Ideally each separate facet of the kitchen should probably have its own separate blog post, but at this stage of things (read: pregnancy) it’s easier to just throw everything together in one blog-posty pot, stir frequently, and serve while still warm.
[Read more…]the kitchen (open shelves inspo)
Last post I talked about our switch from (closed) vintage metal cabinets to an all-open shelving look for our kitchen lowers.
the basic idea
I’m wanting a really simple and straightforward look, like these in the Gaines’ laundry room. We particularly like the slats on the bottom of the shelves and will probably do that.
open shelves in the kitchen–but not the kind you’re thinking of.
I have this theory that you’re wandering into dangerous DIY design territory when you can’t find any pictures on Pinterest to show what you’re thinking about doing.
This happened to me twice this weekend: once in regards to window trim (I’ll talk about that in a different post) and again concerning our lower kitchen cabinets, the design for which has been scrapped, swapped, and re-hashed this weekend in what Jeremy called a Come-To -Jesus-Meeting but was actually very reserved and pleasant and exciting.
[Read more…]fourteen months (eldore)
Eldore Rex turned fourteen months on January the 19th.
This month he took two leaps (or steps, as it were) forward: he started walking and talking.
The walking was partially at my insistence, picking him up and making him stand and take steps forward, which he mostly did gladly (except when he learned that sitting down made me react in a rather comical fashion, so then he did it on purpose.) After we indulged in this exercise for a day or two, he took it upon himself to begin taking steps around on his own.
Now, about two weeks later, he positively careens about the house, his legs still stuck in that stiff baby-walking way but his mind clearly set on running wherever his marionette-limbs will take him. He falls down, but mostly pops back up and keeps on rolling without even a second thought.
He’s officially the earliest walker we’ve had, but only by about two weeks. He may certainly be the most determined and haphazard walker we’ve seen yet.
moving rooms & the hand-painted dot wall
Some nesting periods start rather mildly, with the washing of baby clothes and assembling of cribs.
Others are a little more forceful, with packing up your bedroom and your nursery and informing your husband that you’re ready to switch the two rooms (at about 5:00 in the afternoon, when you ought to be getting dinner ready instead.)
The room that had been Elvie and Eldore’s shared nursery is the smallest bedroom in the house–it’s about 10 x 12, I think. I don’t have any pictures of it because I couldn’t ever properly finish it. There really wasn’t room in there for their furniture, and because I never exactly cleaned out the closet from our move, I didn’t have a place to put extra things…it was a veritable mess in there.
[Read more…]modular DIY bookcases for the colloquium
What’s a colloquium? Click here for our vision & the backstory on this room.
We planned for a while to put built-in bookcases in the corner where the piano’s going (here’s the post about the colloquium floorplan in case you’ve forgotten where that is) but I assumed the design was pretty much solid in Jeremy’s mind, so I didn’t think too much about it. Until the day I asked him what said design was–and he said he didn’t know yet.
the piano goes against that back (unpainted) wall.
thirteen months (eldore rex)
Eldore turned thirteen months on the 19th of December.
I will try to remember what he was like then, and not what he is like now, after Christmas and New Years, when he’s really thirteen-and-a-half months old. At this age, change comes constantly and rapidly, and if you’re a couple of weeks late on an update (as I am now) you almost have a different child on your hands than you would have if you had written said update when you were supposed to.
gallimaufry (december 2018)
This post is brought to you by a relentless bout of nesting. I use the word relentless quite literally–I have felt like I’m losing my mind, and acting like it too. If you think I’m exaggerating, well, let me tell you a story.
christmas candy, 2018
Last week we tried making some Christmas candy together. I found a recipe for butter mints, but since we had no mint or peppermint extract, we made orange and lemon and maple instead.
I assumed the two older boys would be the ones to jump in an help, but it was actually Anselm that stuck with me through the whole process. He is very keen on helping, that one. If there is work going on, he is usually the first there. This is true for baking as well as home repair an renovation projects. He’s not too keen on cleaning, though.
a few cut & sew finds from spoonflower
I fell down a rabbit hole this morning, remembering suddenly the old cut-and-sew projects I did as a kid (as well as the cut-and-sew Cheshire Cat I found at a “junque” store, which is one of my favorite home decor items). I’ve got a seven-and-a-half-year-old who is begging to learn to sew, and a four-year-old who loves cat things, and a two-year-old who loves “dotties” (dollies) and pretty things, and a new baby girl on the way who needs her own share of “dotties” and pretty things. I searched the Spoonflower site for cut-and-sew projects (if there is another good place to look, let me know!) and wanted to share some of what I found. (For the record, this post isn’t even remotely an ad or sponsored. Just sharing my finds.)
For the boys
Tiger Lily by Nadine Westcott | As soon as I saw this, I thought of Anselm! I thought he would really like this one.