A Room for a Bigger Boy

Well guys, I think it's time to admit it. B is growing up. For reals. He's gone from our tiny, squishy newborn to running jumping blur of a toddler. Not to mention the fact he'll be a big brother before we know it! So we think it's time to upgrade to a big boy room. We converted his crib to a toddler bed a couple months ago (and want to get him out of it before Baby #2 moves in and needs the crib) and has done great with it, so he should be good to go with a twin bed! And of course switching out the bed leads to a whole room makeover. :) But let's start at the beginning.

We started with a nice light, neutral nursery since B's gender was a surprise (baby #2 will be a surprise as well). We've done a few small things since then to try to make things more BOY, but I think the time has come for a new, more boyish, more grown-up kind of color scheme. Something that can work for him now, but that he can also grow into. I came across this color card at Lowe's and I think it might be just the thing for a big boy room. And no, there is nothing wrong with using pre-selected color cards. :)

We don't necessarily want to repaint the walls since the neutrals are so easy to work with (and we might be adding a baby girl at some point!) so we're planning to use the colors on things like furniture, curtains and bedding. So there will definitely be some furniture painting involved, and maybe a little sewing too.

Moving up to a twin bed is going to affect the layout a bit too. Here's the current room:

The big chair will definitely have to go. It just can't fit with the new bed! But I'm not worried about it since the bed will still give a place for us grown ups to sit down, and even lay with B to read books before bed! Yay! With that gone, I'm thinking of moving the dresser and toy shelves over to the left wall and adding a small table to the other corner. Which should still leave plenty of room to play.

Or maybe keeping the dresser in the bottom corner and moving the toy shelf to the left wall with the small table. I'll probably just have to slide things around a little and see what I like.

We're really excited about the bed (a hand-me-down gift from B's Papa & Grandma!). It's the fun loft-type bed from Ikea (called the Kura bed) and even has the canopy tent thingy. While he's still small we'll have it upside-down like the pic below so he's near the ground, but once he's bigger we can flip it over and sleep up on the loft with space for toys and playing underneath (or a second mattress for baby #2). We'll probably flip the panels around so the white side shows instead of the blue.

 I think the dresser will work really well with the new colors, so it gets to stay in yellow stripey glory.

Easy Breezy... ish

I don't know about you guys, but we're getting some beautiful spring weather around here. And after a winter of hunkering down indoors, it feels SO good to finally get out and tackle some things around the house! This past week we've been fortunate to have lots of family visiting - which means lots of help and free babysitting! We've been checking several things off our to-do list while we have the chance, including switching out a couple ceiling fans before the summer heat hits.

One we replaced was in the kitchen. This may be the only picture I have of the old one. I generally tried to crop it out. :) It had a 60's vibe and wasn't very functional for the kitchen. Two of the four lights didn't work so only half our kitchen was lit up at night!

Thanks to some help from my momma and my mister, things are looking much brighter now. And prettier to boot.

Metal Basket Resuscitation

I love using wire baskets for storage. But they can be a little on the pricey side, so I've only bought new once (and I had a gift card. I'm cheap.). But I've collected a few nice, sturdy baskets for $1-2 each at yard sales over the past year or so. The only problem with these cheaper alternatives is that they all seem to have something in common... they are crazy rusty. So they haven't actually been very useful because I don't want them to ruin any of my stuff. And then I had the big "duh" moment a few weeks ago (why does it always take me a few years to get to the "duh?") and realized I could just paint them!

 

The one nice basket I have is an ORB finish and I wanted to match the finish with my rust buckets, so I pulled out my new favorite spray paint.

I started using a stiff brush to remove any loose rust (I'm not sure if it made a difference or not) and wiped it with a wet rag to remove any dust. Then I just gave it a few coats of paint until it was all covered. And don't forget to flip it over and do the bottom!

Then I just left them outside to cure for a few hours before bringing them back in and loading them up with fabric. I LOVE storing my fabric like this because it looks so pretty and I can always see what I have.

And I'm so happy with how the finish turned out. I was a little sad

Plaid Shoulder Bag - Giveaway #2!

** This giveaway is not closed - the winner is Beth T.! Keep an eye out for an email from me! **

Good news! I decided to throw in another giveaway for giveaway day week! Better late than never, right?

This time it's a handmade goodie of my favorite kind - a bag!!! Woot woot! For anyone who doesn't know, my sister and I have a little shop on Hyenacart called Twice is Nice where we sell some of our favorite things. Today I'm giving away a blue & red plaid shoulder bag (it's actually one of our discontinued styles, so this is your last chance to get your hands on one!).

This bag is perfect for everyday!

It has plenty of space for your daily necessities with enough extra room to throw in a book, magazine, snack for the kids, or whatever else you need to have at hand.

It has two exterior pockets and four interior pockets to keep your belongings organized and accessible, and includes a small wallet. The bag is fastened with a magnetic snap closure.

Check out our shop for more bags & purses, and be sure to visit the clearance section for a great bargain!

So, want to win this one? It's easy! Here are the details: