Office Inspiration

In our new house we have three bedrooms plus a man cave. So much more space than our last little house and so far we love it. Yes, it may be outdated, but just having more space makes it 100x better. I have the nursery done and I'm still working on the master bedroom (the coral isn't totally working for me so I'm taking a break for now... but I did order some fabric for the headboard, so we'll be working on that soon!) so that's two out of three. The third actual bedroom (the man cave is really just half of the garage converted into another room) was supposed to be our spare bedroom, but since I will be working from home when I go back to work in December I really need a space where I can work that will make me happy. Or at least be pretty enough to motivate me to work. :) 

I had been eyeing this rug from IKEA for a while now and then got the idea of doing a black and white room with some jade/emerald accents. Especially since I already have my jade dresser that I redid a year and a half ago which currently holds all my craft supplies. I went to IKEA to get the rug (only $20 too!) and found a bunch of other graphic black and white accents. IKEA is so cheap! I love it, although I vowed to never again buy a dresser from there - too much every day wear and tear for the "put together yourself furniture."

So, here's my office inspiration board (with most things from IKEA). The next step is painting the walls a bright white to brighten it up (it's currently a dusty mauve color... yuck) and then putting it all together. 

1. Teal and gray fabric for when I recover the seat cushion on my accent chair (I'll spray paint the base of it to freshen it up too). 

2. Teal Ikat fabric for a bulletin board project.

3. IKEA NYTTJA frame for a super sweet project I whipped up with some Instagram photos. I'll share more on this soon!

4. Dark gray metal shelving unit

5. Industrial lamp

6. White Parsons Desk - I already have this Tar-jay knock off.

7. Black and white polka dot rug

8. Desk chair - I'm planning on updating a goodwill find I previously reupholstered

9. Some minty storage boxes

10. Modern wall clock 

11 & 12. Graphic black & white pillows - crosses and tribal print

13. My jade dresser full of crafts

14. A vintage globe to top it off!

Emerson's Newborn Photos

I'm so so so excited to share these photos with you today! When Emerson was just six days old, we drove down to Centralia to get her newborn photos taken by the amazing Katia Hudson. She also did our maternity photos which I loved (I'll be sharing those soon as well!). 

Katia was so great - so patient and gentle with Emerson. Even after she pooped on three of the sets and peed on Katia! Haha. Oh, babies... The photo shoot lasted a while - about 4 hours since little Miss Emerson decided to wake up right in the middle. It was super hot in the studio (about 90 degrees) so it was easier for Em to stay asleep. Finally, after a few feedings and a lot of rocking, she passed out and we were able to take a bunch of different poses. Most with her grumpy sleepy face. :)

Seriously, Katia is amazing and definitely has a talent in photographing the little ones (and other neat stuff too - weddings, seniors, maternity, engagement, etc). Please check her out if you are in the Centralia/Olympia area - you won't regret it!

You can find Katia here: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bloglovin'

I love all the shots we got, especially the one with the tutu and the one with the vintage books. :) Can't wait to get these printed! Thank you Katia!

Emerson Yvonne Kane

She's here!!! Presenting... 

Miss Emerson Yvonne Kane

Born August 25, 2013 at 1:55pm

7 pounds, 6 ounces

20.5 inches

We are so in love with our little girl! It's still a little surreal - I mean she was just in my belly (how did she fit in there again?!)! We had a rough couple of nights at first, but we are settling in nicely now and getting into our routine. So far, she is a pretty chill baby. Her eyes are so bright and alert whenever she is awake. My favorite is her smile (even if it means she is just pooping or farting at this point). :) It's so sweet seeing Zach with her, too - he is such a great Daddy. 

We are having so much fun so far (besides the lack of sleep...)! If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen the plethora of pics I've already posted of our sweet baby girl. Not gonna lie, it probably won't stop. :) So follow me if you like looking at super cute baby pics! (OK, I'm a little biased...) Here's a few you might have missed...

The Nursery Reveal!

The day is finally here! I know you've all been waiting and I'm so excited to share with you the big nursery reveal! I had so much fun putting the room together (check out my original inspiration) - so many DIY projects and colorful accents. I LOVE it so much! The only thing it's missing is our Little BK (hopefully she'll be here in TWO days! EEEEEK!)!!!

This is seriously my favorite room in the house (and the only one that's finished). It's not a big room, but the layout came together really well and everything just fits. I love our little reading nook and can't wait to read Little BK a ton of fun books! My Mom and I made the yellow Pom Pom Curtains.

One of my favorite projects was the DIY Pouf Ottoman. It's heavy as an elephant, but so comfy on top and will be perfect for my tired feet when I'm rocking BK to sleep.

The rocking chair is a special piece - my Dad bought it for my Mom when she was prego with me! It's rock solid and is actually really comfortable. So special to have a family heirloom piece in the room! My Mom sewed the cover for the rocking chair cushion - cushion and fabric both from IKEA.

So many great books - can't go wrong with Dr. Seuss and Calvin and Hobbes (the hubby's favorite). She's also fully stocked with headbands... no one will ever doubt that she's a girl! Ha!

Another special piece - the ballerina figurine was given to me by my Daddio. I used to be in dance up until 5th grade and after each recital he would get me a ballet figurine. I have a whole collection, but didn't have enough room to display them all in the nursery. The wagon calendar was given to me by my Grandma at my baby shower and I DIY'd my anthropologie inspired book covers.

Who doesn't love a good collage frame wall? I can't get enough. I love all the white frames. I have two prints from my favorite artist - Katie Daisy (You Are Loved and You Are My Sunshine). I had to include my DIY onesie from our Pregnancy Announcement Photo Shoot. I did some DIY for the frames as well - the Small but Fierce Glitter Art, Hot Air Balloon Art, and then I made the Vintage Playing Cards art from some fun circus playing cards I found at an antique shop in Arizona on our Babymoon.

One of my favorite pieces is the yellow metal bike! It used to be my Mom's and was a dark brown color. Since she knows I love bikes (even though I don't even have one right now - what's up with that?!) she spray painted it bright yellow for me and it looks so amazing up on the wall!

I also love the Dream a Little Bigger, Darling print and the Puppy Silhouettes I whipped up (using a technique similar to what I did here but with scrapbook paper instead of paint).

Are you still with me? :) Here's the other side of the room - not as exciting, but closet (I still get a kick out of all the miniature baby clothes - so cute!) and hamper. I made the garland out of felt I had leftover from the Hot Air Balloon Mobile (one of my other favorite projects!) and some white ribbon.

Before I forget - the paint color is Sea Glass by Martha Stewart and we got the yellow chevron rug from Urban Outfitters.

I do have one more DIY project I need to share, but not until after she's born since it spells out her name. We picked out a name, but aren't sharing with anyone yet (not even our families!). I'll be sure to share when she gets here! :) The crochet blanket on the crib was my baby blanket made by my Grandma.

 

The Hot Air Balloon Mobile is seriously my favorite (it's the husband's favorite too). My Mom also helped me sew the Ruffled Crib Skirt... but never again!

I busted out this love pillow using the same technique I used for this pillow.

Still in love with my coral dresser, complete with fun drawer liners!

One of my thriftiest finds was the lamp I found at Target in the clearance section. Love it so much - almost as much as the 20 week ultrasound picture of my sweet baby girl! I also got the table runner at Target on clearance which matched perfectly with the dresser and will be great to keep the top from getting scratched up.

That's it! I hope you like it as much as we love it! :) Now we just need Little BK! Come on sweet girl!

Weekly Bump Photo (Week 39)

YUP. Just one week to go over here. I am SO ready for this little girl to come out and meet us! SO. READY. It's been quite a hot summer and I've been sweating. A lot. She's getting bigger and bigger and I'm kinda just over this pregnancy thing. It's been an interesting 9 months and I feel like I've gotten the full pregnancy experience - I think I've gotten almost every symptom. Morning sickness (bad), leg cramps, exhaustion, small bladder, sweating, heartburn, shortness of breath, waddling (I don't know if that is an actual "symptom" but in my book it counts). You name it, I've experienced it. I always said I wanted the full pregnancy experience and I guess I got it! Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way though... it really is a miracle such a crazy thing to go through. It's pretty amazing how mother nature takes over and does her thing. But now, I'm over it. Let's get this baby out!

This weekend we went to the Seahawks preseason game vs. the Broncos and it was so awesome! Little BK's first Hawks game and they won (I don't care if it was a preseason game - we whooped on Peyton!). I was a little nervous that it would put me into labor (and slightly hopeful that it would), but here I am, still prego. We even did a lot of walking and nothing. We were going to take the elevator up to our 300 level seats, but 1) we didn't have much time before the game started and 2) the line was super long. So I sucked it up and walked up the round about ramp all the way to the top (and glared at the perfectly abled 20-somethings in line for the elevator as I did). We may have taken a few breaks, but I made it just in time for them to announce Russell Wilson! We stayed for the first half (which is only when the starters were playing anyways) and by that time the Hawks were already way out in the lead. It was such a fun and exciting game for preseason - it felt more like a regular season game with the sold out crowd and the noise level was amazing as usual! BK got her first taste of cheering on her soon to be favorite player - RW! #gohawks

39 Week Interview

How far along? 39 weeks... we are so close!

Baby’s size? Watermelon. This is really getting out of control... :)

Days until next doc appointment? Tuesday. At my last appointment she was measuring right on track at 38 and her heart rate was great at 150! She's doing awesome, but my doctor said that she must like it in there because there isn't any sign of her coming before my next appointment. Oh well. I guess I should take it as a complement that she likes it so much in there. :)

Total weight gain/loss? 28 lbs

Maternity clothes?  It's a make it work moment. More like a suck it up and keep wearing my last 4 dresses or so that still fit. I'm so jonesing to do a little shopping and buy some regular cute normal clothes! I'm ready to not have a belly again!

Stretch marks?  A couple little ones unfortunately... 

Sleep:  Not great. Not great at all. It's getting harder and harder to get comfortable and stay comfortable throughout the night. I guess there is no going back to normal now though, so I should probably just get used to it!

Best moment this week:  Having a family BBQ with the Boehme's and Kane's - last one before BK gets here and we had a blast. Loving our new house and how great it is for entertaining. Also, just hearing her heartbeat at my appointment. It's seriously the best sound ever! :)

Movement:  She was so active this week! Loving every kick and punch. She is getting stronger though! Getting some weird and very pointy kicks (or most likely stretches) on my right side. Looks so crazy!

Food cravings:  Chocolate and ice cream. 

Anything make you queasy or sick?  Nothing really these days...

Have you started to show yet?  Yup. It's so funny the different reactions I get from people. Some people are like "Whoa! You must be ready to pop!" and others are like "You don't even look that big!" A lot of mixed messages, but I feel like I'm doing pretty good size-wise and she is growing normally, so that is what's most important!

Missing anything?  Eating cookie dough, bending over to pick things up, having lots of energy. Oh, and regular coke! I might sneak a little taste every once and a while... :)

Gender: Little Miss

Labor signs?  None yet (and still not dilated at all). She still hasn't dropped either - looking forward to that happening so I can feel like I'm taking a full deep breath again!

Belly button: It's almost completely out, we should probably just call it because it's as good as it will probably get. 

Wedding rings on or off?  Off... too hot these days! Still wearing my band though.

Happy or moody most of the time?  So happy! And did I mention I was ready for her to come?

Weekly symptoms:  Heartburn... still heartburn... not sleeping well... 

Looking forward to: Meeting out little one. Come on BK! We are ready for you!!!

DIY: Ruffled Crib Skirt

Well, this is the second time I am writing this post... stupid computer! Another DIY nursery project for you today. When my mom was over a couple weeks ago, she helped me with this ruffled crib skirt. We used this tutorial and it was pretty helpful.  At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a straight crib skirt or a ruffled one (I'm not a ruffles person), but decided to go for the ruffles to make the room a little more feminine and add some texture. 

This project only cost $10 too - it was the IKEA Vivan curtains to the rescue again! It's such a cheap way to get some plain white fabric. The fabric is thin, but worked for the crib skirts since we were doing the ruffles anyways.

We started out with our cuts:

Base - 1 piece 28" x 52" (size of the crib mattress)

Side Panels - 1 piece 52" long, 2 pieces 28" long (and long enough to have the ruffled pieces hemmed on)

Ruffled Strips - 9 pieces that are 2.5 times the width of the sides and six inches high. Three strips for the long side that measured 130" and six strips for the short sides (three each) that measured 70" long.

After making all the cuts and hemming the edges, it was time to ruffle. This was the hard part... and we realized too late that my sewing machine had an actual "ruffling" attachment. Bummer. Instead, my mom used the technique of making three basting stitches in a row along the top of each strip leaving the end threads really long. 

After separating the top three threads from the bottom three, you can pull on the top three and scrunch the fabric together to create the ruffles (making sure to pull hard, but gently so you don't break the thread). It works like a charm, but takes some time to make the ruffles even. 

Then we pieced the ruffles onto the side panels starting with the bottom ruffle and making sure all ruffles lined up. We kind of just made it work... nothing too scientific here.

It was a labor of love, but we got it done! I like how the white ruffles are not too loud but bring some texture and girliness to the room. So glad it's done! And if I never see a ruffle again, I'll be very very happy. 

I'm pretty much done with the nursery and I'm hoping to share pics with you guys by the end of this week or early next week! 

PS - we are in SINGLE DIGITS! Only 9 more days until she is here (hopefully!)