Everleigh's Nursery Room - Progress Photos

When it came time to focus on how Everleigh's nursery would look, even when I was pregnant, I knew I never really wanted a super "baby-like" room.  Nothing too cutesy.  Nothing too baby pink or overly girly either.  I wanted something she could grow into.  Something fun and not with much of a "theme".  

It's funny how many people I "confused" during my pregnancy when I confessed to (what seemed like) 15,000+ moms that asked.. "Do you have a theme for Everleigh's room yet?" or when they mentioned "I chose {insert random kiddie character here} for my baby girl's room... you absolutely NEED a theme for the nursery, I can't believe you don't already have one?!"  It was honestly the most annoying part of my pregnancy.  I didn't have a (STUPID!) theme picked out.  And I refused to give in to the preconceived notion that every baby's nursery had to have one particular character overwhelming the space.     

If you know me well at all.. or if you've ever just taken a single step into my closet, you know that I've never been a fan of muted, muddy-like colors.  My closet is full of primary and jewel toned hues of saturated, more concentrated shades.  So it seemed only natural that my heart literally skipped a beat when we ran into this little guy at Pier One one day, and I knew we had the perfect starting point for Everleigh's room in our new house.  TEAL!  

I loved that Chad didn't question my seemingly bold color choice and I loved how we both excitedly drove straight to Sherwin Williams, elephant in hand, to see if they could find a color match for us.  I also loved that I could pair a number of really great, fun colors with this little guy... like the baby-pink alternative that I was drawn to (fuschia and magenta) and more concentrated, saturated yellows and greens.

And once again, we're not entirely finished with this room yet.  Pictures still need to be hung and the shelves still need to be filled (more)....but for now, I'm happy with how far this room has come.  :)

Everleigh's room - Progress Photos

Everleigh's Room - AFTER

BEFORE - (I think Grandma lived here ;)

This chandelier, turned floor lamp was a garage sale find at just $10!  

Eventually I'd like to address the wall above Everleigh's changing area.  For now, we've repurposed the  streamers we used for her first birthday to fill the space.  :)  

Everleigh's Playroom - Progress Photos

When we started our search for this house about a year ago, we had one pretty major request.  We wanted a dedicated playroom.  We didn't want a bedroom conversion or a multi- functional space that we had to make work with something else.  We knew we didn't need a theater room...but what we DID need (and want!) was a space dedicated to FUN!  A room Everleigh (and her WAAY-in-the-future sibling) would be able to grow into and use for play dates and eventually sleepovers with their friends.  We wanted a room that we could close off when the mess was too big and the company came quickly.  A room to let them run "free".  A room that was theirs, where they would rarely hear the word NO.  

So when we came upon this house, with a room that the previous owners had used as a theater room, we knew we had a perfect space and set-up for our family.  

This has quickly become the other room in the house that has received a lot of attention since we moved in.  And although it's most certainly not done, I feel it's finally at a point where I can share our progress.  :) 

I knew early on that I wanted the playroom to be colorful, (leaning towards gender neutral), in case our next child just so happened to be a boy.  (and NO, we aren't expecting.. ;) So first order of business was taking this room from a dark and dungeon-like theater room space, into a light and bright playroom.  

BEFORE - The Theater Room, aka our Playroom.  

It's amazing what a little...well A LOT of paint can do to a room!  Down with that DARK, DARK maroon (Gig Em AGGIES!) and up with a sunny, buttery yellow that instantly made the room feel 10x BIGGER than it already was!  

The one thing that we've really come to love and appreciate from the previous owners past theater room, is the raised platform they made that we quickly converted into a "daybed" of sorts.  Sturdily built and covered with leftover carpeting, they had used it to lift their theater room recliners.  After simply adding a twin sized mattress on top, it has become the perfect spot for snuggling, bird watching, reading or just watching TV when Everleigh is playing with her toys.  

Still a work in progress.  I have a couple fun projects left for this wall.  

Will post updated photos as soon as I'm done.  ;) 

Our DIY, laminated picture wall.  

Can be easily (and CHEAPLY) changed out once our family expands.

I made and painted this little cardboard canopy from an IKEA dining chair box we had in our garage. 

View from in front of one (of two!) pretty large sized closets in this room.  

We truly got lucky with this house and all its space! 

Oh and did anyone else notice the Duckie print way over on that far wall?  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll recall that on a recent outing to IKEA not too long ago, our little bear spotted this print from across the room and instantly fell in WANT for it.  ;)  Not really thinking about actually purchasing it (we were on a mission for other things that day).. she gave the saddest, sweetest "Bye, Bye Duckies" when we finally walked away. 

A couple days later, at daddy's specific request, lo and behold, look what made it into our basket.  ;)  

Daddy's such a sucker for that little girl.  ;)  As ugly as I originally thought that print was.. It's actually been a nice, colorful addition to the room.  

Dining Room & Office Area - Progress Photos

To say that our new Frisco house has come a long way since we moved in in mid September is an understatement beyond measure.  At least to me it is.  I'm proud of what we've accomplished in that seemingly short period of time.  Especially since we immediately had Everleigh's 1st birthday to plan (and execute!), pre-planned trips to take and holiday celebrations to host.  

In that amount of time, (with Chad and I both working full-time and contending with a very active 1+ year old) we've painted almost EVERY single room in the entire house (kitchen, pantry, living, dining, hallways (upstairs and down), 4 of the 5 bedrooms, 1 of the 3 bathrooms and 1 HUGE playroom) .. with it's 9', 10', 12' and in some places 18' ceilings.  We've sanded and stained ALL the kitchen cabinets, bought new furniture to fill some of the barren rooms and changed out ceiling fans and most lighting fixtures around the house as well.  

Sounds like a lot... but the fact that we're only scratching the surface, has me shuttering with exhaustion.  :) 

There's still so much I'd like to do, it feels like we'll never call this house completely done.  Such is life.  

BUT.... here's a look at how far we've come in the dining room and the front entry office area!! Yeah for PROGRESS!!  Some before pictures from the original listing and after pictures taken by yours truly.  ;)   

DINING ROOM AFTER.  

Because I couldn't bring myself to start the post with the "Before" picture below.  lol.

DINING ROOM BEFORE.  

How we saw it when we were house hunting.  

It obviously worked for the previous owners, it just wasn't our taste.  

First thing we did was paint this room.  

On the never ending list of honey do's, I have a stencil project in mind for these dining chairs.  

Much like these that I saw on Pinterest here and here.  

STAINING - after tackling ALL of our 20+ kitchen cabinets, I was pretty much done with staining. Anything.  Ever.  Eventually though, I'd like to stain the stair railing seen here (and the living room fireplace) to match the kitchen's dark espresso color cabinets.  

  

Our Front Entry Office Area.  

I'm not sure how high on the priority list this is.. 

but eventually I want to add an area rug to the dining, living and here in the office area.  

Shelving close ups.  :)

Next Up:  Everleigh's Playroom! :)

365 Days of Everleigh - Daily Life. Captured. Year One.

Since the day Everleigh was born, I have made it a point to capture at least one moment of her day, everyday.  The idea had always been that when her first birthday came around, I would have (AT LEAST) 365 pictures for a book.  Her daily life. Captured.  I didn't realize it then...when I first started this little project, that not only would I be making a photo timeline of her sweet life, I would also be creating Aunties and Uncles out of all my friends near and far that would see my Bear growing up right before their very eyes. (As I posted her photos on Instagram of course ;)   Those daily photos would take our bear to places and homes she'd never been in before... and into the arms of people she'd never even met yet.  I've loved the response that I've received from the photos throughout her first year.  An outpouring of love for a bear everyone has come to know and love as their own.

And although we're nearly through the month of February, I did, in fact, have this book ready and printed just after her birthday. (YEAH ME!)  We did wait til Christmas to gift them to the Grandparents though.. just never got around to blogging about it.  And not thinking about a copy for US, we gave away our stash so I just recently ordered a book for us.  ;)  I'll update this post with photos of the actual book when we get it.  (It really was a beautiful book.. Everleigh LOVED looking through all the pictures of herself. ;)  

Created on Shutterfly, here is a quick look at our bear's 365 Days Of Everleigh (12"x12") book.  

Front Cover

Inside First Page

All the pages that came after looked like this.  Instagram worked perfectly for this application. 

All little squares, the perfect size to show her growth throughout the year.  

38 Pages Later.. ;) 

And finally the back cover.  

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.