The kids’ shared bedroom, which used to be just LJ’s room, has been through a lot of changes in the almost three years we’ve lived here but one particular area has changed the most: the window treatments. Just this morning, I changed things up again but this time, I feel confident in saying they’re going to stay for many years!
When we first moved in, the previous owners left their curtain rods and mismatched roller blinds hanging. I kept the roller blinds and just hung up the curtains we brought from LJ’s nursery. His first nursery only had one window though, so I only had two panels – one for each window. From an aesthetic standpoint, it wasn’t a great look but from a practical standpoint, it worked fine.
I lived with that look for just over a year and in June 2021, I decided to do an inexpensive update. I removed the mismatched roller shades, painted the windows, updated the window trim, and took down the old curtain rods. I had leftover rods that I didn’t use from hanging our dining room curtains, so I repurposed them in here (I didn’t have all the pieces but I hot glued the end caps to the open end of the curtain rod to make it look finished!) and added inexpensive blackout curtains that I got on sale. Unfortunately, the curtain rods were just a single rod and didn’t extend, and the curtains only came in an 84″ length, so it wasn’t my “high and wide” preference but it was an inexpensive way to make this room feel much more cohesive. And somehow, the only photos I can find of this set up all look like this – ha! Vi had obviously already moved in at this point.
Once I updated the kids shared room with matching beds and new furniture, the short, narrowly placed curtains just felt cramped. Three out of four of them were behind something, and they didn’t do much to make the room feel more expansive. I shared my dilemma in this post: replace curtains or go without?
I took down the old curtains and hung blackout blinds only. (Side note: these were very easy to install and I was able to do it completely by myself!) Going to just blinds actually made the room feel too empty. Plus, I needed curtains to block out the small strip of light that still came through around the sides. Also, Vi’s side of the room has four more inches of wall space than LJ’s – without curtains to help offset the difference, it’s pretty obvious when you’re in the room.
So it came full circle back to curtains, but this time – I wanted them high and wide! My main goals were to make the room feel taller and more expansive and offset the asymmetrical wall space by cheating that curtain side out just a little. I ordered these grid curtains, which I thought would add a little pattern and fit my gender neutral theme, but could also definitely stay long term when Vi moves out since this will eventually be a shared boy room. The curtain delivery got a bit delayed and just came in last night; I was too excited to finally get them up on the wall so rather than wait for Justin to come home, I decided to figure out how to hang the new rods and curtains myself!
I followed this tutorial from Young House Love and made a quick little template out of cardboard marking where I wanted each curtain rod hook to go. I drilled pilot holes, hammered in anchors, and secured each hook in place. Following that tutorial made things surprisingly very doable for one person and I’m so proud that they are hung securely and evenly!
If you look closely, you can see I cheated just a bit more fabric width onto Vi’s side of the room. I don’t think it’s noticeable unless you’re looking for it, but it does make the sides feel more balanced! I’m very happy with how it looks and am feeling so accomplished to have done all this by myself in just under 90 minutes.
As happy as I would be to just sit back and enjoy looking at these new curtains, another delivery for this room is scheduled to arrive tomorrow so I’ll be back working in here soon. I’m excited to keep transforming this space piece by piece!
I’m officially 19 weeks pregnant and for the first time, we’ve decided to find out the sex of our baby in advance. We loved the surprise at birth with the first two babies, but for a few different reasons, we decided to switch things up this time around – it’s been so fun to have this little secret knowledge this time around!
I’m excited to announce that baby #3 is a . . .
BOY!
We cannot wait to meet our newest family member! The kids were predictably split: LJ was hoping for a brother and Vi was hoping for a sister. We told them by wrapping this balloon in a box and letting them open it – Vi kept searching for the pink balloon for a minute or two before it sank in haha! They are both very excited now and it definitely makes things feel a little more real to refer to the baby as little brother.
Another perk of finding out in advance this time is I actually can prepare the nursery a little bit more. While I’m still working on some updates to the older two’s shared bedroom, I’m going to be making a few updates to the nursery too. Currently, the nursery has a pink scalloped accent wall and is mostly devoid of artwork since many things followed Vi to the other room. I don’t plan to do too much since eventually the boys (I just love saying that!) will share the larger room and Vi will move back to this smaller bedroom, but since that’s several years away I’m going to make some simple changes now for the baby.
This time around, I didn’t do a mood board but I did start a Pinterest board with a few ideas (you can find the picture sources there too!)
I’m picturing the walls being a soft muted green (I’m thinking SW Evergreen Fog) with shades of green, gold, and taupe accented throughout. I want to keep things mostly neutral but also play with a few patterns. I think it will be a really sweet little room for our sweet little baby boy!
If you’ve been here a while, you might remember that I had no motivation to work on the nursery until Vi had almost arrived, but this time around I’m feeling so motivated and excited that I think I’ll be starting very soon. Stay tuned!
On Saturday, I took Vi on a little mommy-daughter date for donuts and thrift store shopping. LJ had been sick with a stomach bug for a few days last week so this was a nice way to spend some quality time together and focus my attention back on Vi while Justin and LJ hung out at home. Obviously a two-year-old’s attention span isn’t huge, so we only spend about 20 minutes in the store. We were able to score a brand new “pop it” for Vi (she is obsessed with these!) and a small puzzle for LJ for a total of $5. It was totally worth it and we had so much fun! She was so excited to get home and show off her purchases.
This got me thinking about thrifting and the time I spend in stores. I feel like thrifting can sometimes seem a little intimidating for people because unlike a regular store, every single item in a thrift store is unique and there is SO much to sift through. It would take hours to look at every single item. And while I love spending an hour browsing the racks and stacks, more often than not, I don’t have that much time. Usually, I have 20 minutes or less to pop into a store in between running errands and sometimes I have as little as five minutes.
Is it still worth it to go even when I don’t have tons of time? YES! I think frequency is just as important as duration; spending 5-10 minutes total browsing my top sections 3 times a month can be just as rewarding as spending 30 minutes in one store once a month. (Side note: I’m talking about when I have 5-10 minutes by myself; I rarely go with my kids because that’s often more work than it’s worth). I have learned to be strategic about these short trips – I don’t have time to sift through racks of clothes or stroll aimlessly. Instead, I have my top sections that I prioritize, and then if there’s time leftover I can branch into other areas of the store. Today I thought I’d share the top sections I head to when I have limited time to try to maximize every minute. These sections are where I find the majority of items that make my home feel unique (and bonus that they’re so budget-friendly!)
Here are my top six sections for thrift store shopping:
Glassware
Glassware is a quick section to check out in just a minute or two; even though there are typically a lot of items there, the fact that they’re all clear makes it easy to skim through and spot the differences. I can pretty quickly scan these items and notice if there’s anything that sparks my interest – usually I’m just on the lookout for things like glass storage containers and Pyrex (I’ve found several nice Pyrex bowels and baking pans over the years), but lately I’ve also started looking for specialty drinkware. Justin just recently asked me to look for martini glasses and I was able to snag a pair of these cute stemless glasses for $1!
Picture Frames
All of these frames were purchased secondhand for $16 total!
I almost always stop in the picture frame section and spend a minute or two looking through the selection. I like to have a variety of frames in different sizes on hand at home so when I’m updating a room or just wanting to refresh a space with a change in artwork, I have options ready to choose from. Thanks to the ability to spray paint any frame a different color, I’m not too worried about finish but I do look for quality, size, and style. I particularly like finding options that can be added to the gallery wall around our spiral staircase: 8 x 10 or smaller in unique styles and a mix of metals. I don’t always walk away with a new frame but because I shop this section so frequently, I do collect enough to maintain a nice little stash of 10-15 extra frames at any given time.
“Decor“
There’s usually a catch-all “decor” aisle that has all the little tchotchkes we put in our homes. If I have more time, I’ll analyze everything, but if I only have a few minutes, I’ll specifically skim the shelves for decorative bowls, brass candlesticks, and containers that could be used as planters. The little metal bowl in the picture above was thrifted, as is the book it’s sitting on and the gold frames on the wall!
Books
Books can take some time to sort through and I can’t always devote the amount of time I want, but if I have five minutes to spend in this section I’ll at least glance through it. I like finding large coffee table books that I can stack with decor on top, antique books with yellowed pages and lots of character, books that I’ve actually read or would like to read, or just books that I really like the look of. The picture above is just a small sample of the books I’ve thrifted over the years – I’ve found everything from antique hymnals being sold at a flea market for $1 a bag to bestsellers that look brand new being sold for $3. I try to be purposeful with my book purchases; they’re not just to fill shelves. Each one I bring home is one I specifically chose for a reason and I love the collection I’ve curated over the years!
Games/Puzzles
This is a more recently priority for me, but I now try to skim the game and puzzle section if I have a few extra minutes. Justin and I have always loved games and puzzles, so it’s so fun to be in this stage of parenthood where Vi and LJ are now interested in them too! Most thrift stores will make sure that all the pieces are included, or they will note what is missing, so you can make an informed decision on whether a purchase is worth it or not. These days I’m searching for little puzzles for LJ or fun family games for the four of us! I also like looking for 500 or 1000 piece puzzles that Justin and I may enjoy, but I will only purchase one if the store has checked that all the pieces are there.
Furniture
Of all the sections, this is probably the one I actually purchase from the least, but I still always at least glance at it. You just never know when you’ll find the perfect little side table, bench, chair, etc. Sometimes inspiration just strikes! There are some “eventual” furniture purchases I want to make (vintage nightstands for our bedroom, a long credenza/buffet in the dining room, a storage bench in the guest room), and while I’m in no rush for them, the little list is always in the back of my mind as I browse furniture. Even if I don’t make a purchase, this section is fun to look through and get inspired by.
A few more things I keep in mind while thrifting:
1-I do have a little collection of picture frames and small decor in storage, but I try not to purchase anything else that I can’t immediately use or have a place for.
2-For those things I don’t immediately have a place for but can’t pass up, I try to think of at least three ways I can see myself eventually using the item before purchasing. An item with only one specific use that I can’t even use right now will likely just sit in storage for a long time and that’s not my personal goal.
3-Focus on what can’t be changed (or can’t be easily changed). Lampshades can be changed, but the shape of a lamp can’t. A picture frame can be painted, but the elaborate scrollwork around it can’t. A book cover can be removed, but the size of the book remains. The more I’ve focused on things I can change and things I can’t, the better scores I seem to find. You have to be willing to look beyond some things that CAN be changed to see the hidden gems that a thrift store can hold.
Do you enjoy thrifting? If so, what types of items are you most often on the lookout for?
It’s been a while since I’ve done a little Friday Features post but today felt like a good day for one. I occasionally like to do these posts with the little things that have happened lately that haven’t warranted a full blog post but I still want to talk about – some of the small tweaks that have happened around the home, a couple projects I’m planning, and a few personal family things. It’s basically a little round-up of life lately!
Thrifted Side Table
Back in 2020 when we renovated our office, I thrifted a vintage yellow chair that was love at first sight. I envisioned a little round side table with some character tucked up next to it, but all I had at the time was a small square table we picked up in the early days of our marriage. I decided to put the square table there as a placeholder while I searched for the perfect round table. While I haven’t necessarily been diligently searching this entire time, I have been keeping my eye out online, at yard sales, and in thrift stores ever since. I squealed when I finally saw this $30 table posted a couple weeks ago in a Facebook yard sale group. I asked my sister if she would be willing to pick it up (it was for sale in her town – 500 miles from me!) and she brought it out last weekend. The long search paid off: this is just what I envisioned for the space and I love it so much!
Wallpaper in the Kids Room
A few weeks ago I made some upgrades to the kids’ shared bedroom including new beds, bedding, and artwork. I mentioned that I have some other plans up my sleeve and one of them is…wallpaper! I am going to take this wall behind the dresser and add a fun wallpaper to bring some playfulness to the space. I selected one of the four options shown above and it is scheduled to arrive in the next two weeks. I’m excited!
Window Treatments
Another change happening in the kids room is with their window treatments. I ordered blackout blinds for each window and installed them (myself!) a few days ago. I decided to just take the curtains down to see how it looked without, and I think it reaffirmed the need for curtains, but I need to find different ones. The ones I had previously were only 84″ and the curtain rod wasn’t extendable so they were really limited – I think something I can hang high and wide will really help the space. I think I found some that will work so it’s just a matter of waiting for them to arrive and see!
In-Law Visit
My in-laws came to visit this past week! We haven’t seen them in person since Christmas so it was great to get lots of quality time together. The kids loved getting to play lots of games, show them all their toys, and have them be part of their daily lives. It was a great visit and we’re feeling thankful! I was especially thankful that the extra hands meant I had some help with the kids and could start working on my sister’s nursery dresser while they played with the kids 😉
Pandemic Reflections
Speaking of my sister’s nursery dresser, this week I’ve been reflecting a lot on the last nursery dresser I made back in March 2020. Yep, you read that right. March 2020. I was working on a nursery dresser for my brother and sister-in-law when the pandemic began. My in-laws were visiting at the time. We watched on TV as everything shut down – no March Madness, no sports at all, nothing. Our travel plans for the following week were cancelled. It was a pretty confusing and scary time! And now here I was, the exact same weekend two years later. Working on a nursery dresser with my in-laws in town. Except this time, we were two years into a global pandemic. It was surreal to say the least.
Google Photos has been showing me lots of photos from two years ago and I have to say, it’s a bit triggering. Looking back on what life was like, knowing what was to come and we just had no idea . . . it’s a lot to process. I think most days, I’m looking forward instead of looking backwards. In the little people years, the heavy demand of life with two small children means I am often just trying to do the best I can each day, getting through one day at a time. But the days are long and the years truly are short, and milestones like this cause me to pause and look back. On the one hand, I cannot believe it’s been two years of a pandemic, and on the other, it feels like we’ve been doing this forever. Two years of navigating the ever-changing public health recommendations, two years of sifting through information to try and make the best decisions for my family, two years of weighing risk before deciding on activities (masks, indoor vs. outdoor, size of gatherings, number of cases in the area, ability to distance, etc.) A missed Thanksgiving due to testing positive. Easter over Zoom with my extended family. Tears of relief when I walked in to finally get my vaccination. Learning what an N95 is and how to give myself an at-home COVID-19 test. Every runny nose and slight cough has become something to monitor closely in my kids. And seeing pictures of my kids just before the pandemic hit makes me really realize how much of their young lives have been encompassed by this. They haven’t experienced many things I thought they would in these little years – beginner sport activities and playdates with new friends and library story time and trips to the science museum and traveling to new places in the world. There are so many things that they don’t think are strange but just a part of normal life: people wearing masks, stickers for where to stand six feet apart, dividers separating us from the cashiers at the grocery store, etc. I think I don’t always process something as I’m living it, but taking a moment to stop and think about it does bring me a little shock.
There are so many things to be grateful for. I’m grateful for our health and that when we did test positive last year, our symptoms were all mild and short-lived. I’m grateful for the ability to work from home. I’m thankful for our home and the safe place to live and stay during this wild time. But it’s also been a really stressful, anxiety-inducing, scary, and sad two years filled with political bickering, misinformation, confusion, and the tragic loss of many many lives. The pandemic years have changed our lives and the world we live in in so many ways and I know this whole experience will continue to be something I have to process for many years to come.
Baby #3 Reveal!
Our reactions to opening the envelope
And to end on a more uplifting note, we had our gender reveal while my in-laws were out here! While we didn’t find out in advance for the first two kids, since this is more than likely our last pregnancy, we decided to find out this time. Justin and I found out first and then decided to have a small reveal so we asked my parents to come out while his parents were here too. We kept things very small and low-key and had the kids open a box with colored balloons inside. It was fun and we are all very excited! I’m hoping to share that news here soon so stay tuned. 🙂
If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that I’ve gone through a bit of a thrifted dresser saga lately.
One of my sisters is pregnant and she asked me if I would thrift a dresser and fix it up as a changing table for her. I of course said YES and started searching for a dresser. I spent a few weeks searching local thrift stores and online selling sources only to keep coming up empty. That’s often the nature of the game with thrifting – when you’re looking for something specific, it pays to be patient!
Finally, I found a picture online that looked like something I could work with: it was the right dimensions and a fairly basic shape. The seller was asking $50, which I normally would have tried to negotiate down, but due to my own pregnancy and needing help lifting, I needed her to hold it a few days for me and agreed to her asking price. (Mistake #1: this dresser was absolutely overpriced and should have been negotiated down). Unfortunately, Justin and his dad went to pick it up (Mistake #2: I should have gone with them to see it myself before paying) and when they brought it home, it was not what I expected. There was damage that the seller didn’t disclose, including a big chunk taken out in the front corner, marker drawings all over, and a piece missing from one of the sides, and the top and sides were planked, not smooth like I was expecting (Mistake #3: she only posted one picture, which was of the front and had things piled on top of it and I did not ask to see more).
The dresser gave a rustic cabin vibe, which was not at all what I wanted for my sister. For a few days, I tried to convince myself I could still make it work, but the truth it, it’s just not the right style for what my sister wants. So, I’m going to pivot and just fix this dresser up a bit by sanding, repairing, and staining it black and then sell it once again. It would be great if I could turn a small profit on it, but if not, I’m going to at least try to come out even and chalk this up to a lesson learned!
Thankfully, my aunt, who knew I was searching for a dresser but didn’t realize I had already found one, texted me a picture of one she saw in a local thrift store and it was absolutely perfect for what I wanted! I asked my parents to pick it up (the store was over an hour from my house but only 10 minutes from theirs) and they brought it out. It was priced for $20 and is going to feel like such a steal when I fix this thing up! I love the streamlined look and midcentury vibe which will go perfectly with my sister’s artistic and eclectic style. I plan to sand everything down, repair a wonky back leg, paint everything to match her nursery color scheme and possibly add some hardware. This baby is going to shine!
The reason my sister asked me to do this at all is because I’ve now fixed up three dressers for nurseries. I thought it’d be fun to look back on these past projects as I prepare to jump into this next one!
LJ’s Nursery
Way back when I was pregnant with LJ, I decided that instead of a changing table, I wanted to just have a regular dresser with a changing pad on top. We had bought a midcentury dresser on Marketplace (I think for $30 if I remember right) a few months before and it was perfect for the nursery. I cleaned it up a bit, painted everything but the wooden legs a neutral blue (Sherwin Williams Slate Tile) and voila! I loved it and it only cost me the price of paint and some time. It worked perfectly with a changing pad on top and now translates well to the “big kid” room for LJ and Vi.
When I was pregnant with Vi, I knew I needed another dresser for her nursery. This time I found a dresser on Craigslist for $10! It need quite a bit of sanding, then I primed it, gave it two coats of deep green paint (Sherwin Williams Green Tartan), and swapped out the hardware. Then Justin used dowel rods to create legs and give it more height to be comfortably used as a changing table. I also had him add a stained board to the front because the piece of plywood that was there was very flimsy and cheap. With the additions I made, the total cost of the dresser came in at just under $50 and once again, it worked perfectly in the nursery!
When my sister-in-law became pregnant with her first, I offered to gift her and my brother a dresser to use as a changing table as well. They eagerly agreed and I started the hunt for the perfect dresser. After a lot of searching, I came across a very ugly dresser on Marketplace and negotiated the price down to $15. This thing was in rough shape and needed a lot of repairs, but I got to work sanding, replacing a side, and patching chipped veneer. I then primed and painted it (my SIL’s choice was Sherwin Williams Fading Rose) and spray painted the existing hardware. Once again, the total clocked in at just under $50 and they had a whole new look to the dresser!
Side note: one thing that has been a little surreal with working on my sister’s nursery dresser is that it’s been exactly two years since working on the one for my brother and sister-in-law. This is the project I was working on when the pandemic started and the world shut down. It’s such a strange feeling to be essentially doing the same thing two years later, but our world has changed so so much. It’s been on my mind a lot this week!
There is something really thrilling to me about taking an old dresser of diminished value, fixing it up, and giving it new life! It’s more sustainable for our planet than always buying brand new, it’s a great way to customize a specific look you want by choosing paint color, hardware, etc, and it’s incredibly satisfying for me to see a transformation of something unwanted to something beautiful and functional. I’m excited to jump into my now TWO dresser projects and see what I can do. I’ll be sharing real-time updates on Instagram so if you want more frequent updates on these projects, be sure to follow along there!
Even though February is a short month, I was able to fit in three books: a rom com, a domestic thriller, and an ensemble-cast novel that gave me Love Actually vibes. I have a lot of thoughts about each one so let’s just go ahead and jump right in.
Party-girl LA socialite Piper Bellinger goes a little too far with hosting an illegal rooftop party as a way to save face after a breakup, which results in her wealthy stepfather finally putting his foot down. Her punishment? Learning the value of hard work and money by taking over her late father’s run down dive bar in a small coastal town in Washington. There, she meets Brendan, a rugged sea captain who is immediately unimpressed and wants nothing to do with the snooty girl in the impractical shoes. But the town is small and Piper and Brendan can’t seem to stop running into one another, leading them to realize that maybe their first impressions weren’t quite right after all.
I went in with high hopes for this one but ultimately wasn’t as impressed with it as I’d hoped to be. For an enemies-to-lovers trope, I thought the relationship twisted pretty quickly from hate to love, and I felt like the character growth was pretty shallow despite the fact that the book is 380+ pages (waaaaay too long for a rom com like this in my opinion). I found myself only moderately interested in the characters and their dynamic and this book falls pretty mid-range for me. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. It’s worth nothing that this book is definitely rated-R for some very very steamy scenes so if that’s not your thing, I would avoid this one. All that being said, I am very interested in reading the next book that comes out in March! It will feature two of the side characters from this book and based on what I know already I think the character development and depth of relationship is going to be much stronger and I’m already invested!
Nestled on the main street of a small town just outside of London, Nightingale Books has been a beloved haven for residents for decades. The owner, Julius, always had a knack for making people feel welcome and knowing just what books to recommend. It’s not until after his death, when his daughter Emilia inherits the bookshop, that it becomes evident just how much financial trouble the shop is in. Faced with some tough decisions about the future of the shop, Emilia can’t help but also see how big an impact her father and his shop had on so many people. As stories emerge of ways he impacted their lives, and customers both new and old come into the shop with their hopes, dreams, joys, and sorrows, the little world of Nightingale Books comes alive. Can Emilia really bear to part with it?
This book reminded me of Love Actually – it’s like the literary version of an ensemble-cast movie. There are a lot of characters and little subplots that all intertwine and connect to the bookshop in one way or another. Some storylines are given a lot of space to grow and develop, while we just see small snippets of others. It took me a bit of time to get used to the story jumping between subplots, and also to sort out the characters in my mind, but once I did I really enjoyed this book. The setting is completely charming: a quaint and cozy bookshop nestled in a small English village? When can I visit!? It is definitely a slower, character-driven plot so if you’re looking for a fast-paced or mindless read, this probably isn’t it, but I enjoyed all the unique storylines and how they wove together. I found the book to be both heartwarming and satisfying and my little book-loving heart savored it.
In a quiet suburban neighborhood in Melbourne, neighbors smile, wave, and politely exchange small talk. But how well do they really know what is going on in one another’s lives and homes? There’s Essie, who in a desperate act of postpartum depression, once left her first baby unattended in a park and is now a sleep-deprived mother of two. There’s Fran, who has been living for months with a pit of dread in her stomach that her world might unravel at any moment. There’s Ange, who hit the #jackpot with a hot husband who is a devoted father and does all the right things. And then there’s the new neighbor Isabelle: no kids, no partner, and an outlier for the type of person who chooses to live in this neighborhood. Is it just a coincidence that she is renting here? Or is her presence very, very deliberate?
I’ll tell you one thing: Sally Hepworth is climbing the ranks to becoming one of my favorite authors. I just never quite know what I’m getting into with her books and they all leave me spellbound! I flew through this book in half a day – I just couldn’t put it down. It’s not scary or gory or anything, just a true domestic mystery (I’d even call it a light thriller) with some surprising twists. I was invested in each storyline and uncovering the secrets inside each household – at one point my jaw even dropped! The characters are all flawed, but real, and it was really interesting to see how they all dealt with the complicated things happening in their lives. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend, especially if you enjoyed other books by this author.
My March stack of books is already piling up and I’m really excited about a couple of the reads. I have a good feeling that it’s about to be another great month of reading!
Sometimes I plan home projects months in advance, and other times, I dive right in when inspiration strikes. And on Friday afternoon, inspiration struck!
I have been hunting on Marketplace and in thrift stores for a dresser to upgrade as a gift for my sister’s baby nursery. While my search hasn’t found the right dresser yet, when I popped into a thrift store on Friday I found something else: two matching vintage wooden headboards. And instantly, I knew what my next project would be.
We only have three bedrooms upstairs: one for Justin and I and one for each of our kids. Now that we’re having a baby, the older two will need to share so the baby can have the nursery. We went ahead and moved Vi into LJ’s room about two months ago just to see how the transition would go and they have both loved sharing a room! It’s been on my list to make a few small upgrades now that the room is shared, starting with matching twin beds, so finding a pair of cute wooden ones in good shape (and for just $15 each!) bumped this to-do project right to the top of my list! And bonus: my kids were already spending the weekend at my parents’ house so I was able to get started right away.
This blog post from about a year and a half ago shows how I transitioned this room from LJ’s nursery to a “big boy” room, but for the past two months the room has looked like this (mess and all, my kids always pull books off the shelves!):
Functional, yes. But a bit uninspiring for sure! My plan was to just get the twin beds in place and freshen up their bedding . . . but as it happens with so many of my projects, once I got into this one, it started spiraling into a bigger project. So now, the room looks like this:
First of all, I love the headboards! They’re simple and cute and I love that they bring a warm vintage touch to the space. I am not crazy about the metal bedframes on wheels that came with them, but they will work for now. The bedframes are meant to be used with a box spring but we wanted to keep the beds nice and low for our kids (plus box springs aren’t recommended for their memory foam mattresses) so we decided to create a version of a platform bed. Justin cut slats out of scrap oak wood and secured a 2-inch dowel rod to the center one for additional support. It worked like a charm!
For bedding, I wanted something coordinating but not matching. I found these sheets for Vi and these for LJ, both of which went well with matching mustard yellow comforters. I topped them off with matching striped throw blankets in different colors. It love how fresh and colorful it makes the space – perfect for little kids!
I also decided to change up the artwork. Vi has been calling this room “LJ’s room” despite the fact that she has slept here for two months. I thought by moving some of her artwork over (and all her clothes, so the dresser is now split!) it might help her feel some ownership in the space.
I also swapped out the vehicle artwork over LJ’s bed to better coordinate with the artwork over Vi’s. Now each side of the room really seems to better reflect its occupant.
In addition to finally painting the baseboards the same color as the wall, I also decided to squeeze in a final project of changing up the storage in the room. We had a wooden bookcase housing all their books and toys but unfortunately, once Vi’s bed was in place the wall space wasn’t big enough to accommodate it anymore. Instead of thrifting or building from scratch, I decided to opt for the quick and easy solution and bought a ready-to-assemble cubed cubby system to function as a combined nightstand/bookcase. It fits perfectly under the window and houses all their books and toys while freeing up the wall at the foot of Vi’s bed. It’s strange, because it’s the same amount of furniture in the room, but the placement makes the room feel bigger now!
While this is all I was able to squeeze into the weekend, I’ve decided to add a couple more projects to the list of updating this room. Even though eventually we’ll have to swap around rooms again (depending on the sex of the baby), that is at least 3 years down the road so I might as well make some small changes to make this room fun in the meantime, right?
Much as I love the curtains, three out of four are now blocked by either a bed or storage unit and it feels like visual clutter so I’m going to swap them out for blackout blinds. I also want to add sconces over the beds, a few book ledges on the wall by the closet, and I have a special idea I’m considering for the dresser side of the room. For now, I’m just excited for my kids to get home in an hour and see their new space!
Sources
Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Eider White and Nordic Bleu
I can think of no better day than Valentine’s day to introduce our newest little love – a baby set to join our family in August!
You may have noticed that things have been slow around here – I have only done a few small projects, haven’t read many books, and just have been quieter in general over the past few months. It’s all because of this sweet little one! I found out I was pregnant in early December and then had to focus my energies on holiday prep. We were able to get an early ultrasound (due to my history of ectopic pregnancy, it was a huge, huge relief to see baby growing in the correct place) then by the time the holidays arrived, so did my nausea and morning sickness . . . that lasted all day.
By far, this has been my roughest first trimester in terms of sickness. I’ll spare you the details, but it’s been challenging to say the least. Add on to that the pregnancy fatigue and keeping up with two very very active little ones – I really needed to step back these past two months and focus on my kids and my own health each day and let all the other little things slide.
Thankfully, I will be 14 weeks tomorrow and finally feel like I’ve turned a corner (and was mercifully feeling about 90-95% myself during our Disney trip!). My nausea and sickness is lessening, I’m able to eat more foods, and I feel like I have more energy each day. In both my pregnancies with LJ and Vi, the second trimester was my sweet spot so I’m very excited to have arrived!
Telling the kids was a pretty fun experience. They took a while to process, but now they understand and are so excited! They talk about the baby in my belly a lot and it’s been fun to have that excitement to share with them since last time LJ was so little he didn’t really understand he was getting a sibling until she arrived. I think it also helps that with this baby, I’ve started to show early and already have a little baby bump they can see. LJ wants a boy and Vi wants a girl – and for the first time, we are planning to find out in advance! I have never wanted to, but Justin has always wanted to so it felt like time for him to get to decide. 😉
We are excited and can’t wait to welcome this new little love in August!
***
Before leaving, I want to acknowledge that I know announcements like this can be painful for some to read. Re-sharing these words I wrote in our pregnancy announcement for Vi: “While we are so excited for this new little life, I know that for many, announcements like this are bittersweet at best and agonizing at worst. A huge part of my heart goes out to all who are enduring the pain and struggles of pregnancy loss or infertility. I have felt the feelings of injustice to be denied what I most wanted, the ache of empty arms who long for a baby to hold, and the sting of another person’s happy announcement reminding me of what I had lost. It is a pain that no one should have to endure and my heart breaks for all who experience it. If you are struggling with infertility or loss of a baby, I know there’s nothing I can really do or say to take away the grief and ache of longing, but I want you to know I acknowledge you and am sending you love and holding you tight in my prayers. I hope that our journey gives you hope that your story isn’t finished.“
We just got back yesterday from our vacation to Disney World – it was not only our family’s first trip to Disney, but it was also our first true family vacation as a family of four! Due to the pandemic, the only traveling we’ve done with the kids over the past two years has been to visit and/or vacation with family so it was really fun to have a trip for just the four of us to enjoy.
I know not everyone who reads this blog is interested in a family vacation recap, but after sharing some of our trip on my Instagram stories I’ve already had people reach out to me with questions, so I thought it would be best to write up a big post of our trip to use not only as a way of keeping these memories for myself, but also to serve as a resource for anyone else planning a Disney trip with little ones. If that’s not your thing, feel free to skip this post!
This post is a bit long and I share quite a few details and pictures, but I wanted to quickly note that I mostly took videos while we were there, so I don’t have pictures of everything. I also have more pictures of Vi than LJ because whenever we split up, I was usually with Vi, and LJ is constantly in motion and it’s hard to get a good non-blurry picture of him right now!
One more note: we scheduled this trip around a work conference that Justin was attending at Disney, which was extremely helpful for our budget since his travel and lodging (which was a room that fit all of us) was reimbursed. We stayed at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and it was a great choice for our stay – it had restaurant options available for reservation or mobile order (we exclusively did mobile order there), a game room (more on that later), and the monorail actually goes through it which provides super easy transportation to other resorts and a couple of the parks.
Day One: Disney Springs
One thing I would do differently in the future is choose a later flight. Our flight left at 6 am, meaning we had to get up at 3:30 am to shuttle to the airport from our hotel and catch the flight. While it did mean we got to Orlando by shortly after 8 am, it was not necessarily worth having a really tiring day and sleep deprived kids and adults. But all that to say, we arrived in the morning on Wednesday and took a shuttle from the airport to the resort. We couldn’t check in yet, so we just dropped off our bags and headed back outside to the shuttle bus stop to head to Disney Springs.
Disney Springs is not an actual park, but it’s a huge area with tons of shopping and restaurants, as well as a few shows and rides. It’s free to get in, and we spent our day walking around checking out shops (the Lego store and of course, the Disney store were the biggest hits for my kids to look around!) and rode a few small rides (they had a little train ride and a carousel that we rode). We had lunch reservations at the Rainforest Café and that was a really fun, unique experience! The whole restaurant feels like you’re in a rainforest and there’s even a simulated “storm” that happened while we were there. We loved it!
Because of our super early morning flight, we were all pretty worn out by 3 pm or so, so we grabbed a little chocolate treat and headed back to the shuttles to check in to our hotel room. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the room and resting up for our first park day.
Day Two: Magic Kingdom
One perk of staying at a Disney Resort is that you get early access to the parks; even though the park opened at 9 am, we were able to get in at 8:30. While Justin was at his conference, I walked with both kids across the street to Magic Kingdom (he joined us later). We got a stroller rental and headed in to start riding rides!
I won’t give you a play-by-play of the day, but I will say that we rode the following rides: “it’s a small world,” Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo the Flying Elephant (just Vi), Mad Tea Party, Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, Magic Carpets of Aladdin (just Vi), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tomorrowland Speedway (just LJ), and Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid. We also watched a few shows: Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, and Enchanted Tiki Room.
Vi also did a princess meet and greet and was so enamored with Rapunzel and Tiana!
LJ is not really a thrill seeker, so he did not like the rides that spun and went up in the air (Dumbo and Aladdin), meanwhile, Vi absolutely loved those! LJ is over 40″ and could have ridden more, but he preferred the “all height” rides anyways so we just stuck together most of the day. We found that Magic Kingdom by far had the most rides for the ages of our kids, so we chose to spend a little extra and add the Genie+ option for this day. Basically, Genie+ is paying $15 per ticket holder for lightning lane access. Once we purchased, we were able to select the next available timeslot for one ride at a time and skip nearly all of the line. This did involve a little strategy (we picked the most popular ride we wanted, Peter Pan’s Flight, first thing at 7 am when the timeslot reservations opened) and then chose future rides based on timing, not necessarily proximity, for the rest of the day. And in one case, we split up and LJ and Justin did the Speedway while Vi and I did Dumbo. Justin and I both agreed it was worth the extra money and having to occasionally backtrack through the parks to save literally hours in line and get to everything we wanted to do in one day. (Note: There are two rides at each park that are not included in Genie+ and you need to purchase individual lightning lane passes for if you want to skip the line. They’re the most popular rides, but at this particular park, they were both ones we weren’t interested in so it didn’t matter). We used lunch, shows, and less popular rides as fillers in between our timeslots and it worked great! We also stumbled upon two parades, which was super fun!
We did also purchase the automated bubble wands you see everywhere at the park and even though they were insanely overpriced, they kept our kids entertained all day in the stroller and in lines (you do sometimes have to wait about 5-10 minutes using genie+, and there was one ride we didn’t use genie+ and waited about 30 minutes). They used them every day in the parks and they were so fun!
We had planned to go back for naps in the afternoon, but Vi napped for about 30 minutes in the stroller and in my arms during the Tiki Room show and LJ was able to power through so we did the whole park in one go. LJ did have a meltdown for about an hour at the beginning of the day (we’re still not exactly sure why it started, chalking it up to loss of sleep and overstimulation) but the bubble wand purchase got him turned around and both the kids had great attitudes the rest of the day! We headed back to the hotel around 5:30 for dinner and early bedtimes for all of us.
Day Three: Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom was the one park we took a shuttle bus to, so we got on the first one in the morning and headed over to take advantage of our early access. We did not purchase Genie+ for this day, so once we got inside and got our stroller rental, we headed back to Pandora to ride Na’vi River Journey. We walked straight through to the ride (there was no line at that time!) and hopped on. I love this ride – the bioluminescence is so cool! We went from there to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride (HUGE hit with the kids!!) and then walked the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.
Animal Kingdom basically felt like a day at a really awesome zoo. It was not as heavy on the rides – we just did the Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safari, Rafiki’s Planet Watch (we took a train out to a little section where there is a petting zoo and a few other activities, although we just did the petting zoo), and Vi and I did the TriceraTop Spin two times. Justin and LJ were in line for Dinosaur but it temporarily closed for some quick repairs and they didn’t end up waiting. It still felt like there was plenty of other non-ride things for our animal-loving kids to enjoy!
After the safari and walking the Gorilla Falls trail, we unexpectedly caught a trained bird show that happened right where we were waiting for Justin to pick up his lunch mobile order. It was awesome! We split this day up into two and after doing Pandora, Africa, and lunch, we headed back to the hotel for naps. When we returned, we watched the show It’s Tough to Be a Bug! (not sure I would recommend this for littles; it ended up scaring LJ and the rest of the trip he kept saying he did not want to do the Bug show again) and headed to Dinoland (we skipped Asia altogether). We unfortunately did not catch Festival of the Lion King show because the line was too long, but I’m still glad we did not do Genie+ this day, as that is the only thing we would have used it for.
The kids spent well over an hour playing in The Boneyard, which is a gigantic playground in Dinoland with tons of climbing structures, slides, and a big excavation site for digging. They loved it and would have stayed even longer if it wasn’t dinnertime.
Overall, it was another successful day at a great park!
Day Four: Rest Dayat the resort
This was a flex day for us – if the weather was warm enough for the water park to be open, we might have gone, but it wasn’t warm enough and honestly, we needed a chill day without planned activities. Justin was at his conference all morning and the kids and I rested, watched TV, and played in the hotel room. We rode the monorail to explore the Polynesian resort and grab lunch, then headed back for naps. LJ slept for like, 3 hours, and Justin took Vi down to the pool once she woke up and they swam while LJ kept sleeping.
Once LJ woke up, we headed to the game room downstairs and the kids had an absolute blast playing all the arcade games that they see other places but we always say no to – ha! It was a fun little treat and a great way to entertain everyone fairly inexpensively (a $25 ticket card was more than enough to keep our whole family entertained for over an hour and play everything we wanted to!) Then it was dinner and another early bedtime for us!
Day Five: Epcot
We originally planned to split Magic Kingdom into two days, but when we were able to do everything we wanted in one day, we changed this ticket to a day at Epcot, which we could ride the monorail to. We did not do Genie+ for this day, but we didsplurge on individual lightning lane tickets to skip the lines for Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Both rides are incredibly popular with very long lines and both were ones we thought our kids would enjoy . . . and we were mostly right about that haha.
Vi is obsessed with Frozen and I loved watching her face during the ride – she was enchanted! But it is a boat ride and we sat in the front row and didn’t realize there is a drop that does splash you more than we expected. LJ really didn’t enjoy that part (honestly, I didn’t love walking around with a wet butt for an hour afterwards either), but overall the ride was still really cool and definitely worth it! Ratatouille was also super fun, but it’s 4D and there is one part that startled Vi pretty badly and she was in tears for a while until I could assure her it isn’t real and she was able to calm down for the rest of the ride. She’s usually not afraid of jumpy things, so we were surprised that this affected her so much.
Other rides we chose were Journey into Imagination with Figment, Living with the Land, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin’ Around the World. For Soarin’, there was a 4o” height requirement so we did a rider swap – Justin and LJ went (LJ loved it!), then I could skip the line and go by myself once they were done so someone was always with Vi. Vi really enjoyed Nemo so we rode it again while Justin and LJ waited in line for Soarin’.
Epcot doesn’t have a ton of toddler rides, but we enjoyed walking through World Showcase and grabbing snacks throughout the countries. There were a few shows we caught as we walked around – The Jammitors (three guys dressed up like janitors playing drums on garbage cans) and another culturally-specific drumming show in Japan, both of which the kids enjoyed. There’s also a pretty sizable model train display in Germany that LJ especially loved.
We also spent time in the ImageWorks play lab after riding Journey into Imagination and there is a big aquarium after the Nemo ride that the kids loved exploring.
We didn’t break this day up into two because Vi fell asleep in the stroller again and so I just hung out with her while LJ and Justin did Spaceship Earth – LJ wanted to ride it because it looked like a giant golf ball but Justin said LJ actually thought it was really boring once they were on it. We ended up leaving around 5 pm and got to say goodbye to Goofy on our way out!
We headed back to the hotel for dinner, and then the next morning we headed to the airport to catch our flight home. It was an exhausting, but very very fun vacation full of memories I will cherish for years!
A Few Random Notes:
-With the exception of the Rainforest Cafe, which we made a reservation for, we exclusively did mobile orders for meals. It was more convenient for us, because we could just order for when we were hungry rather than try to guess when we’d want to eat and make an advance reservation. If you do want to make reservations, make them EARLY! You can make them up to 60 days early I think and most places were booked when were were there.
-We did not pay for any character dining or character experiences. There weren’t as many characters out and about as Justin and I both remember from our childhoods (it used to be that you walk around and they were just roaming everywhere!) but we did get to see several in passing. We spotted Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Joy (from Inside Out) and Elsa (but dressed as the Frozen 2 Elsa, which Vi didn’t understand haha), as well as the characters in the Magic Kingdom parades. As mentioned before, Vi also did a princess meet and greet and saw Rapunzel and Tiana.
We also got to see a few of the characters in the character-dining restaurants as we passed by even though we didn’t actually eat the meal there (character meals are way more expensive than other meals). It was enough for us to feel like we got a good share of character sightings without paying extra money for them!
-We packed a ton of snacks in our luggage and took lots of snacks into the park each day. We also took our kids’ water bottles and filled them up at water refill stations – this saved us a lot of money on snacks and drinks in the park!
-I found this website incredibly helpful when planning our trip. They have a ton of very specific blog posts covering various situations and strategies for maximizing a Disney trip, and they had a toddler-specific one for each park that was huge in helping me plan our days.
-We did not try to do everything and kept this more low key. Our kids are so young, they don’t know the things they “missed,” they just know the things they did. LJ likes to try to avoid stepping on cracks because they’re “lava” – it takes longer to get places, but that’s ok. We just let it happen. We allowed time for breaks to look at random things or go back to do favorite things again. At this age, flexibility was really important for our family and that helped this be a really good trip full of great memories!
I am slowly getting back into the swing of things around here! January had us taking it easy – I didn’t do many projects, read many books, or post much of anything on the blog. We had a lot going on in our family and it was important to take a step back and just focus on other things that needed my attention. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this past weekend I started back up with projects: on Saturday I helped my sister lay flooring in her kitchen and on Sunday, I continued work on the guest room stencil. It has felt really good to get back into projects and I’m excited to get back into the blog as well, starting with one of my favorite things to post – the monthly book review!
In January I was able to read two books: a fun rom com and a twisty-turny thriller. I really enjoyed them both, so let’s dive in!
Henley’s professional dreams are on the brink of coming true: a director of marketing position is up for grabs at the cruise line she works for and she is on the short list. The only problem is the other contender is Graeme, the co-worker who has been making her life difficult since the moment he started working remotely with the company. To decide who gets the promotion, their boss sends them on a cruise to the Galapagos with a mission: draft a proposal on how to boost more bookings to this location. They’re assigned to the same cruise, which means that after bickering via email for years, they will finally meet each other face to face.
I saw a description that said this book is “The Hating Game meets The Unhoneymooners” and since I enjoyed both of those books I was immediately intrigued. Now having read the book, I would agree that it’s very much in line with those other books! It’s full of thoroughly enjoyable elements: fun and witty banter between the likeable main characters, a setting that gives you the travel bug, and some side characters adding interest and entertainment to the plot. I enjoy an enemies-to-lovers trope and came to love Henley and Graeme and their dynamic. I also appreciated some of the deeper themes of the book, specifically related to the workplace culture and female friendships. I kind of wished that I had saved it for summer because honestly, it would make for an excellent vacation/summer read but it was still fun to read even in January. There is a very small amount of language and I would say a moderate level of steam (more than a kiss, less than the open door scenes in The Hating Game or The Unhoneymooners). Overall, this one was a win for me and definitely ranks up there in rom coms!
Adam and Amelia have hit an extended rough patch in their marriage and after Amelia wins a weekend away at a restored church in Scotland, it seems like the getaway might be the last chance to save their marriage. But as soon as they arrive, things seem off. There is no host to be seen, the church is incredibly remote, and it starts to become evident that winning this trip was no coincidence. Will their marriage survive this weekend? Will they both survive this weekend?
I’ve never read a book by this author before but I’m already a fan after this thriller! The twists and turns felt like an absolute roller coaster: I went back and forth so many times trying to figure out what was going on and what the Adam and Amelia’s motivations were. I loved that the flashbacks to earlier times were shared in the form of anniversary letters written each year – it added a unique component to the writing and to figuring out the dynamic of the marriage. The characters are very flawed, and as a reader I sympathized with them in some aspects but also found them to be incredibly unlikeable in others. It made it hard to know who to “root for” or who to suspect if that makes sense, which just added to the twisty nature of the plot. I thought I had this book figured out multiple times, but I was still shocked (and at one point, even a little disturbed) by the revelations. It’s not gory or even really psychological, just truly a thriller from start to finish. I flew through it and definitely recommend!
After a lighter reading month in January, I’m excited to tackle my TBR list in earnest in February. As always, if you have any great recs, please send them my way!
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simplify the chaos 