Chris and Robin's Nest

Nursery Reveal (Long Overdue!)

2012-07-19T22:12:00.001-05:00

Now that Tyler is three and a half months old, I finally found time to post some photos of his nursery. I've been back at work for three weeks now and man oh man, this whole working mom thing is just exhausting! I feel like I'm on a hamster wheel from 6am-10pm these days, but know it will get easier with time.

A while back, I shared my plan for a subtly nautical nursery for our baby boy. Here's the finished product!

Of course I love me some organization so everything has its place, including these pails over the changing area that keep the necessities close at hand but out of reach of a certain naughty golden doodle.

Here's a closer look at the "reading nook" in the corner...

This adorable Noah's Ark toy set was a shower gift (and is available at Sweet Praises, my friend's lovely online Christian gift shop).

And did you spot the little frames on the shelves? They hold baby pictures of Chris and me.

Wondering who he looks like? Here's a recent picture if you'd like to weigh in...

We think it's still up for debate, but I think he has my eyes!

Meanwhile in the Basement...

2012-04-27T16:16:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes for baby Tyler! His arrival certainly came with a fair bit of stress, but I'm happy to report that he's now thriving at home. Now that he's been home a couple weeks and I've gotten caught up on some sleep, I can catch you up on what else has been going on.

With baby Ty coming a month early, you'd expect there to be some things to wrap up around the house, right? Like maybe finishing up the nursery, stocking the fridge, cleaning and laundry, etc. Fortunately, my Type A ways paid off and most of the major stuff was done by the time Tyler arrived. I even happened to go on a major cleaning spree the day before he was born! However, one major project still needed attention...

Yep, that's a huge hole... inside our house... in the basement to be exact. I hinted in some previous posts that Chris was up to something big while I was busy getting the house ready for the baby. Well that something big was a gut renovation of our downstairs bathroom.

Let me explain. Here's a look at the bathroom before...

Since our house only has two bathrooms (this one and the small main bath), the goal was to add a shower downstairs for guests and/or frantic mornings. On the other side of the wall on the left is a big laundry room, which used to look like this...

So the plan was to bust through that wall to expand the bathroom and add a shower. This was our biggest project to date and the first official demolition we've taken on. Now let's be clear, I'm not crazy enough to do demo or construction whilst uber preggo so this was (and still is) Chris' project while I serve only as consultant. He's done a lot of the work himself and for the sake of our time crunch and the desire to get everything right, we've hired out some of the bigger things like plumbing and drywall finishing.

Here's Chris taking his first swing to bust through the wall...

This happened right around the 30 week mark in my pregnancy and the hope was to have the new bathroom done by the time the baby came. Of course, projects like this take time and when Tyler showed up early, things looked like this...

The bathroom was completely gutted and there was a hole in the foundation where the new shower drain had been added. Also please note... no washer or dryer!

Pause a couple of days to have a baby then fast forward to me asking Chris to kick it into high gear so we'd at least have laundry capabilities when Ty and I got home. So he took breaks from the hospital to fill the hole with concrete, clean up, install our new stacking washer/dryer and sheet rock the new bathroom. Here's how the bathroom space looks now...

The whole part on the left is new so we doubled the size of the bathroom, plus there's that lovely shower space in the corner. And here's a look at our laundry area now...

Since we stole a few feet on the right for the bathroom, we nixed the scrub sink and consolidated our laundry space with the new stacking washer/dryer. There's still plenty of work to do to both rooms, but I must say I'm very happy with how things are coming together!

Whoa Baby - He's Here!

2012-04-15T19:08:00.001-05:00

Chris and I have a son! Tyler Thomas was born (quite unexpectedly) Monday, April 2nd - a full month early.

Here's the cliffs notes version of his birth story and first week:

I had a bad cold and did a lot of coughing and sneezing. On Monday morning I noticed some bleeding so I called my OB office and they told me that was common late in pregnancy, but to come for a quick check on my way to work. Unfortunately my doc was on vacation last week, but the nurse practitioner checked and agreed it was a little more than normal so they did an ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay. All his stats were great, but my amniotic fluid level was really low so they told me to head to the hospital to be induced.

It was all very calm and collected... I called Chris at work and told him to meet me at home because he was going to be a dad. Then I called my mom and told her to get to MN because the baby was coming. Chris and I grabbed our hospital bags, said bye to Calvin and we were on our way.

We got to the hospital at 11:30am and by noon they had broken what was left of my water and started a Pitocin IV to induce contractions. The baby had been head down and really low for a couple weeks so I didn't need any extra drugs to help with dilation.

Contractions kicked in and picked up quickly. By the time my mom arrived at 4pm they were pretty intense and coming every few minutes. I got an epidural around 5pm and went from 3cm dilated to complete by 9pm. Then I "labored down" until I felt the contractions a bit more, pushed for half an hour and he was born at 10:07pm.

Luckily at 6 lbs 8 oz, Tyler was a healthy size for 36 weeks, but is still a "late preterm" premie and had to spend a week in the NICU to prove he could adjust to life on the outside with regard to breathing, blood sugar, body temp and feeding. Thank God he did fine with 3/4 of those... never needing breathing assistance or an incubator and blood sugar tests were great.

The NICU setup was as nice as it could have been under the circumstances. Tyler had his own semi-private room and we had 24-hour access to touch him, hold him, change him, etc.

Tyler's breathing was a little quick after birth and a chest x-ray showed some fluid in his lungs so he was put on IV antibiotics in case of pneumonia.

All tests for lung infection came back negative so the IV came out on Wednesday, which made it a lot easier to snuggle with him.

Ty was also jaundiced so he spent some time under a UV light box to reduce his level of bilirubin. He actually seemed to enjoy it and cracked us up by crossing his legs like this...

With the jaundice out of the way, the main hurdle became proving he could eat enough to gain weight. It's common for premies to get too tired to eat enough orally so Ty got a tiny feeding tube in his nose to supplement breastfeeding.

They monitored everything going in and out of him by weighing him before and after all feedings and weighing his dirty diapers too... it was pretty intense.

I stayed at the hospital around the clock to feed him on a strict three hour schedule then on demand, which made for one tired (but happy) mama.

Tyler made progress really quickly and was feeding like a champ in no time so the feeding tube came out Sunday afternoon.

By Monday, Tyler was back to his birth weight and passed all the other required tests so we were able to bring him home in time to celebrate his one week birthday!

We're so thankful to have Tyler home and healthy and it's so much easier to care for him without wires and tubes everywhere. It was a whirlwind of a week with plenty of ups and downs, but we're so in love with our baby and proud of how much he's accomplished already. Now Chris and I are just settling into our new roles as parents and soaking up all the snuggles from our little man!

Baby Steps - Make Way for the Nursery!

2012-03-15T19:13:00.007-05:00

After we successfully relocated my closet into our bedroom to clear the way, the room across the hall was officially ready to be turned into a nursery for our little man-to-be. Chris is a dude so he didn't have any big opinions on nursery decor (other than not filling our son's room with pink or flowers), but he did approve my plan to create a cute and functional, not-too-themey nursery. Here's the "mood board" I put together...

Regardless of whether we had a boy or girl, I wanted to use the green rocker (which was my sister's) and either our green or navy cotton rug (green used to live in the office and navy used to live in our bedroom). When I found the crib bumper and accent pillow on clearance a while back, I knew it would be perfect and planned everything else around that. The wall color is a nice neutral so it will stay and pops of color and texture will be worked in everywhere else.

We opted for simple white furniture for a crisp - and easily cleanable - look. We didn't need a convertible crib so we found this one on JCP.com (for much less than its Pottery Barn Kids bobsy twin) and got the long dresser and a couple of small bookcases from IKEA, along with seagrass storage baskets and footstools. Then I added some fun touches with gingham curtains, oars and wall buckets from Pottery Barn Kids and paper lanterns from lunabazaar.com.

The nursery is now about 87% done, but I'm going to be ornery and wait to post photos until after the little guy comes... sorry :)

If you're wondering what Chris has been up to while I've been decorating, don't worry... he's staying busy tackling something MAJOR! More on that soon...

Baby Steps - Master Modifications

2012-03-08T22:07:00.000-06:00

Step one of our prep-the-house-for-baby plan is complete! Just a few tweaks to the master bedroom have made a world of difference in day-to-day functionality.

The first goal was to move my closet into our bedroom since up until now, I've used the closet across the hall while Chris used the one in our room. Not sharing a closet is one of the keys to our marital happiness since he's a bit of a clothes hoarder (*cough* still has clothes from early high school *cough*) and I prefer a more streamlined operation. So the best solution was to stick with the "what happens in his closet stays in his closet" strategy and relocate the contents of my closet into a couple of wardrobes.

Here's a reminder of what our room looked like before...

And here's how it looks with the new wardrobes...

The original wardrobes I wanted were too wide to fit on either side of our bed so I had to settle for these. Bonus points for being half the price of the others, but negative points for having a cheap, fake, stark white finish.

So I painted them a very pale blue (Glidden Quiet Rain) with cream front panels to match the trim. Once again, it's amazing what a little paint can do! Instead of looking cheap, now the wardrobes have more of a custom look. I put my work clothes in one and my casual clothes in the other. It's probably a wee bit unhealthy how excited it makes me to have things this organized, but just look how happy my clothes look...

Next we mounted wall lamps to the sides of the wardrobes for his and hers reading lights. I love how they make our room feel like a hotel.

Making room for the wardrobes meant losing our tall dresser, which left the top of the long dresser on the opposite wall super cluttered.

This dresser is my hair and makeup station in the mornings since our bathroom is definitely not built for two, but my prep stuff was taking over. So I picked up two of these wire baskets and hung them on the wall using three heavy duty nails each.

They work great to keep all my getting-ready gear organized and out of the way.

So there you have it... one new and improved master bedroom!

Baby Steps - The House Plan

2012-02-24T17:23:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned, things have been quite busy around here lately as Chris and I prepare for the arrival of our baby boy this spring. Let's be honest... I have a pretty strong "nesting instinct" to begin with so pregnancy has really just skyrocketed it to a new level!

In addition to creating a lovely nursery, I also feel the need to cross off every other little thing left on our house to-do list. There's no way that will happen before the little dude's debut (especially with my half day bed rest orders), but we're slowly but surely chipping away at the big stuff, which has our normally neat and tidy house looking a bit disheveled with three out of four bedrooms in transition. Here's a room-by-room look at how things look now (warning... these pics are not glamor shots and haven't even been edited... for shame) with a rundown of our baby prep plans:

Master Bedroom

Here's a refresher of what our bedroom used to look like...

And look at it now...

... pretty, uh, deconstructed with clutter to spare. Check out the top of the dresser on the opposite wall... yikes!

Step one to get ready for the baby was to clear out the nursery-to-be, the bedroom across the hall from ours that has been home to our office. Obviously the office had to be relocated (more on that in a minute), but the bigger challenge was that I've always used the closet in there while Chris has used the one in our room, which just won't fly with a sleeping baby in there! The solution?

Master Bedroom Plan = Adding wardrobes to our room to serve as my closet and streamlining storage to get rid of the clutter.

2nd Bedroom

Here's a look at our 2nd bedroom in all its former home office glory...

I must admit I LOVED our office and was very sad to see it go, but all good things must come to an end and everyone says babies are pretty neat so que sera sera. Here's how our 2nd bedroom looks now...

While we've managed to get the nursery furniture in, we've also turned it into a full on work zone for building the wardrobes for our room, miscellaneous painting projects, etc. The chaos is enough to give me hives, but I know it's only temporary so I can deal.

2nd Bedroom Plan = Stop the madness and turn this into an adorable nursery for our coming attraction.

3rd Bedroom

Upstairs we go to third and final work-in-progress bedroom...

This previously empty (and unshared on this blog) space will soon be one of our favorite hangouts, but for now we're going with function over fashion. We've moved everything up from the office and have the computer up and running. However, the rest of the room looks like a bit of a war zone with office supplies, baby gear and other random stuff shoved into corners, plus two twin mattresses playing placeholders.

(obligatory Calvin shot)

This happens to be our only carpeted bedroom so in addition to serving as our office, it will also work well as a play zone for le bebe. Chris will build two storage bed platforms for our twin mattresses so they'll serve double duty for sectional-style lounging or to sleep extra overnight guests. In all honesty, this isn't a top priority and may not be done before our little bundle arrives, but so be it.

3rd Bedroom Plan = Create a multi-purpose space for a home office and kid-friendly playroom that can also sleep two overnight guests.

Our 4th bedroom - also upstairs and the only one not currently in a state of distress - will still be used as our main guest room.

So yeah, we're staying busy around here. In addition to the projects above (and all the other little to-do's buzzing around in my preggo head), we're also gearing up to take on a pretty major bathroom overhaul before the baby comes. But you'll have to stay tuned for more on that later!

There's an Egg in the Nest!

2012-02-16T17:50:00.001-06:00

Chris and I have been crazy busy lately. Not only is it winter in Minnesota (which is naturally the best time for tackling big house projects), but we also have a little extra motivation for kicking things into high gear...

Yep... we're expecting our first baby! Before I dive into all the changes we're making around the house to get ready for our little bundle, I'll fill you in by answering all the common questions.

When are you due?
May 1... which puts me at about 29 weeks (or 6 1/2 months)

Do you know what you're having?
Yes - it's a BOY! We wanted to be able to decorate the nursery and buy clothes accordingly, plus I really feel like knowing the baby's a HE has helped us bond more over the pregnancy and get excited about our little family.

How did you tell Chris and was he surprised?
I got a positive test on a Saturday morning and we had a very busy day ahead... first a brunch gathering with a group of friends then an afternoon wedding. So my window to tell Chris the good news was limited. He slept in while I snuck off to the grocery store. After he got up and ready, he was greeted by this...

And yes, he was surprised and spent the rest of the day smiling at me all sly and cute. Later at the wedding, he had to drink my wine as well as his so his smiles got bigger and bigger!

How have you been feeling?
All in all, I've been blessed with a very easy pregnancy. I was fortunate not to have any major nausea in the first trimester and even felt good enough to go on a three-day backpacking trip in northern Minnesota over Labor Day (a.k.a. my 30th bday weekend).

The second trimester flew by without a hitch as well until 25 weeks when I had a pre-term labor scare. Since then I've been closely monitored and put on partial bed rest, but the baby is thriving and everything is checking out fine (phew!). It's definitely been hard to cut back on my activity, but I know it's for the best and won't last forever.

Have you had any big food cravings or aversions?

Early on, I didn't want anything to do with sweets and opted for more savory foods. My usual guilty pleasures like mac and cheese and cheeseburgers still call to me, but luckily those hankerings have been balanced out by more healthy cravings. In no particular order, my cravings have included Simply Orange Juice (no other kind will do), fresh fruit of all sorts, hummus, sushi (cooked only of course) and fresh salads. Lately I've been really big on vanilla frozen yogurt topped with fresh raspberries and a crumbled chocolate granola bar. Mmmm...

Are you doing anything special as a last hurrah before the baby?

Not really. No official "babymoon" or anything. We've been checking things off the pre-baby bucket list for a while now by doing things we wouldn't have time or energy for after a baby. Like our trip to Ireland last Christmas, which we knew would (hopefully) be our last big vacation for a while.

And hosting our first Thanksgiving for both families at our house this year since we know we'll probably appreciate being just guests again next year.

Are the grandparents excited?

Yes on all counts. This will be the first grandchild for Chris' parents, first great grandchild for his grandmother and the first male to carry on the family name so everyone on his side is very excited to meet the little man. My parents have two granddaughters, but are thrilled to be getting their first grandson.

So what's this mean for the blog??

Well, this isn't going to turn into a full-blown baby blog and will still involve a lot of the same content, but honestly there are only so many house projects left and we're working frantically now to wrap up a lot of them (more on that later) so we can chill out and enjoy time with our wee one when he gets here. We're about to embark on one of life's biggest adventures and as our roles change, I'm sure the blog will reflect that. I do hereby promise, however, not to post about the birth process or breastfeeding or anything else my dad wouldn't want to read. Some things are just better left private after all...

Crowning Around

2012-02-05T21:23:00.017-06:00

For the final what-we-were-up-to-during-my-big-ol'-blog-break post, here's a look at the results of our adventures in crown molding:

Office

Master Bedroom

Trust me when I say this project was an adventure... we probably both have a couple grey hairs from it! After our success with building and trimming out our basement built-in from scratch last year and Chris' experience helping a friend hang crown molding, we thought adding molding to two rectangular rooms would be a cake walk. But we hit a snag.

Here's a rundown of how to hang crown molding, along with mistakes we made and what we learned...

Step 1: Carefully measure and record the length of each wall where it meets the ceiling.

Easy enough - no problems here.

Step 2: Head to preferred home improvement store, choose a molding style and buy long pieces to avoid or minimize seams on each wall.

Good to go - our rooms aren't huge so we were able to buy eight pieces, one for each wall.

Step 3: Paint or stain all molding pieces.

Since our trim is white, we bought pre-primed molding and painted it to match the rest of our trim.

Step 4: Choose a starting point and cut the first section of molding to fit, using a miter saw to cut corner angles. (Spoiler alert - here's where me messed up! Be sure to measure your angle first to determine if mitering will work or if you need to use another technique)

Done and done.

Step 5: Hold molding flush against ceiling and wall and attach to wall using a nail gun with 1.5" to 2" finishing nails or brads.

So far so good.

Step 6: Continue to next wall and repeat steps 4 and 5, carefully fitting together the two mitered cuts in the corner.

FAIL - despite perfect 45 degree miter cuts, there was a huge gap where our pieces of molding were supposed to fit together. As in no amount of wood filler or caulk could fix it. Cue fist shaking and frustrated exchange of unpleasantries.

Apparently we missed a very important step in the crown molding process... to measure the exact angle of each corner using a tool like this. If the corner is less than 90 degrees, just divide by two, adjust the miter saw to cut that angle and proceed around the room.

However, if your corners are greater than 90 degrees like ours were, you're better off using a technique called coping. That basically means cutting one piece of molding to fit flush into the corner then carefully angling and carving out the back of the other piece so the front edge fits against the first one like a puzzle. This can be done using either a fine coping saw (demo here) or a Dremel tool (demo here), which is what we chose. After a bit of damage control, we were thankfully able to continue without having to scrap any of our molding.

Step 7: Continue until all sections are hung.

Even with our big hiccup, this step went very quickly once we knew what we were doing.

Step 8: Use wood filler to smooth over your nail holes and corner seams and let dry.

Step 9: Touch up paint over wood filler for a seamless finish.

I used a small artists' brush for this and it worked perfectly.

Step 10: (optional) Run a tiny bead of caulk around the top of molding where it meets the ceiling to disguise the gap or transition to a popcorn ceiling, carefully using your finger to remove excess.

If you have popcorn ceilings like us, this will save you the time, mess and hassle of removing the popcorn finish under your molding. Trust me on this one!

This two-room crown molding project should have taken us a weekend, but ended up taking the better part of a week due to our little snafu. Lesson learned... never assume a DIY project will be easy based on friends' experiences or what you've seen on HGTV. Every house is unique and may require a unique approach. Do as much research as possible on the internet and/or ask experts for help before diving in. We were lucky to be able to salvage all of our pieces of molding, but could just have easily had to start from square one.

After all that, our molding looks great and I love the way it helps give the rooms a more finished look. The good news is we'll never make the same mistake again and the even better news is, we don't have any other rooms that need molding any time soon!

How to Paint a Custom Wall Sign

2012-01-11T20:29:00.000-06:00

The empty wall in our front entry needed a little pizzaz so I whipped up this little welcome sign:

I had seen custom-painted signs sold on Etsy (check here) and my "I can do that" alarm went off so I gathered up some supplies and got to work.

Supply list:

Raw wood plaque - available in many sizes and shapes at Michaels
Printout of text design - created in Word and sized to fit
Painters tape
Paints - I used spare samples from our stash, but acrylic craft paints would work too
Paintbrushes - large and small (artist) brushes
Beverage of choice

Step 1: Paint entire plaque with base color (or don't for an unfinished wood background)

Step 2: Double-check size of design printout then flip the design over and scribble a pencil over the entire back of the design.

Step 3: Flip design back over, tape in place and carefully and firmly trace the outlines with a sharp pencil.

This transfers the design onto the plaque, leaving an easy fill-in-the-lines pattern...

Step 4: Paint in the lines using small artist brushes (sorry no picture... I was too busy painting).

Step 5: For an aged look, mix 1 part darker paint to two parts water and brush over entire sign.

Step 6: Let sit for several minutes then wipe off with a rag.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 until desired finish is reached... I wanted to antique the cream color a bit and allow some of the woodgrain to show.

Step 7: Distress the face and edges as desired with sandpaper or a sanding sponge (these are my fave).

Ta da! Cheap and easy custom painted sign.

Just what our entry needed!

Let There Be New Light!

2012-01-04T19:58:00.001-06:00

As promised, I'm back to share details of some projects we've been up to during my blog hiatus before diving into some big new changes for 2012.

First up... welcome to our hallway (a previously unseen portion of our abode).

Just a basic hallway to get you from our living room/dining room/kitchen area back to our main floor bedrooms and bathroom. However, one thing had been driving me nuts about this hallway since the very first time I toured the house...

This light fixture was FAR too contemporary for our 1940's cape cod (my love of older homes comes with a belief that putting modern updates into a home shouldn't interfere with its original character). Plus the light wasn't even very functional and cast this weird greenish tinge on the walls. For the longest time, I couldn't even figure out what color the hall paint was!

So I knew from Day 1 that this sucker had to go. Unfortunately due to a combo of laziness and other priorities, it took over a year to actually replace it. Then Chris bought a Groupon for Creative Lighting and we found this lovely semi-flush mount drum light that we knew would be just perfect.

Chris installed our new friend in about 10 minutes flat and I definitely had one of my Why didn't we do this sooner? moments.

Before

After

The difference the new light makes in the brightness (and style) of the hallway is amazing and I still catch myself smiling at it as I walk down the hall!

Sausage Biscuit Casserole with Sage Gravy

2011-12-27T12:40:00.001-06:00

Looking for an easy brunch for New Years Day? I have just the thing...

Chris and I had one of his friends over for brunch yesterday and since I know nothing makes dudes happier than biscuits and gravy with sausage, I adapted a recipe from Cuisine at Home magazine (one of my faves thanks to my gourmet-saavy Aunt Pam) for this easy and delicious casserole.

The original recipe called for pork sausage, whole milk and heavy cream so I tweaked it to keep it lighter. You could also use reduced fat cheese and/or egg substitute, but I opted for the good stuff. I also used tube biscuits instead of frozen.

Casserole:
1 lb turkey breakfast sausage
7 eggs
2 cups half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
8 Pillsbury Grand buttermilk biscuits, halved
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a 7x11-inch dish with cooking spray.

Brown sausage in pan, reserving drippings for gravy.

Whisk together eggs, half and half, salt and pepper and set aside.

Slice 4 biscuits in half lengthwise with a serrated knife and place in baking dish.

Sprinkle half of sausage over biscuits and top with half of cheese.

Slice remaining biscuits and layer on top of cheese then cover with remaining sausage.

Pour egg mixture over biscuits.

Bake 30 minutes, then top with remaining cheese and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until eggs are set.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving with gravy.

Gravy:
Sausage drippings
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
2 tsp dried sage
Salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Melt butter into sausage drippings over medium heat.

Add flour one Tbsp at a time and whisk until smooth.

Add milk slowly, stirring constantly.

Cook for 6-8 minutes until thickened and season to taste.

Mmmm, savory and satisfying.. Enjoy!

Blog is back in town!

2011-12-22T20:45:00.001-06:00

Hello all... I'm back! After a long hiatus and some soul-searching over whether this blog is something I love doing or just another thing on my expanding to-do list, I've decided I miss it. I miss writing, I miss sharing my ideas and I miss having a little extra motivation to work on projects or try new things. Plus several people have mentioned they miss reading sooooo... I'm back!

Recently I've been amazed by an influx of comments on this post because some lovely soul out there shared it on Pinterest. Imagine my surprise when I hadn't posted for months, but kept seeing new comments popping up every day. Then I realized my little blog had surpassed the 100,000 visit mark and gotten a ton of new followers. That's enough to give even the laziest blogger a reason to write on!

So a big hello to those who have been reading since the beginning and welcome to new followers. During my blog break Chris and I have still been working on several projects around the house. I'll share in detail in the coming weeks, but here's a quick preview:

It's also my goal to start making this blog about more than just decorating and house projects since life's about so much more than that. Of course, I love decorating and house projects so I promise those will continue, but I'll also start sharing some glimpses into our lives plus more recipes, product reviews and random thoughts. Thanks for reading!

PS - Since the Pinterest explosion here on the ol' blog, I decided it was time I joined. My username is NestingRobin if you'd like to follow me.

The Great Fridge Switcheroo

2011-06-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

A while back I mentioned we've made a couple changes around the kitchen. First we added floating shelves to the empty wall for added storage. The next update definitely falls under the category of "Why didn't we do this sooner?" because what seems like a tiny detail, makes a huge difference in the functionality of our kitchen.

Here's the before shot:

And here's the after:

If you're not up for a game of Photo Hunt, here's a clue... check the handles on the fridge and freezer doors. Yep, I switched 'em! Let me explain... see that space between the dishwasher and the island in the first photo? With the sink on one side, the pantry on the other and the island behind, that's definitely the prime spot for food and drink prep. But until recently, we couldn't open the fridge from there and had to go over to the other side of the island instead.

Over time, I got annoyed enough with this little hiccup that I decided to do something about it. You see, refrigerators have mirror image positions for the door hinges and handles. Here's a look at the top of our fridge... see where the screws hold the door hinge in place? And the other side with pre-drilled holes in the same spots?

It's really just a a big puzzle to take apart and put back together on the opposite side. So after a thorough examination of all the pieces, I gathered my tools (every fridge is different, but ours required screwdrivers and socket set with extender) and got to work. Once I started, there was no going back... this was definitely the scariest moment:

You know I'd jump through a ring of fire before letting that ice cream melt so after taking my time with disassembly, I went into hyper-speed to put it all back together again. And soon enough I was done.

The new door positions are a small change that make a BIG difference in our everyday lives. Again - why didn't we do this sooner?

Dog Day

2011-05-31T21:39:00.004-05:00

It's no secret that I'm a bit enamored with our dog (whose head is currently resting on the keyboard making it a wee bit hard to type). Sometimes I wonder what Calvin does all day while we're at work, but I'm pretty sure it involves a lot of this:

Our pooch has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with squirrels so he will spend hours at this post on the lookout for furry critters in the neighborhood. It's pretty funny to watch, especially since Calvin wedges his paws through the slats in the headboard and rests his chin on the pillows to get as close to the window as possible.

And yes, he even does this when we're in bed. Opening the blinds is actually our best trick for sneaking a couple extra hours of sleep on the weekends. What can we say? We love our little OCD pup!

That's the Way... We LACK It!

2011-05-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

Chris and I have made a few little changes in our kitchen lately, all of which fall under the "why didn't we do this sooner?!" category. The most noticeable update was to the shelving on the blank wall of our kitchen. Just to review, here's a look at our kitchen (taken before we updated the faucet):

The blank wall I'm talking about is just off the left side of this photo, facing the back of the stools. We'd put an old Target bookcase against that wall for extra storage and it did the job, but left a bit to be desired in the beauty department. Here's a look at our functional, but frumpy friend back in the fall:

Sure, it matched the cabinets and provided plenty of storage, but it just wasn't a good long-term solution. So on a recent trip to IKEA, we picked up two of their infamous Lack floating shelves. We opted for the mid-length 43" long shelves to allow room on either side for art and look balanced with the island. Installation was quick and easy and in no time at all, we stepped back to admire the new view:

After staring at the bookcase for so long, these just look so much more polished. The bottom shelf is perfect for galvanized tubs full of dishtowels, napkins and disposable plates and silverware, while the top shelf gives us a place to display our Blenko glass collection, which we were too nervous to put on the too-easy-to-bump-into bookcase. There's even room to spare for outdoor dining essentials - 'tis finally the season!

So that's the first of our quickie kitchen updates and it's safe to say we LACK it!

Easy Peasy Cheesy(cake) Dessert

2011-05-13T16:26:00.001-05:00

First I must apologize for yet another long absence from the ol' blog. The truth is there are times when I need to do less blogging and more living and that's when I take a little break... it's supposed to be fun after all! Thank you to everyone who follows along, even when I take a more casual approach sometimes. Now back to the blog!

Last Sunday, Chris and I hosted a casual Mother's Day dinner for his parents and sister at our house. We had gourmet sausages from a local shop and served leftover apps and sides from our annual Kentucky Derby party on Saturday. But we were missing dessert so I whipped up these little beauties, which I've named Strawberry Cheesecake Flowers:

Springy + Girly = Perfect for Mother's Day... and they couldn't be easier. Seriously, I threw them together in 5 minutes. Here's how...

Buy this from the cream cheese section at your grocery store:

Also buy a carton of strawberries and a lemon.
Find some pretty bowls or dessert dishes
Put a scoop of cheesecake filling in each dish
Slice the strawberries lengthwise and put the slices around the outsides of the dishes
Dice a few more strawberries and sprinkle them on top of the filling
Zest the lemon, stir it with some sugar and sprinkle over each "flower"

Bing bang boom... yum!

I Swear We Have Bedrooms - Part 2

2011-04-12T19:42:00.000-05:00

On with the tour de bedrooms! In addition to the home office and master bedroom on the main level, our little house also has two more bedrooms upstairs. The first is the guest bedroom... so if you've ever wondered where you'll be staying if you come to visit or drop by for a slumber party, here it is...

The guest room came together pretty easily, except (allegedly) for Chris and friends who had to get the mattress upstairs during the move. The walls were already covered with beadboard wainscoting and the ceiling was already painted a beautiful light blue/grey color that just happened to look perfect with the guest bedding we already had. Gotta love that!

The headboard is a Robin original - I DIY'ed it when I moved to Minneapolis four years ago. At first, the room was pretty bare with just the bed and nightstands, but I recently added a few touches to make it more functional and welcoming for friends and family: a chair in the corner, two ottomans at the foot of the bed for plopping suitcases, soft rugs to step out of bed onto and this mini-vanity for getting ready...

Funny how those little things can make the room so much more inviting. Check out this before and after:

My mom and I have grand plans to create some sort of valance for the window next time she visits, but other than that, the guest room is done for now. It's one of the calmest rooms in our house so I want to keep it simple.

So that ends the tour of bedrooms. What about the 4th bedroom? Well, in the interest of full disclosure, it's still empty. That's right... over a year in our house and we still have an empty bedroom! Due to the uncertain housing market, we purposely bought our first house with room to grow and plan to live in it for at least 10 years. So while the empty room is slightly embarassing for now, it gives us flexibility for extra guests (thanks to the trusty Aerobed) or for down the road when we add to our family.

I Swear We Have Bedrooms - Part 1

2011-03-29T19:07:00.009-05:00

I realized recently that while I've shared a whole lot of our house on this blog over the past year, I've hardly shown any of our bedrooms. Well hold onto your seats because that's about to change right here right now! Despite all blog evidence to the contrary, our little nest does in fact have four real live bedrooms.

The first one is currently used as our home office (which by the way, was featured in all its glory here after The Office Stylist stumbled upon my little blog).

The second bedroom across the hall from the office is our master bedroom. Ironically, the last time I posted about it was a year ago today... time flies! Here's how the room started out... shot from the doorway:

On the journey to make the room our own, first I painted the walls blue then hated it so I painted the walls yellow. Here's what the bedroom looked like last time I posted about it:

Since then, I've added flowy white curtains, rearranged the furniture so the bed faces the door and added art and accessories. Just this week my spring design hyperactivity disorder took over and I decided we needed calmer bedding than the colorful stripe in the photo above. So after a quick upgrade, here's how our room looks now:

The new bedding helps make the room much more calm and relaxing and it's the cottage style I love without being way too girly for Chris. Here's a closer look:

And now just for fun (because I like to see how far we've come), here's the before and after of our room compared to how the previous owner had it.

So there you have it... a bedroom... go figure!

Built-In Beauty - Done!

2011-03-16T17:19:00.003-05:00

Chris and I have officially pulled off our greatest home improvement project to date! Here's how our DIY basement built-in turned out:

And a closer look:

Since my last post, we made four panels for the bottom section and painted the whole thing Benjamin Moore Stone White to match the trim in the rest of the house (we'll soon be painting the baseboards to match).

Speaking of the bottom panels, the two on the left are just for show since that weird box from the original alcove is behind them. But the ones on the left...

... are actually cabinets that open up to reveal hidden storage behind!

Before we dove into this project, we actually got a quote from a handyman and it came back around $1500 (gulp - even with us doing the painting). That's when we decided we could probably figure out how to do it ourselves... and luckily we were right! All in all, the built-in cost us about $350 in materials, plus a lot of good old-fashioned hard work. Considering we saved over a grand, I think it was worth it!

Just for fun, here's a look at how the basement looked before we moved in:

And how it looks now:

We both love how the built-in turned out. Chris can't wait to move our big TV downstairs and finally unpack the speakers he bought last year and I can't wait to finish decorating the room!

Built-In Update

2011-03-05T11:20:00.003-06:00

This will be short and sweet because it's time to get back to work in the basement, but I wanted to show how far we've come with the built-in media cabinet. Last weekend we made major progress and it went from this...

To this...

We closed off the base and added trim to finish off all of the shelves and borders of the cabinet, which made a huge difference in getting the custom built-in look we're going for. Here's a closer look:

Today we'll be adding doors to the base portion for storage and access to the electric and cable outlets. Then we'll putty and sand all of the nail and screw holes and caulk all of the seams to get everything smooth and prepped for painting tomorrow. More to come!

Busy in the Basement

2011-02-20T20:57:00.002-06:00

It's been a very long time since my last post... I really don't have an excuse other than winter laziness. But despite all evidence to the contrary, Chris and I are still alive. We've just been hibernating since we got back from Ireland and haven't been working on many house projects other than trying to keep our driveways clear and ice dams off our roof.

Lately we've gotten motivated again though and now we're right smack in the middle of something big! As soon as we moved in last year, we started dreaming of turning the basement into a cozy family room to use as a "veg zone" for watching TV and movies. But even though the basement was already finished, it needed a little help.

Here's a look at the tan-on-tan-on-tan look that the previous owner had going on:

First we painted the walls a serene blue grey, Benjamin Moore's Yarmouth Blue. Then we bought a big comfy sectional for plopping. Then after some generous Christmas gifts from our parents, Chris finally had the tools to tackle the next big phase of the project... installing a built-in media cabinet in that empty corner alcove.

After a LOT of brainstorming, we finally settled on a general design and the Type A in me just had to draw it out in Room Planner...

For the sake of our marriage and Chris' sanity, he's taken the lead on building I'm helping with finishing and painting. We've run into a few challenges (like any good home improvement project), mostly because our house is old and the nook wasn't level or square at all so it took some trickery to get things that way. But after a busy weekend, the built-in is finally starting to come together. Here's a look at the basement now in all it's messy, mid-project glory:

There's still a lot of work to do, but it's so nice to have the bones of the media cabinet done. This week we'll add a few more supports then finish the front edges with decorative trim and paint the whole thing white. Stay tuned to see our progress!

The Twelfth Post of Christmas

2010-12-25T09:06:00.001-06:00

For the twelfth (and final) post of Christmas, I'm gonna blog about... how we're REALLY spending Christmas this year.

As you read this, Chris and I are spending our Christmas break here:

We were planning a trip to Ireland this spring, but found a great deal for a holiday trip and figured why not go for Christmas instead? After all, even the most frigid Irish temps are warmer than what we're used to in Minnesota and we knew all the towns would be decked out for the holidays like this:

So from the beautiful emerald isle, we send you this Irish Christmas blessing...

The light of the Christmas star to you
The warmth of home and hearth to you
The cheer and good will of friends to you
The hope of a childlike heart to you
The joy of a thousand angels to you
The love of the Son and God's peace to you

Merry Christmas everyone!

Eleventh Post of Christmas

2010-12-23T08:06:00.003-06:00

For the eleventh post of Christmas, I'm gonna blog about... great holiday movies.

The list of "must watch" holiday movies at our house is pretty short, but every year without fail, we snuggle up to watch these...

Chris' family watches White Christmas every year on Christmas Eve so when I joined the family, we got our own copy and have transplanted the tradition into our celebration with my family as well. Old Hollywood at its best!

Love Actually just can't be beat when it comes to modern holiday movies. A wonderful cast and interesting store lines. Not for the kiddies though.

I love watching The Holiday while wrapping presents or tinkering around with decorations. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good chick flick!

Will Ferrell is hilarious and Chris has a crush on Zooey Deschanel. Enough said.

Tenth Post of Christmas

2010-12-21T07:56:00.002-06:00

For the tenth post of Christmas, I'm gonna blog about... Hopkins for the holidays!

Chris and I have lived in our house for nearly 10 months now and have really fallen in love with our neighborhood. We love that Hopkins has a charming, small town feel to it thanks to its rich history, but it's still just three miles outside of Minneapolis. Our house is just a block away from a huge sports park (great for walking Calvin) and also a block from Main Street, the heart of "downtown" Hopkins, lined with cute shops, restaurants and even a movie theater.

Main Street is lovely all year round, but it's especially beautiful right now with the holiday decorations. Here's how it looks during the day:

And here it is all lit up at night:

Looks like I'm not the only one who likes to decorate for Christmas!

Ninth Post of Christmas

2010-12-19T08:26:00.002-06:00

For the ninth post of Christmas, I'm gonna blog about... a dash of holiday fun in the kitchen!

Our kitchen didn't get too much of a holiday makeover this year. After all, the kitchen is for cooking and baking during the holidays and I didn't want to fuss with clearing things off the island to make room for cookie making. But the window behind the sink did get a little dash of Christmas cheer.

It doesn't get much easier than this... a tension rod between the cabinets and a variety of silver ball ornaments hung with colored ribbons attached to ornament hooks.

This adds just enough seasonal charm to the kitchen without getting in the way of the important stuff (food!).