A Place to Play

You know when I said that I would share more “next week”,
that really meant in two weeks, right?
Thanks for being patient.

One of the things we love about the layout of our hours is the upstairs,
which consists of a loft, the guest bathroom, and our guest bedroom.
This makes for a perfect place for our guests to retreat,
as well as a good hiding spot for all of the toys we’ve accumulated over the past two+ years.

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It took us a long time to decide on what we wanted to do to this room.
By the time we got around to actually working on this room,
I wanted to wait until we found out if baby G2 was going to be a girl or a boy,
because that would play a factor into the color scheme.
Since we were going with a gender neutral color scheme, we then needed to find
a color that went well with grey (see below). We finally landed on yellow.
The color is Hazy Dawn by Valspar from Lowe’s.

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Almost all of the big items in the room were either birthday or Christmas gifts,
which was intentional on our part and helped immensely when furnishing the room.

Art Display – DIGNITET curtain wire and RIKTIG curtain hooks
Easel – Melissa & Doug

diy playroom

diy playroom

Table – Carolina Grow With You Craft Table
Chairs – Carolina Kids Chairs
TV Stand / Toy Storage – EXPEDIT (now discontinued *tear*) and DRÖNA boxes

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Shelves – RIBBA Picture Ledge (45 1/2″)

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The letter wall was the longest project in the room.
I had seen several variations on Pinterest and loved the idea for the playroom.
I started collecting letters here and there on sale and with coupons
from TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn Fabrics.
The “I” is a ruler and the “O” is a clock.
Some of them are unfinished wood that I covered in washi tape, paint, or scrap book paper.
The wall totally makes the room and I am so happy how it turned out.

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Down the small “hallway” is a closet that holds games and linens, the bathroom and the bedroom.
Obviously, our main living area is downstairs,
and I assure you that the playroom is never this clean.
At some point I’ll show you how it looks on an everyday basis.

The grey paint color continues up the stairs from our downstairs living area,
and it is the same grey from Crosby’s room which is Granite Dust by Valspar.
We love the contrast with the yellow and grey.

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Kitchen, High Chair, and Doll Cradle – KidKraft [Espresso]
Shopping cart – Step2

diy playroom

diy playroom

US Map Canvas – Hobby Lobby
Futon – Target (here and here)

I paid far less for this futon last year and it looks like there are more color options now.
The color listed for ours was grey, but depending on the day, it could be purple too.
Either way, I love it and it provides an additional sleeping option if we need it.

diy playroom

There are a few more things I would like to do up here,
but there is really no rush at this point.
I would like to do two cornices covered in a fun fabric over the windows
and get another piece of art, or something fun, for the landing
so you can see it as you come up the stairs.

Greg would like to eventually put crown molding up too,
at least in the areas of the room he can get to the ceiling.
The wall over the stairs makes me very nervous.

Overall, it’s a fun room to hang out in while the kids play,
and it will be fun to see how it evolves over the years.

***

Speaking of IKEA, I shared five of our IKEA hacks over on Orlando Moms Blog today!

LÄTT hack

Every time I go to IKEA, I look at the LÄTT table and chairs in the children’s section.
I have no idea why I had been mulling over it for so long considering the entire
set is a whopping $20, but I had. Finally, I was at IKEA by myself a couple months ago
and I sent Greg a picture (like he had never seen it before), to get his opinion.
He said he thought it looked cheap… my response… it is. It’s $20.
Needless to say, I got it and I’m so happy I did!

LÄTT Children's table and 2 chairs IKEA

[Source]

I got the idea to hack it from my friend Sally who recently transformed
her table and chairs for her two kiddos. Kenley had used it a couple times, so I knew it would be perfect.
There are a million and one ideas out there on how to hack a LÄTT table (seriously, Google it),
but here is what we decided on.

Paint

We used Silver Fox Flat Valspar spray paint and it took just under two full cans for both of the chairs and the table.
We decided on the color while we were standing in the aisle at Lowe’s,
so there was really no rhyme or reason as to why we chose that specific one other than the fact that it’s pretty!
Greg ended up spray painting the pieces prior to putting it together so the hardware didn’t get painted.

Chairs

I had received a shower gift that was wrapped in this navy blue fabric
and had added the fabric to my stash. When I went looking through it,
I thought navy would look pretty with the light blue color and went with it.
I believe the fabric was purchased at Joann’s.

I cut a small square of fabric out without measuring and wrapped three sides of the chair.
I already had a huge bag of fiber stuffing from a previous project,
so I stuffed it into the opening on the chair to make it soft and padded.
Then, I wrapped the final side of the chair and put it into the frame.
This part was tricky and definitely took two people to maneuver the fabric and cardboard seat into the chair to put it together.
I didn’t worry about the underneath of the chair, nor did I glue down the excess fabric.
I just trimmed off what I could after the chair was put back together and left it.
It’s not pretty on the bottom, but it works.

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Table

Sally suggested looking on the Paper Source for gift wrap to use on the top of the table.
They have such cute designs and I immediately fell in love.
I also soon found another hack where they used a giant map that I liked;
ironically, it was also wrapping paper from the Paper Source.
Seeing it on another table helped me decide on the Cavallini World Map.
The gift wrap was larger than the table top, so I trimmed around the map so it would fit.
I chose not to mod podge it down so I could change it out later if I wanted to.
To protect the table and gift wrap, we laid a piece of 18×24 plexiglass on top.
The four corners had to be trimmed out a little bit for it to fit, but it works great!

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There you have it!

Have you hacked a LÄTT table?

Small update, big difference

As the weeks dwindle down until Baby G2 arrives,
we are trying to get things settled around the house as much as possible.
You could call it nesting, but honestly, it’s coming more from Greg than me!
I said it once, and I’ll say it again, men nest too.

A couple months ago (yes I’m a little behind), we were strolling through Lowe’s,
and passed by one of their tables full of random clearance items.
I was stoked when I saw a small can of the Rustoleum Countertop Transformation tint,
even better, it was marked down to $2.50! At that point, I didn’t care what color it was.
The dark gray/putty color was exactly what I was thinking for the counter top in our laundry room.

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I don’t advise any pregnant women working with this product… it is strong!
Greg ended up doing all the work and airing out the laundry room as best as he could.
The wait time between coats was three days, which I thought was a little absurd,
but we marked it up in less than three days, so I recommend following directions.

The original counter top in the laundry room was less than desirable.
You can refresh your memory here.

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I’m not sure if I’m more obsessed with how good it looks,
or the fact that we only paid $2.50 for the can. Either way, it’s a dramatic difference.

The second update was a slightly bigger project than the first, but it’s something
that was on my to-do list from the day we moved into the house.
Finally, Greg was on board and all of a sudden, just wanted to get it done! I gladly accepted.
I am and have been obsessed with the long, skinny handles for the kitchen cabinets,
so I knew that’s what I wanted. It was just a matter of buying them and getting them done.
IKEA had the best price on them and had different sizes to choose from.
We went with the 13 9/16″ LANSA handles for the regular cabinets & drawers,
and the 17 1/2″ LANSA handles for the wide drawers.

It took Greg about four evenings after work to change out the 50 cabinets and drawers in the kitchen.
This included drilling an additional hole for all the cabinets since there were knobs previously.
He also had to patch all the holes on the drawers where the previous handles were
in order to drill two new holes for the new handles.

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You can see our previous kitchen updates here.
We love the new look and I’m so happy we finally got around to doing it!

Slowly but surely, we’re making progress.

my weekend in photos

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not sure if stripes & polka dots are allowed, but i went with it.

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we did some major work on the nursery this weekend,
i’m so excited to give you a tour very soon!

I foresee a lot of this happening in the next several weeks.

i have a feeling this is going to be happening a lot over the next several weeks.

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we had a great time at our friends’ house on saturday,
the girls enjoyed popsicles on the swing set!

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and did a lot of rearranging of the patio furniture.

Are you ready for some football? And popcorn in Kenley's case. #colts #redskins #nfl

it was not a good day for our colts or redskins,
but kenley got to enjoy some popcorn with her daddy,
a new sunday tradition.

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i was able to get away for some much needed errands today.
which included tackling ikea by myself. i’m exhausted just thinking about it.

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it’s never too early for halloween pajamas, right?

***

we were very productive this weekend, but thankfully, we didn’t overdo it.
how was your weekend?

Office / Craft Room Combo

When we were house hunting, our wish list included an office space,
whether that came in the form of an actual office (no closet) or a fifth bedroom (closet).
We were fortunate to have found our house which had an office/study
closed off by french doors (which I love!). We already had our IKEA
table we scored from the As-Is section when we redid our office last time around,
but judging by the size of the room, we knew we needed a few more pieces.

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Over the course of the last six months and countless trips to IKEA,
we now have a designated office space and an area for sewing and crafting.
We have also quickly learned that color makes the world of difference in a house.
Since we started painting, we are constantly noticing now boring the unpainted rooms are.
This color is Minty Fresh by Valspar and I love it! It’s perfect for this space.

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Since there is no closet, storage was an issue. We opted for the EXPEDIT
for a number of reasons. One, because I love them and this is now the third
one we have in our house. Two, because there are different configurations
for storage, which allows me to change it up down the road if I get bored with this one.
I found some inspiration on Pinterest here and here which also helped make the decision.

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KNIPSA Basket

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wall shelf, frame & printcircle cork boards, bar & hanging containers, ribbon storage
storage containers, picture frames

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washi tape bunting inspiration & clothes pin inspiration

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There are still a few more things I would like to do to this room, but they are not a huge priority right now:

– Instagram prints for more wall decor
– Curtains for the window
– Paint the trunk
– Hardwood floors

I have been meaning to share this space with you for a while now, but I not only have been neglecting
this room, but also the blog a bit. I am hoping to get some good use out of this room for several
different sewing projects before this baby comes and I have lots of blog posts that I’m looking forward to sharing!

Where the laundry gets done…

Finally! Our laundry room is done!
I know that I am probably going to go into way more detail than you would like to know
about our laundry room, but this room is important to us. Between our cloth diaper laundry
and laundry for two adults and one little person, we use our laundry room a lot!
With that being said, I was very specific about what I wanted.
It needed to be 100% functional, and of course, cute too.

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Moving into the house, this is what the laundry room looked like.
If you would have seen the before-before pictures of the house, you would have
seen a washer and dryer in there… somehow in the process of the bank fixing up the house,
those did not make it. We think someone just took them… along with the fridge,
which we were way more bummed about, but I digress.
We were so excited that there was already a sink and cabinet in there, which saved us some moolah.

Things that needed updating in the original laundry room:

1. Open wire shelf. From our last laundry room, I already knew that I wasn’t a fan,
so when my mom and I painted the room over Christmas break, I didn’t let them put the shelf back up.
I thought this would force us to actually do something with the room, but here we are 5 months later…
We had to replace it with something and tossed around the idea of getting cabinets, but opted for
a shelving unit we found in the As Is section at IKEA for a whopping $25!

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2. The fluorescent light. No further explanation needed.

3. Our $10 stand up, folding drying rack that I have had since college. It sat right in the
narrow laundry room, making it hard to open and close the front loading machines.
It was a royal pain in my arse and I swear I hear angels singing the day we installed our new drying racks.

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4. Color! Fun fact: this was the first can of paint we bought for the house.
The laundry room… I told you I was excited about it.

5. Paint the cabinets. I originally wanted to do them in white, but I didn’t want to buy the
entire kit for two little cabinets, so I was going to settle with the Espresso that we had purchased already.
But, then it dawned on my to ask Sally to borrow some of her extra grey from when she painted her kitchen cabinets.
It worked out perfectly, and I love the grey!

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6. Decor. We really liked the decal we had in our old laundry room so we decided to get another one.
We actually purchased it before we were officially house hunting, due to an expiring Groupon,
but the decal works perfect in the space. I also looked on Pinterest for some fun artwork,
and found the awesome laundry cheat sheet that I printed for free.

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7. Store the detergent in style. We already had one large glass jar that served as a gin bucket,
so I got a matching one so we have one jar for diaper detergent and one for laundry detergent.
I made the chalkboard labels from our leftover chalkboard contact paper on the pantry door.

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What we still need to do:

1. Get a matching washer to the dryer. Here’s the story.
Somehow during the moving process, the dryer was damaged beyond repair.
After a costly service call, we had to get a new one. It’s sad that the washer and dryer
do not match at this point, but I don’t care enough to go buy a new washer.
We opted not to go with the front loaders this time around, which was kind of a
spur of the moment decision, but we aren’t in love with our washer now,
so I am still very happy with that decision. I would love to get the new washer soon,
but we will use this one until it dies…and that may not be too far away.

2. We would love to eventually paint the counter top too.
I have no idea what color, but something other than what it is now.
It works for now, but I certainly don’t love it.
Updated: Project complete!

Source List:

Paint – Valspar Araucana Teal
GRUNDTAL Drying Racks
PRESSA Drying Rack
Shelf Unit – HEMNES Wall/bridging shelf (AS IS section for $25!)
Storage Baskets – Threshold Global Small Milk Crate
Detergent Jars – Target
Laundry Cheat Sheet – Print / Frame
The Laundry Room decal – Dali Decal (purchased with Groupon)
Pendant light – MINUT pendant downlight
Cabinet Paint – Rustoleum Cabinet Restoration Kit in Winter Fog
Cabinet Hardware – Handles / Knobs

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my weekend in photos

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this is what our friday night consisted of, much like the rest of america, i’m sure.
as soon as kenley went to bed, we sat ourselves in front of the tv, computer, twitter screens,
watching the events unfold. much love to the people of boston and watertown.

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saturday morning began bright and early at ikea.
i’m happy to report the piggy-tails lasted the entire trip!

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errands continued saturday. this is what happens when you have a crappy cart,
and are shopping alone with an 18 month old…just have it. ha.

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we headed to sea world sunday morning for the first time!

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we chose not to touch the sting rays this time.

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she loved the dolphins!

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watching the dolphins from below.

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intrigued!

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so awesome!

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kenley talked about the “big turtle” later in the day.

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hanging with daddy.

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this was the best picture i got of them, being twins!

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first ride! i call it a merry-go-round, while i’m pretty sure the rest of the world calls it a carousel.

my weekend in photos

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friday lunch at the new lazy moon! it’s back and better than ever.

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friday night these ladies and i had a long overdue dinner date.

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she’s ready to take a trip. where we going?

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bubbles!

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kenley loved having meemaw and grandpa back for their last leg of spring break.

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we loved it too!

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i mean, let’s be serious, how cute are they?

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our community had a block party saturday night, which was super fun.

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rice for dinner. just saving some for later.

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kyler and kenley had a great time riding around together.

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hugs goodbye.

I said smile, and she did. #latergram

i said smile, and she actually did. this was a proud moment for me.

Everybody loves IKEA. #itsthefrozenyogurtforher

someone reeeeeeally liked ikea today.

***

we had a wonderful weekend with family & friends.
how was your weekend?

my [long] weekend in photos

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greg and i were twinsies for college colors day on friday.
i was wearing cream and crimson in my heart, don’t worry.
please ignore my awkward hair/sunglasses on my head.

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melissa was in town this weekend. so happy.

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we celebrated with beers and friends.

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greg celebrated by drinking a 40, which you cannot buy in florida. fun fact.

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kenley, sporting her college colors, and kyler

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…and then they were bored with me.

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kenley and cooper having an intense conversation

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snuggling with baby jackson

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successful saturday morning trip to IKEA with the jenkinson’s

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we have learned to take every toy out of the bin. it’s fun!

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sunday morning brunch with amy & melissa

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strolling on park ave

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finally, a picture with mommy!

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freshly stripped diapers, so fresh and so clean.

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labor day food babies (ryan’s words, not mine) at 4Rivers smokehouse

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melissa’s food crawl, spanning 4 days
tijuana flats, lazy moon, briar patch, publix subs, 4Rivers smokehouse, and sweet! cupcakes

***

needless to say, we had an awesome, action-packed, fun weekend with melissa in town.
how was your long weekend?