Baby Otto #2 - Nursery Reveal

I'm down to 3 days until my due date and I finally got the nursery mostly ready for baby boy #2.  It was a lot slower this time than with Charles' nursery because I had to first move sweet Charles to his "big boy room."  With him went his rug, animal accessories (art, figurines, hamper, etc).  So contrary to Josh saying we didn't need to "re-do" the nursery - we really didn't do as much as he thinks - just some fresh paint on the walls, dog accessories, art & rug.  I really wanted Charles' stuff to stay with him - especially the giraffe painting my parents did for him.  I'll show you his big boy room soon!

A reminder of Charles' nursery HERE

And a reminder of where I started with my little idea board for nursery #2 HERE

I really stayed pretty true to where I started with my ideas for this room...

Some details...

In keeping with the dog theme (which I may have gone a little overboard with...oops), I also made some round monthly dog themed stickers for the little guy.

Sources:

First of all, the biggest change is obviously the blue and cream stripes.  My buddy Robert Corprew painted them for me and did a fabulous job - it almost looks like wallpaper.

1 Felt Dog Heads Over the Crib - Fiona Walker England - I ordered mine from South in Chapel Hill.

2 Jenny Lind DaVinci Crib (from Charles' nursery) - Amazon (love this and the pricetag, only thing I changed was the casters - see that here)

3 Glider (from Charles' nursery) - Pottery Barn Kids Comfort Swivel Rocker (cream twill with white twill piping)

4 Pouf by Glider (from Charles' nursery) - Serena & Lilly Square Gingham Pouf in Oatmeal no longer have it, but lots of other great options!

5 Rug - I bought a remnant of a Stanton wool rug from Eatman's Carpets & Interiors in Raleigh

6 Changing Table (from Charles' nursery) - Furbish 

7 Throw on Glider - Sarah Louise blanket - I got at Shutterbug's in Raleigh, but found online here.  I may end up getting a different throw for the chair (brighter blue?), but this is fine for now.

8 Elephant Table beside Glider (from Charles' nursery - the only jungle animal that stayed!) - I spray painted an elephant planter I already had, but you could get the Serena & Lily Ellie Side Table for the same look

9 Baskets on changing table - the Serena & Lily belly baskets (holding diapers and other changing needs) were getting a little droopy from so much use with Charles, so I got these sturdier Threshold baskets that have a similar look from Target

10 "Naps fix everything" print (from Charles' nursery) - this was a shower gift from a sweet friend

11 Changing pad and cover (from Charles' nursery) - Serena & Lily nursery basics diaper changing pad aqua & insert

12 Cocker Spaniel dog mobile - my aunt's friend made the 6 cockers for me (Etsy shop here) and I then assembled them into a mobile.  Maybe separate post to come...Josh was definitely making fun of my "arts & crafts project," but it turned out really cute and was so cheap to make!  

13 Mirror (from Charles' nursery) - Wisteria French Gilt Mirror

14 Pendant Light (from Charles' nursery) - RH Baby Spence Pendant - this and the giraffe painting are definitely the two things that people immediately comment on when they've come in to see the nursery.  I liked that it was different without being too frilly and girly.

15 White lamp on changing table (from Charles' nursery)- another favorite item - from Printer's Alley here in Raleigh (gift from my mother-in-law) and have also seen it at Acquisitions in Raleigh.  I can't find the name brand listed on it though, so unable to locate it online.

16 Baby Wardrobe (from Charles' nursery) - family piece that I painted and changed the hardware on - details here

17 Dog prints above wardrobe - found these on Etsy at Deer & Badgers shop (I framed them myself with frames from Jerry's that I painted gold)

18 Ceramic Dogs - most of these are from Jean's basement that I claimed years ago and had around my house

19 Blue & White Hamper - Serena & Lily La Jolla baskets (this is the medium blue)

20 Dog Rocker - Restoration Hardware

21 Crib Sheet & Crib Skirt (both from Charles' nursery) - Serena & Lily sheet no longer available and I made the crib skirt (no sewing) - details here 
22 Dog Bookends - Jack Russell bookends from Biscuit - sold out, but here are the poodles
23 Dog Breeds book - originally I spotted this on Anthropologie, but went to purchase and it was gone, so I ordered from Amazon

I think that covers it!

Will be back with an update once this baby debuts.  Amazing how much less antsy I am this time about his actual arrival date....he can stay in a little longer :)  No old wives tales yet!  I'm trying to enjoy every minute that I'm not working with Charles, Josh and Ollie.

XO,

Whit

"Treehouse" lantern - gold leafing DIY

I've had my eye on this lantern for years.  I don't even remember where I first spotted her, but it was absolutely love at first site.  

Urban Electric Co. - Hamilton

I think I very briefly mentioned that we added a tiny addition (literally only 140 sq ft...pictures to come, promise) and I really dreamed of hanging her in the new office / upstairs sitting room (affectionately called the "treehouse" now), however, I couldn't swing the pricetag.  So, I had to settle for recreating the look myself for less.

I found this Chelsea House light at South and snagged it during their sale.  I loved the lines of it and the option to have glass or not (right now we are going with no glass...who wants to clean that?!).

To make it look as similar as possible to my light crush I decided to gold leaf all the parts that were white and use a blue gloss paint (left over from highchair project) to the areas that were green.

I got all my gold leafing supplies locally at Jerry's Artarama.

First step - using the Mona Lisa Red Base Coat

Next, paint the sizing adhesive (Mona Lisa Gold Leaf Sizing is what I used) and very carefully sticking pieces of the tissue thin gold leaf to it once it becomes tacky (~15 minutes).  

This is a tedious process and a mess!!  I do think the result is worth it though!

After ~30 minutes I took a wad of paper towels and gently rubbed all over to smooth it out.  Flakes will come off and if it's more than you want, you simply repeat the process of adding adhesive and more gold leaf and then buffing again.  I wanted some of the red undercoat to show through to give it a slightly aged look.

It went from day to night, many times because this was a very time consuming project I did over several weekends and weekday nights...  The small lines of the light and curves made it more tedious than some projects.

I finally finished it just in time for the electrician to hang it for me (the exterior painters were outside working away while I painted, hence the covered windows!).

It's no Urban Electric Co. Hamilton, but overall I'm happy with the end result - it's a great size for the room and achieves a similar look for less.  I'll still pine away for the Hamilton for somewhere downstairs!

Hanging in the new treehouse!

XO,

Whit

A tale of a pair of pineapples

My mother-in-law bought these pineapples at the Furbish sale last October (same time I bought Charles' changing table) and they'd been stored in our garage (hiding from my father-in-law?) ever since.  I convinced Jean to give them to Josh for a birthday present this year.  He actually really likes them! I finally decided to paint them the same gray as our shutters (Benjamin Moore Timber Wolf) back in October and we are enjoying them in the front.  Not that I didn't like the pink, but doesn't exactly go with my monochromatic, traditional vibe out front.  

Pics from Charles' baptism and a few other projects to come soon!

XO,
Whit

Little driveway-side sprucing

Anyone who has ever done a renovation with a budget knows that you really can't do it all.  Not even close.  Projects must be prioritized.  We'd tried to be smart about our list (i.e. wait on getting light fixtures and keep originals so we could spend on things like countertops - something you can't easily change).  One thing that we ended up cutting out was putting shutters on the driveway side of the house -- certainly not a necessity and something that could easily be added later.  That side of the house has always looked unfinished and messy to me.  #1 - Josh insisted upon keeping the scraggly azaleas ("Whit, I think we can make the side look like Augusta with the pine trees and azaleas!" he's said enthusiastically a number of times) #2 - I wish we'd spent a little bit of extra $ and done the entire side stucco instead of having the addition portion siding and the original stucco.  Oh well, it's probably not something many people even notice. Right?

2 years after living here, Josh and I decided to save up and add shutters to 4 of the windows on the side. 

BEFORE:

I headed to my favorite Sherwin-Williams store and gathered my supplies. 

For 8 long hours over a few weekends I primed both sides of all 8 shutters.  Some of the time I had a little helper

I underestimated how much work it would be to paint louvered shutters.  Especially with a 3 month old baby.  (That's not a typo, we started this at the beginning of July) Painting all those little slats is not for the impatient. I finally called Gephart Hill (our favorite builders) and begged them to help me paint and install them. Finally, a few months later they are up. 

AFTER: We both think it's really helped that side look much more cohesive and dressed it up a bit.

BEFORE:

AFTER: Now it's making me want to add shutters to windows in the back too. . .

What do you think?  Does it help that side?

XO,

Whit

Sparkly updates

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted.  I've thought about just letting the blog go, the posts seem so trivial and stupid with all the heaviness in the world today, but on the other hand I do still enjoy writing updates and sharing projects.  I won't solve the world's problems here, but sometimes we could all use a break from that! (Myself especially.  Having a child has made me much more worried about the state of the world and all the issues going on globally right now)

A month or so before Charles was born I got a new dining room mirror (which you may have noticed in my last post).  I spotted this beauty at Seaboard Studio123 and couldn't resist it -- especially for the bargain price.  I got it home and excitedly ran around the house hoisting it up and trying to picture it hanging on various walls, but it was really just meant to be in the dining room.  8 months+ pregnant I climbed onto the buffet and took down the original heavy mirror and hung this one in it's place (I painted the old dining room one and it's now in the den, will show that in a post soon).  I really like the contrast of the gold against the gray walls.

The real icing on the cake in there is the new chandelier.  After a few years of searching, I finally found the most perfect french empire style chandelier.  Times like this make me glad that I resisted my impatient nature and held out for something I'll treasure for many decades.  I'm still slowly paying back my "debt to Josh" for this one :)  So worth it!

I stayed pretty true to my original vision for this room.  

Suellen Gregory

Before - so much potential!

and after! (a few years later - this certainly didn't happen overnight - a lot of hard work and saving.)

Back with more updates soon (like, how is my baby 6 months old already?!).

XO,
Whit

Otto Bean Nursery

The countdown is officially on -- 10 days until my due date.  The nursery is pretty much ready and my co-worker (she's become a good friend!) who is going to be managing a lot for me while I'm on maternity leave just spent the last two days going through everything with me and hopped back on her plane to ATL tonight.  I'm now trying any and all old wives tales to try and get the baby to make his debut.  Any tips or tricks are welcome :)

View from the hallway door

Let's take a look at a few pictures during the renovation process of this room.  These are all from March 2012, what a difference two years makes!  It had a little porch off the back of the house.  Not something we wanted our children enjoying off their bedrooms...asking for T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  We bumped out the room and got rid of the porch, thus making room for the jack-and-jill bathroom that now connects the nursery to my office.  Overall the room stayed roughly the same size.

Josh is standing on the wall where the glider is now.  You'll notice this double window is now a single window.

This is the wall the crib now flanks.  The door is gone and two single windows are on this wall.  Closet remained in basically the same spot as shown on right (two double doors that open).  You'll see this one day once I get a bit more organized.

Wall with closet doors and door to hallway

Here is my original inspiration board I posted in October.  As expected, some things I stuck with and some evolved.  Overall, I stayed true to the same color palette and tried to keep it not too theme-y or baby, but did end up with a number of elephants and giraffes around the room.

Continuing with how it looks now - view from jack-and-jill bathroom.

Standing by the closet doors

The piece I'm using for the changing table was the very first item I bought for the nursery.  I got it at Furbish's big tent sale (50% off) and couldn't love it more.  I think it could be used as a server or bar down the road or could easily stay in a child's room too.  Very versatile!

The mobile took a few months to finally arrive from Lithuania, but it was worth the wait.

I need to work on styling this little shelf once I have some pictures of the baby and other trinkets.

Someone is getting quite used to the room and thinks all the toys are for her.

Sources:

Note: I refused to pay full price for many of these items.  I became obsessed with watching sites and waiting until I could get 20-30% off (on average) with promotions and bought them over the last 6+ months.  Some were Christmas and shower gifts as well.

1 Giraffe Painting - a collaboration between my parents and one of my most cherished things in the room.  The frame is from my favorite place for frames - Jerry's Artarama. 

2 Jenny Lind DaVinci Crib - Amazon (love this and the pricetag, only thing I changed was the casters - see that here)

3 Glider - Pottery Barn Kids Comfort Swivel Rocker (cream twill with white twill piping)

4 Pouf by Glider - Serena & Lilly Square Gingham Pouf in Oatmeal

5 Rug - Lulu & Georgia Sultan Rug by Alix Soubiran

6 Changing Table - Furbish (can't find it on the website, but locals - they still have one or two in the actual store, but you will have to pay full price, unlike my tent sale find!)

7 Throw on Glider - Furbish Herringbone Throw (can't find my color online) so soft and it's washable!

8 Elephant Table beside Glider - I spray painted an elephant planter I already had, but you could get the Serena & Lily Ellie Side Table for the same look

9 Baskets on changing table - Serena & Lily belly baskets (holding diapers and other changing needs)

10 "Naps fix everything" print - this was a shower gift from a sweet friend

11 Changing pad and cover - Serena & Lily nursery basics diaper changing pad aqua & insert

12 Elephant mobile - Etsy (do allow time for shipping to US and I'd recommend paying extra for expediting, but can't recommend this mobile enough).  My mom gave me the little bunny rattle and I decided to attach to middle for a little color.

13 Mirror - Wisteria French Gilt Mirror

14 Pendant Light - RH Baby Spence Pendant - this and the giraffe painting are definitely the two things that people immediately comment on when they've come in to see the nursery.  I liked that it was different without being too frilly and girly.

15 White lamp on changing table - another favorite item - from Printer's Alley here in Raleigh (gift from my mother-in-law) and have also seen it at Acquisitions in Raleigh.  I can't find the name brand listed on it though, so unable to locate it online.

16 Baby Wardrobe - family piece that I painted and changed the hardware on - details here

17 Animal prints above wardrobe - The Animal Print Shop's babies collection (I framed them myself from Bed, Bath & Beyond for a fraction of the cost)

18 Brass Giraffes - from Cotswold Market in Charlotte (one of a kind, but have seen other great brass animals in this Etsy shop)

19 Elephant Hamper - Home Decorators Collection Animal Hamper - large and in natural finish.  I love it so much I may end up moving it down to the den to house toys and baby items

20 Giraffe Rocker - from one of my best friend's mom's as a gift, but similar here 

21 Crib Sheet & Crib Skirt - Serena & Lily Aqua Trellis crib sheet and I made the crib skirt (no sewing) - details here 

I think that covers the list.  I had so much fun working on the nursery and it's now become one of my favorite rooms in the house.

XO,

Whit