Nesting with Nikki

Nursery curtains

2011-10-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

The first piece I wanted for the nursery was the curtains. With the closest Ikea being 2.5 hours away, my mother (who currently lives in another state), went to her local Ikea and picked them up. Then she went to Babies R Us to see how they went with the crib we've chosen -- and I LOVE it!

Three's company

2011-09-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's official -- after nearly 7 years of marriage, we are expecting our first child! We will find out on October 21 if it is a boy or a girl (hopefully). Either way, I already know exactly what I want to do with the nursery.

By Sarah Richardson

I fell in love with this nursery the very first time I saw it on HGTV's Sarah's House 2 (long before I became pregnant). It was meant to be a gender-neutral room, and it is totally my style. The colors also coordinate perfectly with the colors throughout the rest of our home.

Fortunately, Sarah Richardson's website has a source list with all the places she purchased the items in the room, as well as paint colors. I already have the paint swatches (by Glidden Professional), and will be purchasing the curtains (from Ikea) next month.

Some elements will obviously be different. The chair, for instance, is only available in Canada, and the chair's custom fabric is no longer manufactured (I had already contacted the vendor directly in hopes of tracking it down).

Even though some elements will be different, the important ones will be closely the same. We also plan to mimic the alphabet along the top of the room. Being a graphic designer and working with type, this is one of my favorite parts.

More to come on this project as we move along. I'm really looking forward to recreating this room and seeing how it all comes together!

Backyard friends

2011-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

We have entered our first spring in the house, and wildlife is everywhere. We have seen several types of birds, toads, frogs, lizards, turtles, and a raccoon. Here are some photos of our backyard friends.

Spring is here!

2011-04-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

The weather has been great in North Carolina. So great, in fact, that we decided to purchase a patio set and grill!

This is our first summer in the new house, so the patio set was a big decision. I had in mind something very specific: aluminum, neutral, stylish, no glass top, and seating for 6 while fitting on our patio. But everything that fit my requirements in appearance didn't fit our budget requirement. One way or another, something would have to be sacrificed; I wouldn't be able to have it all.

I looked at several patio sets on my own before Chad and I went to Home Depot. He spotted a Martha Stewart patio set that he said would be perfect. It fit the budget, was neutral, and had seating for 6. The best part was the shape. We loved the hexagon for our patio. The only drawbacks were a glass top and it was made of steel instead of aluminum.

Two weeks went by before we made a decision. And we decided to go for it. We also got a new Weber grill. Now we can enjoy our backyard for our first summer in the house!

This cookie jar is a hoot!

2011-01-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

I spotted this cookie/cracker jar at Anthropologie:

I love it's vintage, kitschy appearance. It reminds me of sweet grandmothers. And the colors would go perfectly in our kitchen!

And though I have no need or use for them, I also love the colors of these Anthropologie bowls:

Speaking of the dining room...

2011-01-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

I haven't yet posted pictures of those West Elm plates I was contemplating.

Shortly after that blog post, I ordered the plates. They were perfect!

I decided against hanging the plates on the wall, and put them on the existing black shelves instead. My mom also found some great white vases at a local store. The cut-out detail reminds me of tree branches.

One of these days, we will paint those shelves the same red as the wall. Until then, we're pretty happy with the way the dining room is turning out!

Questions

2011-01-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

I like this table runner from Williams-Sonoma:

But will it go with my dining room?

Is the runner white or ivory?

Would it be too much red?

Christmas recap

2011-01-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over, and it's time to pack everything up. But first, I have to mention some Christmas items that really made me smile.

Each year when we decorate for Christmas, I come across these Mr. and Mrs. Claus candle holders in my tote. I always place them on the window sill above the kitchen sink.

My mom tells me that they came from Hallmark. They've been around as long as I can remember. In fact, I was certain I remembered them being on top of the old TV set along with other Christmas decor. I found a picture, but as you can see, they aren't there...

Either way, I absolutely love the Mr. and Mrs. Claus candle holders. I always forget about them, so they make me happy every time I pull them out of the tote. This year, while decorating for Christmas for the first time in our new home, I started thinking about other ornaments and decor from my childhood.

We traveled "home" for Christmas this year, and I found a box of ornaments my mom had made when I was a kid. She is an artist, woodworker and seamstress, and had hand-crafted all of these beautiful ornaments. Here are just a few:

I took the chance to bring them back with me, and I'll be excited to add them to our tree next year!

Even though I now have a box of handmade classic wood and fabric ornaments from my childhood, I want to keep shiny glass bulbs as well. The bulbs I've been using are rose, ivory, and gold (they were hand-me-downs), and I want to update them to match the colors of our current living room.

So while I was at Target today, I noticed that not only did they have 75% off holiday items, but that they also had an aisle of glass bulbs left! I picked up 4 boxes of bulbs for just $6. I used a Target gift card that I got as a Christmas gift, and I ended up with them for free.

I'd like to find some new red and white bulbs as well. Maybe I can find more while everything is on sale!

Making Christmas, making Christmas

2010-12-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

This is our first Christmas in our new house. And we noticed that immediately following Thanksgiving, all the neighbors had their Christmas lights up and on. We weren't even sure that we were going to put up the tree at all, since we'll be traveling to see family. But low and behold, I came home from work one day to find that Chad dragged in the tree and 2 totes of Christmas decorations.

He put the tree up and followed with a tradition: putting the first ornament on the tree (which is actually 2 ornaments that he hooks together on the same branch). This has been an odd tradition that he started when we first got our tree in 2002.

Now that we have a house, I can't wait to get new ornaments for this tree. The current ornaments are rose, white and gold, and were hand-me-downs from my mom. They've served their purpose for many years, but I'd love to do something different. Maybe next year...

Next came a wreath for the front door, which I embellished with a handmade bow and ornaments (ribbon and ornaments from Michaels).

This looked so great on the front door, that we decided to do the same with some garland. (Jayda helped add the bulbs.)

With an extra string of garland in the tote, I decorated the banister as well. (These polka-dot and striped ornaments are from Hallmark.)

Last, but not least, I had to do a little something in the dining room. (Pottery Barn trees and bulbs. Home Goods wreath.)

Living [room] with furniture

2010-12-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

It has been far too long since I've blogged. We had been waiting on our furniture order from Bassett -- the 6-8 weeks that we were promised turned into 10+ weeks, and were beginning to think we wouldn't receive our furniture!

I first posted about our living room inspiration here. And now the furniture is finally here! A sectional, accent chair, storage ottoman, sofa table, pedestal table and media credenza.

Don't mind the stuff on the mantle. That was there temporarily, but is being replaced. We haven't found the perfect main piece to go above the mantle yet, but we'll find something!

We just finished decorating for our first Christmas in this house, so photos will be coming soon!

More on the master

2010-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of our new mattress coming (2 more days!!), I have been thinking more about the potential of our master bedroom.

Before, with the seller's furniture:

After playing around with some ideas, here is my current vision for what the bedroom might become:

A breakdown of the items:

West Elm quilt

West Elm sham

West Elm euro sham

West Elm striped sheet set

West Elm throw pillow

Bassett Chatham poster bed (black)

Bassett Chatham dresser (black)

Bassett Chatham night stands (black)

Crate & Barrel sconces

West Elm owls

Pottery Barn mercury glass candleholders

Urban Outfitters tree

Pottery Barn casual cotton drapes (same as our dining room)

One of my favorite ideas to add more to this room is inspired by Centsational Girl. On the back wall (behind the bed), I would love to do this paint treatment similar to hers.

I'm looking forward to hearing Chad's thoughts, and figuring out when we will be able to accomplish all this. At least I feel like we have a direction! For now, all I need is a free Saturday to drive the 2.5 hours to West Elm and check out the bedding!

The King

2010-10-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

We did it. We went out last weekend to look at king-size mattresses, something Chad has wanted to do for a very long time. We would have done this long ago if we had the room, but decided to wait until we had a house. So we went to look, and what happened?

Of course, we found something we both loved, and we purchased it. It's a Simmons BeautyRest. It will be delivered on Saturday, and we can't wait!

Uh oh. We don't have any king bedding. No king sheets! Nothing!!

For now, all we really need are some plain sheets. The queen quilt will do for a while. I don't want to rush on finding bedding.

The bedding will set the tone for the rest of the room. Right now, it is a blank canvas. A big, beige box (with a big beige master bathroom attached). So I suppose the bedding will also set the tone for the bathroom.

Here is our bedroom (with the seller's furniture):
COMING SOON

I posted recently about some bedding ideas. While I love the solid blue Tuck-Stitch quilt from West Elm, there has to be some movement and pattern. And they just so happen to have it pictured on the website along with the Winter Pine bedding set, and I love it.

Chad is a very outdoorsy kind of guy, and most of our home will be decorated with a subtle nature theme (the leaf plates in the dining room, the bird statues in the living room, etc.). And this bedding fits the bill. However, I don't want a duvet. So I'm looking at the solid quilt with some Winter Pine shams.

I still like the idea of the white and gray sheets with black furniture. And we can paint the walls, but we're still stuck with beige carpet (which we're not willing to change).

Part of me wonders if I'm so drawn to this bedding because of the red wall in the photo? I love how it looks together – but I just don't think we can handle red in our bedroom...

Dining dilemmas

2010-10-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

I spotted these plates at West Elm...

...and instantly thought they would look great in our dining room!

We may try hanging them on either side of the mirror, above the chairs that are against the wall. They are only 8.5" in diameter, so I wanted to get a feel for what they might look like.

It could work, but they may be too small on their own. If so, one idea is to frame them in shadow boxes, similar to something Sarah Richardson did on Sarah's House 2.

If that doesn't work, the next plan is to move them to the other side of the room.

The sellers left 4 black floating shelves in the dining room.

Since we have no black in the room, a project is brewing. We are going to paint the shelves Sherwin-Williams Barn Red to blend in with the walls.

Once the shelves are painted, the plan is to add objects in white, silver/pewter, and espresso.

But that is another project for another day. For now, I may just order these plates. At $29 for the set of 4, they will make for great art in the dining room no matter how we use them!

Move to the back

2010-10-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

We've had this bushy plant in the backyard that has gotten out of control.

It was a lot bushier before the rain from Tropical Storm Nicole, which caused some of the branches to snap. We love that this plant's flowers attract large butterflies, bumble bees, and hummingbirds. We don't love how it looks next to the patio.

Chad dug it up...

...and moved it to the back of the yard near the trees, where it could look more "wild."

Now the area near the patio looks more open!

We will probably take the picket fence down at some point, because you can't see the flowers and plants when you're sitting on the patio. And we'll probably take out the flowers and do something more consistent along the planting bed that is going to look good year round. Can't wait to landscape in the spring!

In another area, we have beautiful hydrangeas off the patio near the house, which I just LOVE!

However, the hydrangeas appear to have some sort of disease.

Not sure what this is or what's wrong with it, but we'll figure it out and try to fix it. I will have to acquire a green thumb now that we have a house. I've never been particularly good with plants, but our goal is to have everything outside looking good by next spring!

Cover me

2010-10-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

We have no window coverings on our master bedroom windows. Chad just realized this today...after living in our house for over 1 month. I found this amusing.

It was especially noticeable tonight because of the soccer game, and the bright lights that we could see through the trees. We back up to a natural wooded/marshy area, so the lack of window coverings hasn't been a big deal so far. At the very least we'd like to keep the light out from the workout center on the other side of the trees.

I'm thinking blackout curtains. But I don't particularly want to spend money on curtains before we know what we are [eventually] going to do with the bedroom. I just like to have a plan.

The first plan of attack for the room is that we'll eventually buy a king bed. The only question is when. And whenever this happens, a king bed is going to mean new bedding; eventually new furniture; and maybe the current beige walls will get a fresh coat of paint. Until then, I'm not too keen on a premature curtain search. In response to this, my wonderful husband encouraged me to "look" for bedding.

Here are some of my ideas for bedding:

We live in the south and like quilts. No thick comforters or heavy duvets for us. And there are just not as many options out there for quilts. So at the moment, I'm really digging the second option (blue quilt) with the white/gray sheet sets.

And potential bedroom furniture:

Pottery Barn – Hudson Bed

Bassett – Aspen Grove Arched Panel Bed

Bassett – Chatham Panel Bed

The third bed also comes in black.

As for the curtains, I was given the idea to put sheets up in the interim. That may be what we'll have to do, since it will be a little while before we can conquer the bedroom!

Living room inspiration

2010-10-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

These drapes are seriously cool—in an ugly kind of way. The colors are wonderful, and the print includes birds and butterflies!

With our first-floor rooms being red, cider and beige, these patterned drapes pull it all together—and they add some blue into the mix, too! They have now become the perfect inspiration for our living room, which is in serious need of color!

Living room on move-in day (view from kitchen):

A sneak peak at what's in store for the living room:

We'll be super happy once this room starts to come together. Stay tuned for future updates!

Dining room: Before and during

2010-10-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

I never would have chosen red for any room, but the previous owners painted the dining room Sherwin-Williams Barn Red. Surprisingly, I love it because it is offset with a lot of white trim.

Here is a photo of the dining room with the seller's furniture and decor:

With such a bold color, I felt like their decor cluttered up the room. For me, it is just too much.

Here's a look from the kitchen on move-in day:

I love how the room looks when stripped of distracting accessories, and the simplicity allows the bold color to be the center of attention.

We moved our dining set in and hung our Pottery Barn Solano mirror, and it looks great with the existing dining room colors!

My plan is to keep the room red, white, espresso (our dining furniture), silver/pewter, and maybe some small touches of cider (as pictured in the white centerpiece) to pull in the kitchen color.

Instead of going with a bold print or accent color for curtains, I decided to go with these white textured casual cotton drapes so not to distract from the room's architectural details.

And pewter hardware to replace the seller's black rods. (The square finials on top.)

Next, hang the rods!

And here it is!

We love the way it turned out! I can't imagine any other drapes in this room. We'll focus on art and accessories another time, but for now, this room rocks!

Outdoor improvements

2010-10-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

It looks like we won't get to do any real landscaping until the spring, but in the meantime we have made some small outdoor improvements.

First, we needed to do something about the sidelights. I didn't want to cover them up with blinds or curtains, but hated that you could see right into the house from the street. The perfect solution? Potted pencil holly shrubs. At $6.50 each, you can't go wrong!

Add a Smith & Hawkins door mat from Target, and the look is complete!

Next, we added a black aluminum bench from Lowes (along with 2 side tables to act as a coffee table). We also picked up two terra cotta pots and spray painted them white, added some mums for the fall, and placed one on each table.

My bro rented an aerator and brought it over for us (Chad) to use.

Hopefully we can save our grass and get a head start for spring landscaping!

We're no longer Property Virgins — We did it!

2010-10-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Chad and I started our home search at the end of July, and found the perfect house on our first day out with the realtor. I expected it to take at least a couple months to find a house we both loved, but this one was perfect. We wanted 3 bedrooms (this one had 4); we wanted trees (there is a protected nature preserve just beyond the property line in the backyard); and everything about the inside seemed like it was already made and waiting for us.

This was the 4th house we looked at, but not wanting to make such a quick decision, we looked at a few more. After a total of 15, it was clear this was "the one."

From that point on, it was a quick process. We made an offer, came to an agreement the next day, and closed just 3 short weeks later! We were thrilled when we got the keys!

Luckily the apartment was already packed up, and with some help from Chad's coworker, we moved in the following day!