The push before the big push, part 2

Downstairs Powder Room
From blank white, with a clamshell sink and the cheapest fixtures you can find, to kind of more inviting with a little color. Not a thing to do about the fixtures in a rental, but paint has always been my favorite answer to changing a room anyway:) We put all of our architecture and Chi-town related photos in the bathroom, which actually unified them in a nice, new way. It still needs something along the knee rail, but we're not going to do curtains, as it's already a dark room. I need to keep thinking...any suggestions would be appreciated!



Dane's Room
This room still kind of drives me nuts, as paneling is so dark. It's a basement bedroom, which makes it a little cave-like for my taste. Mark, on the other hand, loves it. I think he's hoping Dane will inherit his mole ways so they can sit in a dark living room and watch TV together:) We added bright bedding, a rug, all white furniture and frames and it's actually not so bad now.

We repainted a Goodwill corkboard and resale shopt photo of a pelican, repurposed some old cork flooring samples as the backdrop for some sailboat drawings and cut up some mock-ups of an author book from when I was at Tyndale to make the "Imagine" poster.
Drawings of the Cobra that Mark hopes to build with him someday, and then some other car I found online.
Freehand letters in orange and yellow scraps from my fabric closet.
These built-in shelves are one great quality of the room. Excellent for storing all the books and toys we're beginning to accumulate.
We went with a bright, yet masculine scheme of yellow, orange and blue, getting all of our bedding/rug/ etc from Crate and Barrel Outlet. Love that place!

Upstairs Hall
For our upstairs hallway, we wanted to cover the scuffed inconsistent "white" so we mixed up a lighter gray from the one we used in the baby room and primer. It's a soothing color that adds life to the hall without darkening it significantly.

Lastly, we finally hung the Bobbsey Twins books using sawtooth hangers nailed into the back covers. Two tiny holes in the back, and we can always pull them out once we're ready to read them together!

3 days

I'm officially 3 days away from having our little girl, of course, barring any early labor. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone and how different it's been in every way. I've now been pregnant and growing for almost 2 months longer than I was with Dane. I feel huge. I feel tired. And most of all, I feel worried that I won't be able to give two kids what I need to, and was able to up to this point with Dane. I can't imagine what it will be like when I'm not able to give him my full attention when he needs it. I feel a tremendous amount of guilt at cutting his time as my only baby so short, especially when he seems to be entering an age of heightened awareness and neediness. I will miss our quiet mornings and evening book reading together. I tear up when I think about having to share my love with another child, like I'm taking something from him. Everyone I've spoken to says it will turn out great, that being so close in age will make our kiddos best friends, closer than they could be if they were further apart. I realize that they will have to share so many things, and am trying to keep my mind on the positive. It's so hard when my emotions are already experiencing crazy highs and lows.

Dane will always be my first baby, and I have an irrational fear that I'll never be able to love a girl the same way. I do remember having similar thoughts before Dane arrived, thinking that I didn't know how I could love a person I'd never met. All I can say is that I love him more than I knew possible. In a completely different way than I've loved before, but in a way that is almost more powerful and consuming. I have to believe that the same will be true with our new little song. Despite having no plan for how quickly our family grew, both Mark and I think that God let it happen this way for a reason. She's going to be an amazing new blessing and we look forward to meeting our fourth soon.

The push before the big push, part 1

In the last week before we have our second little one, I (and Mark by default) have gotten into full-on nesting mode, finishing a ton of projects we've been meaning to do for months. Here are some of the projects we've done in the last few days.

Master Bedroom

Our room has always been the last to get attention, but once I finished painting our tiny bathroom (from a dark mauve) light sea blue, I decided it would be great in our room as well. We also have a hand-me-down blue metal bedframe, that while functional, was not beautiful. I decided to sew covers for the head and foot board, creating a fabric wrap that definitely updated the look of the bed. A beautiful sheet set we received for our wedding had gotten a hole in it, so I patched that and used it for the covers. I'm not a pro, but was still happy with how they turned out.

We also finally got around to hanging curtains: lightblockers that make the occasional late morning so much more pleasant. We used tension rods that are pretty ugly, but they were cheap, and that works for now:)

Finally, we found a great deal on a large mirror at home goods, which adds a little light and function to the room. I can fully see how large I'm getting at 38 weeks!
Baby Room

We put all the finishing touches on the baby's room; she'd better come out a girl, or we're going to be finding new homes for a lot of pink and fuschia stuff! We completed all the painting, including a new squirrel and a secret message from Daddy. We found a great rug and pendant light at Crate and Barrel outlet, expertly installed by Mark.

I also covered a cheap lampshade with tissue, topping off a clearance lamp from HomeGoods. Complete cost was less than $20. That's my kind of lamp.

Finally, we found a couple old photos of Mark and I as babies, and blew them up so we can compare our new one and argue about who she looks more like. Our final project will be to mount a set of old Bobbsey Twins books, which we found at an antique store near the hospital Mark works at.

Still to come: Dane's room, upstairs hall, powder room