Making it Lovely

Jolly Green Giants

Making it Lovely — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:39:08 +0000

The giant green planters that I had originally bought to flank our front door have found their place on the patio. The first is over by the egg chair.

I love the way the garden is filling in over there, but I think I like it more for the potential I see. There are hydrangeas planted to the left of the chair, but you can’t even see them in the photo because they are so teeny tiny! They’ll be beautiful when they eventually fill in, but I have a feeling it’s going to take a looong time.

The other planter is near the back stairs.

That area needs a little work. I want a boxwood in that white pot, and eventually we would like to close off the opening under the stairs with a gate (so we can still access the space for storage). It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time because it would look so much nicer, but next year it will be a safety issue when Eleanor plays in the yard.

Anyway, don’t the planters look nice out on the patio? I’m almost glad they didn’t pan out for the front porch. Almost.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Style: July ‘09

Making it Lovely — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:25:54 +0000

I’m asked constantly how I put these style posts together, so today I’m showing you the behind-the-scenes process.

It works the same way whether I’m making a board for an outfit or a room. I may have a good idea of everything in my head first, but usually there’s a lot of looking around at different options before I hit upon exactly the look I want. Once I’ve chosen all of the items I want to use, I put them all together, erasing backgrounds and photo editing where necessary. Here’s a screenshot of all the windows I had open in Photoshop for this month’s post…

And here’s a breakdown of where it all came from (items that made the final cut are highlighted in bold)…

Each of those dresses work for nursing which I know is not something that everyone needs, but it’s a requirement for me these days. Oh, and I’ve included the Ada Pleats shoes before, but with good reason: I absolutely love them. I have a pair in yellow, and they make my $25 Target dress look a whole lot nicer. See, I only recommend items I’ve actually bought (or would buy) for myself… I’m like a consumer advocate that way. ;)

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Garden Walks, 2009

Making it Lovely — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:50:19 +0000

Last weekend was filled with flowers. The Oak Park Garden Walk took place last Saturday, and I went by myself (very quickly) to six of the nine gardens included. Then on Sunday, I took Eleanor along to the Park Ridge Garden Walk where we met up with my mom and her two youngest, Ross and Francesca. We also saw six (out of seven) gardens on Sunday, but it took a little longer with three children under five along. ;) Here are a few highlights…

This was easily the star of the Oak Park Garden Walk. There were 50′ arborvitae surrounding the property.

When you entered the garden you felt like you had been transported to a different place.

There were glass spheres in the garden, tucked amongst the flowers. This photo doesn’t capture how beautiful they were — they looked like bubbles.

There was also a lovely potting bench and bicycle. I’m sure it looks like this all the time, right?

Moving on to some of the other gardens, here’s an awesome bamboo fence…

A fun bird topiary…

A striking white hosta…

(I want some of these in my garden too.)

An old bicycle as a planter…

And a tooth-shaped toy box that was turned into a planter for the garden of a dentist.

It all just makes me want to do more work to our little garden! Not so easy with a newborn, but at least the planning is almost as much fun as the doing.

p.s. If you want to see more photos of the Park Ridge Garden Walk, my mom has been posting them on her blog.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Two Months Old (Eleanor’s Monthly Photo)

Making it Lovely — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:03:25 +0000

(I’ll be taking a photo of Eleanor sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing her pin each month until she’s two years old.)

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Are These Curtains Better?

Making it Lovely — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:55:21 +0000

I’m not so sure. I’ve tried putting these curtains in the library before (they’re from my studio), but after someone mentioned trying them here in the comments I thought I’d give it another go.

Remember, here’s the before (with the curtains that everyone except me seems to love)…

I love the colorful curtains, but I don’t think they’re right for the library. Too kooky? Of course that makes me wonder if I’d like Orla curtains as much as I thought.

Now I’m thinking I might want something more masculine. Maybe a crisp geometric in brown and white.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

The New Light in the Library

Making it Lovely — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:18:33 +0000

We finally got our hands on the Chase Ceiling Mount I had wanted for the library, and we’ve already installed it! Brandon did most of the work while I held Eleanor and read the instructions to him.

It’s so much better than the light that was there before.

It’s understated, but it’s a perfect compliment to the room.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Eight Weeks Old

Making it Lovely — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:12:07 +0000

I’m still enjoying my maternity leave, though I’m eager to open the shop again too. Now that Eleanor is getting used to being in a sling, I can get more done during the day but it’s not consistent at all. Some days she takes a nice long nap (or two), sometimes it’s just 20 minutes here and there.

Although Eleanor doesn’t nap much, she’s doing remarkably well at sleeping through the night! I start her bedtime routine around 8:00 and on a good night she’s asleep by 8:30. If she’s fussing a bit it might take an hour or more for her to finally fall asleep, but once she’s asleep she’s often out for the night. I always get one of two variations… she sleeps straight through from 8:30-5:30, or she sleeps from 8:30-3:00, nurses, and then sleeps again from 3:30-7:00. Either way, I get a decent night’s sleep so I’m happy.

Eleanor plays with her hair now to soothe herself when she’s tired. We first noticed her doing it a couple of weeks ago. It’s cute to watch her do something so deliberate! I feel like we’re getting a peek at her burgeoning personality. And she’s always been very alert, but now she’s becoming more curious too. She loves to be in her bouncy chair or on her play mat so that she can bat at her toys. She makes little cooing noises as she explores.

And she smiles! It melts me a little each time and of course I give her one right back. She’s even started laughing… well, it’s more like the precursor to actual laughing. Practice giggles. It’s not the squealing baby laugh you might think of, but more of an abrupt breathy sort of thing accompanied by a beaming smile.

Lately though, Eleanor has been crying for Brandon when he holds her. She calms down right away when she’s back in my arms. It’s way too early for her to be experiencing separation anxiety and we don’t know why it’s happening, but it’s heartbreaking. She smiles at Brandon, but it seems she just doesn’t want to be held by him.

When she was three weeks old, I mentioned that I was having a hard time with breastfeeding. I’m happy to say that things have finally improved! I was feeling discouraged when I was still in pain at six weeks because even though I now there’s no magic time frame, I kept hearing “give it six weeks”. I had taken a breastfeeding class, seen lactation consultants, read books, applied lanolin religiously, kept soothies in the fridge, varied positions, carefully latched the baby on… I was doing everything right and I was still in so much pain.

The left side had actually felt better since around the fourth week, but the right side was awful. There was some damage early on (probably by the third day), and it seemed like it would never heal. I dreaded each feeding because even if it was the side that didn’t hurt, that meant I was just that much closer to nursing her on the painful side again. Well I don’t know what changed, but all of a sudden one day nursing didn’t hurt anymore! Maybe Eleanor finally grew into her high palate, or maybe she changed the way she latches on? All I can say to someone having the same difficulty is that it does get better (even though I was afraid for a while that it never would).

Oh, and our little girl is quite the chunker. At her one month check-up, she weighed 12 pounds! That’s off the charts. Now she’s already outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes. She’s getting so big so fast.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Time for a New FLOR

Making it Lovely — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:49:58 +0000

The sisal rug in our dining room is about five years old, and it has a big threadbare spot on it that was just made much worse this weekend by vacuuming. Luckily, FLOR just opened a store in Chicago, so Brandon and I headed out to see what we could find.

image from Apartment Therapy

We went through, grabbing a sample of each carpet style and color that interested us. Then we started narrowing down the choices (too dark, too light, can’t withstand heavy foot traffic, and so on), until we ended up with our final selection: Feelin Groovy in Pewter.

Brandon and I also really liked the Be My Neighbor Rug.

Where could we use something so awesome? In Brandon’s office, of course. He’s going to feel like a giant.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Dreaming of Orla Kiely Curtains

Making it Lovely — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:48:40 +0000

I’ve been having a lot home design dreams lately. Usually they make no sense, like the one I had recently where Kim from Myles of Style and the Dugger family gave my living room a makeover (it resulted in forced smiles followed by tears from me). Last night was different though…

I had been looking online at curtains for the library. I know everyone always says that they love the ones that are up there now, but I don’t. I’m looking for a bold, graphic print that has brown and mustard yellow in it to work with the wall colors, but I didn’t find anything I really loved (these came closest). I had given up for the night and figured I’d look again in a few months when there might be some new options on the market. Then, I had a dream in which the perfect solution presented itself to me: I want curtains made out of Orla Kiely stem print fabric!

Too bad it doesn’t seem to be available. Wah-wah.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!

Up for the Challenge: We Won!

Making it Lovely — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:27:51 +0000

I wanted to thank you all earlier, but I was waiting until I heard from Better Homes & Gardens…

We WON! Making it Lovely received the most votes in the 48-Hour Challenge at BHG.com and we’ll be the recipient of a $5000 bonus! We’re so excited, and we’re eager to get started on a few new projects around the house that will now be possible. And obviously, we couldn’t have won without your tremendous support. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you for subscribing to Making it Lovely!