Nesting

So I have been nesting. Which is normal for a pregnant lady who is ready to deliver any day now. It's just that my nest has taken me 3 years! (I wasn't pregnant for that whole time, although sometimes it feels like it.)

This is a picture of Molly and Jill's room right after we moved it.

We got the dresser from ksl.com and it was very functional and sturdy, but not very pretty. The beds I love, but the comforters were freebies that were ... not exactly the style I wanted. Also, we needed curtains for light control and privacy. And I really wanted the girlies to have a chair for reading, or rather, a chair for a grown-up (Daddy) to sit on while reading aloud.

So, little by little I found things or made things or made things over. It was fun, but I wish I was much faster at it (a la Trading Spaces in 48 hours). But, my goal was that it at least had to be finished before the baby came and SUCCESS! I finished just in time.



Thanks to my awesome neighbor, Aly, I learned some good techniques for painting the dresser. (I didn't want it to be all brush-stroke-y, but I couldn't find a very good selection of greens in the spray paint section.) She pointed me toward this stuff that you add to your paint that slows the drying time, so your brush strokes fade away. It worked great. She also recommended the wax paste, which gives it a nice finish, much better than just that latex feeling.
Disclaimer: Molly and Jill found the butterfly and fairy (Molls prefers to spell it faerie) pictures at DI. I really didn't like them, but sometimes you have to be nice and let your kids choose at least some part of their bedroom decor, right? And they were only $1.



I made these twin quilts for the girls. I loved the pattern and it seemed really easy (it was). But it turned out to be much more time consuming than I would have thought. However, I enjoyed cutting and sewing while I listened to (several) General Conferences. I don't think you can tell very well from the picture, but the circles have a raw edge that I think will be really fun once they have been washed a few more times. And these are made out of my favorite kind of fabric, Aunt Gracie, which is reproduction 1930's. My friend Andrea really helped me out with these as well, because she told me about a basting spray that both simplified and sped up the process of quilting. (I just couldn't bring my self to pin-baste these babies with my huge, enormous belly.)



Another, admittedly gratuitous, photo of the quilts.



My kids are big readers and the main problem we were having with bunk beds was the lack of nightstand. I was constantly finding books all over in the beds, or even worse, in the crack behind the bed. (Yes, we got a few library fines for that.) Anyway, one of the ladies in my ward posted on her blog about these handy-dandy, wall mounted, book-holders. They are made using the hardware for double rod curtains, dowels, and not that much fabric. I added the pockets to the design for the "treasures" that I knew would inevitably accumulate in there anyway. I used the same fabric as the quilts.



So I got the curtains from DI and added black out fabric to the back. I think everybody should have blackout curtains in their bedroom. It is just so nice to make it really dark whenever you need to sleep. If you are sick and really want to take a good nap, for example. Or if you are under 10 and need to go to bed when it is still light in the summer. Blackout curtains really help.

The chair was the last thing I wanted to complete the room. I looked and looked at the millions of chairs on ksl.com and I didn't see anything I liked. Until one day...I saw this awesome flowery beauty. But the lady had two chairs and an ottoman and she wouldn't break up the set. I posted her ksl add on my facebook and found a friend who wanted the other chair. I don't think I've ever worked so hard to get something from ksl.com. But I'm really glad, because I think the chair adds a lot to the room.

So there we have it. A totally girly bedroom that hopefully my girls will love for at least 3 more years (cause you know it's going to take me at least that long to change it again!)

Save a few cents

So, I recently made a discovery. You know those felt thingeys that you put on the bottom of your chairs?

Yeah, those.
Well mine have a tendency to get really dirty, really fast. Like so dirty that you can't move the chairs cause they are sticking to the floor. Anyway, we have to replace them often. The other day I needed replacements and I had this ingenious idea.

The felt tabs are pretty thick and I discovered you can cut them in half and they still work. So now I am getting twice the usage for my money.

You can use this idea too. You're welcome. :) You'll be saving literally ones of dollars!

Just for the record, I am cheap, yes. But not pointlessly so. I prefer to save my money on the dumb stuff so I can spend it on cool things, like this:

We used to have a plain wall on our landing. Now we have these great bookshelves for bedtime reading. Yay!! I think it was worth all the felt trimming and other assorted weird, cheap stuff I have tried.

bought the house

We are (finally) one step closer with the house. Let me tell you, working with the bank is not for the faint of heart! They are just sooo
s . . . l . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . w. Anyway, last week the bank put the house up for sale, and we offered and counter-offered back and forth until we eventually came to an agreeable price. Our closing date is April 24-ish. We hope to move on the last Saturday in April.

If you are interested here are a few interior photos of the house:
This is the kitchen (it is no longer green, the bank painted it the same neutral beige as the rest of the house). The whole main floor has this same bamboo flooring. I like it. Also, you might notice that the pantry door is black. All of the interior doors are black. When Dave first described it to me, I was freaked out thinking how much of a pain it would be to repaint all the doors. But now I am used to it and I like that too.

Here is the master bedroom. (Not that exciting really, but I like the vaulted ceiling).

This is what made the kids want to move. Under the stairs in the basement is a little built in playhouse. If you look closely, you can see that Jill is leaning in through the window on the side. Molly loves it especially because it has its own light switch in the inside. Lots of fun will be had in there!

Sale Pending

That's what this sign says, so it must be true!What exactly does that mean? It means we found some buyers, but we still have nowhere to move. The house we want to buy is still in foreclosure. Our agent makes regular calls to figure out when it will actually come on the market. We hope soon.

Anyway, our projected closing date is end of March, but we have a week or so to work things out with the new house, otherwise we will probably move to end of April. Right now it's just a waiting game. (But hey, at least I don't have to keep the house spotless for showings anymore!)

Attaboy Dave

Dave finished the final (and most complex) of our house fixes on Saturday.

He turned this funky, cement-y column:

into this beautiful piece of woodworking:

How'd I get so lucky anyway!?!

I love you, Dear!
XXXOOO

p.s. Here is a joke Dave made up himself:

Q. Why do I eat ranch with my mashed potatoes?

A. Because it would be weird to eat the ranch all alone.

Handy Man

My husband is so awesome! He's Mr. Fix-it and I am so grateful for his skills!

Saturday he was so busy, he fixed this:
sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. Just imagine that the very short piece of crown molding was not there, and it looked very unfinished and silly.)

And this (remember one was missing in a previous post):

Here is a before:

And then an after:
Honey, I love you and I appreciate you!!

Take a Peek

If you want to see the virtual tour of our house, go here:

http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/unbranded.aspx?tourid=514639

Like the Pros

Dave and I have been busily engaged in sprucing up the house. You know, fixing all the little stuff. We have struggled in the past to get employees at the big box stores to help us with simple, yet odd, fixes. So this time we tried something different. We tried specialty stores.

We had such a great experience! You walk into these places and the people who work there are professionals (not just employees!) They really know their stuff! I had this perception that if you specialized, it was going to cost sooo much more. Not true. And they usually make it so much easier to work with them. It's like Customer Service is a verb, not just a desk where you return things. Here are two examples;

Dimmer switch--we had these little plastic things that had broken. We went to a big box to get a replacement. They said you couldn't buy the individual part, only the entire faceplate. $30 was too much to pay for that! Then we checked with a lighting store. Eilene knew when I showed her the broken part exactly who the manufacturer was. She ordered some new ones for me right away. When I came in a week later to pick them up, she even remembered me by name. Oh yeah, and the part was only $2!

Stairs--We had this thing that had broken off of the stairs, I didn't even know what to call it.
We took the broken one to the big box but they didn't have it, or any helpful information. A neighbor suggested Huetter Mill. So I walked in the door (it's a beautiful showroom by the way, you should check it out!) and the lady behind the counter was so helpful. She knew the exact name of the piece I wanted (bullnose)
and when I told her that I only needed one 4 inch piece, she gave it to me for free! Amazing.

Anyway, I have learned my lesson. I could go on and on, but I will simplify by saying: If you need a special part, go to a specialty store. You'll get great, personal service, you'll get your part without alot of hassle, and you'll find that the price is just right.

Big News

I'm not very good at making big announcements. But here it goes:

Our house is for sale.

(Note: this does not actually mean that we are moving. First, someone has to actually buy our house!)

Q--But why are you putting your house up for sale?

A--I'm glad you asked. We found this beautiful house in Daybreak that we really loved.

But it was out of our price range. Then, due to the crazy housing market, the price went down ... way down. So now we think we can afford it, assuming of course, that we can get anyone to buy our house.

We're taking a chance that all the stars will align and;
1) we will be able to find a buyer (who has good financing and doesn't have a long list of contingencies) and
2) that someone else won't buy the house first.

But we'll give it a try. So if you know anyone who wants a cute little bungalow like this:

send them our way.