Finishing Cora's Room

A few weeks ago I finally got around to tackling a house project.  It felt SO good to be back in the game!

One of my house goals was to paint a few pieces of furniture this year, but I had to wait until sweet baby boy was out of my tummy.  Here is furniture piece number one, Cora's nightstand, before I got my hands paintbrush on it.:

And here it is after:

I chose a shade of white that matched the existing furniture (which is not true white or ivory), and I bought a pink drawer pull at Hobby Lobby.  I'd love to tell you this was super cheap, but the project cost a little more than I had hoped because I had to buy special primer, some new rollers, and a few other things.  At least now I will have those things to tackle my next two paint projects.

Before Seth was born, I managed to paint a piece of artwork for Cora's room.  It isn't totally done because I want to go back and clean up the stripes at the bottom of the painting, but in case that never happens, I should probably go ahead and post some pictures of it in its current state:

Here are a few other views of the room:

Other than touching up the canvas, this room is done!  At some point I'd love to add seating under the window that connects the two bookshelves (and shorten the curtains to the necessary height), but I have other things in the house I need to do more.  I also know the bookshelves will fill up on their own as Cora grows, so I'm not in a huge hurry to accessorize them.

It's a beautiful day... I think I may have to get the paintbrush out again in another room!!  :-)

Reviewing Last Year's House Goals

Last January I set nine house goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2011.  If you want to reread them in detail, go here.  Otherwise, to keep this post from becoming overwhelmingly long, I will simply restate each major goal, show you a before picture, and, if I achieved my goal, I will show an after photo.  Here we go...


1.) Finish the coat closet hallway.  

Before:

After:

2.) Work on the family room

Before:

After:

 3.) (Nearly) Finish the play room.

Before: 

After:

4.) Work on the guest bathroom / kids' bathroom.

Before... and After  :-(

 (That's what you get for setting a goal that depends on your husband without consulting him first!)

 5.) Give some TLC to my craft room.

Before:

After:

(Even though it doesn't look really different, I didn't totally fail on this one.  I have managed to keep the room neat and usable for several months now, and that was part of my goal.  I consider it a huge victory!)

6.) Get curtains for our bedroom.  

Before:

After:

7. Hang something on this wall in the dining room.

Before... and After :-(

8. Trim out the chalkboard wall.

Before: 

After:

(Not only did the wall get trimmed out, but Jim installed an overhead light for me so this little "hallway" is no longer dark!)

9. Add more lighting to the formal living room.

Before... and After :-(

And there you have it.  :-)

Mathematically speaking, I accomplished 6 out of 9 of my goals, which is only 67%.  However, I don't feel like I earned a D.  Honestly, I would give myself more of a B for the use of my time and money.  I mean, that play room alone was a massive undertaking and must count for more than the few lamps and artwork I ran out of money to buy, right?!  :-)

I absolutely loved having this goals list to refer to all year.  Each time I would earn extra money for something, I knew exactly how to allocate the money.  It made my decisions so much easier and more concrete, and I didn't feel guilty about spending money on something I had already decided I wanted to do.  

I am looking forward to solidifying my goals for 2012.  I plan to link up to the Nester's Home Goals Linky Party.  Time to start prioritizing and taking some pictures!!

A New Year and a New Room for Cora

Cora has been through a lot of changes and transitions recently.  On Thanksgiving she gave up her pacifiers (well, we made her give them up, but it went really well).  The week before Christmas she decided she wanted to be potty trained (it was completely her idea), and our most recent change and transition occurred a few nights ago: Cora got a big girl room!!

The inspiration for the room came from her wall.  I didn't want to repaint it, so I tried to choose things that would match it.  I found the bedding at Pottery Barn Kids, and when I went in to buy it, I managed to snag a set of sheets and the quilt that had been on a display bed, so they were steeply discounted and marked final sale.  My mom had sent money to use for Cora's Christmas gift, so between her money and ours, we were able to buy sheets, pillow cases, and a quilt for a great price.

(The nightstand will eventually get painted white, but for the moment it gets the job done.)

In my dream world, I would have built-ins and a bench built around the window in Cora's room, but with everything we have going on (new baby, seminary, etc.), that is not realistic any time soon.  So, I got two Billy bookcases from Ikea to achieve the same effect.  I still plan to get a "bench" to go under the window.

I chose the Hemnes dresser from Ikea in white for Cora's room, and Jim's parents gave it to her for Christmas.  I love that dresser.  It is nice and big, has tons of great storage, and looks beautiful in person.  I couldn't be happier with it.  My sister bought Cora the two new lamps.  (Decorating this room on a budget was a family effort!)

We still need lots of stuff for the bookshelves and art for the walls, but the room still makes me super happy.  I smile every time I go in there!

Cora likes it a little too.

I can't believe how much Cora has matured and changed in just a little over a month.  I don't really feel ready to stop calling her my baby, but I guess a true infant will take over that title in three more months.  I can't wait to start on his room.  It's giving me an anxiety attack that it currently looks like this:

I've got my work cut out for me.  But when I get overwhelmed, I'll just go in Cora's room and relax.  :-)

A Striped Risk

Well, my hope had been to have the kids' play room finished by the middle of March, and we are getting closer and closer to the end of the month.

I wish I could tell you that I'm done, but I'm not.

But I sort of have a good excuse, and I'm really happy with the progress I've made.

You see, back in mid-January, I was right on track, having made the curtains:

And then, at the end of January, I continued to be on schedule with paint.

In the shadowy mid-day, the green was beautiful. 

 

But at night, when the florescent lights burned bright, the paint was electric!  I mean, every time I walked upstairs at night, my eyes were on fire!

I hated it.

I had wanted bright and cheerful, not neon.

So I knew I could either repaint everything a different shade of green or take a major risk and try my other idea:  Stripes!

Using this room as an inspiration...

2009 Texas Idea House

I decided to take the plunge.

I pulled some colors from the curtains and bought some sample-sized containers of paint at Lowe's.  Then, I started taping off stripes with no real plan in mind.  (That is some real risk, my friends.)

I did a few stripes each day, partly because the paint needed to dry between stripes, and partly because it was time consuming, and I'm too busy to spend all day in my kids' play room!

When I was about halfway done with the stripes, I started to get really nervous.  The walls still looked pretty neon, and I wasn't sure I was loving the stripes.  And the bad thing about stripes is, once you've painted them, you're semi-committed.  I mean, it is only paint, but because of multiple layers of paint on each stripe, the wall gets uneven, so you can't just paint over them without sanding drywall.

I decided to trust my gut and keep going.  (I was just glad it was my house and not someone else's!)

Well, I am so glad I trusted my instincts!  When all was said and done, it was so worth it!!

Now that the paint is complete, the curtains are in place, the pillows are done, and the new lamps are on the shelves, I'm in LOVE!

It all ties together, it is bright, colorful, and cheerful without being neon, and it looks clean and contemporary.

I love the way the white furniture pops against the walls, and I love that the hints of red tie in subtly without making the room look Christmas-y.  I can just see a large white frame of some kind between those windows!

Sometimes it is important to trust your intuition, even when it's scary.  And sometimes it is okay to get a little behind schedule.  I'm glad I did, because the risk paid off.

I still need to figure out the lighting, find just the right pieces to hang on the walls (that may take a while!), and finish accessorizing.  But we're getting there, and I couldn't be happier.

What risks have you taken lately?

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(I'm linking up to National (Not Really) Take a Risk Day on The Nesting Place.  Go check out some risks that others have taken, too!)

Cora's Finished Mural

Back in May, when we moved into the house, I painted the scalloped oval for Cora's name.  However, it never felt finished.

 

It just seemed to float in the middle of the wall.  

So, one morning I printed a few butterfly images, grabbed a paintbrush, and, about forty minutes later, had a much more complete wall.

I think the room still needs a black and white rug and a white chandelier.  (Oh, that I had extra cash floating around.)  What do you think?