Nursery Love

I'm so excited to finally show pictures of James's nursery.  I definitely have been dreaming about decorating it for a year now, way before we even thought we were ready to have the little guy!

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Vapor Mist
Crib and changer: Target Milan by Storkcraft
Glider: Ballard Designs Larkin
Floor Lamp:  Ballard Designs Outlet Julian
Crib Bedding: Cottage and Cabin from Etsy
Daybed Bedding fabric: Classy Interior Fabric in Pensacola and French Stripes Spoonflower, custom made by Cottage and Cabin's Debbie Park from Etsy
Pintuck pillow: Urban Outfitters
Daybed:  Averill daybed from Ballard Designs, no longer on main website
Whale Fabric: Spoonflower
Rug: West Elm leather rug (no longer for sale)
Mirror in changing 'closet': Ikea Stave Mirror
Mobile: handmade from Anthropologie ornaments from Christmas 2011
Curtains: West Elm (no longer for sale)
Wicker Chest: Antique store in Birmingham
Baby Blanket: Etsy find
Books:  Antique stores in Birmingham
Artwork: my grandmother's linen in blue frame from her sunroom, antique store finds, Etsy finds (see my pinterest site for direct links)

nursery as was....

Here is the 3rd bedroom in our house.  As it was.... This room was definitely on the backburner as it just held all of our extra stuff that didn't really go in the rest of the house.  And I also knew it would get redone eventually anyway if we were lucky enough to have a need for a nursery!

When we moved in we had it painted with Raccoon Hollow from Benjamin Moore - which I loved but definitely didn't give off that light airy feel I wanted for the nursery.  Sooooo... I switched . again. !   To Vapor Trails by Benjamin Moore (I LOVE LOVE IT).

Below I have my posterboard painted with Vapor Trails next to the curtains and the most likely winner of the bedding race (Bella Notte linens in the color Pebble).

This room is PERFECT in that it gets the best light and has the best view of our great backyard.   I will enjoy gliding away in my glider (which I have yet to decide on) in a few short months!

We're IN!

Hello everyone! We are officially in the new casa! And thankfully - most of the little things we needed to do have been done! We have picked out a painter named CJ, much to the chagrin of some awful other guy who chastised me for not picking him when he quoted almost 100% more than the other two painters... However, that won't start for another few weeks so we are still with the same old colors! We are going to go with the tried-and-true Paris Rain and Texas Sage for the bulk of the house, and keep the three bedrooms in lighter shades except the 3rd bedroom, which will be Raccoon Hollow. BTW- Once we got here we realized our king bed wouldn't fit well in the 'master' bedroom, so we are using the blue room, previously referred to as bedroom #2, as our bedroom, and the old 'master' is now my room for my clothes and vanity, which I have always wanted! It is also the guest room when we have guests, so I guess I just pull out some clothes and makeup before they come over. Piper is loving her new yard and dog-door, and everything else is good (including the recent extermination of the bugs). I need to post a picture of the table Cover bought us as a house-warming present, which goes in our little kitchen! It is from Nadeau, which is this amazing store in Homewood (and I think there are others in the US), that sells furniture very very affordable that looks like antiques! My next project will probably be a HEADBOARD! I actually already have the fabric - for the 'bedroom #1' aka the previous master bedroom, our guest room, and my vanity-room. It is from Market St. Fabrics in Pensacola (I think that is the name). And I got this fabric about 1 year ago, so not only am I pumped to use it, but I am completely surprised that I bought enough at the time!

Room Colors!!

I posted the layout so that I can refer to it when I am deciding the colors of the rooms, other furniture, etc. Since painting will come first when we move in, I think it is important to consider all the colors sooner rather than later!

Kitchen as is:

I love the kitchen in the new place, and especially the fact that I now have a window ledge over my sink! However, it is a bit drab despite its brightness. It needs some contrast between the all white cabinets, backsplash, and counter, with the walls. I love greys with whites, they seem so crisp. But, I want to avoid the darker and more basic man-grey, which can seem way too much like a scary metrosexual bachelor pad! So - I may keep the color I have in the Chapel Hill house kitchen, Paris Rain, which is a green-grey! You can see it below, in the foreground. It looks really nice against the white. Following this picture is a picture of Allison Godwin's kitchen, with a similar look.

But I'm not going to lie, when I see the two pictures below (also from runner-up houses in Birmingham), it makes me want a color that is more grey than my Paris Rain!! I don't know which version! help anyone!!

Dining Room as is:

Ok, I hope they can't find me online, but I am really really glad that the people who lived in this house before wanted to take those curtains! I guess they are ok, but I don't want to be tempted to leave them up! So....since the flow from the den to the dining room to the kitchen is nice, I may try to go by the words of advice from Julie Lemen, my mom's best friend from the DC area, and let the colors flow as well! Below is a picture of the color of my dining room here in Chapel Hill, Texas Sage. I do really like it, and I like the idea of the dining room being a darker color (and I have a chair rail as well!).

The Office as is:

This office is so adorable! It gets great light during the day. I can picture a piano in here instead of desk maybe too, especially if we end up using bedroom #3 as a psuedo-office. We will need a good desk regardless... In addition to some paint! What does anyone think of the odd inverted ledge at the ceiling top?? Should this match the wall color, as they did, or be white? This next picture is of another house we really liked, and I loved this fireplace color! It kindof reminds me of raccoon hollow from Benjamin Moore but a bit darker. We have Raccoon Hollow in our study here in Chapel Hill. I might want to use it in the office in the new place as well. I actually really like this color for the outside of a house too, or maybe a color a bit greener.

Raccoon Hollow - in our Chapel Hill house

Bedroom #2 as is:

First of all, I hope you see the great plantation shutters! Initially I was thinking we could keep this color, as it is pretty similar to the color we would change it to (see the next picture). But now I am wondering if these two are totally different! The existing color is almost Carolina blue (yuk when it comes to walls), and the color upstairs in our Chapel Hill house is really a blue-green-grey, much more subdued. I might need to switch it, while we are at it! This color is Wythe Blue. Following is my awesome print that I now have framed to put in this room to tie it together.

Bedroom #3 as is:

Kindof grandma. I actually like the color of this wall. This is the room in the back of the house that you can get to from the kitchen or from the hall (you are looking at the hall door), so we can choose to use or not to use the kitchen door. Jimmy really wants us to put up our bookshelves in this room, and make it a reading room since we both will be studying our cases each night. I like that idea, otherwise we'd have to try to study in the den on the couch....zzzzz..... not so efficient. So, here is my corresponding room in the Chapel Hill house. Yikes I need to make some headboards too...

And this room - regardless of whether or not I do the bookshelves & reading area, I want to make a color similar to the study. Below are two prints from online some other blog, with the perfect palate of colors! The third picture is of Allison's fireplace, which also has such an awesome color! This room gets a ton of light, so I think this color will be safe.

You might notice - hey! no master bedroom or bathrooms! No den! just a little more to come. I will post it in the future when I have more time!