresser.  Burp clothes are in the basket on the left. :)

Vignette shot because I was getting arty while taking these pictures.

Another arty shot.  The picture of Henry and Paul was taken in the hospital when Henry was about 24 hours old.  Melts my heart every time I look at it.

We think he likes his room as well.

So six months after he made his appearance, that is Henry's finally finished room that will, of course, never actually be finished as it will grow and change with him.  It isn't quite what I'd first envisioned when I started thinking of how I wanted the nursery--I was considering a mural or polka dots on the wall and different artwork.  None of that happened and that's OK.  While it's not as fancy as originally planned, both Paul and I have found ourselves sitting in there just enjoying what a happy little room it is.

Some people move. We remodel.

When we first started telling the neighbors that I was pregnant, quite a few of them asked if we would be moving. We have no plans to any time soon. In fact, Paul has devised the four-year plan to pay off the mortgage and own the joint out-right. Instead, we remodel. Both Paul and I love our little house--it really has been a great place for us and we have really good (for the most part) neighbors. I guess this is our way of making the space even more perfect. And it is cheaper than buying a new house.

The first remodel we did four years ago added Paul's office space while enclosing a rarely-used yet enormous (9x11) balcony to expand the second upstairs bedroom and add a walk-in closet. The second remodel last year took out the two extraneous windows that I HATED in the living room and upgraded the kitchen countertops. And yes, we're planning a THIRD remodel on our house.

One of my complaints about our house has always been that the living room is too small. I think this will become even more evident when we add in a little guy and all his stuff. Heck, we just got one hand-me-down from friends yesterday (a glider thingy) and already, we're seeing how things can quickly grow out of control and we can quickly run out of room.

When we built the house a little over 9 years ago, we had an option on what we wanted to do with a front room. Some neighbors left it open, others enclosed one wall, others made it into a bedroom. We opted to make it a guest bedroom with a door onto the hallway. We also added a shower to the downstairs bathroom, making it a 3/4 bath. This worked well since the bedroom door was next to the bathroom door. Except that in nine years, the guest room was used about one week out of the year so we have 1oo sq. ft. of usable space that hasn't been used much. Earlier this year, we moved the bed out and I bought a small desk and a new futon for the room to make it more of an office/den space. Still not used much but a little more usable than it had been.

I'd been plotting for a while another remodel that we might do to open up the living room space and make the front room more usable. I even tried to convince Paul to do it last year but he didn't like the idea. Enter the positive pregnancy test. Now, even Paul has had to admit that it wouldn't be a bad idea to change the house one more time.

The plan right now is to make what is the guest room into more of a den space, opening it to the living room. To do that, we'll enclose the door that leads into the hall from the bedroom and make that a solid wall. We'll then open a space on the wall that faces the living room and open it up with skinny French doors--something like these. I'd like to rip out the carpet and put in hardwood flooring of some ilk. We're then discussing buying a twin sleeper chair and storage ottoman and probably a twin air mattress as well for guests. The remodel will require a little bit of electrical work since we'll have to move the light switches and one electrical outlet but hopefully, it won't be too time-involved. We're not sure when we're going to do this--maybe even before the holidays. I've asked my friend who is a realtor about the ramifications of changing the room but because it will still have a closet, technically we can still call it a bedroom if we do decide to move (you know, since we've pretty much exhausted every remodel option).

Of course, of most pressing need is to call a roofer to come out to the house. It seems that the two inches of rain a couple of weeks ago and then last week's snow both found the leak in the roof. It's in the new bedroom upstairs (what will become Baby's bedroom) where old-meets-new after the first remodel. It had a two year warranty so we're out of luck there but thankfully, the damage inside isn't too much so hopefully it won't require an entire roof. Just one more of the joys of homeownership.

To give some idea as to what I'm talking about, I found this old picture from Christmas two years ago. The hallway door just visible on the left will be enclosed and the new doors will go roughly where the hall tree is--a little to the right actually.

Waiting and doing nothing productive in the interim

Our new fridge will be delivered sometime this afternoon. We went to a local appliance store yesterday morning and basically said bottom-freezer and white and we'll take whatever you've got in stock. We ended up paying more than we'd hoped to spend and more than we would have had we ordered one. Unfortunately, we couldn't really want to wait a week to 10 days for a new fridge. So, we will soon have this (I think this one) LG refrigerator in shiny white. I wasn't totally onboard with the water and ice in the door but thankfully the filter is easily accessible inside the fridge so it can be easily changed. (And it wasn't mentioned in the Consumer Reports so here's crossed-fingers that it's OK.)

And while I'm waiting, I really should be cleaning the house but it's just not getting done. I have vacuumed but that's about it. Perhaps I'll be more inspired when my sad little broken fridge isn't sitting in the middle of my kitchen with a cooler of food next to it.

Home with an unwanted souvenir

We arrived home yesterday afternoon--tired, happy to have gone on vacation but happier at that moment to be standing in our living room. We've brought with us a lovely head cold/sinus thing I picked up in Dublin and generously shared with Paul. Thankfully, he didn't start feeling bad until Tuesday evening when we were waiting for the flight from Atlanta to Houston. At least he gets to feel bad at home and not while traisping through castles and churches and the picturesque English countryside.

Thankfully, we have no plans for the long weekend--just relax, recoup, finish up laundry, wade through pictures and treasures. A full recap and pictures to follow when my head is less cloudy.

The Finished Product

Here are the "After" pictures from the remodel. I'm very pleased with the end results--definitely worth all the hassle. I took it as a high compliment when a coworker who was at the house on Tuesday asked if I'd had a designer help me with my new furniture selections, tile choice, etc. I've had another friend ask me the same thing after visiting a friend's house that did use a professional designer. I guess the countless hours of HGTV, looking at catalogs and magazines, and stealing ideas from friends who can use designers has paid off. (I didn't do a very good job of staging the pictures though. Please ignore all the stuff that come with actually living in a place.)

One more remodel picture. A little Southern ingenuity on doing dishes in the downstairs bathroom--use a sweater dryer for the dishes. Oh, yes. Someday we'll look back on all this and laugh.The finished kitchen. I guess I did have help choosing the tiles although the remodeling consultant really sat back and let me decide, offering a few suggestions but not many. That's why it took so long to make a final decision--I had to mull through all these choices before I settled on these. I had taken the doors off the cabinet over the microwave when I had all my cookbooks there. Now, because there are only a few left in there and the rest of the cabinet has been reclaimed as dish space, I put the doors back on. Putting the matching pulls on is on today's honey-do list.
A close-up of the finished counter and backsplash. The contractor did a fantastic job with the tile and the little finish details like the finish tile on the edges of the tile.
The new sink and bar area. We reused our old faucet much to the chagrin of the remodeling consultant. He wasn't sure I'd like the old faucet with all the new surroundings. I like it and think it looks fine here.
A close-up of my fabulous new sink. The right side is 11 inches deep while the left side is 9 inches deep. Looking into the living room from the hallway. I'm positively thrilled with the end results of taking out the windows. It is such a nicer light in here--proof that it really is possible to have too many windows in a space.
Another view of the living room, this one from the dining room.
Our new chair and ottoman. It was delivered earlier in the year.
Looking into the dining room from the living room. I like our new cabinet. It's a darker wood than I'd anticipated but very pretty especially against the red wall. I love the tin tiles and since I put our Nambe pieces and some silver picture frames in the cabinet, I thought it looked nice with them hanging like that.
A closer-up view of the cabinet and tiles.
An even closer-up of the picture on the bottom shelf. I found this picture at an antique store when we were in Kansas in December and it amused me enough that I had to buy it--four farmboys from Kansas on the beach of Santa Monica, CA in the early 1900's.
So, that is it. One more big project that is finished. I haven't figured out the next project I'd like to tackle next around the house. I'm sure there will be something. There is always something. . . .

Weekend Recap

The conference was great and I'm really glad I went. I hate the term "network" but I know that's what I was doing--catching up with people I know and like, getting fantastic new ideas to try in my library, and generally walking away from the conference feeling with a good feeling about my job and how I hope to improve it. The keynote speaker for Friday wasn't able to make it because of the American Airlines debacle. Fortunately, he's technologically inclined and was able to do a podcast for the group on the pros and cons of Wikipedia. I would love to have heard him speak as just the podcast was pretty dynamic. It was also nice to know that I've been teaching the use of Wikipedia correctly (as a good site to use as a starting point for information and for the external links but definitely not as the expert site).

During the morning on Friday, I was manning the ASL-SIG booth and flipping through a catalog for a book vendor. I started chatting with the book rep at the booth, explaining that I do use them every year and really like my rep and the company. Another book rep came over and started chatting with us. He lives in Rio Rancho and through the course of conversation, I mentioned the church we attend and my inlaws' names. Come to find out, that rep went to school with my MIL in Louisville and Wamego. Reva was his 4-H leader. He asked about Paul's aunt and uncle. He and my inlaws have been in and out of touch over the years but he gave me his card with his phone number to pass along. Small world.

I got home on Friday evening after a horrible drive home. I managed to drive both to and from Cruces with a headwind and Friday's was especially rotten. One of those ones where you have to hang on the entire time and I held my breath any time I drove over a bridge. Not because I thought I'd go over the edge but all those "gusty winds" signs and the flapping wind socks did nothing to deter that thought. I promise the best thing about the drive was stopping at the Border Patrol check-point outside of Las Cruces and being asked if I was a U.S. citizen. Because I look so foreign. I'm sure it's just a standard question asked of all drivers but really. I wanted to ask if it was a trick question but simply replied "Yes." (Paul said I should have answered "Si") and headed back into the nasty gusty wind. 230 miles and 3/4 of a tank later (I'm not going figure out that gas mileage), I finally made it home.

Happily, all the inside construction was finished on Friday. I spent most of the day yesterday doing all kinds of cleaning--getting all the construction gunk out of every nook and cranny of the house. I could probably call in Merry Maids to get the gunk I missed--I gave up out before cleaning out the inside of cabinets and drawers that probably need to be cleaned. But I LOVE the new countertops and tile. Alan did a fantastic job with the tile work. I wrote him a nice thank you before I left and Paul bought a gift card to a local restaurant to put in it. Alan will be back at some point in time because the stucco still isn't finished. We haven't had rain in two months then we scheduled outdoor work. Oh well--as I said before, that doesn't bother me much because I don't see it. Pictures are forthcoming. It seems that the camera is never on the same floor as I am and as Paul is currently vacuuming the stairs, I don't want to interrupt his work.

Today has been a lazy day for both of us. Finishing up the laundry and that sort of thing. We finally finished and e-filed our taxes. We knew we'd owe money so we weren't in a hurry to get that done any earlier than need be. Paul leaves tomorrow for a week-long conference near L.A. and I've got a few little things going on during the week to keep me busy. A good weekend followed by a hopefully good week.

Remodel Days 9 & 10: Almost there

There was no update yesterday because after a little lovefest over the work that was completed, I wandered down to a neighbor's house to join some of the other neighbor ladies for cocktail hour. That ended up lasting through dinner and a movie. It was a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Yesterday, our lovely contractor was able to grout the tile behind the sink (the Day 8 picture) and hooked up the sink and the dishwasher. It was the first time I've seen large expanses of the countertop uncovered and it is exactly what I wanted and had hoped to see. (My across-the-street neighbor said she'd looked at the slabs before they took them in and confirmed that the color was "very nice." I take that as a high compliment from her.) When I was talking with my neighbors yesterday and describing the new countertops, one of the ladies said that she had been looking at probably the same countertop for her kitchen and she hoped I didn't mind. Not at all--if anything, I think it confirms that I've got good taste in countertops.

I spoke with the contractor this morning when he called to let me know that he would not be in today. He will be back on Monday with the rest of the tile and would possibly get through that task then. So, it's getting there. A few days longer than we'd planned but nothing too terribly long and delayed. I think the contractor would have been back on Monday or Tuesday anyway so as to be around for the stucco guys to finish. And then, apparently, it's cocktail hour at my house so the neighbors can nose around and see what we did.

Semi-related to the remodel: I've been looking for a new piece of furniture to put in our dining area. Currently, there are three 4' floating shelves on the dining area wall and while I like them, I've discovered that it's not exactly what I was wanting or needing in there. I'd envisioned using them as a bar area when people are over. Yeah. That never happened. It ends up that the shelves are just places to display pretties and not quite the storage I need. Because it's not a very big space, I was limited on how deep the furniture could be. I really didn't want anything over 12" deep. I found this piece in a Sundance Catalog that I LOVE but my husband started getting all stingy with the money. Something about spending a whole lot on kitchen countertops and we just got a new couch and that's not even really old just made to look old and why does it cost so much and mutter mutter mutter. . .

Last week, I got an email that there was 20% off orders at Ballard Designs. I had been flirting with the idea of ordering this bookcase which has a more husband-friendly price in honey. The discount covered the cost of shipping plus a little more so everyone was happy. While I was still a bit hesitant to press the "Order" button--after all, I have spent a pretty penny on furniture and remodel lately--Donna has no problem spending my money and started going on about nice furniture being an investment, have this piece forever, blah, blah, blah. And she's right. It will be one of those pieces that can easily roam around a house from room to room. (I wish she'd been around to try this line on Paul about the Sundance piece.) I got a call from the truck delivery service that the bookcase will be delivered on Monday afternoon during the convenient time of 1:00 until 5:00. I'm gone three days next week for my conference so I'm hoping Paul can hang out at the house. Because I'm fairly certain that it's not appropriate to ask the lovely contractor to sign for our new furniture.

Day 25: Home

Paul and I made it home with little ado this morning. We caught the shuttle from the hotel at 6:00 a.m. and were at the airport in just a few minutes. I think we sat longer in drop-off traffic than the rest of the travel time--it was very busy and the line at curbside baggage check was daunting. Because it was a brisk 45 with a brisk wind to boot, Paul and I opted to chance it inside. From the time we got in line to check our bags until the time we got through security was right around 20 minutes. All the self-check kiosks and security lines were open, other travelers were mostly smart about things and still cheerful, and our plane had a few empty seats so it made for a fairly pleasant travel morning.

When we got back to ABQ, the shuttle driver told us that it had snowed while we were gone. We probably missed the only snow of the year. There was still a few remnants on my car when we retrieved it. We were both amazed at the number of cars in the parking lot. We thought it was full when we dropped the car off on Tuesday but on holidays, they park cars in the middle aisle and every possible place to squeeze a vehicle. It was a bit of a maze just getting out of the parking lot but when it was all said and done, we were back at our house by 10:00 this morning--and have had a pretty normal Sunday.

Paul had to work in anticipation of a trip he's leaving on tomorrow morning. He's got an 8:00 flight tomorrow morning for a conference in Florida. Hopefully it will be the last trip he'll have to take this year. I didn't set up the Christmas tree although I debated it. Instead, I wrapped all the presents we've bought so far, which is most of them, and have them ready to go when we do get the tree up. I have found most of the gifts and decorations that I've bought throughout the year and squirreled away. I should create a better system to keep track of what I've purchased and for whom. My mom will either be heavily gifted this year or I don't have to worry about what to get her when her birthday and Mother's Day come around. Unless, of course, I forget that I've already bought her something which can definitely happen because I am her daughter.

Day 12: Furniture

In mid-October, after the mad rush of company had subsided, Paul and I made a trek down to the local furniture store to test-drive some couches. At the time, the "sale" was $100 off any purchase of $750 or more. Not much of a discount when you're purchasing a new suite of living room furniture. We had an invoice written up as a hold on the three pieces we decided to buy but told the salesman that we'd be back when the sale was better.

Today as I was flipping through the newspaper, I noticed a 10% off coupon valid today only at the furniture store. So, Paul and I made another little trip down to the furniture store where fortuitously, the salesman was standing next to the door we walked in. And he was generous enough to give us the additional 5% off for military personnel in honor of Veteran's Day.** We would have been happy with just the coupon but we're not one to argue with the extra money off. (And I'm sure he more than made up for it in commission.)

After just a bit of clickity-clickity on the computer, Paul and I are now the proud owners of this couch as well as the matching recliner. We opted to purchase the larger size of this chair--it's a little wider and taller so my little wider and taller husband fits comfortably in it but it doesn't swallow me. We also decided on a smaller accent chair and ottoman--the fabric is a dark sage green chenille with a small dark red pattern. All this will be delivered to our humble abode the first weekend in December. At least the chairs will be--the couch might not make it until the first of January. We're not sure how that will figure into our annual neighborhood holiday party. Maybe we'll have the neighbors BYOC.

**We are giving our current couch and love seat to one of my friends who is currently active duty in the Air Force (military intelligence). She served her second tour in Iraq from May to September. Just a few days after her arrival back home, her husband of two years told her he didn't want to be married any more. As they are both just 24 and still in the starting-out phase, they didn't have much to divvy up and because of her next assignment, she opted to let him have the furniture. She's now rooming with my friend Devlyn (a mutual friend of ours) as Devlyn has a small casita at her house. Paul and I were already talking about buying new furniture when I learned of her divorce so I offered her our current seating whenever we got the new stuff. She's going to put it in storage until her next assignment which will be a move to Idaho in June.

Furniture Ideas

Shortly after we got engaged, Paul made a request that we buy new furniture. Apparently, he felt the love seat and "ladies" (smaller sized) recliner I owned wouldn't cut it. And he did tend to hang over the edges of both whenever he stretched out. So began the hunt for a new couch. We ended up finding a couch and love seat we liked that was on clearance because it had been the floor model at a local furniture store. It fit the priorities at the time--within our (limited) budget, big enough for Paul to stretch out on, wasn't plaid.

But now, some eight years later, it's time to retire this first big purchase of ours. The couch and love seat never fit quite right into our teeninesy living room. And honestly, I've gotten rather tired of them. I'm not one for modern or contemporary--nothing too sleek--but I'm done with how overstuffed this overstuffed couch is. So, now I'm on the hunt for new living room furniture as our anniversary/Christmas gift. We're thinking to get a sofa and two chairs, possibly recliners. Maybe two stationary chairs with an ottoman. Really, the possibilities are endless until we just settle into that perfect seat.

I have a specific look in mind for what I want my house to feel like--Paul calls my decorating style "rusted metal and old things." But really, I like a warm, cozy, inviting, a "casually elegant" space where you just want to curl up on the couch with a blanket and read. Or spend an evening in front of the roaring fireplace with a glass of wine, a couple of friends, talking endlessly and playing board games. Create interesting vignettes on the coffee table and mantel with pictures and found objects from our travels and little out-of-the-way antique stores. Except we don't travel that much. And I'm really not that fond of clutter and tchotckes just sitting around although I will fill every inch of wall space. Paul doesn't understand the beauty of my few well-placed items so everything gets pushed aside or stuff is piled on top of it. Also, we have a gas fireplace that doesn't really create a roaring affect. . .

But I can still go for warm, cozy, and inviting (and durable since I live with Paul and Jub). Paul has declared that all furniture stores make him sleepy (and make me quite irritated with him) so I'm going to strike out on my own this weekend to look and then drag him out for the final OK later. It can be difficult to find furniture that fits both of us because of the foot difference in our heights. I snuggle cozily into a chair and Paul hangs over all the edges. He finds a chair that fits perfectly and I look like Edith Ann. (And that's the truth!)

After perusing the Lane furniture site, I've found some definite maybes. All warm, cozy, and small enough to fit in my tiny living room. That's been the main issue I've found while looking at furniture sites--we have to have "studio" or "apartment" scale furniture because my living room is roughly the size of a matchbox. If a matchbox had 2o-foot ceilings.

The possible sofa: Comfy, cozy, and three cushions so your hind-end doesn't fall into the crack when you're napping.

If we go the recliner route: Two of these in a different fabric (although I do like the shown fabric, Paul would probably vehemently object).

Or another possible route: Is it a club chair? Is it a recliner? No! It's BOTH!

And just for good measure (but not because I think I can convince Paul we need it), maybe we can throw in a new dining room table.