Pregnancy: 35 Weeks

We are in the home stretch, finally.......with a big emphasis on the stretch part!!  I honestly don't know how my stomach is going to expand more in the next 5 weeks.  It's a little scary actually.  There have been times in the last few days that I swear his arm is going to come right through my skin!!  And the pressure on my belly button (which is still an innie) is unbelievable.  We were sitting on the couch the other night and B reached over me and brushed against my belly button accidentally......I literally screamed.  He had no idea what was happening, but he felt terrible.  Poor guy.  I'm sure I'm not the most pleasant person to be around lately.  The heat has been pretty bad for the past week and I am just feeling super pregnant and uncomfortable because of it.  At least we only have a few short weeks left of this!

Things are going well overall though.  We have been really really lucky with this pregnancy.  Despite my recent aches and pains and discomfort, I still can't complain too much.  At our last appointment, baby is currently head down (YAY) and my doctor feels that he is not likely to flip around prior to birth.....so we should be good to go for a "regular" delivery (I was going to say the "v" word, but for some reason it didn't feel right on a home-decor/DIY-related blog....and I thought it would open the flood gates for me to be waaay too expressive about this process in the coming weeks......so you're welcome!).  All in all though, the doc thinks that things are looking good.  Phew!

In other news, my family and friends threw me an AMAZING baby shower two weekends ago.  I honestly can't tell you how blessed we are to have such supportive, generous and thoughtful people in our lives.  We are really lucky!!  Our baby is going to be one very cozy, entertained and well-dressed little guy.  Oh, you wouldn't believe how cute some of the outfits and blankets and toys were!!  Let's just say that there were a lot of oohs and aahs in the room!  We also got a lot of wonderful handmade items that I know our son is going to cherish forever (well...let's be honest, he is going to probably spill things on it and spit up on it and generally wreak havoc on it, but his intentions will be good).  And I know that B and I will cherish it forever.  We are so grateful for everything and we truly feel lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family! 

Here are a few shots from the day (my mother-in-law took a lot more photos, but I don't have those from her yet.  These are just the ones that B captured on our camera at the end of the shindig.....



My lovely mom....isn't she adorable?

 And check out our kitchen we we got home from the shower.....

That was only the stuff that could fit in our car!  My awesome neighbor was nice enough to bring home the rest of the bigger items in her car (strollers, pack and play, play gym, etc.).  It is unbelievable!!  We just stared at the pile for a while and then decided to sort through it all (which also let Brian take a peek at everything) and then organize it all.  We ended up putting some things away in bins in his closet (6-12 mo. clothes and 3+ month toys), but the rest of it neatly placed on his bookshelf or in his dresser drawers (which I will definitely give you a sneak peek of tomorrow).
Other than finishing up a few projects in the nursery, though, and washing his clothes, we are pretty much ready for his arrival.  And by ready, I mean physically equipped with the necessary "things" that he will need (diapers, wipes, onesies, etc.).  As far as being mentally prepared....well...is anyone really?  We are incredibly excited to meet him, but there is definitely that twinge of nervousness about the whole thing too.  I mean, let's be honest, it's not an easy job.  But at the end of the day, I know that we are going to get through it together.  We have managed to tackle some pretty difficult projects together over the last year in this new house (which is obviously not the same as raising a baby), but we were able to work through the difficult times and we are better people and will be better parents for it.....I think/hope!

I've Got a New Way to Walk....Walk, Walk!

I have no idea where that song is from, but whenever I think about walkways (and especially my own), this song pops into my head.  Weird, right?  I honestly think it might be from an episode of Sesame Street....oy!

But enough trivia for the moment, let's get down to business.  So, as you have probably already guessed, this post has to do with my walkway.  I have been not-so-silently scheming and dreaming since we moved in to replace the uneven, rickety brick walkway that leads to our side door.  Not only is it an eyesore, but it is actually pretty dangerous to walk on at this point (since I haven't really seen my feet for a few weeks now).  The hubby and I have talked about getting it done before the little bundle of joy arrives, but we hadn't really planned much further than that.  Or so he thought.......

We had originally planned to go away for the fourth of july weekend, but I hadn't been feeling great towards the end of the week and we have been on the go so much that we decided to cancel.  And since we didnt' really have other plans lined up, I thought, why don't we tackle the walkway!  And by we, I mean him.....and my rockstar parents!  Trust me, I tried to help out, but everyone kept yelling at me to sit down and rest.  I know that I'm 8 months pregnant, but I hate sitting around and watching other people do work.  I like to get in the action and get my hands dirty!!!  So....instead of helping them with the walkway, my mom and I worked on weeding and planting (which she did all of since we've heard bad things about pregnancy and soil - I guess the chemicals in some fertilizers and soil can be really bad for unborn babies, so I stuck to yanking out weeds and trimming bushes). 

So here is what we started with on Saturday morning (Hi Mom!). 

The bricks really didn't bother me (from an asthetic perspective).  In fact, I took a drive around the neighborhood (since it was WAAY too hot this weekend to walk) and everyone in the neighborhood has brick walkways.  Either there was a sale on it when our houses were all built, or it is just the traditional Hingham style.  I'm not exactly sure, all I know is that the old, dirty, worn-out bricks that made up our existing walkway just weren't cutting it.  We considered reusing them in a different pattern once we re-leveled the ground, but after more thought, and a few trips to Home Depot to check out their patio stones, we realized that we ultimately wanted a change.  So, anyone that is looking for about a thousand bricks (there were some stacked up in the garage when we moved in as well), just let me know.  I'm actually thinking about putting them up on Craigslist to see if anyone bites.  I'm not sure what the going rate for bricks is these days, but maybe I'll just do a $__ + pickup deal and hope that someone wants to haul them away!! 

But back to the project!!  Let's fast forward to Monday night (yes, it took almost three full days of work to get er' done, but it was worth it).  Here is the "after" photo:

I love it!!  I can't tell you how happy I am with it.  What do you guys think?  I feel like it brightens up the area so much and the landscaping doesn't hurt to spruce it up either.  There is still more work to do (adding crushed stone along the foundation to keep out bugs and moisture, fixing a few of the trim pieces that are rotted out, replacing the molding around the door (since the current stuff is just not beefy enough for me.....nor is it tall enough, and replacing the steps).  After we started laying the stones, we realized that we didn't love our steps anymore since 1) they don't match the new walkway and 2) they are really dingy and starting to chip around the edges.  So, I called a local mason and he is coming later this week or next to re-face both the front and side-door steps with some limestone to match the new walkway.  YAY!!  So, once that is done, I will do a full before and after post with a little tutorial on patio/stone-laying (since it was our first time tackling a walkway).  I might drag B in to help out with that post, though, since he honestly did most of the work!!  I can't even begin to take credit for this one...they wouldn't even let me pick up the individual stones...haha!! 

But, while the boys were busy doing the heavy-lifting, my mom and I cleared out the jungle that was taking over the front of our house (and the side next to the walkway).  When we bought the house, we learned that the previous owner was an avid gardener.  Unfortunately, though, she became rather sick and wasn't able to maintain the outside of the house (or the inside, to be honest) for the last few years, so it was pretty unkempt when we moved in last year.  The good thing is, though, that there was a lot of great plants to work with around the house, they just needed a little love.  So love we gave them.....tough love.

Here is the before picture of the front of the house (SCARY!!):

I can't believe we had let it get so bad.  We had talked about tackling the landscaping, but with a whole acre of weeding and edging, it just seemed too much to handle.  So, instead of tackling the whole thing this weekend, we just decided to focus on the front of the house (since we were sprucing up the walkway anyway).

Here is where we ended up on Monday evening:

Again, we are not totally finished with the makeover (we are going to add a hydrangea to the front of the walkway in that empty corner, and add the crushed stone along the house), but it is definitely an improvement from before.  I was grinning from ear to ear as I watered the plants on Monday night after the dust had settled, literally, and everything was picked up.  My parents are seriously amazing.  They stuck it out with us all weekend and helped us push through.  In fact, most of the time, they were still going strong while B and I were sitting in the shade taking a breather!!  I have mentioned it in the past, but I just want to reiterate that we couldn't get done HALF of the work that we do on our house without their help.  They are our own little extreme home makeover team and we are really lucky to have them around!!!  So, if you are reading this, thanks guys!!  We owe you!!

So that's it for our little weekend transformation.  Hopefully we will have the steps finished in the next few days and the crushed stone all laid along the foundation.  I will definitely report back as progress is made.  But for now, you can find me standing out on my new little walkway just taking it all in!

1 Year Later: Lessons Learned and Plans for the Future

As I mentioned on Friday, we are currently celebrating the 1 year anniversary of blogging here at Simple.Beautiful.Home!  Time flies when you're having fun, right?  It has been a great year and I am so happy that I took a risk and started this little blog.  My initial intent was to utilize it as a web journal of our house transformation, but it has turned into so much more than that.  I have been exposed to so many other great blogs through this process and I feel connected to a whole new world of people.  I feel like I have friends out there that I have never even met!!  It's wonderful!  I wouldn't give it up for the world.

In fact, I am hoping to expand this blog even more in the coming year. 

Here are just a few of my goals for year # 2:

* Blog more often - right now, I am having a hard time squeezing it in with a busy work schedule, but I'm hoping to make more time for this in the future.  I have so much more to share with you guys, so I just need to keep up with all of my thoughts (or write them down before I forget them).  I currently do at least a post a week, but I would love to start doing 3-5 each week.  Wish me luck....

* Visit and reach out to more blogs - I try to look at everyone else's blog each day (at least the ones that I am connected to on the blog feed), but often times I only get through a handful before I have to switch to something else.  I really just need to make a more concerted effort to take the time to reach out.  I am always happy that I did.  Not only am I able to offer some encouragement to my fellow blogging friends (which I love to do), but I gain so much inspiration from everyone that it is overwhelming at times (and adds more projects and ideas to my never-ending to-do list).  It's a total win-win!!

* Document my projects better - I often find that I forget to take a before picture when I start to dive into a DIY project.  My intentions are there to write about the transformation, but a before (and during) picture are absolutely crucial to get the full before and after effect!!  And who doesn't love before and afters?  It is so inspiring to see what other people are capable of.

* Update the after photos on the house tour page - we have done so much more to the house since I first updated the house tour page, so I really need to give it a refresher!! 

* Add a baby page - I know this is a home/design/renovation/DIY type blog, but the new baby is going to be a big part of simple.beautiful.home, so I am thinking that I will designate a separate page for anyone that wants to oogle pictures of our little one (*ahem*...that's you, Mom)!!  I will keep you updated on any DIY-related projects for him and his nursery, but all of the random glamour shot photos will be designated to their own separate space!! 

* Ramp up my link party activity - I love participating in linky parties, but I always seem to forget to do it before they are closed.  My goal for the next year is to spend some time spreading the word about projects, and maybe even host a linky or two on here.  In fact, maybe I'll add a separate page for all of the link parties so that I remember which ones happen on which days.  I have seen this done on a few blogs before and I think its a great idea.  It's an awesome way to spread the word about your own projects, but its also a lot of fun to see what other people are working on too!!  Again, so much inspiration out there!!  I can't stand it!!! 

Other than that, I think I'm just going to keep plugging away!   I'm excited to see what the next year holds!  Oh, and the most important thing that I wanted to say today was a big ol' thank you to each of you followers out there for all your support and suggestions and encouragement over the last year.  Reading your comments and hearing from you via email honestly makes my day, so I'm very grateful to each and every one of you!  Thanks for coming along for the ride.  I hope you stick around to see what else is in store!

And speaking of what's in store, we have a lot to share with you in the next few weeks.....guest bedroom update, new DIY walkway installation and landscaping, hallway gallery of frames, new windows installed, nursery rug choice, and so much more!!!  I am slowly checking things off my to-do list and it feels great.  Can't wait to share it all with you guys in the next few days!!  Stay tuned...

Happy Blogiversary!

YAY!!  Happy 1-Year Anniversary Simple.Beautiful.Home!!  I can't believe I have been doing this for a year already.  Time has flown by since we bought the new house, and I imagine it will only speed up more once the little one comes along!  I haven't really taken time to think about resolutions or goals for the new year (since this kind of snuck up on me), but I will brainstorm this weekend and do a little recap post next week! 

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!  Enjoy the BBQs, beer (have one for me, please), pool parties and fireworks!!  I have lots of updates for you in the next few weeks.  This nesting thing is really starting to kick in so I am flying through projects faster than I can write about them.  So stay tuned!!  Have a safe and fun holiday everyone!!!

IKEA finds

As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on taking a little trip to IKEA last week.  Well, I finally made it there and found some really great things.  Mostly stuff for the nursery, but also a little something for the recently painted guest bedroom (which I can't wait to show you)!!  In the course of setting up the nursery, we have used the guest bedroom as our landing pad for everything that doesn't have a "place" yet in the nursery.  The car seat, high chair, pack & play, etc., etc. are all just hanging out on the floor in there, so it doesn't look all pretty and blog-worthy just yet.  Maybe once we weed through the piles and piles of presents from the shower this past weekend (which was FABULOUS by the way - thanks Mom, Chris and Mom-in-law and the rest of my friends and family for their generosity.....you guys are TOO MUCH!), we will get more organized with all the baby stuff.  My goal is to have the guest bedroom all set up and ready to go by next week so that we can just focus on the nursery from here on out.  So I will keep you updated on that progress as soon as I get to it!!

But back to IKEA.

After years of shopping here, I have obtained a few rules that keep me sane and relatively focused while I'm in there; (1) do NOT walk through the showroom unless I am looking for furniture (if I even start going through it, I get sucked in by all of the cute room set-ups and get distracted from my ultimate shopping goal), (2) only go there on weeknights, otherwise you will be forever lost in a sea of people and carriages trying to navigate their way through the two-story warehouse maze, and (3) have a list (if I go in there un-armed, I always end up getting things that I don't really need (which is fun sometimes, but costly as well)). 

So, based on my rules, I went in last Thursday night with my list:

(1) silver towel rods for the nursery book slings
(2) two frames for DIY nursery artwork
(3) curtains for the guest bedroom

I stuck to my list pretty well, but I also found these as I was heading towards the checkout line:

Aren't they the cutest little trash bins?  Or even toy bins?  I picked up 1 white, 1 yellow and 1 navy one (since those are the nursery colors).  I will probably only keep 1 or 2 in the nursery, but I couldn't decide which color looked best at the time.  After bringing them home, I'm leaning towards the white and the navy.  The yellow is just a little too bright for me....and if we ever decide to change the accent color in the room, I would like this little trash can to be versatile.  They were $14.99 each (check them out here - Knodd Bin w/ Lid), so I also don't want to spend $45 on little bins until I know that I will use them for something in the room.  I can definitely see myself using one of them next to the changing table/dresser as a diaper pail (since we didn't register for the diaper genie or anything like that), but I'm not sure what I would use the 2nd one for...or where we would put it.  The room is a decent size, but there definitely isn't a lot of unused space left over.  I will have to see them in the room (and maybe post some pictures for your opinion) so that I can decide what to keep and what to return.  And if you can think of a use for the second one, I'm all ears!!

As far as the rest of the shopping trip goes, these guys ended up in my car as well:

Grundtal Towel Rail - $14.99 (I bought two of them,

but I might only do one book sling considering the space issue in the room....TBD)

Ribba Frames - $9.99 (I bought two of these as well for some

fun DIY artwork in the nursery....more on that later) 

Ritva Curtains - $29.99 (I bought two of these too - man, it's like Noah's Ark around here....

for the guest  bedroom).  I have the white ones in most of my other rooms,

but I went with beige this time around since it goes better with the

color scheme in the room (can't wait to show you)!!

So that's it for my shopping adventure.  I managed to make it out of there unharmed and unscathed, but since I have a few returns to make (and potentially more purchases....*ahem* meatballs), I will definitely be back there soon, so I'll update you with that trip as well.  Have any of you guys been to IKEA lately?  Did you find WAAAY to many cute things to walk away from?  Any fun DIY ideas in store for your purchases?  I would love to hear all about it.  And of course, I will be back with updates for you on the guest bedroom, the nursery progress (including my own DIY projects), and some shower details. 

Pregnancy: 32 weeks

I am about half-way through my 32nd week of pregnancy and I'm feeling pretty good.  Definitely more tired than usual, but otherwise no complaints.  The only big change since my last update at 30 weeks is that I have started to experience the "nesting" instinct.  BADLY!  I've heard a few friends mention it in the past, but I never fully understood it until I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the floors on Sunday night because nothing was "clean enough".  It was a completely irrational feeling.  I literally felt that if I didn't organize and clean and move just about everything in my house that I was not fulfilling my duties prior to his birth.  Crazy, right?  But from what I've read in the baby books, this is totally normal behavior.  Regardless, I still felt a little crazy while it was happening (and even more so now that I'm confessing it to all of you).  Have any of you ever done this before?  I would love to hear about it if you have.  Maybe I will feel a little less strange knowing that other people out there were rearranging their tupperware collection to "prepare" for the baby's arrival (since he or she cares AT ALL about how organized your cupboards are). 

At least I know that one person out there is going through the same thing.  Jen over at Home In the Country (which is a fabulous blog by the way) is a few weeks ahead of me and just posted the other day about her crazy tendencies in the final weeks of her pregnancy.  If you haven't checked out her blog before, I highly suggest it.  She is always doing or creating something fun and interesting.  My most recent fave on her blog was this post about how to make book slings for the nursery.  I am definitely going to follow this tutorial in the coming weeks for our own nursery.  In fact, I might even be making an IKEA trip tonight to check out the metal towel rods that she used.  It just so happens that IKEA is right next to Costco and Michaels (dangerous, I know), so I can't help but take a quick peek whenever I'm stocking up on paper towels and toilet paper right next door.  Although, let's be honest, IKEA is not a quick-browse kind of place.  It is like the bermuda triangle for shoppers.  I wouldn't be surprised if some people use their GPS INSIDE the store!!  If you watch people exiting the building at the end of their shopping journey, they are totally discheveled and their eyes are glassed over.  It is like people get sucked into this time warp and they're not sure how long they've been in there, or in some cases, how to even get out!  I'll update you on my finds tomorrow though (if I end up doing more than window shopping tonight and make it out of there unscathed)!  Wish me luck!

But enough rambling.  I really just wanted to give you a quick update on how the pregnancy is going so far.  Less than 8 weeks left until d-day!!  YAY!  We have my shower coming up this weekend (YAY to that too!!!  Can't wait to see everyone!!) and then a 3D/4D ultrasound scheduled for July 8th (with a few random doc appointments scattered around in there too).  Has anyone done the 3D one before?  My brother and sister-in-law did for their twins and the pictures are AMAZING!  It's a little bit weird to see that kind of detail of your unborn child, but since we don't have another ultrasound scheduled (and may not get another one unless there is a complication in the next few weeks), I wanted to make sure we had a few more glamour shots of the little guy before he arrives.  Unfortunately its not covered by insurance, but I attended a baby expo a few weeks back that offered a 10% discount on the package....so, it's not terribly expensive.  And, to have some cute pics (and even a DVD) of him hanging out in the womb is pretty priceless to me at this point. 

In the meantime, and if you need me, I'll be color-coding my spice rack.....

Nursery Update: Furniture

It is with GREAT pleasure that I introduce to you our new nursery furniture.....

Dresser:

This is the piece that started it all.  One day when I was browsing scouring craigslist for a dresser that I could refinish myself (I was a little more ambitious back then), I came across an ad stating that the seller would paint-to-suit any dresser to your liking.  There was a picture of the dresser below included and I was instantly smitten.  I loved the scalloped bottom and the slight curve of the legs.  It had just the right amount of character and personality.....AND it was the perfect height and width for our space (and could even double as a "changing table" when necessary).  Needless to say, I was drooling on my keyboard.  I had to have it.  I emailed her immediately and she got right back to me.  It was $200 for everything (the piece itself as well as the work to refinish it....sanding, priming, painting and poly-ing....and even distressing if you wished).  I thought it was a great deal so I said, "I'll take it!" 

We picked out a color together based on the Pottery Barn glider that I already purchased on craigslist a while back (read more about that here).  After much deliberation, we ultimately decided on Pure White by Sherwin Williams.  It is white with a little yellow in it, which looks the most like pottery barn furniture.  She had it color-matched to Benjamin Moore's Natura line.  She will use any type of paint that you want, though, I just requested that she use a no-VOC option since it was going to be on nursery furniture.  I'm sure people use regular paint all the time in nurseries, but I wanted to be extra careful just in case.  She also used, at my request, SafeCoat Acrylaq (a low-VOC non-toxic alternative to polyurethane) as the top coat on the furniture so that if he gets hungry and starts to chew on the furniture (I know it sounds crazy, but I've definitely heard of kids chewing on the wood of their crib), that it would at least be non-toxic.

Enough of my rambling though, here is the transformation:

Not only did she do an AMAZING job refinishing the piece (since you probably don't notice in the before picture, but it had a lot of scratches and dings and wear and tear on the top), but her husband also replaced the bottom of all the drawers so they are sturdy and changed out the old knobs for new silver ones.  I am BEYOND thrilled with her work.  

My initial plan was to have her refinish the dresser and then I would tackle the crib and maybe even a bookcase in my "spare time."  Haha.  After thinking about it more, though, I realized that it probably wouldn't be feasible for me to do all the work myself, nor would it really be safe to use chemical strippers and things like that.  So I went out on a limb and asked her if she had ever done a crib before.  She said she hadn't, but that she would be willing to take it on....so I dropped that off too and had her work her magic.    

So without further ado, here's a little before and after action.

The before picture is not the same exact crib (the Legacy convertible crib models changed in the last 5 years since my brother and sister-in-law bought them for their twins), but its the same color and a similar style so you get the idea of the finish.  And as you can see, it was already an absolutely GORGEOUS piece of furniture when they generously gave it to us a few months ago.  We just thought that it would be easier to have all the furniture finished the same way rather than try to match the wood from a few different pieces as we were shopping around.  I am not a huge fan of everything being too matchy-matchy in my house (since I haven't done that in any other rooms) but for some reason I thought it would be nice to have a unified color (in this case, white) to complement the blue walls.  If you are reading this, John and Chris, thank you SOOOOOOO much again for giving us this crib. We are so lucky!!

And she did a phenomenal job on it too.  I can only imagine how painstaking it was to go over each and every spindle/rung with coat after coat of primer, paint and then poly.  OH MY!!  I'm just glad it wasn't me.  Haha.  She actually said to us when we picked it up that she would never do another crib again, but that she was happy to have been able to do it for us.  And for only $200, I think we ended up with a pretty amazing deal!
So, then all we need at this point was the bookcase.

During one of our many conversations, I mentioned to her that I was looking for a bookcase to refinish for the room as well.  I didn't think anything of it again until I got an email from her the next day saying that she found one on craigslist that was solid wood (which, believe it or not, is really rare for bookcases these days....unless you want to pay a fortune).  I took a look at the photo and checked the dimensions in our room and said "yes, please!"  And just like a fairy godmother, she went out to pick it up and brought it back to her shop for refinishing!  She even suggested/offered to paint the back of the bookcase a different color so that it would add some dimension to the piece.  GENIOUS!!  I had thought about maybe wallpaper or some fun contact paper for it in the future, but I probably wouldn't have gotten around to it for a while....so this was perfect.  I sent her the color (Wildflower Honey by Behr) that I wanted and she went to town.   

Here is the before and after:

And for only $200 (including finding it on craigslist, going out to get it and all the work she did to refinish it), it was also an amazing deal!  If you ever need a piece of furniture or would like to have an existing piece refinished and you are in the MA/NH area, you should absolutely contact her.  Here is her information:

TRANSFORMATIONS

Owner: Lynn Kennedy

Email: jlkennedy6[at]verizon[dot]net

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/people/Transformations2

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002088753862

I would highly recommend her to ANYONE!  And not just because she does amazing work, she is also a wonderful person to work with.  She helped me with my color choices along the way and made some great suggestions, plus she is just a sweetheart.  If I ever need any other work commissioned in the future, I will absolutely go to her!

Overall, I am totally in love with the furniture and really happy with the way the nursery is turning out.  Obviously I am biased because it is my son's nursery furniture, but it came out exactly as I had dreamed it would.  And as a little reminder, here are some of the inspiration photos that I had in mind when I was deciding on colors for the walls and furniture a few months back.  

And here is the Serena and Lily fabric that I'm thinking about using for the crib skirt.  It isn't cheap, at $40/yd, but hopefully I won't need more than 2 yards total for the project.  I had also originally planned to include a chambray-striped bumper (similar to the striped fabric in the Serena and Lily Graham collection below) but after trying it in the crib, we realized that it didn't fit very well.  All of the ties wouldn't fit around the rails (since the four corners are quite chunky), so it didn't fit snugly against all sides.  At the end of the day, I would feel really uncomfortable having the extra fabric all bunched up in his crib.  A few people have already warned us about the dangers of bumpers (although I have done further research on the subject and felt comfortable using one anyway), but I'd rather not compound an already potentially dangerous situation by putting something into the crib that doesn't fit properly.  So, no crib bumper for us....at least for now.   

But we are still planning to do a yellow crib sheet and the mosaic print crib skirt (from the fabric collection above).  I just need to bite the bullet and order the fabric.  I think my hesitation has been that the price is so high that I've been hoping to stumble across a similar fabric at a local store or somewhere else online.  I found these two options from Spoonflower.com,  Blue Diamonds and Bohemian Mod.  I like them both, but they just aren't the same as the Serena and Lily one.  Ugh....I don't know what to do.  What do you think?  Should I suck it up and pay the $80 for the fabric I want, or continue searching for an OK alternative?

I finally feel like the nursery is starting to come together.  We have a lot of accesorizing left to do and some fun projects up our sleeves (think DIY artwork, book slings and fabric bunting), but at least the shell is in place.  I'm really happy with the way it is headed!

What are your thoughts?  Should I go for the expensive fabric or no?  Have you done any projects where you tried to cut corners and wish you hadn't?  Or do you have any cheap alternative options to share? 

Next up: rug search.  Stay tuned for that!

And a very happy father's day to all of you dads out there (even though I'm pretty sure I have a female-dominated audience..haha)!  Have a great weekend everyone.