Art

As you well know I have been obsessing over my boys new room.

Paint, done!

Carpet done!

Beds done!

Dresser done!

Now I am finalizing some fun art for the walls.

I LOOOOVE this giraffe!

I have a thing for art with a sense of humor.

source

Oh and sentiment too!

This bear print is so sweet.

source

But when it came down to it....who can resist a freaking cute sock monkey?

This one is from Salt and Paper

This print is perfect for Roan since he's just like sunshine to me.

I had to snatch it up!

It's also from Salt and Paper.

Here's the best part....it only cost me $4 for the download.

Then I sent it to Costco where I spent, what, 

just over a dollar to have an 8x10 printed?

Done and DONE!

I also had some fun with Illustrator and recreated some of my favorite pictures of them.

Hudson's turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

You can see his long lashes and little flecks in his eyes.

Makes me melt a bit!

Roan's.....not as great.  

My husband loves it though.

I'm still considering doing the same thing with a different picture.

We'll see.

With the exception of the mirror that I am trying to have made it is just about moving day for these cute boys!

This particular un-used bedroom was once a dungeon like space.

This is how the previous owners left the room.

We tore out the stinky carpet then never opened the door again.

Now do you see why my sewing machine is collecting dust?

I've had to make this room so bright and cheery that they'll actually be excited to sleep in it.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Quilting for Boys and other news

I love that my boys love quilts!

They each have a quilt that is exclusively theirs.

When I was working on this quilt my son Roan asked me how much the quilt was.

When I asked him why he said he was going to save his money to buy it.

Stinking cute!

Incase your wondering, that quilt is way too small for him 

or I probably would have just given it to him for melting my heart like that.

But I did notice something that I could make for him this last week.

This kid LOVES!  I mean LOVES stuffed animals!

He and his younger sister play with them all of the time under one of my tables.

In fact, it's the only time they get along.

So I made him his own "doll" quilt and pillow

Sasha would grab her doll quilt and pillows while Roan would run to my sewing room for scraps that he could use, ha ha!

It kinda made me feel so bad so I whipped one up while he was at school.

His birthday is in 2 weeks.  

I am toying with the idea of building him his own little toy bed and give it a manly espresso stain.

In the meantime, my hardware came, YAY!!!

love, love, love, love, LOVE!

I'm so glad I splurged on these knobs!

They make me so happy.

Remember this ugly thing....

It's not ugly anymore!

I have loved working on both of these dressers!

I didn't mind investing in great hardware for this dresser since I got it for free.

I think it's a massive improvement!

I ordered both sets of hardware from Lee Valley

In a perfect world this room would already be completed, but it's not.

I'm trying to have an insanely cool mirror made to hang above the dresser.

And I'm still waiting on my husband to finish the built in platform beds.

We are so close!

Now i'm off to sew some drapes!

Rearranging People

Every January I have this insatiable urge to change everything!

This January is no exception.

I have been obsessed with splitting my boys up.

And I'm not showering, sleeping or sewing until it's done.

Dramatic, but sort of true :-)

REWIND: for some wackadoo reason our home has 2 master bedrooms.

And the one in the basement is pretty big.

Big enough for all 4 boys to be together.

Fun right?

They love it (most of the time)

But no one is getting the sleep that is needed.

So, yeah, were done with that.

Were going to ditch the bunk beds all together.

I mean people shouldn't have to live on top of each other 

if they don't actually have to.

Plus, they're really old!

During my sewing hiatus I've been working really hard getting 

an un-used bedroom ready for Roan and Hudson.

New dresser, new mirror, new beds, new art, new paint, new carpet!

My goodness, it's fun!

I did have a day last week that I was able to play with 

my sewing machine but it was short lived.

I hope you're not mad at me :-)

p.s. In an effort to keep it real, my boys room never ever never looks like this!

Busting my scraps

Finally! I am feeling inspired to sew!

I think I closed the door on my sewing room 3 weeks ago.

I gotta be honest, I was feeling pretty burned out.

Like, to a crisp.

But now I'm ready to work!

Today I dug through my scraps for a special project.

And I'm gonna sew my little heart out!

Ooohhh, I'm so excited!

Be back soon :-)

Almost there!

Both of my dressers are done, phew!

Now i'm just waiting on the hardware to arrive.

If I hadn't taken so long to make up my mind they would have already come.

BEFORE

AFTER

I really stressed over the hardware.

I felt like it would make it or break it.

First I toyed with the idea of ceramic melon knobs from Anthropologie...

Aren't they beaut???

They didn't actually look that great on this dresser.

The creamy warm white looked terrible against the dresser's cool blue.

Bummer!

Next up and probably my VERY first choice!

Glass knobs from Restoration Hardware

Drool!

I really love the chic simplicity of these knobs!

I'm still wondering if I should have just bit the bullet and ordered these.

BUT, they were 2X more expensive than the ones I ultimately chose...

Speaking of the ones I chose....

just when I felt totally stumped I remembered a dresser that Sarah Richardson put in one of her redesigns that I truly loved so I began hunting for those knobs.

With some persistence I found them.
And they were half as much.
SCORE!

I love my vintage dresser but I don't necessarily want it to look old.
With a fresh coat of paint and some modern hardware she's shaping up quite nicely!

Ketchup!

All right, it's time to get back up to speed!

In the last 2 weeks I....

got into a car crash!

 I was hit by a car running a red light.

It was a full speed smash to my door, no brakes involved.

(No kids in the car, just me thankfully!)

Considering how fast they were going, my Yukon sure can take a beating!

It's totaled though.

Aside from that, I enjoyed many a movie over the break.

We saw, in no particular order...

Loved it!

And I loved Jeremy Renner too.

I fell asleep 10 minutes in.

Not because it was boring but because it was so late.

My husband loved it more than the first one.

Must try again!

This movie was particularly so-so

But I will tell you that I would watch it 10 more times 

because I might have a cougar crush on Zac Efron.

And he was great!

I really liked this movie.  

It keeps a slower pace so don't take your kids to it.

But I love a great true story.

I still have not stepped foot in my sewing room.

It needs to be cleaned badly from being the Christmas wrapping station.

Instead, I have been working on these gems...

Can you see the potential???
Can you?  Can you?
This dresser is (was) super un-loved!
I inherited it from some moving neighbors who thought of it as junk.
It looks pretty fab right now.

And for little miss S...

I got this little beauty from a local antique shop for a STEAL!
Truth be told, this dresser doesn't even need anything done to it.
It's in perfect condition.
But no, I can not resist!

I am almost done with both of them so stay tuned.
And eventually I do have plans to get back to my sewing room, I swear!

I'm ready for 2012

We have spent the last several years
ringing in the New Years with the Rhodes family.

Sadly, our dear friends moved to Boston this year.

We have missed them so much!

This year we had our own party at home

just the seven of us!

We stuffed our faces!

danced our butt's off!

And finished it off with the sauna!

All of my kid's made it to midnight

even little H, barely.

I'm looking forward to taking down
all of my Christmas Decorations and tree.

Especially these guys!

They're 5 feet tall.
Every time I walk into the office I get spooked.

From my peripheral it looks like a tall man is lurking.
EVERY.TIME.

I hope you all had a wonderful time ringing in the New Year.

I have plans to set foot in my sewing room sometime this week

after a 2+ week hiatus.

I can't lie, it was much needed and oh so nice!