Tour of Taylor’s Room

I just love love love how Taylor’s room has turned out, so I thought I’d give you a tour of it!  It really came together so nicely, as if I had planned it all out, but I didn’t really!  I never had an overall vision for her room, I just started from choosing her comforter and added in the things I had from her nursery and it evolved from there.

The design began with her furniture… Before I even closed on our house, I went my first model home auction.  Talk about fun!!  They auction off literally everything in the model homes and you bid.  If you win, you haul the furniture right out of the house and take it home.  It was exciting!  Anyway, that is where I scored her nice dresser and nightstands.  They turned out to be really nice quality and is something that can grow with her. 

Before picking a paint color, I picked out the comforter for her bed.  I found one I really liked at Bed Bath & Beyond.  It wasn’t baby-ish which I like; more little-girlish.  Once I picked the bedding, the wall colors just fell into place.  I went with a two-tone, Tiffany-blue and teal shade.  It’s very calm and serene. 

 

Luckily, items from her original pink & gray nursery worked well with her new teal room.  This was her rocking chair from her nursery and I think that it compliments the teal room nicely.

 

A few fun details from her shelves…. Baby pictures, knickknacks that we pick up along the way, and an old toy that I had from when I was a baby.

And, what little girl’s room wouldn’t be complete with out a large, color coded, closet and lots of matching bows??

I completed Taylor’s bed this weekend with a handmade headboard upholstered in white fabric.  This such an easy and inexpensive project!  It literally took me 10 minutes and only cost $25 in supplies!

All you need is a scrap piece of plywood cut to size.  I had the guy at Home Depot just cut the piece for me.  He found some scrap wood, cut it, and it only cost $1.08!!  Next, you need batting and/or foam based on how thick you want your headboard to be.  I went with two layers of batting which just so happened to be 30% off at the fabric store.  Lastly, you will need fabric to cover it all.  I went with a basic white textured fabric to complement her colorful comforter.  I found that on clearance for $8/yard.  SCORE! Just lay everything out, pull tightly, and staple around the back edges.  Mount the headboard to wall, and VIOLA!

Here’s the before and after.  I think it finishes off her bed nicely.  She was pretty happy to see her headboard finished today when she came home.  We both love how it all turned out!

 

Project!

I wanted to do something special with some of the pictures I took at our family vacation this summer.  I decided to do an assortment of framed pictures over the TV in the Living Room.

Old wooden shelves that I picked up at a garage sale…. $3

Supplies to refinish the shelves and make them look like new again…. $5

An assortment of matching picture frames from Ikea… $65

Prints made for each frame… $10

Memories on the wall of our family vacation…. Priceless!

The Lanai Project

It recently dawned on me that our lanai was in need of a little revamping. We spend so much of our time out there, and eat the majority of our meals there.  It’s right off our Living Room, so even when we aren’t outside, we can see it through the sliding glass doors, so it is really important to me to make it look nice and finished.

I started off by getting new plants.  I neglected to water the plants I had out there before, so they were all dead or dying.  It was really pathetic, but I left it like that for months.  The single stick of a palm tree had to go!  I also planets one pot with herbs that I often use when cooking.  Here’s the pot with Parsley, Mint, and Basil.

This centerpiece isn’t new at all, but it’s something I put together with random odds and ends.  It’s just one of those pot bases with candles and rocks.  It’s super simple and makes for a great patio centerpiece.

We finished off the room with a new outdoor rug that I got from Ikea.  Adding the rug made such a difference.

Here’s a nice shot I got of the last of the Easter Lily blooms from this season.

don't break a leg!

Thank God hanging Christmas lights this year did not end up with this...

That's right folks! People really DO break their legs while hanging Christmas lights!

Three years ago, Josh attempted to hang Christmas lights at our house, and had a bad fall off the ladder. When this happened, I was at the opposite end of the house sweeping in the garage. I faintly heard the word "LAUREN!!" and my heart sunk! I immediately ran to go find Josh. I found him lying in extreme pain, holding his leg. At first we thought it was foot, so I grabbed the largest pot we had and filled it with ice water. Josh's foot wouldn't even fit in the pot, and trying to ice it only caused him more pain. Without much more delay, I drove him straight to the hospital. It was a bumpy and painful ride, but we eventually got there. We were surprised to learn that he had actually broken his leg! It was appropriately called a "green"stick fracture.

Luckily for us (especially Josh) this year's Christmas light hanging did not result in a trip to the hospital!

We kept things pretty low-key and just resused the lights we had left over from previous years and decorated the palm tree! That's it. I would like to go all out, Griswold-style, but maybe next year.

I hope everyone has a safe Christmas!

pool bath

I've wanted to participate in Kelly's Korner - Home Tours, but since we've been in the middle of moving for the past few weeks, I haven't had any rooms available to be photographed. This week, she's doing bathroom tours. It's fun to look at other people's rooms, to see different tastes and get decorating ideas.

This is my new "Pool Bath". We don't have a pool (maybe, one day), but that's what the builder calls this room. It's the one bathroom located on the first floor.

Please excuse the poor quality pictures. I took these with my iPhone because Josh keeps leaving our camera in his car! This door goes from the bathroom out to the the lanai. I've been meaning to frost the glass, or put up blinds or something for privacy. I will get to that soon!

In this corner of the pool bath, is the shower. Adding this shower to the bathroom was an option, but we thought it'd be useful for guests.

The vanity... very exciting! I had to take this at a weird angle, so I wouldn't be in the mirror reflection.

And lastly, a picture of the beautiful tile. This is the flooring for the entire downstairs living area. I love it! I used the colors in it as inspiration for the paint colors in the whole house.

I will show off the Master Bath another time. We are still working on putting up vanity lights, so when it's complete I will post pics.

shadow boxes

My friend, Allison, and I worked our butts off on Friday night hanging pictures and placing accessories around the new house. It's a lot of work decorating a new house, but I love it. It's so rewarding seeing everything put together. My main focus was to get the first floor all set up and looking complete, but in addition to that we also hung the shadow boxes that I made for The Green Beans in the hallway upstairs. I've been looking forward to finally getting my shadow boxes hung since I put them together weeks ago.

I used some random items that I got for each baby from their TGH memory boxes, and some other items that I collected for them. All of the shadow boxes contain the baby's little outfit and hat that they wore the night they were born. But other than that, they are all a little different and unique.

Heidi Michelle ~

For Heidi's box, I included a note that Josh's cousin sent us. It reads, " I know Gram's is smiling down on us with her hands full..." I just loved that idea of his grandma in heaven holding little Heidi, and it gave me peace when we lost her. I also included an Angel pin that was given to me, and since Heidi was our first angel, I put that pin in her shadow box.

Lily Nicole ~

Lily's box is unique because she was the only one that had the card made of her hand and feet prints. I also included a little handmade card that was sent to us with lilys on it.

Paige Elise ~

Paige's box includes a saying that was part of her TGH memory box that reads, " When someone comes into our lives... and they are too quietly and quickly gone, they leave footprints on our hearts... and their memory stays with us forever". I love that little saying.

Rylan Otto ~

Rylan's box contains a card with his birth weight and length on it that reads, " The memory of your smallness fills my heart with the blessing and the reality of you".

I love that saying too :)

And finally, here is all four of them together on the wall. I picked this particular place in our new house because this is the hallway that you walk down to go to the kid's rooms. I hope one day we will be walking down that hallway to our babies in their rooms, while passing the shadow boxes and remembering our Green Beans.

left behind

I hope I look back at this post one day (sooner than later) and think I'm crazy for feeling this way... BUT, right now I just feel so left behind from happiness. I am happy from day to day and grateful for the good things in my life, but what I am referring to is the pure joy and happiness and fulfillment that having a baby brings.  Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely grateful for our new house, but it's pretty depressing having all those nice bedrooms sit completely empty with out purpose.  When we picked out this house, we had four babies in mind that would occupy those rooms.  Now it's just a big reminder of how "empty" my life is.

 I've been so left behind, and am so lost without my babies.  I'm at a time in my life were it seems that everyone I know has children now, and then there's me.  I'm sick if being asked my strangers if I have kids and having to say no.  Because I really do have babies; they are just not with me, and it's complicated.  Very complicated.  I'm sick of not feeling like myself anymore. When I look back at pictures, all I do is categorize them as pre and post-pregnancy, and that's all I see things as.  Pre-pregnancy was back when life was simple and I had no idea about what this pain feels like.  Everything that has occurred post-pregnancy has been a blur.  I haven't really been fully present in life since I lost my babies, unless I am thinking about them.

When I talk to other grieving moms or read their blogs, I've heard them say that their pain and grief changes over time, but never goes away.  That doesn't surprise me, I'd never expect it to completely go away, but it's just depressing to know I will be sad and empty to a certain extent for the rest of my life.  I hope one day we will have a healthy baby, and that will be amazing, but it will never take this feeling away.

So for now, I am feeling left behind.  I'm sure my time will come, and I'll try to be patient.  It's just hard adapting to how life is for me now.

bus-y day!

Yesterday was one BUSY day!  Friday is the last day of my company's fiscal year, so in sales that always means running around like crazy getting sales completed to make sure that they book for this month.  That alone makes for a wild week, but on top of that as you know, we are closing on our house and doing home improvements and moving!  Geez!

So yesterday started out early, when Josh woke me up to get ready for our final home walk-through.  Before we left for that, I anxiously waited by my laptop waiting for a contract for work to come though.  That didn't come in in time, so I went to the new house and met the superintendent  to make sure everything was completed and perfect.  That went well, and the house looks amazing!  I still can't believe it's ours!  Walk though the new house -- Check!

After that we had about 45 minuets until we needed to be at the closing for the house.  So, with that short amount of time, I decided to stop by my Dermatologist's Office.  Earlier this week I went to see my Derm for a mole check.  You hear about how important getting your skin checked for moles and melanoma is, so I finally decided to do it.  I am naturally blessed (yea, right) with freckles and moles, and I am always in the sun, so I figured it's time to get checked out.  Anyway, long story short, my Dermatologist wanted to remove 4 moles!  It was quick and fairly painless, but the one on my shin was hurting and a little red, so I stopped by her office quickly to get it checked out.  I spent every last minute I had there, then bolted to the office where we did our closing while avoiding a speed trap that Josh warned me about on Bruce B. Downs Blvd!  Doctor's appointment -- Check!

Josh loooves to be 15 min. early to everything, so I know I was worrying him a little by making it to the closing with only 1 minute to spare.  The closing went smoothly.  We signed about 72,000 papers, and quickly scanned over all the fine print.  Buy a new house -- Check! After our closing Josh and I had planned to go back to the new house and take some pictures, but unfortunately I had to go back to work.  Since that contract that I was waiting for didn't come in that morning, I had to then run to Kinko's and get it printed out, then take it to my client's office to get it signed. If only it were that easy!  I got to my client's office, but he had a room full of patients and I had to wait 1.5 hours to get in to see him.  Once I did, I got the deal signed, then ran to another Kinko's to have the check overnighted to my corporate office for processing!  Close a deal -- Check!

By now, it's about 3pm and I haven't even had lunch yet!  I picked up drive though from Chick-fil-a and headed home.  (Did you know that all the Chick-fil-a entrees are less than 500 cals each?  You can actually manage to eat healthy on-the-go at Chick-fil-a, plus it's really good!).  On my way home I stopped by the new house to see Josh and our friend Jay there busy hanging ceiling fans and lights, then headed to my home office to complete my busy work day.

We were expecting Josh's dad to arrive sometime that evening, so I quickly cleaned up the house and got it ready for our company.  The rest of my day slowed down some.  I was able to find time to take my doggies for a walk, made myself a delicious bowl of cereal for dinner and finally relax!  Ahhh!  

our new casa!

In case you haven't already seen Josh's Blog lately - our new house is almost finished!!  We went by today and the carpet installation has been started!  It looks just about complete now.  It's been so fun watching every step of the construction happen.  Next, we'll be doing a pre-closing walk through in 2 weeks, then we get the keys the week after!  The first week that we officially own the house, we'll be doing some small projects before we move all our stuff in.   Josh is going to put in some recessed lighting in the Bonus Room, installing fans and lights, and the painter will be painting away!  It's getting so exciting!  Oh, and we're pretty sure we found a renter for our current house already, so that is a big relief!

Side of the house with the new landscaping.

Front door

The side yard.

Home Sweet Home!

Off to go make breakfast for dinner with the hubs!  Yumm! 

our living room

It's "Show Us Where You Live" Friday at Kelly's Korner, and today it's the Living Room/Family Room edition.  Before our big move really sets in, and there are boxes everywhere, I thought I'd post picks of our current living space.

Here is our Living Room looking in from the front doors.

The Living Room looking back at the front doors.

I had to throw this in :) ~ 

Romie enjoying laying on the floor of the Living Room.

This is our Family Room/room-that-no-one-really-uses.  Josh had the good idea to turn this room into a dinning room (instead of the small dinning area that we have off the Living Room), but we never got around to that.  In the new house we will have both! :)

Please post pics of your Living Rooms/Family Rms. if you haven't done so already.  It's fun to see every one's houses and different decorating styles.