Category: Projects

The 4-6 Weeks Project (Week One)

I did this project the last time I was pregnant, too. The idea is to take a daily photo in the 4-6 weeks before the new baby comes, celebrating our time together as a family of four, and eventually I’ll turn the series into a keepsake book for Eleanor and August. Last time I started 4 weeks from my due date, thinking I might go to 42 weeks like I did with Eleanor, but then August came a few days early. This time I’ve started 6 weeks out, and hopefully baby number three won’t turn this into The 8 Weeks Project!

{ Week One • Week Two • Week Three • View All }

Six weeks from your new little brother’s due date. Six or so weeks from becoming a family of five. Eleanor, you talk about the baby constantly, offering to share your bed & getting excited about how we’ll have so much to do because we’ll get to teach him everything. August, you mostly just like to bonk into mama’s big belly!

You both had fun making these paper kitties before bed tonight, & then you tried to have a sleepover in August’s room (as we have been doing a lot lately while working on the hallway). It ended in tears with Eleanor back in her room after August told her she was “fired from making paper cats EVER EVER AGAIN.”

Eleanor, you carried a rock with you to meet Sir Topham Hatt at our first “Day Out with Thomas” two years ago. This year, you made it into what must now be a tradition, and August, you got in on it too. You guys rock.

After a Thomas-filled day yesterday, you both had renewed interest in your toy trains. We made a huge track on the floor of the newly opened-up hallway, adding bridges and making everything connect. It was so cute to hear the stories you make up for the different engines! Pretty sure there was a wedding involved at one point.

We have a desk in the playroom, but you both gravitate toward spreading everything out on the floor instead. Mama’s happy to oblige, even if it is getting harder for her to sit down there with you as her tummy grows!

When mama started this photo project, she hoped to get at least a few pictures with both of you in them. She thought it might not be easy, but really, you two are together more often than not. Eleanor and August: siblings and best buddies. And soon you’ll have another pal to play with!

August, ever since you were little, you’ve been into cars and trucks — basically, anything with wheels. Monster trucks have been a big hit for a long time now, and your love for them doesn’t seem to be waning anytime soon. I wonder if your little brother will be the same way.

August 25, 2014
Teal for the Entryway?

I like the way open-concept homes look but I prefer to live in a house with separate rooms, and Victorians are certainly known for having lots of rooms. Ours has the entryway, double parlor, and dining room all open to each other with wide doorways (the pocket doors of which are nearly always open). If you sit in the center of our teal sofa, you could see all four rooms, and into the kitchen too.

I like thinking about the design for the first floor as a whole, since you do see multiple rooms at once. The dining room will likely get Fornasetti’s Chiavi Segrete wallpaper once we can afford to do it. (The nursery and second floor renovation is getting top priority right now.) It would look a little something like this.

Now that both parlors have been painted and I know what’s likely going in the dining room, I’ve been trying to decide on a color for the entryway. The window and door face East, but the porch and large tree out front block a lot of the light for much of the day. And there’s a whole lot of oak paneling and trim. I’ve had it in my head all along that I want to bring in more teal to that side of the house to reference the sofa, but I was going to do it through accessories and keep the walls neutral. Maybe teal on the walls is the way to go though?

BHG Teal Paint Colors

Another option is Sandberg’s Raphael wallpaper in dark blue.

I have a sample and it looks perfect, but it doesn’t work with the other wallpaper. I think that between the two, I’d rather go with papering the dining room — which brings me back to teal for the entry. I’ve been playing around with my design boards in Photoshop (you’ve seen them in various stages on the blog before), virtually rearranging things and trying out different combinations. I shared this screenshot on Instagram the other day.

I would probably go a little deeper and darker than the paint colors in that BHG palette above, but not so dark that it competes with the black in the back parlor. What do you think?

July 23, 2014
A Good Travel Camera?

I just got back from my trip to France and Morocco! I’m so eager to tell you about it, but I need to get over jetlag, go through and edit my photos, and of course cobble together a few cohesive thoughts on the whole thing. So today, can I ask for a recommendation? I’d love a good camera for traveling. Something between my iPhone and my DSLR.

I brought my Canon 7D with two lenses (a wide angle 10-22mm, and my favorite, the 35mm f/1.4L prime) in a leather camera bag from ONA. Altogether, my camera gear was at least 10 pounds which I’m normally happy to carry for the sake of better quality photos. While six months pregnant though? I was jealous of my travelmates with small lightweight cameras. And really, I’ve been looking for a good travel camera for a couple of years now — it just took this trip to really make it seem like I ought to finally find something.

I’m aware of a few options… Jordan bought a Sony NEX on the recommendation of a friend, and coincidentally it was the same model that both Carol and Dave were using, though theirs were provided to them by Sony. I was sent a Samsung Galaxy Camera to review for Babble in 2012, and I had high hopes for it but it was buggy and not as great as I’d hoped. I liked the quality of the Canon G10 that I used to own (I gave it to my sister a couple of years ago, but it looks like the new G16 might work for me now), and I’ve heard great things about the Fujifilm X100S, but I worry that the fixed lens is limiting and it’s expensive.

Since I’m not a professional photographer and I don’t need to carry all of my heavy, expensive gear with me, I’m still looking for the magic camera I was two years ago. Good in low-level light, wifi or bluetooth connection with my iPhone (or maybe just Eyefi compatibility?), manual and a variety of automatic modes (shutter or aperture priority), nice depth of field, a wide optical zoom range, and of course, something that can take good quality photos. Do you have any recommendations, or an impartial review site to check out? Thanks in advance for your help!

June 30, 2014
The Playroom’s Accent Wall (Featured in HGTV Magazine)

The playroom is sporting a different look from the last time you saw it! I showed a couple of shots while the wall was in progress a couple of months ago, but then I couldn’t show any more until the feature with Glidden ran in HGTV magazine this month.

I write for Glidden, so when they asked if I had any painting projects coming up that they could share, I told them about my plans for the playroom. Typically, I’m not one to do an accent wall, as they can seem kind of arbitrary. In this case though, I really liked the white walls on the third floor for the most part, but wanted to bring some of the color over from the curtains on the other side of the playroom. A big block of color (like a traditional accent wall) could have worked, but I thought this would be a good place to try something a bit more playful.

The feature is inside a peel-back front cover in the June 2014 issue of HGTV magazine, along with projects by Kate and Eduardo, who also write for Glidden over at My Colortopia.

Initially, I thought about creating a more orderly polka dot wall, but I changed my mind the day before I started painting and went with a bunch of falling bubbles instead. The walls on the third floor are textured, so the design couldn’t be too intricate. I started with the quick marker sketch you see at the beginning of the post, and then drew large circles for the design on the wall, freehand with a pencil. I used an inexpensive art/craft paintbrush to outline some of the smaller circles, and used a 2″ angled paintbrush for the rest, and to fill everything in.

The other side of the playroom has those floral curtains that I made years ago from Moda’s “Mom’s Couch” fabric. They hung in my stationery studio initially, and were also used in Eleanor’s bedroom in the last house.

I chose Glidden’s Red Geranium because I wanted to pull in that bright orangey-red color and bring it to the other side of the room.

There are bookshelves for toys to the right of the easel, and along the left side, I hung cubbies to keep art supplies within reach, and also put up three large wall clips to use for rotating artwork on display from the kids.

I’m glad I’m finally able to share this updated space with you! We spend a lot of time in the playroom, and the added color has made it even more fun for the kids. And thank you, Glidden and HGTV magazine for featuring the project!

May 20, 2014
The Chicago Garden Party

Over the weekend, I hosted the The Chicago Garden Party brought to you by The Home Depot Garden Club. The weather was fully cooperating, and we hosted several hundred people throughout the day!

I was there welcoming people and inviting them to participate in the hands-on projects at the party. Meghan Swint of The Tasty Fork was there grilling up carrots, and everyone went nuts for her Farmer’s Market Salad (recipe below). Gardeniere Gina Iliopoulus helped people transfer their choice of oregano, basil, or cilantro into terra cotta pots, and she was also able to help answer gardening questions for people. Even a sweet Home Depot mascot dog showed up with his own customized apron.

The food that day was so good, thanks in large part to Meghan’s recipe for the event. You could grab tomatoes, jalapeno, and basil directly out of a backyard garden to use! Even if you only have a little outdoor space, you could plant something like the Raised Salsa Bed below, and there was a Tower Container Garden at the party too, with room for 8 herbs. The party had plenty of garden-to-table inspiration and ideas.

The kids couldn’t be there with me, but I did tell them that I would decorate a plant pot for each of them. Eleanor requested eight flowers (very specific on the number there, kid), and August wanted a zombie on his. I did my best to come through with their requests.

I made a third pot too, with a quick diamond and dot pattern, and now we have fresh oregano, basil, and cilantro growing in the kitchen. I thought about planting the herbs outside, but I like the easy access of having them on hand for cooking.

The Home Depot holds events throughout the year, all over the country, and the best way to keep up with them is through their Facebook events page. You can also join the Garden Club and get simple tips, resources, and discounts, or follow The Home Depot on Pinterest for home and garden inspiration.

Thank you to The Home Depot for having me, and a big thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday! It was so good to spend some time outdoors, chatting, picking up gardening tips, and getting crafty with you.

Sponsored by The Home Depot

May 14, 2014
For the Fairies. And Zombies.

Eleanor is really into fairies right now. They visit her at night and give her sweet dreams, and they help her grow. All kinds of things. We haven’t seen any in person, but that’s because they’re very shy, and also because they sleep during the day and only come out at night. Brandon bought a toy for E when she got her white belt in karate a few weeks ago, and he left it on top of her dresser as a surprise. Of course, she saw it when she woke up and immediately assumed it was a gift from the fairies, so they got all the credit.

We think they’ve been hanging out in the dollhouse, but we’ve talked about creating a fairy garden for them to live in outside, too. My friend recommended Wannemaker’s for supplies, so we went out there on Sunday.

We already had plenty of planters to choose from and it’s too cold for outdoor plants yet, so we concentrated on finding the perfect decorations. If the design were up to me, it would be like an open terrarium with a cute house tucked away in one corner. Maybe a little patio too, complete with charming vintage-style furniture. The design was rightfully up to E though, so we have a giant! house, a couple of fairy figures, a bridge and blue glass pebbles (water), plus a beach chair and umbrella. August wasn’t that into it, but he did choose both of the fairies for Eleanor.

That house took up so much room that we ended up creating two fairy gardens. One is for their home, and the other is a beachy scene in which I planted a pothos that we already had on hand (I’ll either harden it to the outdoors or swap it out for something else in a few weeks). I want variation in texture, with larger plants juxtaposed against tiny ones, and something with small flowers. The kids want dirt patches for their zombie toys, because the beachy scene is now a zombie garden. So, maybe we won’t be adding more plants? They really like everything as it is now, and this is for them after all.

Eleanor was worried that the fairies might find their new home only to be frightened off by the zombie toys. But we discussed it and they’ll be fine, because zombies are not real. (Fairies are.)

She goes to check on her fairy gardens each morning, first thing when she wakes up. She still hasn’t seen any, but she told me that she has been singing songs to the fairies in hopes of gaining their trust. Much like the rabbits in our yard that bound away immediately, but that she has leaves carrots for. So hopeful, that girl is.

March 25, 2014