Big Kids' Room

One of my projects over winter break was to get Natalie moved into her "big gull bed" and get both Nathan and Natalie settled into their new living arrangements as roommates.  Of course I also had to do a little bit of decorating!

So far the adjustment for both of them is going pretty well.  Natalie is so excited to be a big girl, and Nathan never liked being in his room by himself at night.  The two of them stay up later than they should talking to each other, but other than being a little overtired, they are doing great!  We moved the baby monitor into their room during the transition period, and it means that we get to listen in on some of their cute conversations.  We think that this time together will be so good for their already strong friendship.  

The bunk beds--they are sporting the Christmas quilts that my mom made for each kiddo, with their baby quilts decorating the foot of the bed.  I would eventually like to switch the window treatments to a light-blocking pull-down shade and a valance, but for now the light-blocking drapes work fine.

I found the dresser on Craigslist for $80 (score!) and repainted some white shelves that I've had for ages.  Then I just mixed and matched the artwork that was in each of their rooms.

I got all Pinterest-y and painted the infamous Ikea spice racks for some additional book storage. Each kiddo has one of these at the head of their bunk too for nighttime reading material.

I installed another shelf and bar in the closet (and have since moved in the rest of Natalie's clothes).  Nathan loves the fact that his shirts are easy to reach in the morning.

A Little Organization

On a recent weekend I went on a bit of an organizational tear.  I'm constantly trying to think of ways to make daily life just a little bit easier.  Here's my latest attempts, which I have to say are working pretty well for the most part.

I really should have taken a before picture of this one.  Previously the tupperware lids were piled haphazardly in an overfull shallow drawer, meaning that I'd have to unload half of it to find the lid I needed.  And the bottoms were piled in a cupboard on the other side of the kitchen!  I got a pot lid organizer from Meijer and decided to commandeer the deep drawer that had previously housed the baking supplies that I almost never used.  This has been a great change!!

Taking over my baking supply drawer meant that I had to clean out and reorganize my pantry to make room.  Wow, it had been a long time since I've done that!  Now I can actually see what I have, and 5 year old canned goods are no longer taking up space. :)

After the Christmas extravaganza I needed to organize the kids' playroom so there was space for their new chairs and shelves that keep some of Nathan's games and Legos out of Natalie's reach.  This has been a really nice set-up.

This is my favorite project in this post!  Previously I had a dark and disorganized cupboard for all of the kids' art supplies and play-dough.  An over-the-door pantry organizer makes everything easy to see and takes advantage of unused space on the back of the hall closet door!

Swingset!

Both Todd and I really wanted to put a swingset in our backyard for the kiddos.  Todd has the skills to design and build a custom one, but our current schedule does not allow the time to actually make that happen.  There are a lot of great options out there of pre-built sets, but their price tag was way out of our budget.  Enter my good friend Craigslist!  Swingsets are not super numerous on Craigslist, and when they are listed, they go fast, so you have to look very regularly and contact the seller immediately to have a chance at it.  It's kind of like a virtual garage sale-ing adventure.  I had lost out on a few, and then got all excited about another, only to receive a picture of it and realize that it was way too big and unwieldy, and would take over our entire backyard.

Fast forward to last week, when the ideally sized swingset at a great price popped up on Craigslist.  Of course I immediately emailed the seller and then obsessively refreshed my Gmail waiting for a response.  When I heard back from the seller, it turned out that it was a woman whose kids attend the same daycare as Nathan and Natalie!  Small world! :)  We bought the swingset, and over the weekend Todd brought the shop truck home so that we could ferry the new toy to our house.

In my vision, we were just going to pick up the swingset and then reassemble it in the most level area of our grassy lawn.  Todd had a different vision that required clearing some of the woods at the back corner of our yard, and doing some excavating and re-grading to create a wonderful, shaded nook of fun for the kiddos.  As per usual, his idea was much better even though it required a lot more work!

The swingset unloaded from the truck and waiting to be reassembled in its new home.  Notice the amount of trees and grass in the background.

Nathan was helping Todd while he worked.  He had to take his shirt off just like Daddy. :)  The brush and grass has been cleared.

Nathan did some excavation and land sculpting in the sandbox.

Testing out some different locations and configurations.

Done! And ready to be tried out!

First trip down the slide.

Approved!

We need to put down some mulch, but isn't this a great play space??

Cuties

Small Victories

As is the case with every homeowner, my around the house to-do list is a mile long with both fun and necessary projects.  Since we can barely keep up with grocery shopping, cooking, laundry and basic cleaning, the to-do list has not seen much progress since Natalie arrived and especially since I returned to work.  I decided that in order to maintain a shred of sanity and at least a slight grasp on my illusion of being a productive human being, I needed to get at least a few small (and way overdue) projects crossed off the list.  

I finally ordered some canvases of the kids!  Steve and Joanna gave me a gift certificate for Christmas for one, and I decided I wanted to do a series of them and found some additional deals on Groupon and Living Social.  I absolutely adore the way they turned out, and continue to be so thankful for Becky's photographic skill.  www.beckyandersonphotography.com

For ages I have been wanting a sofa table to provide some extra storage and a place to set my water glass/wine glass while I'm sitting on the couch.  I used some of my birthday money from Florence and Basil to purchase this one from Ikea, and I'm really pleased with how it's working out!  If I were a fancy blogger I would have removed the breast pump, daycare bag and purse from the cubbies and accessorized the tabletop.  Clearly I'm not a fancy blogger, and you can now see how I avoid at least some on-floor clutter.  Although once Natalie gets mobile I'm going to have to come up with another solution. 

I spent my Christmas money on this dresser for the landing to corral hats and mittens, as well as placemats.

I expanded my hallway art gallery of Becky's photography to include some photos from Natalie's newborn session--it's about time we got some photos of her on the wall with all of Nathan's pics!

Two years ago we repainted our bedroom.  This summer I refinished the dresser.  This week I finally hung up more photos, a mirror and hook on the wall.  Perhaps next year the new headboard and mattress that I'm pining for? 

Again, if I were fancy, I would have put some cute accessories on the dresser.  Instead, I cleared off the clutter and dusted! :)

I picked up a $2.99 drawer organizer at Ikea and finally conquered the chaos of our utensil drawer!!

Dresser Refinishing

Warning for all you folks who only read this blog because Nathan is adorable: This is one of my rare, Nathan-free posts. Feel free to skip it if you'd like. However, lately I have been inspired by the impending arrival of another human into our mix to do some reorganizing and furniture reallocation. As part of the increase in Fowle family population, my sewing room has been moved down to a sort-of finished room in the basement, which does not have a closet. So I decided that I should move the armoire from our bedroom down there to serve as a closet stand-in. This necessitates a different dresser for our bedroom.

One of the things I do for fun/to waste time is troll the furniture section of Craigslist (yeah, I know, you wish your life was as exotic as mine). When I saw this dresser listed for $40, I could instantly picture it painted a fun color with some new knobs. It had to be mine!

I have some vacation time this week, so I decided to use some of it to refinish the dresser and do a bunch of other odds and ends around the house. As you can see from the photos above, the dresser has been well loved throughout its life, and needed a little TLC, starting with sanding to remove the finish and some of the blemishes.

Safety first! This little mask was my constant companion throughout this project. You're welcome, Pepper! :)

All sanded and wiped down, ready for some primer. I moved the project into the shop for the rest of its duration so that it would be protected in case it rained.

Primer applied! Exhausted Jessica. This whole home improvement plus growing a human thing wears a girl out!

The next day, rejuvenated, I got to tackle the make-it-pretty part: painting! Well, before I got to the pretty making step I did sand the primer with a finer grit sandpaper, wiped everything down, and vacuumed all the nooks and crannies with the shop vac. Here it is after the first coat--looking good already!

I put a second coat of paint on it and let it dry overnight. This morning I sprayed clear enamel sealer on it and let it dry until late afternoon. Then I installed the new drawer pulls, moved everything to the bedroom and put it all together. TA DA!!!!!

I think it looks awesome with our gray walls and the yellow/gold of our curtains and bedspread. It's not in its final location yet, as I need Todd's muscles to move the armoire, but I can't wait to "move in!" Perhaps this project will inspire me to actually do some decorating in here. I repainted a year and a half ago, and still haven't hung anything on the walls--such a procrastinator!

Wheelbarrow

Today we had an awesome family day. We spent a lot of it outside, since it was a beautiful fall day--crisp and sunny. Todd had some cardboard and scraps to move in the wheelbarrow, and Nathan decided to help with the task and his own wheelbarrow. So cute!

Loading up the cargo.

Here we go!

Daddy's helper

Hey, wait, that doesn't look like yard work!

Garden update

I finally had the chance to do some planting and mulching this week. I really love working in the garden--it's almost meditative, and the results are lovely, if I do say so myself.

I'm trying out some new stuff in my deck boxes this year--dahlia and lobelia. I can't wait until they bloom, and hopefully they'll do well in the containers.

Newly mulched, and includes some new plants from Mom and Dad's garden--thank you!!

The clematis vine is in full bloom right now.

Happy Birthday To Me!

For my birthday, Grandma Florence and Grandpa Basil surprised me with a very generous monetary gift. I decided almost immediately that I wanted to put the money toward getting a new couch. Todd and I have had a series of hand-me-down couches throughout our time living out of our parents' house, and while the price has been right, they have never been to our taste.

Several weeks ago, Todd and I braved a few furniture stores and quickly realized that our taste far exceeded our budget (surprise, surprise). Feeling a bit dejected, I decided to tuck the money away and patiently watch Craigslist to see if anything promising popped up, as the only way to afford the sectional we wanted was to buy it used. As all of you who know me are well aware, patience is not one of my strengths! :) 99.9% of the couches on Craigslist are absolutely hideous, so my daily perusal was becoming a bit depressing. However, it was a good lesson in identifying a good deal when it popped up.

Sunday evening, low and behold, there was a posting for a couch in the exact configuration we were seeking, for exactly the amount of my birthday money!! It took a few persuasive emails to the seller (I was not the only one who noticed the posting and there was a bit of competition to see who would be the actual buyer) but I made an appointment to get it after work yesterday.

My wonderful father-in-law borrowed a van from work and chauffered me up to downtown Grand Rapids to pick it up. It is in beautiful condition, and looks great in our living room! The only downside to it is that it's even easier to fall asleep on than our old couch! :)

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for the beautiful couch!

Our old couch:


The new beauty!!! Nathan was quite surprised to see that it had appeared in his living room overnight. :)