The big reveal - a bright, bold, flower-infested nursery

Okay...I have looked all day for the 'before' shot of our made-over crappy dresser, and can't find it, so y'all will just have to use your imaginations, because I simply can't keep waiting to finally unveil the twins' nursery.  I have been conceptualizing, designing, prepping, shopping and finalizing this room for what seems like months (oh yeah...it HAS been months), and given that I could deliver my little goobers at any time, I guess I should get this up so that people can see!!!

So, a couple caveats.
1) The whole dresser thing.  It was old and ugly, albeit solid wood, so we knew we could do something cool with it.  I wanted to have it done professionally in a laquered white, but then discovered that it would be very likely in our climate to split and have 'viens' in it.  So not worth the money.  Sigh.

2) The glider rocker is currently in our living room.  This big bellied Momma to be needed something she could sit in and get out of easily at this point, and because our second-hand sofa-bed would NOT fit down into the newly renovated basement, we had to move our other couch down there, so we are suffering in the living room at the moment.  So, yeah...there is an empty spot in the corner of the nursery where the chair should go...BUT, I still have a shot of the glider to include so you can see what it looks like.

3) The damn shutters still have not arrived for the window treatment.  It will look lovely when here, but until then, we just have a venetian blind up there.

But I think that's it.  The rest is done and ready for crying, pooping, sleeping, smiling babies. The theme? Garden Flowers.

So, without further ado...

BEFORE

Another angle...

And the closet etc. area over by the door...

AFTER

And so, here is the after!!!!! The room is SO BRIGHT with sunlight streaming in, the photos often show darker, as the camera adjusts the exposure, but without the shutters, it's like a sunroom!

The glider corner - it looks great in here, when it, you know, is in here!

The glider, for those who haven't seen it yet.  White leather beauty purchased from Fab Baby Gear - great shop in Westboro...

When you enter the room...the photos are either shots I have personally taken from my own garden, or some that I downloaded from Flickr - such an amazing resource.  Costco only charges $1.99 per 12x12 reproduction, and the frames are from IKEA at $19.99 each. 

*Note that they are NOW hung very securely with strong wire and hook fasteners, but we originally tried to use the 3M Command picture hanging strips. We put MORE than the recommended amount on the frames, and followed the instructions, and in the middle of the night, the frames were FALLING OFF THE WALL.  If I had had my newborns in the cribs...well, I shudder to think. Needless to say, I don't recommend this product.

Our awesome closet curtains...Found the fabric finally at Rockland textiles and had a friend of my Mom's sew these and the custom lime crib skirts (also shown here) for me.  She did an amazing job.

And the interior closet solution we came up with. (Cube units from IKEA recently reduced to $40 each, and rods from Home Depot around $6 each)...

Some closer detail on the closet. We have empty drawers and areas - plenty of storage to grow with the girls.

The change corner, with the refurbished dresser...Mirror from Bouclair Home.  Great store - love their accents and prices.

Close up dresser detail - knobs and pulls purchased from Lee Valley tools. I love the crystal knobs on the small drawers...

The change area was fun.  Finally found a white square basket of the right height and then painted it myself to have it tie in with the colour scheme.  About $14 from HomeSense I think...

And the laundry hamper I picked up at Home Outfitters - it was white as well, and then I painted the lid and the middle section. The diaper disposal was compliments of a friend as a temporary measure for the first little while until we transition to cloth diapers.  With Baby B in CHEO for the first while, we will use disposables to start with...

The floating shelves were from Home Depot at less than $20 each...My muse and my support through the tough times, Dylan the dinosaur, is in a place of honour in the far corner until the girls want to play with him.

A few smiling flowers - compliments of a friend's sweet daughter - are waiting to greet the girls - this crib will eventually be Baby B's, so will be there, waiting and smiling as long as necessary...

And finally, I hope we can sleep both girls together in one crib to start.  We will be moving this crib to the master bedroom so that Mommy can breastfeed in bed and handle the craziness a bit better in the beginning!

So there you are.  Finally!  Hope you like it as much as we do.  It makes me happy just to enter the room.

Am I in the Amazing Race for Preggos?

You'd think, with all the 'stuff' we've already had to deal with, that at the very least, I could get my home in order. You'd THINK.


I feel like thee must be hidden cameras and a host in the background of my life tuning in at all time to listen to my ideas for what we need, following me around from store to store, and each time I head in one direction, the producers are calling ahead to the store to remove items from their shelves, place out of stock stickers on their hooks or otherwise trip me up with lack of service or lack of product to fit my needs. Then, as I somewhat contentedly pull into my parking spot, struggle to get out of the car without groaning, and waddle toward the front doors, the host voiceover must say something along the lines of "We've placed another roadblock in her path. With her babies due very soon, and her house in shambles, let's see how she handles this latest setback..."

No well, my friends, not well. Patience is wearing extremely thin these days. As of Friday, I will be at 33 weeks. Yes, that's still 7 weeks to term for a normal pregnancy, but folks...nothin' about this pregnancy has been normal.

Oh, and although the drywallers were supposed to be here taping and mudding today, of COURSE they were on another job and didn't show. Of course. Each day that passes, I grind my teeth down further and look at the chaos around me with growing anxiety. I hate living like this!

Sorry, sorry...what brought this on? The discovery of the best way to hang the nursery photos, and trips to three separate stores to get the number of hanging apparati necessary. Got enough to hang about 30% at one store, then ran out, and the other stores are out of stock. Just like the floating shelves I wanted were out of stock at IKEA, and just like the backup floating shelves I wanted at Home Depot were out of stock. And the list goes on. Sigh.

But I'll get over it, and in the meantime, I am sure I won't win the race, 'cause I just don't have the disposition right now, but once they edit the footage, it'll be a highly amusing show, to be sure. Once I find out who's producing the show and when it will air, I will let you know when to tune in...

Movin' right along!

Finally.

Finally, the carpet installers got here and reinstalled new carpet in lieu of the botched job on the entire upper floor of our house.  What does that mean for me?  It means we have furniture again, and a spare bedroom again, AND we can FINALLY work on the nursery! I will be snapping photos along the way in order to create a before and after photo album to come soon. 

So, moving forward, we have a custom closet 'solution' we are working on, we have chosen some fabric and a friend of my parents' will be sewing curtains and crib skirts, and we have repainted a lovely wood dresser to prepare it to be both storage and the change table.  We have both cribs (one is together and the other to be assembled, likely tomorrow) and then from there, it's the little details.  Lights, wall hanging (I have a great plan for this, but will surprise you), etc. 

Of course, we also have to get the contractor in to tear up the entire basement and rebuild from ground up before October, and create storage solutions in our garage to accomodate the reduction in storage space in our home.  So.  Lots to still do.

Glad to be able to start!

Got cool reno albums?  Took photos of your nursery creations?  Would love to see them...!