Big Boy Room

Before our latest addition arrived we were working hard on the nursery and working quickly to transform his big brother's room into something fit for a BIG boy rather than a baby. The crib had to move to the nursery, so the most important aspect of this room was a new big boy bed. Dad designed and built the bed and painted it a deeper blue that coordinated with the colors already on the walls. We were lucky to have a custom dresser built to match by my Dad. Both will be pieces he can use for years and years. The white chair also moved to the nursery and was replaced by a more grown-up dark blue one. Jack was nice enough to share some of his art with his baby brother too, so he got some new transportation themed art as well as a cool plane mobile to fly over his bed. We hope it's a room he'll love for years (or until I get the urge to redecorate).

Garden Progress

Our container garden is doing great this summer. So far we've had some strawberries, peas, and peppers, but there's much more to come...

Rain Barrel

We're trying our hand at water conservation this summer with the addition of our new rain barrel. We got a set from the county park district. The barrels were originally olive barrels from Greece and then were converted to rain barrels complete with insect screens and spigots attached. I'm excited to see how it works and how much rain it takes to fill it. We placed it in the corner of our garage so it will get rain from the back half of the garage roof. Neil (and his little assistant) built a stand for it in hopes of getting better water pressure for the hose and we got it in place just as it started to rain today. Unfortunately, the rain never amounted to much, so we'll have to wait for another day to see it in action.

Building the platform

The finished product

Downspout diversion

Starting the Garden

Spring is finally here and the weather is warm enough to start our gardening projects. We took a trip to our favorite greenhouse this weekend to stock up on vegetables for our container garden and a few perennials to fill in spots that weren't looking so good last year. Most of our plants are looking good with all the rain and slowly rising temperatues this spring has brought. Now we need to work on stopping the dogs from trampling plants while they're chasing bunnies!

front yard- all white and green

Container garden planted and ready to grow. We're trying some seeds this year... keep your fingers crossed!

herbs in one of Neil's new planters

Our latest project

Our latest project has been 9 months in the making (although only 6 weeks or so of construction on his living quarters). He'll be here later this week and his room is finished just in time. There was a lot of construction this time, with a wall of built-in shelves and a window seat for neighborhood surveillance or reading books, plus a picture ledge across one wall for art and little treasures. We decided to go simple with the paint because of all the building and chose a blue that looks better and better the more white trim we add to the room. I re-purposed Jack's old valence into a new pillow for the window seat and made the cushion too. We're looking forward to having the room filled with activity soon!

Snowy surprise

A little spring blizzard won't stop our latest home project. More to come soon... it's almost finished!

Playroom Shelving- Completed!

The basement built-ins are officially finished in what may be world-record breaking time around here. Usually we like to leave one detail unfinished for 6 months to a year after a majority of the project is done. But this time, we actually just finished it all and moved on to the next project. What a novel concept! The playroom looks more like a playroom now instead of a cold basement. We're getting art up on the walls, pillows everywhere, and the train table is all set for play. It's becoming a great place to hang out and play!

Finishing touches

The knobs are finally on the cabinet doors, so the fireplace-surround project is officially finished! We recently found a leather ottoman to replace our old homemade coffee table and are happy with how it fits in the room.

The Playroom Improves...

The shelves are almost finished! We have to add some adjustable shelves to each side of the TV and then cabinet doors on each end unit. Then some art for the walls and the playroom will be done! Eventually we'll change out the big fluorescent lights for can lights and make some built-ins for the office end of the room. It's come a long way...