August's Nursery

 You know, August's room is probably my favorite in the whole house.  The color is a medium gray (Benjamin Moore's 'Ozark Shadows') that pops with white and yellow accents.  Although these photos come across a little dark, the one window in the nursery lets in plenty of light during the day.  There is a lovely pink crape myrtle right outside, and we have a great view of the rest of our cul-de-sac.
We didn't hang too much art on the walls because we didn't give ourselves time to get it together, but I actually like that it's not cluttered.  When August starts playing with toys and sleeping in here (he's currently in a bassinet at the foot of our bed), there will be enough clutter on the floor!

This is the view from the door: gray/white chevron curtains from PB Kids, kitchen island/changing table from Crate & Barrel, and, of course, a Diaper Genie.

I love that our rocking chair and dresser have connections to both my and JP's childhood.  I've already gone on about the chair here, and the dresser was in JP's nursery!  I did spray paint the knobs yellow to give a bit of contrast.
BTW, that floor pouf is from Target, and its thick knit is so comfy rest my feet on during August's night feedings.

 My almost-cousin Laura made the cute clothespin wall art for my baby shower (so adorable!), and the colors couldn't be more perfect for the room.  The art below is of St. Augustine, and was a gift from my mom.  How perfect that it greets you as you walk in the room!

 JP's childhood teddy bear is in the middle; he insists that August will love it as much as he did.  So far, they're about the same size.

 There is a full bathroom attached to the nursery, which will make bathtime so much easier when August grows up.  (Right now, he gets baths in an infant bath in the kitchen sink.)

 There's no closet in the bathroom to store his toiletries, so I picked up this little kitchen rack from IKEA over the summer.  I love this pop of turquoise, plus has plenty of room for bath toys (eventually), baby towels, and shampoo!

 This changing station is absolutely perfect.  There are literally hundreds of diapers and wipes in the drawers and behind the cabinet doors, so they're hidden but easily accessible.  It's also the perfect height, and we just purchased a changing pad to screw into the top.  The panda painting was done by Patricia/Abuela, and August loves looking at its contrasting colors during his diaper changes.

Although August isn't sleeping in his crib yet, it's all ready for his naps when we start getting him on a schedule next week.

How adorable is this little mobile Patricia picked up for August's room?  I love these knitted sheep, and the colors are so fun!  I think my favorite is the fuzzy blue sheep.

And, of course, here's another shot of August's library.

All in all, this room has come together beautifully.  It's exactly what I wanted: a few colors (gray, yellow, white, black) with lots of textures and patterns (knitted, chevron, stripes, tribal).  The space will (hopefully) grow with August, and will be easy to switch up with future babies (!!).

Recipe for a Chalkboard Pantry Door

Remember a few months ago when I took you on a little tour of our new home?  I shared this photo of our kitchen, which is totally lovely and spacious; I easily spend the most time in this area.  As much as I love the pantry behind that white door slightly to the left of center, it felt bland.  Boring.  The accents in the rest of the kitchen are stainless steel and black, so the white just stood out like a sore thumb.  I've been lusting over dark interior doors, but couldn't get JP down with a medium gray (using some of the leftover paint from some of the rooms in the house) door.
When my mom visited in March, she suggested painting the door with chalkboard paint; that woman is a genius.  Once I got JP's seal of approval, it was go time!

I followed this tutorial from Young House Love, which only took about 3 hours (including dry time).  First, I wiped down the door with some degreaser, since it is in the kitchen and subject to lots of dirty hands and food stuff.  Then JP removed the door from the hinges and moved it to the basement for me; it kept Mia away from the wet paint, and I could open the windows and door down there to get some ventilation.

I used a liquid deglosser, some thick latex gloves, a few rags, and a screwdriver.
Oh, and the paint, some Frog Tape, a small foam roller, and 2" angled paint brush that didn't make it into the picture.  This door project used about 1/5 of a pint of chalkboard paint from Rustoleum.  You might be able to get away with spray paint, but I didn't want to run the risk of drips.

Don't forget to remove the hardware!  That's what the screwdriver is for.

Once it was downstairs, I donned some lovely latex gloves and used a liquid deglosser to finish prepping the door for paint.  It was really easy to apply: just wear gloves and use some old rags to rub the door down.  After that, I taped off the edges so the paint didn't drip all down the sides.  

Then, start painting!  I had to do 4 coats to really cover all my bases; this is only the first one.  Each coat took about 30-45 minutes to dry. 

A few hours later, after the hardware was reattached, the door was ready to be rehung!  I absolutely love how it looks- such an easy and inexpensive update in this very well-visited room.  All in all, including supplies, it cost less than $35.  

Here's the same view as the original photo; it gives the kitchen a bit of depth and playfulness.

There's a little jar of chalk by the door, so JP leaves me messages like this one:

He's pretty cute.  

Circle-y Blue Paintings

I have had so many people asking me, "Haley, how do you make circle-y blue paintings?  I keep googling how to make them, and I just can't find out how to do it."  

Not really.  But here is how you do it anyway:

Buy two gallery-wrapped canvasses.  24x24 inches.  Also buy some puffy paint and acrylic paint.  I bought red puffy paint and two shades of blue acrylic paint.  You really only need the little bottles of acrylic.  

I traced circles on the canvas using different-sized round things (pot lids and the like).  Then I traced sloppy circles and designs around those outlines using the puffy paint.  I really wanted to have a raised pattern, so I laid it on pretty thick.  

I just let that dry, and then painted over that with the acrylic paint and sponge brushes, so there were visible brush strokes.  

And that's it!  I originally thought that the maybe the acrylic paint would cover the color of the puffy paint, which was the original goal, but the red puffy paint showed through, which I actually like the look of!  

Please don't judge that the bed is not made.  I have more important things to do.  Here's the thing, though, our comforter is red and blue, and the paintings match perfectly.  Matt loves them, I love them, they only cost about 20 bucks (the canvas was on saaaale!).  

And now you know how to make circle-y blue paintings.  You're welcome!!

Our Paint Colors!

Oh, I had such a good time with in Savannah over last weekend!  I can't wait to share the pictures with you; seriously, we had a good-looking group who loooves to pose.  You'll enjoy them on Friday!

In the meantime, I have no new recipe to share with you this Monday morning.  How about an update on the Georgia move?

Last Monday was moving day!  Unfortunately, I am utterly useless in this endeavor because lifting heavy items is a big no-no until the churro makes its appearance.  We went with a moving company that is very thorough with their packing technique and wraps everything up with a gazillion layers.  This is obviously great for our items, but does mean that it took them from 9:30-6pm to get our unit all packed!  JP and I spent the day taking turns walking Mia just to get outside; there was really nothing for us to do inside without our books, internet, even chairs to sit on.

We drove down to Atlanta on Monday evening and Tuesday, and are staying with JP's parents here in the city until our house is move-in ready.  Theoretically, we could have moved in last week, but wanted to re-do the carpet and interior paint before our stuff gets in.  On Wednesday, we agonized over paint colors and carpet selections before finally making a decision we're both really happy with.

The main portion of the house (downstairs and our bedroom) is Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter and Edgecomb Grey, the fourth and fifth colors on this chip.  They're warm greys that should be really easy to decorate with, and wear well throughout the years.

You can see how much lighter the pewter is than the original bedroom color; that strip of camel on the wall is what the old owners had.  Now the room has a lighter, calmer feel.  Plus, the old color is almost exactly what was in our old space, and it was time for a change!

The ceiling is painted BM's Dove Wing, which is a super-soft grey that's almost white.  It helps make the room feel a little bigger without the starkness of WHITE.  It used to be a really dark brown that just made everything feel like it was coming down on your head; not a good vibe for the bedroom.

I love the nursery!  We're going with grey walls, which we'll accent with yellow and white.  This is BM's Ozark Shadow, and I love that we can switch out the accent colors for our future babies (!!) while using the same base.  This is actually the smallest room upstairs, so it can handle a slightly darker palette.  

These built-ins will be incredibly useful in the family room, but were painted a really heavy brown.  We lightened it up and matched the trim throughout the rest of the house with white paint, and removed a few extraneous shelves, as well as an arch connecting two of the taller shelves (it was about 3 feet over the fireplace, and made the room feel much smaller).  

After choosing our colors, I felt like Mrs. Blandings.  This scene is priceless.

So that's the progress currently being made!  JP's started work, so I'm spending the week getting our random other things in order: cable, linens for our new mattress, signing up for a library card...you know, the necessities.  I'll post updates throughout this process so you can see how our new life is coming together.  It definitely feels like we're making grown-up decisions, and I may be asking for some opinions down the road!

House Tour

Can I take you on a little house tour?  A few things have changed since the last time I showed you our little abode.

My very patient fiance shrugged his shoulders and kissed my cheek when I brought home yet another owl.  This one is from West Elm, and I absolutely adore him.  His name is Winfred.

Our new(ish) runner.  It's difficult to find a rug that both JP and I like, but this one is awesome!  Plush and bohemian without being stuffy.  I especially love the colors.  Hi to our original owl holding the umbrellas, Humphrey!

We moved the bookshelves that were acting as our bedside tables.  The desk on my side is a gift from my wonderful father; I sanded off the old paint and updated it with this blue.  It pops, no?

JP is using an old trunk that also has some of our linens inside.
The bookshelves are now inside of the office, and we actually have lots of books on them!  What a novel (ha!) idea.

We put some of our books in the office, freeing up the shelves in the living room.  It does look less crowded, but I'm not sure if I'm as crazy about the silver accents between the books.  We'll see if it grows on me.

What do you think?

Espresso

Well, we painted our guest bathroom together.  And lived to tell the tale.

Our guest bathroom has needed a touch-up since we moved in last October; a handyman painted a corner the wrong color when fixing a baseboard, and it's bugged me for months!  

The nice thing about the room is that there's a huge mirror spanning most of one wall, and lots of lights above the mirror, resulting in a room that looks much bigger than it actually is.  Thanks to the forethought of the first guy who lived there, it's one of those special cases where it can handle being painted a really dark color.  So we went for it: espresso brown.  Or chocolate.  Whatever.  JP and I were pretty excited about it.

But first, we had to tape off the borders (using Frog Tape) and prime the walls.  We did that one weekend, and finished the paint job last weekend, when we had more time to devote to two coats of paint.

Let me say, I'm very impressed with the visual knockout of the new color.  It really gives the room some much-needed depth, and the marble countertops now pop against the walls, rather than blend in.  

The best part is that JP and I survived a house project together!  No raised voices, no issues with techniques.. he even let me listen to Katy Perry and Adele while we painted.  Now that's a good man.

How do you like this shot of us in our comfy clothes?  We like to hang out at home in our bum clothes; please, withhold any judgment.  

New favorite house things!

Our new home is slowly, but surely, coming together!  John Paul and I have been living together for three and a half years, and already have a lot of stuff we love.  This time around, we're taking our time and getting pieces we love and will stand the test of time.
Since we moved in, we've received some lovely gifts and filled in space with stuff we've owned for a while.  Want to see some of my favorites?

Cute umbrella stand from Mom for Christmas.  It's in the foyer, and perfectly adorable!

 The bookshelves above the TV in the living room are now totally full of colorful books, and stacks of old magazines fill in the awkwardly sized shelves on the bottom.  The look has come together well!

Cute and practical magnetic frame for putting recipes and note up on in the kitchen.  Thanks, Karen!  Right now it has our meals for the week so we don't forget what we bought all the groceries for.

Lovely desk from Patricia!  It really pulls the room together, doesn't it?

I love my new little shabby chic vignette on the window sill.  That's a copy of Shakespeare on top of a dictionary from the 50s.  The phone is a gift, too!  Great taste, Grandma.

Here's the little piggy bank from Summer's birthday; I painted it myself!  Haley sent the handmade postcard to cheer me up, and I smile every time I look at it.  The framed print is from a date JP and I went on our first summer together, and the candle snuffer is from my mom.
My favorite thing about our home is that so many pieces remind me of people I love.  It's wonderful to be surrounded by sweet memories!

Casa Shelton-Diego, Pt. 2

Slowly but surely, our home is coming together.  Boxes are being thrown away, rugs are being bought, and paintings are being hung.   We even had people over for brunch this weekend!  A few more peeks...

The dining room is just off the kitchen; how much do you love our red chairs?!  They're superfun, and help break up the neutral wall colors throughout the space.

Our couch.  It's phenomenally comfortable, about 3 feet wide...and 92 inches long.  We were able to move it out of our old place easily, and I should have known something would give when we moved in to the new abode.  Sure enough, it wouldn't even fit in the elevator (which is only 82 inches high).  We now live on the 6th floor, and the loading dock is on P1 (below the ground floor).  John Paul and I were able to carry it up to the 3rd floor before I had to call for help.  Luckily, our friend Mark was on his way home from an interview in Georgetown and was gracious enough to roll up his sleeves and help out with the last 3 flights.  Then, he and John Paul spent 20 minutes getting it through our awkward hallway and into the living room.
Needless to say, that couch isn't going anywhere.

The office has officially been dubbed John Paul's space, and he put this funky assortment together.  The chest holds his record player, globe, and the head was a trash room find (one man's trash...).

 He's done a great job of organizing the bookshelves in the office.  We still don't have a desk; hopefully this won't look so full when he finds one he likes!

Look!  No more boxes!

These bookshelves used to be in the living room, and John Paul had the great idea of using them as bedside tables in the new bedroom.  It works wonderfully!  He flipped the fourth shelf down, so it sticks out instead of in, and it comfortably rests a stack of library books and water; all of my etiquette books and an engraving by my great-grandfather have a happy home next to me.

John Paul made his own bedside lamp.  As you can see, he's a Scotch man.

One of my favorite photographs and perfumes sit atop my dresser.  My family always makes me smile!

Can I close with one more of the living room?  The light that comes in the evening is just beautiful; it's the perfect place to unwind with a glass of wine.  Or two.  Hey, there's no judgment here.