A Month Out

Our house sold a month ago yesterday. ::Insert choir of angels singing.::

Seriously, we might rent forever. Okay, probably not, but right now it's awesome. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders and we're free again. Relating to owning a home, the proximity from the mountains and also E's former job, we just felt like Chicago was always so heavy. Grief aside, the home projects list and E's job were more than enough to make things feel heavy. We like the idea of being free to go. Wherever, whenever.

SO boring here. And ugly.

We're feeling so light! We officially have all the money from our home sale in our possession and I'm selling even more of the stuff we brought with us. Over the last 8 months, I've probably sold off 20% of our possessions. Less is definitely more. Six years in a large home means an accumulation of things. So gone be the excess!

In fact, yesterday we did a 3-mile Diabetes walk at University of Nevada at Reno with work colleagues and then went on to summit Mt. Rose at another 10.6 miles. We followed that up with dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants that has THE BEST happy hour and a bike ride for the kids. While they were bike riding at sunset with Dad and Gramie, I was selling the playhouse I bought for them just two months ago. 

Why? They never play with it! Every time they go near it, they complain of a cobweb that appeared overnight. I bought it because we finally had an enclosed backyard and the kids were still waiting on their stuff from Illinois. I was feeling weak and guilty because they were living off sticks and rocks as their sole toys. So I caved. And instantly regretted it! Now that their stuff is here and they won another fun play thing from the local library summer reading program, we're kind of bursting at the seams with toys here. Seriously, two indoor climb-in play house things, two tunnels and a bounce house. That playhouse was a wee-bit impulsive.

I made back 75% of my money and now I don't have to watch the thing get old and dirty anymore. And the kids didn't care at all. In fact, it took them over a day to realize it was missing, after playing outside in the very place it once stood! It's maybe getting a little bad, though, because Benjamin is starting to ask me if I sold his creations and things when he has misplaced them. Never! Those just go straight to the trash. I kid. They get saved for a year, photographed, made into a booklet and then tossed in the recycling.

The kids took a bike ride in their jammies tonight and we watched the last of the glorious sunshine dip over the mountaintops until tomorrow. Reno probably won't be forever, but it's sure great for right now. So now... which mountain should we hike next weekend? Just kidding, we don't have a babysitter. 

Caution, the moving walkway is ending

I spent the night at Chicago Midway Airport. That played on repeat, a solid thousand times. My flight was super early and would've required I get up extremely early anyway. Since my brain is now on PDT zone, early would've been something like 2 a.m., and at that point, do you even bother going to sleep? I opted for a late night drop off at the airport. After all, I'm up for an adventure and without kids, even snoozing in the airport seemed okay. What I didn't expect was for them to water clean the carpets, so I was chair bound after experiencing wet butt. #gross I finally found a suitable chair sometime after my 2-hour snoozefest and binge on Nutter Butters and Wheat Thins, but that was about 1.5 hours before the flight boarded. A front window seat on the plane was a sweet location for a couple more hours of broken sleep.

I made sure to grab a mini throw pillow and a couple of my kids' Aden and Anais blankets out of the house before the movers shoved our entire life of belongings into a truck yesterday morning. I lamented not having socks, because as it turns out, the temperature in empty airports is quite chilly during night hours. Which really only last about 3 hours between the final flight of the night and the incoming people waiting to board the early flights. As for the movers, all we own took just shy of 3 hours to break down beds and pad furniture and stuff it all into a big United truck. And not a minute more. 

I then proceeded to patch holes and gashes in the walls from movers, paint said holes, pull weeds, and sweep the entire house before settling on a quick bath because the shower curtain was already on the truck. I air dried post shower and even used a bottle of water and vinegar to spray dust particles I swept up because I didn't even have a dust pan left with me.

Obscure, random pieces of our lives are stuffed in my backpack and carry-on. Diapers, a couple favorite toys, a half-used roll of paper towels, mini foam paint roller (I cannot speak enough praises. It's washable! I washed and reused and touched up four rooms of different color paint using the same paint roller that is still good!).

I wrote a note to the new owners along with leaving a couple trash and yard waste stickers for goodwill, along with our spendy unused backup sump pump and other goodies. I stuffed the note into the junk drawer. Will they use it as a junk drawer, too? My curiosity is peaked.

In our garage, the names of the two kids before us were painted on the wall by the previous owners. I added our kids' initials, but in chalk. I wish I had painted them, keeping Andrew permanently there too. But it's just chalk. There is a handwritten journal in a hall closet that was left by the previous owners that we discovered years into living there. I left that as a sort of time capsule of the home. It just seemed fitting.

I had a gift card to a restaurant that I received in the mail the week after we left for Reno. It was for a restaurant with only two Chicago locations. Knowing I was coming back for this, I offered to treat a friend to dinner and we showed up to a closed sign. Instead we ate a not-so-free dinner at my favorite restaurant in the 'burbs. My friends took me on trips to the hardware store and brought over Diet Cokes and took me to a new restaurant and brought me Popsicles and dropped me off at the airport. I managed 5 visits with girlfriends weaved into those 52 hours that all were last minute arrangements and it just all seemed to flow perfectly. The spending money part wasn't the highlight, but it was an inevitable necessity. I didn't imagine attic work would be a few thousand dollars, but alas. Such is life. We are feeling the bleed.

I said my goodbyes and definitely had some real moments of shed tears over the home we bought for the long term. We expected 30 years there and made it 6+. I can't say I'm sad, because we chose to move, but it certainly was bittersweet. Our intentions were pure and out of love and naivety and we left more heartbroken and more full of love than when the journey in that home began. There was a lot of growth there. 

My goodbyes didn't last long, as I announced to my friend after our dinner at this awesome new downtown Naperville place that I had to return to grab my bagel out of the fridge of my empty house. And then it was out for good. It's ours for 24 more days. Closing can't come soon enough.

Fifty-two total hours in Chicago from plane touchdown to takeoff. The kids, the husband and I were separated in three states for those hours. What a way to go out. I'm ready for my bed. In my bedroom in Reno. And that sign to be switched to SOLD. And a great big smoocher from the husband.

Claire's Dresser

Some months back, I visited my favorite local thrift shop and came out with a dresser for $45. It's solid wood and has tons of charm. And best of all, it was in really great condition. The only thing I hated about it was the huge oval and outdated, painted flowers that adorned the front. Easy, I could paint that, I thought.

I texted the picture to the husband and posted it on Instagram. Instagram response was a solid positive. The response from the husband wasn't negative. If you have been married awhile, you know any answer that isn't no is obviously yes. So I bought it. But, it didn't fit in my car. I called my friend (who has since moved to St. Louis!) and told her I needed to borrow her van. She asked if I was at that exact thrift store (she knows me...) and she told me she'd be by in 5 minutes because she was across the same street at the grocery store. She picks the dresser up and delivers it to my house. Boom.

It sat in the garage for a month or two. Gathering up the energy to get started took awhile, but I knew it had to be done before winter and no one likes working in a cold garage. So...

Before painting, there was sanding. If anyone who has ever refinished furniture knows, the prep is the worst part. It wasn't much different than the rest of my refinishing projects except NAPTIME. I did my major dresser project for our master bedroom when B was napping. Not just napping, but two times a day for 3-4 hours total. I had gobs of time. Now, I'm lucky to get a single hour to knock anything out because B doesn't nap at all (and therefore wants books and mom time) and C naps much shorter than B did at her age (1.5-2hrs a day total). By the time I would read a few books to B, set him up with a movie, drag out all my supplies, and get myself prepped and ready, I had almost no time to actually work.

Chipped away slowly and it's done. It's not perfect and there are some things I'm disappointed about, but it's done and I'm mostly happy with the results. It will look a whole lot cuter with the picture frames of colorful, artsy cards I've been collecting above it in Claire's "big girl" room, but here's the before and after:

Notice: great big oval in the middle. Be gone, painted flowers and random oval!

Detailed projects are my favorite pieces and also the hardest to work with. So. much. sanding and cleaning in grooves.

Crystal knobs were purchased on Ebay for about $20 and sold the old ones on Ebay as well. I ordered two sizes: top small drawers and big bottom drawers

I also took a picture of the top piece unattached (and covered the bottom in adhesive felt in case Claire happens to dislike it--easy removal).

Total cost of the project = ~$100
Dresser: $45
Sanding/Painting Supplies: $20-$30 (overspent here, clearly)
Knobs: $20

Blast from the past, 2.5 years ago:
First dresser project
Second dresser project

Five Year Check-In

That's how long it's been since we boarded that one-way airplane back to the States from our six months in Germany. We were headed back to a new state, about to sign the contract to our new home, buy a new car and get pregnant with a (new, first) baby. We were excited. I was so ready to embrace the change of moving more than 5 miles from the beach (that's how far, or less, I lived my entire life thus far). I was looking forward to meeting new friends and having kids and exploring the land together as a family.

And then Andrew died.

The husband calls me a pessimist. He says I wasn't always one, but crossed over from realist to slightly pessimistic after Andrew died. He's right.

My sister-in-law quickly corrected me when I said something to the likes of, "I secretly don't love living here." She told me outright, "It's not a secret, Brandy. Everybody knows." It's not that I hate it, but I can surely name off a few handfuls of places I'd rather be. But in all honestly, I think much of that stems from the biggest tragedy and failure in my life happening within 9 months of me planting my feet on the ground here in the Midwest. 

It's just... it stings. Every memory we have made here involved Andrew in some way. I became pregnant two weeks after we touched down on U.S. soil, here in Illinois. We had just closed on our house and were hoping we'd have more exciting news to share, and did! I actually remember my mom commenting to us after we told her we were moving to the Midwest from California that she hated that we were moving and we would probably have grandkids right away, to her dismay. And we did-- never intentionally trying to hurt anyone, but carrying on with our marriage and life as mid-late 20s was flowing through our blood and we had careers and a home and a great marriage. It was time. 

It was basically the perfect timeline. Unfortunately, I've lived here over 4 times the amount of time with him dead than he was alive. Hurts.

I remember the walls closing in on me after he died. We have four bedrooms upstairs, 2 bathrooms and an attached office. Among the three floors, we have over 3900 square feet of living space and I felt I was being suffocated by the enormity of the space. We closed the doors to the three additional bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. No natural light flowed in. The space felt so big and I felt so small. I hated the house we were so excited about and spent those 9 months of my pregnancy preparing for our growing family. 

We bought this home with the sole intention of raising kids here. If we never hoped kids were in our future, we would probably be living in a fun loft downtown. Somewhere more chic, less kid-friendly and definitely not residing at the corner lot house with the bus stop on our property. I loathed the buses that drove by after he died. I hated seeing kids get off and go into their houses-- houses that were filled with their well-used toys and things and beds that were slept in. 

So yeah. Chicago is kind of a B-list city for me. It's truly a beautiful city (but we live in the 'burbs, y'all, and the lack of scenery is kind of nonsense). It's just, the worst of times happened here so suddenly, muddling some of the beauty it could've been. Thank goodness for great friends, decent food and rainbow babies. Five years is turning out a whole heck of a lot better than the end of year one. Without a doubt. And those doors upstairs? Well, I can't keep them closed if I tried. We have a three-year-old who just loves making it known that he LIVES here. 

Makes me always wonder what living here would've been like (to my psyche) if he didn't die. If our perfect world remained pretty darn perfect for a little while longer. You know, despite the fact that there are no mountains here (our very favorite). 

A Real DIY Project: IKEA Jokkmokk Chairs Updated

So maybe my last post about my DIY water table cover wasn't exactly DIY... but I did order it myself and think up the concept. I'm just thrilled about the outcome.

This one though, it's all DIY-friendly.

We recently hopped on over to our local Crate & Barrel Outlet store and bought a kitchen table. We're totally lucky to have one of those stores just 5 miles from our house!

hello gorgeous. welcome to our humble abode.

We've owned the same IKEA Jokkmokk table and chairs since we began dating eight glorious years ago. And even then, I owned the same set in my Hermosa Beach apartment (miss you, Peppertree!) that I bought off Craigslist many moons ago. That set was left with my married Scottish roommates when we moved out into our married abode in Redondo Beach, just about 1.5 years before leaving California {sniff, sniff, tear}.

Lots of Jokkmokk action up in here. Who else has one of these sets? C'mon, America. I can bet within the whole 6 degrees of separation rule that one of you does! Anyhow, the new, much nicer, fancier table needed some chairs. The table also has two leafs (leaves?!) that are bubble wrapped and living in our empty basement. If we could sell the basement apart from the house, it would be sold to the highest bidder! Native Midwesterners think I be crazy, yo.

I searched chairs and in the meantime, lived with the ol' Jokkmokk chairs at the new table. They actually looked halfway decent as-is. Problem was, the chairs had seen a number of other DIY projects as stools and endured 3 moving trucks over their lives thus far. We considered buying some Willa chairs, but hello spicy pricetag and no thank you to the terrible reviews on paint chipping, etc. We have kids. Who destroy. I don't need them destroying $150 chairs on the regular.

I decided to spraypaint the old Jokkmokk chairs. I wanted a teal color for a pop. We definitely have a neutral palate in our home, except that crazy green laundry room! Wild chairs seemed like a fun way to be daring without having to fully commit. If we hated them? It was only the cost of some spray paint.

Turns out we liked them.

Process:
- Sand each chair fully (already had)
- Wipe down all chairs
- Use wood filler in deeper grooves (already had and necessary as these chairs were beaten up!)
- Spray each chair multiple times with Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra Cover Paint/Primer, Seaside (Ridiculous sale =  $1.50 each can. Used 5 cans and have one full to spare for touchups as needed $9)
- Use previously owned Polycrylic Clear Satin and a foam brush to apply on each chair. I also did an additional coat on heavy hit areas like seat and top of chair/corners.

Total out-of-pocket cost = $9 because I owned so many of the necessities already.

Thermostat Love

I follow a bunch of blogs. Some friend blogs. Some babyloss blogs. Some decor blogs. Some deal blogs.

Every one once in awhile one of these blogs has a giveaway. I've been known to enter and also win such giveaways. Hey! It's fun receiving mail, especially when I'm getting cool, new, free stuff!

I saw that one of the bloggers I was following had a giveaway for a thermostat. Ours is as old as our home (older than me!), so I figured I would enter because it would be nice to update the ol' thing. This specific thermostat by Honeywell is Wifi enabled and can be programmed from your phone. That would mean no more nights coming home to a 50-degree house or having to trudge downstairs to turn on the heat in the winter. I can just reach over on my nightstand and grab my iPhone. Well, another one of the bloggers I follow posted a giveaway for the same thermostat. And then another! I entered a handful of these and guess what? I won!

Two.

I didn't need two of course, so I asked the giveaway host if she wouldn't mind sending it to my friend for her to have. I knew she'd love it and would find it valuable since she works in the city and is quite busy.

We both received our thermostats on the same day and were excited to get them installed. I'd say my husband was more eager than me, since I've been totally sleep-deprived lately. He headed downstairs to the basement when the kids went down to bed last week to work on the electrical wiring for the thermostat. And there it was.

HUMMMMMMMM.

The sound of a failed sump pump. With thunderstorms imminent that evening. At this point, it was 9:53 p.m. and hardware stores closed in 7 minutes. We had a backup sump pump waiting to be installed just sitting there. But unfortunately, we were missing about $10 in pipe fittings and could not change it without those pieces. It was either a flooded basement (honestly, I'm so over basements that's I just assume fill it with concrete) or a 24-hr plumber (cha-ching).

The plumber got a phonecall and came over within the hour. We've used him once before and curse his name when he leaves. He's just not very nice. The husband got to work removing the old sump pump and saving us a little extra cash for doing some of the dirty work that would have cost us more. The plumber was here exactly 56 minutes, including the time he tried to sell us a different sump pump from his truck. It was a piece of cake and $390. Plumbers make bank. Not ideal to pay that much for a simple task, but imagine what it would've cost if our basement flooded?

And we have that freebie thermostat to thank for the savings of further damage. Not a drop of water in the basement.

Fits in my hand and clearly smaller than the former beast. Just a wee bit of sanding, filling & painting necessary

*Wasn't paid by Honeywell to write this, but they sent me a free, AMAZING thermostat and the story was good enough to share!

The Fancy Bed Saga

Awhile back, I posted about this C&B Outlet sale we went to and bought two beds + a rug for Claire's room. The guest bed had a few scuffs on the headboard. I worked my magic with a little gel stain and then added a coat of polycrylic and it looks quite fancy again. The rug happily lives in Claire's room... she just doesn't.

But the dreamy master bed I bought on a whim because it was gorgeous and cheaper than the cost of wood itself? We got a call the bed was available and to come pick it up. They gave us a brand new King bed. A $2700 bed for $250 and the $30 cost to rent a truck for transport. Scored our dream bed for 90% off. Solid walnut wood. Amazing.

We got it home, excitedly brought it upstairs (woah doggy, that was heavy) and put it together. We looked and pondered and ultimately decided it wasn't going to work. It was beautiful and we loved it. For city dwellers with a super cool loft apartment overlooking the lake? Amazing. But, we live in the 'burbs in a Georgian-style home (read: White House). It just wasn't working.

Not to mention, we have a toddler who is apparently interested in destroying everything in his path, even if he isn't intentionally trying. I caught him with scissors on the front footboard bookcase (the showpiece!) one day. His toys and books found a home there on many days and one day this week, he threw one of those hard Carmex lip balms at it because I wouldn't open it for him. #angerissues

We needed to make a choice. We either keep it (and not love it in our home) and subject it to the wrath of Benjamin and be okay with that, or we sell it.

The thing is, it was a brand new bed. Like, straight out of the manufacturer's packaging and perfect. It retails for big bucks. We sort of wanted to get big bucks for selling it. We certainly weren't going to sell it for pennies so some furniture salesman could take it into a warehouse and sell it for tons more. We wanted to make the profit on our luck!

Listed on Eb.ay. Four watchers, no bidders. Listed on CL. We received a low-ball offer of $1000 and wouldn't take it. Waited a week longer. Nada.

Meanwhile, the toddler kept at his ways and was trying his darndest to make sure it was a seasoned piece. Must. get. it. out. of. the. house. We ultimately decided to sell it for $1,000 because making a $700 profit was better than it being ruined and making nothing. We sent an invoice to the guy who offered and he seemed excited. Didn't pay at the deadline we gave him. In the meantime, had two more offers come in for a bit more cash. We took the second offer yesterday for $1350. We made a cool $1k on the bed we didn't intend to get new or sell at all. Not bad.

We received the money (from a guy who hadn't seen the bed at all... how's that for having faith in mankind!) and as soon as E came home, we got to work on disassembling and moving it downstairs. Yup, still heavy. It made it to our garage and no more than 5 minutes later, someone shows up at the door to pick it up. It was a guy who was hired by the assistant to the guy who purchased it (like woah) through Task.Rabbit.

He was apparently being offered "so much he couldn't refuse" to pack up the bed, drive it downtown to its new home (in a probably awesomely swanky high rise apartment in the Loop), move it upstairs and set it up for the new owners. He showed up with no blankets or padding of any kind. We gifted him with one of our blankets and luckily still had most of the packaging and a stroller box (because I'm a stroller hoarder). Only one man to pick up a seriously solid and very heavy bed. Somehow he would manage it... but once it left our house, we can only speculate how it went down.

But us? We're happy living back with the humble and apparently indestructible (or acceptable to destroy) headboard we love with a cool $1k in our pockets that will definitely go toward paying for a nice new bedskirt (any recommendations? I'm listening!). We sort of felt like we were sleeping on a borrowed bed anyway. Fancy as it was, it just didn't fit our traditional home and current lifestyle of raising a {toddler} barbarian. The baby is none to blame...yet.

bye. bye.

Stay tuned for the saga of the free thermostat that ultimately saved us way more than its $250 pricetag.

Four DIY Project Recaps

I've been a DIY machine lately! I wouldn't consider it nesting considering the need/nature of the projects, but I guess there might be a little in there... what I do when I am too fearful to bring pink into the house just yet. With Benjamin, I called them distraction projects, and I suppose they're back for the final 5 weeks of this pregnancy.

First up:
LEGO Table

I had been planning to make one of these for Benjamin for ages. We decided that we'd gift him with more Duplo and a LEGO table (in addition to other things) for Christmas.

Materials:
- Black IKEA Lack table for $10
- 1 piece of contact paper or equivalent for road stripes $1
- 1 XL gray baseplate for LEGO $15 on Amazon
- Duck double-sided tape (leftover from another project)
                                                                                 
 = $26

1. Assemble table (piece of cake).
2. Measure and cut strips of contact paper for corner and side road pieces (optional: I loved this idea though!) This would be best done on a di-cut or fancy Silhouette machine that I don't have and don't want.
3. Measure and tape down baseplate to the exact center (used double-sided tape because I was warned other epoxies and glues don't work or ruin baseplates by expanding inside the LEGO holes. Double-sided tape seemed like a safer option.
4. Starting with corner contact paper pieces, measure and evenly space apart road strips.

Total time: 30 minutes

Second Project:
Homemade Laundry Detergent

I noticed that our very last bottle of my stockpiled All Free & Clear detergent had only about a month left of washes to the bottle. Instead of waiting until the laundry piled up once the bottle was empty, I decided to jump ahead and get the next stage of detergent ready. I'd been meaning to make some for years now, but I literally had so much laundry detergent thanks to a crazy sale on Seventh Generation and All that I needed to go through the product first before making. I accumulated all the ingredients over time and just needed to get the ball rolling.

With a little help from my friend Renel and the many internet recipes I found, I came up with this recipe, assuming it's not a science because most vary slightly and add/subtract an ingredient or two.

- 1 box Borax
- 1 box Washing Soda
- 1 bar grated Fels Naptha Soap
- 1 bar grated Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap, Lavender Scent
- 3 cups Tide Stain Booster (oxygenated cleaner just like OxiClean-- but I had this on hand and figured I'd use it instead).
- Grater (you can use your food processor, but I bought a very serious grater at a thrift store for about a buck and it grated the soaps super fine!)

I didn't add in any additional smelling crystals/agents because we do like to keep our laundry free & clear due to skin allergies we deal with... but the Tide Stain Booster does add some scent, as does the natural castile soap. Hoping these won't affect us, as they are used in small amounts.

And all I needed was a cute scoop and container! My friend Liz picked up this cute Anchor Hocking glass cookie jar at Walmart when she was there last for under $10. I cannot remember the total cost for the above ingredients as I bought them at random over the course of a year or so, but I can estimate the cost to be about $10 worth of product for 1.5 gallons of detergent. At just 1 1/2 tablespoons each load, that is going to last us a very long time!

Total time: 15 minutes (10 minutes alone to grate the bars of soap and 5 for mixing of ingredients)

Third Project:
Art Frame Display for Benjamin's Room

This is the project I'm most proud of. When I had friends over for a tea party some Saturdays ago, they requested a look at Benjamin's big boy room. We had two walls with hangings already, but the other two walls were bare. One wall was taken care of in minutes by the suggestion of my friend Alli who has a knack for design. But the other wall... they all collaborated at once and suggested I make it a wall to display his art. I loved the idea, but wanted it to be a space we could change out often and easily. I did some Pinterest researching for something along those lines and came up with this idea. I needed 3 cabinet doors of identical size...and cheap. I struggled finding these. I searched Craigslist, Freecycle, Bookoo and everywhere I could think! I even considered using actual picture frames, but even those are not super cheap or sturdy enough for my vision.

I found that cabinet art display idea during naptime on Saturday and as soon as Benjamin woke up, we set out to our local Habitat for Humanity Restore. We were totally disappointed by the stock and prices. It was expensive and they didn't have anything suitable to make this project happen on the cheap.

But I couldn't get this idea out of my mind. I HAD to have those cabinet doors! I discovered another Habitat for Humanity Restore 13 miles away and was about to grab my keys. Until I realized they were only open three days a week, for a total of 24 hours! I waited patiently until Thursday and then we were off. I am so glad we went, because I not only found what I was looking for, but had such a variety that I had trouble deciding! The cabinet doors were $2.50/ea. and I was even able to purchase two drawer fronts (for my 4th project) for $1/ea, two brand new and full-sized bathroom rugs that were an "internet sample" still with tags, a small pint sample can of gray paint for $.50 from Benjamin Moore, and various Velcro pieces and anchor brackets for quarters each. My total was $20! I even considered buying two end tables that I loved, but we really don't need more end tables... but so tempting.

Sweatshirt Gray Benjamin Moore paint sample for only two quarters. Awesome.

No natural light with curtains closed, but we love it! Benjamin proudly looks up and says "B" at the art piece on the right that is hard to see in these photos.

The wall on the right is the "grown up" wall my friend Alli helped design. The double frame had old pictures in it that we needed to replace. We thought a picture of Big Ben & a quote by Ben Franklin were fun additions to the room. For a grand total of $2.36 prints shipped to my door, it completed the wall (to go with his Tootsie Roll Chicago stock & personalized Bears poster).

Materials:
- 3 cabinet pieces $7.50
- Flat white paint & paint rollers (owned already)...would've used spray paint, but I didn't have any.
- Gray paint sample $.50
- 3 magnetic clips (had in teacher supplies)
- Screwdriver + three small screws
- Hanging materials about $7--ultra secured these to the wall so we spent a bit more

= about $15

Fourth Project:
Chalkboard Frames

I just might be envisioning my kiddos heading off to school and just how cute that will be. When I was picking up the cabinets to be used in the art frame display, I saw a few smaller drawer fronts that were only $1 each. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make two signs (you know, because I'm hoping to have two kids in school at the same time eventually) for the kiddos to hold on the first and last days of school. I already had the chalkboard paint from a basement chalkboard wall I've envisioned but since aborted mission because we're too lazy and just don't use the space enough to really enjoy that feature.

They're not perfect, but they do the job for the right price. :)

Instead, how about a couple cute frames for just a few bucks of material cost?

Materials:
- 2 cabinet/drawer fronts $2
- White satin spray paint (owned already)
- Chalkboard paint bought ages ago and used a very small amount of the $10 can
- Paintbrush for Chalkboard paint (owned already)

= $2

The Big Boy Room

Benjamin is still in his crib. And he loves it. Like, so much that I worry about switching him to a toddler bed because he sleeps so well and clearly feels very comfortable in his crib. Sleep at night ranges from 10-12 hours and naps are usually 2-3 hours long. When sleep is over, he often asks to be put back in his crib (after unsuccessfully trying to get in himself) to either jump, walk around, or lay down.

With the hope that we'll have a baby coming home to eventually take over said crib this winter, we're struggling with what to do with Benjamin. I don't want to buy two cribs, especially since Claire will hopefully be transitioned to that crib well past Benjamin turning two. If we're lucky, she'll be in the co-sleeper Benjamin used in our room for the first 3 months. And just like Benjamin, we'd like to transition her sometime at the end of spring into the real crib.

Which means he needs to get the boot. But sooner probably. Because we're concerned that he'll feel like he really is getting the proverbial boot because he has a little sister who is now invading his life and space. We don't want him to feel that way. Like, at all.

So our plan is to transition him before (if) she comes home. He'll have his own new room that are independent of her. After all, the crib will remain empty until months after she comes home, so the transition will be well in place and the thought of replacing him in the crib won't take place. Right?

But I'm nervous. He sleeps so well, you guys. And he loves that bed. And the transition plan we currently have in place is for DECEMBER. Like just a few weeks away.

In order to hopefully get the ball rolling on things and get him excited about the process and new things, we painted his eventual big boy room, bought a bed, new bedding, and moved many of the wall hangings and toys in there from the nursery. Some things stay behind as nursery decor, but other things are his for the win. We did this in September because I had a gift card paired with a sale at Sherwin-Williams to use for the paint. And if you know anything about Chicago weather, you know painting in the winter is not ideal because windows cannot be opened without reducing yourself to an icicle. And I'm not about letting that warm air we spend gobs on each month. Even with no-VOC paint, the primer was not no-VOC and it is still smelly to me. In fact, months later and I still think it stinks like new paint.

We got to work patching and cleaning the walls. The little boy who lived in there before really liked putting masking tape on his walls, which required a bit of sanding. There is a white chair rail in the room already, so we kept it. The room was already blue on bottom and white on top, but they used a thick brush to make textured brush lines that were just... ugly.

seewhatimean?

For a whole month after we finished his room, he was elated to go in there. He still likes it, but it's lost some of its luster. We even call it his big boy room and when we ask if he'd like to play in his big boy room, he runs, heads upstairs and charges down the hall to his room. He jumps on the bed. He lays on the bed. He plays with his toys. He pulls every single person anywhere within 50 feet of him into the closet where he has designated himself a fort. And closes the closet.

But I'm not sure he gets that the big boy room means no more sleeping in his beloved crib, in his beloved nursery.

These pictures are after I cleaned the train-wreck that it was yesterday. Just waiting for him to discover it's been cleaned and clear the books off the shelf in 4 seconds flat.

view from the hall

Toddler bed purchased because it was a floor model clearance from IKEA.
The cushion under is more for fort playing and is actually for outdoor chairs of which we don't own.
Will make for a good padding if he rolls off... or to help him up or out of the bed.

The white dresser is the one I refinished. It's bolted to the wall in three places. As is that corner shelf .

Curtains are the same we have in our bedroom. We love them. They're dark, dark, dark.

Had this baby since high school.

Nothing on the walls where the bed resides.
We have two frames to hang but having trouble deciding where to hang without leaving too much wallspace bare.

The moose was transferred as we made it during Benjamin's newborn days and just love it.
We replaced it with the ol' ABC chart passed down from Ray's cousin. We love that, too.

Since we're pregnant with a girl, the blue trunk is officially Benjamin's.
Air Force Academy Cadets all receive one and this was his dad's...still with his squadron # written on with black sharpie.

New clock. Hopefully we can teach him that he can only come out of his room when the little hands reaches the 7?

The two frames we have yet to hang...a Bears frame and his first stock from Tootsie Roll (Chicago company)

The closet, aka Benjamin's fort. That's a mattress top padding thing we bought and always hated on our bed.
If he sees you, you will be in that closet with a book and stern directions to turn on the light, sit & read. Be warned.

Paint: Sherwin-Williams: {top}: Icicle {bottom}: Bracing Blue
Bed: IKEA Kritter toddler bed, white + side rail
Bedding: IKEA white fitted sheet & Vandring Skogsliv duvet & duvet interior
Clock: IKEA Pugg
Rug: IKEA Lekplats
Dresser: Refinished piece of furniture
Bookshelf: IKEA, but no longer carried item & I have no idea the name
Car: Gift from friends
Moose: Project ala Benjamin's dad and my awesome husband (inspired by Anthropologie)
Curtains: IKEA Werna; curtain rod also IKEA Racka
Holdbacks: Menards

All is ready, as you can see. Sheets are cleaned and curtains are hung. And yet we're hesitant. It's not like we can't make do with the pack'n'play if we must once/if Claire is here safely and needs to transition from the co-sleeper. But, we don't want to mess with the psyche of our kids and confuse both of them. We want him to ideally transition well, love his big boy bed as much as his crib and stay happily playing until 7:30 each morning.

And to bring a baby girl home, have her in the co-sleeper for 3 months and transition her easily to the crib where she will sleep full nights by at least 6 months of age. I know this is all probably a pipe-dream, but dreams are dreams.

Advice for the parents who are a little scared to rock the boat with our toddler?

Let's Talk About Dirt

{alternate title of "let's talk dirty" may have landed the wrong people on this blog...}

I bought a couple raised garden beds yesterday. As I was researching how to plant in them for next spring, I came across information on composting.

Let me first start by saying that when I had a certain fourteen friends come visit back in June that many of them were proving they were more hippie than me. I was getting a lot of flack for not being a composter and when it was encouraged to use compost in vegetable gardens (of which I just committed myself), I dug deeper. Get it? Dig... as in dirt? Ha. 

I consulted a few of those hippie friends I was talking about above and asked for their input. Just for fun, let's create a list of things that constitute one as a hippie (but not limited to):

- vegetarians and especially vegans
- driving a Prius or anything made by Volkswagon before 2000.
- piercings or tattoos (sometimes associated)
- breastfeeding mamas
- cloth diapering mamas
- attachment parenting parents
- babywearers
- owning Birkenstocks
- people with dreadlocks
- people who have their own veggie gardens
- Whole Foods shoppers
- wearing or consuming anything with hemp
- pot smokers
- most people in the states of Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and about 1/2 the state of California
- people who compost

I realize the list could be much longer, but let's consider the purpose of this post. Dirt.

I was all sold and ready to purchase this compost bin last night but my husband encouraged me to sleep on it.

So I did. And I'm still about 80% sold today. The other 20% of me is lazy and that concerns me slightly. Let's also brief what my husband had to say about the whole idea:

"We are not becoming those people!"
"I repeat, if I had any say in this, the answer would be no. Also, do you have any idea how big 52 gallons is?"
"Meanwhile, the neighbors are going to know we're freaking composters. That's like being a Beetle driver. Put a little flower right in the console. Are you kidding me."

Ah, but we all know he has no say in the matter. And honestly, he's fine with it as long as I really want it.

So for those of you out there who compost, here are questions I'd like answered that I could probably consult Google for instead... but what fun is that?

- Will rodents be attracted despite having a sealed (yet airated) container?
- What if I have too much compost? What will I do with all. that. dirt?
- How does composting work in sub-zero temps like we get for about 6 months of the year in Chicagoland?
- Any other recommendations or reasons the 20% of me should be talked down from the hippie pedestal?

Thank you, from the bottom of my veggie-loving heart.
p.s. I thought I would note that after 9 months sans nosering, I stuck it back in with no effort. I'm looking the part now again, too.

Just Some Little Things

I'm getting a lot done today. Already went to Benjamin's pediatrician checkup this morning, Super Target, the grocery store, did a load of laundry, mowed the lawn, cleaned, read 478 Dr. Seuss books, and organized recent pictures and uploaded them to our external hard drive. B's down for his afternoon nap and I'm even getting a blog post in. Man, I'm winning today!

That swingset in the back? Gone thanks to Freecycle. It needed to be stained and cleaned and was old. We just didn't have the energy or desire to fix it up. And the benefit of Freecycle is that someone else will use it, keep it out of the garbage, care for it, and we didn't have to do a thing except offer the guy a beer while he was doing all the hard work!

The mulch is still there and that will be our job. We'll be moving it to flowerbeds and turning that area to grass.

That tree poking out? Chopped. While beautiful, it was too close to the foundation. We also had the tree in the middle of our deck (another issue) trimmed and a crabapple tree from the front yard removed. We still have at least 10 mature trees in our yard, so we're still plenty shaded.

The deck is next. We're figuring out what needs to be done. Unfortunately, the state of our backyard is mayhem right now with that mulch area and the deck boards being pulled up to figure out if we'll:

- Use the current layout/foundation and just replace the old boards and re-stain (cheapest option)
- Overlay the current layout/foundation with synthetic wood boards that have less maintenance (expensive)
- Rip it out and start from scratch (also very expensive)

We're just not sure at this point, but we do know it needs some attention. It might take all summer, but we'll get things in order.

The little boy doesn't appear to be too little anymore! He is 31.5 inches tall, has a big noggin at the 80th percentile, and his weight has improved greatly. {I would like to take a moment to thank butter for its contribution...} The ped also talked us down from the smoothie platform and insisted we go about normal mealtimes and expect him to come around. Bootcamp is on. Baby is getting no more smoothies and must eat.

Our new-old white hook was hung last night (BY MY HUSBAND) in the laundry room and is already getting some use {you know, because I staged that sweatshirt there}. I think this will come in handy for many years. One can never have too many hooks in the laundry room.

I started packing up the car for our road trip to Sandusky, Ohio! We're meeting Ray's parents, sister and her boyfriend at a house we rented near Cedar Point Amusement Park. Ray's mom will be 60 at the end of May and as a celebration, we're all going to the amusement park she and Ray's dad worked at for a summer in college. They have some great memories there and we {kids + B} have never been. We're quite excited! We'll be going to a steakhouse they used to go for date nights after saving up their money they earned at the amusement park and just enjoying the park and our rental house for the weekend. I started buying up some snacks and things and have already filled this laundry basket.

I'm not sure if there are any couponers out there, but even if you're not, this one is fun and easy. I use an iPhone app called ibotta to save money. I've been using it a couple months and while I may only buy 4-5 things each month, I always just check it before I head to the grocery store and see if anything is in there I plan to buy. I bought one of those Evol burritos and other things. You shop like normal, scan your receipt and the barcode and they give you that money back via Paypal.

If you sign up and use it by buying/redeeming 5 products in the next two weeks, they'll give you $10. When I started using it, I got $5. I'm up to $17 in savings at this point. Kind of fun in case you're interested. I'm not sure if I get anything for referring, but I just learned about the $10 deal and thought I'd share. No coupons at the register, most importantly! I know a couple friends who also use the app and like it.

There's a little random post for you Thursday. Hope it's a good one. I'm really looking forward to this long weekend!

Dresser #2: Mission Complete

I posted about our new dresser I bought on Craigslist and refinished. It replaced the dresser in this post. We had been using this dresser for many years and it matched nothing we owned. So when we cleared it out to use our new dresser, I decided to refinish it to make it more purposeful in our home. And since I already had the tools out and experience fresh in my memory, why not move on to the next piece? Also, I wanted to take advantage of the double naptimes we're still rocking (on most days) I fear are fleeting...

Benjamin is obviously still in the nursery and uses the dresser in there. But eventually, he will have his own room down the hall {eventually being whenever that happens... no, I'm not pregnant} with a bed already in there. That room, however, was lacking a matching dresser. With natural wood furniture, my intent was to strip the wood to natural and coat it with polycrylic. And then click my heels together at how fast and easy the project was compared to our first dresser project.

Sure. Except obviously that didn't happen. This was also meant to be a super cheap project because I really was just doing this as an additional piece and nothing we need to be using anytime soon. Too bad it didn't end up being cheap, either. Le sigh.

But it's done! Here's the timeline:

May 3: Swap dressers and move this one to the garage.
May 4-7: Take off hardware and casually apply paint stripper to areas and scrape.
May 8: Give up on paint strippers after spending over $20 on two kinds and resort to plan b-- painting it white. Sand 1/2 the dresser by hand.
May 9: Sand the rest of the dresser/drawers .
May 10: Clean the dresser really, really well using a wet t-shirt & Lysol Dual Action wipes
May 11: Apply 1 coat of primer.
May 12: Coat #1 of satin white paint applied.
May 13: Lightly sanded, quick wipedown & coat #2 of satin white paint applied.
May 14: Lightly sanded, quick wipedown & coat #3 of satin white paint applied.
May 15: Still not pleased that I can see splotchiness of the cherry wood on the sides. Buy two cans of white Rustoleum and spray paint the whole thing. Deal with a clogged can (delays, additional sanding, cursing) and realize I don't like the color and see splotchiness of white spray paint now instead of cherrywood. Lightly sand, quick clean up & apply coat #4 of satin white paint.
May 16: Apply two coats of polycrylic (with quick sand/wipedown in between) and my husband screwed in the knobs. He's been getting on my case for not giving him credit for work around here like cutting the trees. Move dresser upstairs. Done. For the last coat of poly, Benjamin proceeded to talk to himself in his crib for a solid hour (happily) while I finished the project. He decided two naps were not happening that day. I mean, why be easy when Mom is nearly done with a project?

Before & After
Sadly, the only photo I could find of that dresser before I took it apart and got down to business!

Estimated Costs:
Citristrip Quart Safe Paint & Varnish Stripping Gel: $10 Used only 1/4 of it before realizing I might need something stronger. Still consider it a wasted $10 as I don't plan to use it again anytime soon.
Klean-Strip Quart Chemical Premium Sprayer: $10 Same story as above. I know both work, but this project was just not having it. Another wasted $10 with tons of unused product left over.
Kilz Primer: Already owned-- really old can and super hard to apply because it was so thick!

Glidden white satin paint: $10 (used about 75% of this but consider it full cost)
Rustoleum spray paint: $6 total

Minwax Water-Based Polycrylic Clear Gloss: Used leftovers from first dresser project and used no more than $2 worth.

Foam brushes & paintbrush: Used a few cheap ones and reused them each day. Probably $3 worth

Sandpaper: Used leftover sandpaper. For light sanding between I learned using a very fine sanding block is the way to go. You're only roughing it up barely to help the next layer adhere and also get rid of those paint bumps that are inevitable. And bonus, Dollar Tree sells them for $1/each 2-pack. Don't waste your money on these. I don't shop at the Dollar Tree often, but I do buy shipping supplies there and happened to see sanding blocks while I was grabbing packing supplies recently. Score! (add $1 here)

Lysol Wipes: Had them already

Total: About $42

I considered new knobs, but figured I'd try to keep the cost low. Also, if Benjamin uses this as a dresser eventually, chunky knobs work well for kids.

From the beginning to the end, I took some photos, but was far more ambitious in the beginning. Isn't that how it always goes. Zealous to start and then...bleh. Get. me. done. with. this. project. A few of those coats of paint were skipped, but here is what I salvaged from my camera.

Sanded & primed. In hindsight, it needed a better layer of primer. I was working with what I had, but yeah.

In addition to the dresser, I added in a mini project to refinish this wood hook that was hanging in the laundry room when we moved into our house. We have white cabinets in our laundry room and a large magnetic whiteboard, so there's lots of white. Since I had the white paint out... I went for it. We still have to get around to hanging that, but you get the idea here. A good place to hang a future backpack (!), some laundry items, bags, etc.

Knobs hanging and painted & hook getting a few coats of fresh paint to update the look

The front looks quite chic now! And in keeping things cheap, I kept the knob that has a piece out of it-- it's actually not accidentally broken but was made using knotty pine and the knot broke. It's so hard to tell now that it's white. 

It took awhile to figure out which drawers fit where, despite labeling them before we took them out. Problem was, we had moved this dresser so many times and never labeled them properly before. After musical chairs drawers, we finally found a good fit for them. Well-used dresser, but with a nice new facelift. I just wish I could brag about only spending like $4 on it or something. Ah. You win some, you lose some. It fits nicely in one of our bedrooms now and I'm thrilled it's over. Ha!

Project Dresser

I think it somehow slipped my mind to tell you all that we gave up our dreams of fancy Amish furniture for our bedroom and decided to give our master bedroom some much deserved TLC. The wallpaper was stripped during my pregnancy with Andrew and we sort of left it alone without any furniture except a chair, bedframe and dresser.

When my parents stayed in our room during Benjamin's birthday weekend, I was totally embarrassed that I'm 30 years old, married for almost 5 of that time and we still don't have anything fancy in that room except a couple canvases from our wedding. We got real about things and realized that who were we kidding... we can't front thousands of dollars on Amish furniture because we would rather travel and send our kid to college. So yeah. Reality check.

We bought some fancy stuff that makes the room feel very chic and yet we're under $1,000 on the whole project. We have a couple final touches like adding art to frames that had the same pictures in for like 6 years (I know!), re-hanging our canvases, and refinishing the dresser we bought on Craigslist for $125. Well, $155 if you count the $30 we paid the lady's son for delivering it to our house.

With a little help from Pinterest, tutorials, the awesome people at Wo.odcraft and a speedy phonecall with my friend Caroline, we've removed the hardware and are halfway through the sanding stage and well on our way to staining this new beauty for our bedroom to be complete.

There are gobs of other things rolling around in my head right now, but I think my Instagram peeps know well enough what I've been up to as of late. Lots of family love and attention going on. I'm back for a bit before heading on another adventure next week. The Wilsons are nonstop, I tell ya. And yet the baby didn't get the memo that it's not cool to scream on airplanes. If you are a furniture refinishing guru, feel free to leave your fun stories, advice, or complaints in the comments. I'll appreciate them. Stay tuned for the bedroom reveal that will take place in a month or so.