Vintage transportation nursery

BeYoYo is 11 months today! So I figured it's time I show you his room. We went with a vintage transportation theme, mostly because I saw a metal pushcar at an auction when I was pregnant and felt like we *needed* it. Don't blame me, blame the hormones.

The crib was free, given to us by an old neighbor. I found the Pottery Barn train bumper pads at a consignment sale for next to nothing. The art is from etsy, and I made the mobile myself. 

The dresser was my grandparents' and the baby gown was my granddad's when he was a baby in 1925.

My mom was particularly proud of the mobile, considering how I'm always proving I can't sew. Also, she helped a lot.

Big brother made this train as his contribution before BeYoYo was born. Actually, my mom helped with that too. 

Airplane shelf is from HomeGoods, natch. 

And the blue dresser is an antique store find. We had the green rocker/recliner from The Boy's nursery. 

The dormer window is the perfect size for a changing table (from goodwill!) and the metal car that inspired it all. I don't actually let anyone play with it because it's metal and sharp and turns out, super impractical.

Car hooks were on clearance from Hobby Lobby, and hold one of the john johns his daddy hates but I put him in for church anyway. He's got the rest of his life to wear t-shirts. Carpe diem.

I just scored this awesome car rug made from fabric scraps for $5. Woot!

And my favorite thing of all is the quilt my mom made. The train is made from fabric from some of our grandparents' clothes. The whole thing was a surprise to me and made me do a long pregnant ugly cry. Sometimes when I rock BeYoYo I wrap us up in the quilt and get right sentimental. 

And what does BeYoYo think of his room? 

He's not particularly impressed. 

Valentimes

You'll notice I haven't posted any cutesy pinterest-inspired DIY punny preschool valentine cards. Many of my facebook friends have posted some of the cutest valentines. It's not that I don't love pinterest. But this year we went with (brace yourself)......store bought cards.

And not just any store bought cards. When given the choice at the store, my son didn't choose cars or trains or superheroes or Curious George. He chose Frozen. And not Olaf and Sven and Christof, either. Straight up princesses. With artificially sweetened death sugar and chernobyl red #5 taffy that will rip your kids' teeth out. The week after the dental hygiene unit at preschool. So any of you other mamas who also didn't print labels saying "dough you want to be my valentine?" with homemade heart-shaped play dough, please know this is what we're sending to school tomorrow:

Tomorrow night you'll see the spoils from the Valentine parties. You'll see who has the creative parents who sent the awesome non-candy, age-appropriate, not made in China, organic goodie with a pun and we won't be on that list. We win zero points for creativity or avoiding cavities or preventing diabetes, but I feel like we win all the points for letting our son bring princess cards. Follow your heart, Valentine!

Breaking Bad Baby

Do you like The Boy as Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad?? You can't tell but he's showing off his Land of the Free tattoo. Winning.

Elmo Birthday Party

Oh Em Gee, has it really been a month since my last post?? Since then, we came home from camp, moved, The Boy turned two, we had his party in our old empty house, and we've been potty training. So I haven't had a lot of leisurely-blog-posting-alone time. Where to start? I guess we could start with The Boy's birthday party. We're in an Elmo phase right now, and I'm encouraging it because I find it more entertaining it's got a better message than some of the other trash aimed at his demographic (hello, Dinosaur Train? Mama ain't interested in the Mesozoic. Terrible.).

Now, we were having the party in our empty house before the renters moved in (full story: here if you aren't familiar). The downside is that it was sparse. No furniture and whatnot. The upside: the kids couldn't ruin anything! We did leave one table for food.

Elmo phase + empty house = Elmo Picnic themed party!

The Boy cried when he couldn't have cupcakes and a cookie before the party. 

Cookies were from High Tea Cookies. Adorbs. 

And of course we had Elmo fruit, and goldfish in honor of Elmo's pet fish Dorothy. 

I'm not going to lie, by the end of the party this Elmo fruit looked like a one-eyed deranged bar-fight monster.

Our fish, Scoot #2 filled in for Dorothy. 

The Boy was so excited about his cookie that he wore a black icing stained goatee for the whole party. I'll admit, he got some strange looks. 

 We had Elmo everywhere. Party bags had Elmo tissues, stickers, and books from the dollar store. 

I used the Pinterest-inspired party tip of freezing water balloons instead of ice for the drink bucket. Note to self: smaller ones work best.

We laid picnic blankets outside for eating. Aren't our friends the cutest?

And inside, the kids could get their pictures made with an Elmo backdrop. 

Mostly they just played and ran. 

And the adults watched. 

It was all a big blur

But The Boy had a blast!

Can't believe I have a two year old! Insert cliche about time flying here. 

Showing Off, Again

I mostly focus on funny kid stories here. Oddly enough my one random blog post about showing off some of my DIY projects has been my most popular post and has gotten four times the average number of hits of my other posts (if you missed it see the original post here). It's now even surpassed the ever popular Tricks I Play On The Husband post. So, back by popular demand is more showing off!

I had been looking for something else to hang over the couch, and I couldn't find exactly what I had in mind. My mind wanted a simple shelf that was inspired by an old mantle, but not something that could be found at any corner Pottery Barn. I wanted something that looked worn and loved. Then there was the framed pictures I'd taken around town that spelled out our last name to contend with. I needed something that would fit the space and style of that too. One Sunday I'd had enough and headed out to the shed on a mission. I started with a few scraps of lumber and added a piece of trim and spray paint from Lowe's. The Husband's been a little paranoid since our BFF Drew cut off four of his fingers on a table saw, so he insisted on helping me with the power tools. This is what we came up with:

This picture makes it look like we live in a yellow submarine. We aren't so yellow, but you get the idea. 

Plus, I needed some way to display my kid's one year portraits that we paid a small fortune for (I keep telling myself I'll be so glad when he's 12 and a punk). We bought frames, but that didn't look good. I didn't like the foam board behind glass. So I pulled some old wainscoating from the shed, cut it, and painted it white, then distressed it and added the pictures on top.

I like the whole scheme.

And at work..........

I created a little puppet theatre for our play therapy room out of an old, cheap armoir from the thrift store. I turned it backwards, pulled off the back, added paint, curtains, and pegs, and voila!

I was moving offices at work and was eager to be able to have a space in which to nest. I got this desk at my local habitat reStore for $20. I think it was originally a vanity. The top two shelves were damaged, so I took them off along with the middle piece they were attached to. Then I spray painted it blue and put the original hardware back on. I did add new knobs for the drawers.

Looks completely different, doesn't it?

I picked up a vintage arm chair at Junk in the Trunk for $50, minus 10% for asking nicely.

I LOVE the combination of the blue desk with the funky chair with blue accents. I'll do another post of my office reveal once I find just the right piece to hang on the wall. The Husband has had enough of my projects for now.

Showing Off

The wonderful thing about having a blog is that you can just say whatever you want without any the social burdens of face to face conversation. For example, you don't have to wonder if you are boring your audience, if you are hogging all the conversation without letting your peers talk, and if you're talking too much about your kid. You know you are. And that's okay.

The audience gets the benefit of only tuning in for the interesting parts or just leaving the conversation all together without being rude. It's a win win. Wouldn't parties be so much better with blog rules? Today's post is about me indulging in things I enjoy because this is my space and I can do whatever I want. So today I want to veer from our usual posts to show off demonstrate my newest pinterest fueled obsession that my husband hates  hobby, refinishing/repurposing furniture!

Here are some of the gems I've finished in the last few months.

Exhibit A: Pie Safe

When my grandmother was growing up this pie safe was in her aunt's house.  It folds up to slide under the bed for storage. It was in wonderful condition so we just painted it to update it and use in The Boy's room. I'm sure antique purists cringe at the thought of painting it, but now we are actually using it, which is infinitely cooler than not using it.  I love the history, the function, and the freeness of this. 

Pie safe, folded up for storage

Pie safe as storage in The Boy's room

Exhibit B: Recycling

We've had a dilemma of what to do with our recycling for a while. Our kitchen is small and has minimal cabinet space. We originally kept the city recycling bins in the enclosed carport, but they had to go when we refinished that room into (insert movie sound effect echo) The Man Room. We had two small trash cans in the kitchen for recycling, but the dog and the baby felt like they had been commissioned to go through each item and ceremoniously toss them around the kitchen like a flower girl at the wedding of Shiner and Bock.   I wanted something that concealed the bins so that a.) our trash wasn't trashy looking and b.) it kept the dependents from smelling like hops. SO, I was glad when I found this antique wooden cabinet at the thrift store for $20. 

I whacked out the shelf so that our trash cans would fit inside, repainted it white, and added new hardware: 

I also created a shelf out of old shutters we took out of our bathroom when we updated it.  I just ripped the rusty hinges off, nailed the two pieces together at a 90 degree angle, and added hooks from Lowe's.  Voila! Trash is hidden, and I love the look of this small space. 

Exhibit C: Sewing table/bed side table

This last one wasn't planned but my mom saw this old sewing table at Goodwill for just $10. I wasn't sure what I was going to use it for but I knew my house needed it. This one took by far the most time and effort. I sanded, stripped, sanded, stripped, primed, painted, and sanded it. Whew!

Before picture. I ripped the bottom out, as seen on the left 

Here is a layer of black tar/sludge that I unearthed early on. I didn't really know what I was getting into but I think the technical term for this is shouldhaveleftitwellenoughalone. 

Eventually it made a nice bed side table for the guest bedroom. I found the lamp at the thrift store for $5 and added a new shade. 

I love, love, love my projects. Now I'm looking for a storage solution for the toys that have staged a coup and overthrown our living room. These toys are pretty strong willed, so I'll have to get something really specific to fit the space/look/feel/functionality requirements. It's been elusive so far, so I may just have to reclaim and repurpose something else....

Thanks for indulging me.