Bigger and Better Thing #1 and #2

A cute picture of Lola getting way too grown up.

Sorry just threw that in…

(Before and After of Sew Creative below)

So my more current readers let me know that I have been a bad blogger, but my silent readers are probably just wondering what happened to me? 

I think summer months are just really UN-motivating!  Do you think it could be because it’s been over 100 degrees for over 37 consecutive days now and doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon?  That’s my only rant over the heat.  I’ll move on now to bigger and better things.

Bigger and Better Thing #1: Lola’s new sleeping routine.  She is my pride and joy I tell you!  Everyone’s sleeping advice was … “just let her cry it out.  be strong.”  I was.  And the method sucked.  It was terrible.  Finally my pediatrician tells me after 12 months of letting her cry it out peep talks…

“Embrace her wanting to sleep with you.  Give the crib up.  Put up a toddler bed and ease your way there.  She just isn’t a child that is going in the crib at this point.  Embrace it.  When she is ready, you’ll know.”

So I did.  And it made life less stressful for awhile.  But then a while later, I finally thought it would be time to switch her to her room for good.  Eh, not so great.  So the really cute Jenny Lind toddler bed I bought on Target.com that I had painted cream- I sold on Craigslist.  It wasn’t going to happen.  I’ll go ahead and add that I sold it for $50 more than I paid for it.  It’s funny what people will pay for something a different color, like cream.    

Then Clay and I built her a headboard for maybe $20 and salvaged foam and material from her nursery to make it extra comfy.  Added a mattress set and new frame and gave her a big girl bed. 

Finally, she was “ready.”  I’ll brag now.  I am able to tuck her in and we give “big kisses, big hugs” and I almost shut the door and she goes to sleep on her own around 7 p.m. 90% of the time with no crying (or an attempt at a pitiful fake cry but not normally).  It’s a-m-a-z-i-n-g.   And I think she is amazing because she does it so well now.  Two catches though- she sleeps with this giant baby that freaks everyone out… it is kind of cute though and she rubs the baby’s back and sings songs to her.

 

This baby looks especially freaky on the black and white video monitor.  Follow me on the Instagram app at nataliejo92 to see freaky monitor pictures and other random pictures I take throughout the week.

And catch #2 is… she ends up in my bed or I end up in hers because around 1 p.m. she normally wants me.  If I wasn’t so tired most nights I would do a better job at breaking that… which is my next goal.  Couldn’t conquer it all at once you know!  I think a good sign is she normally just wants me in her bed, which means she isn’t missing my bed that much, just me. 

Despite her cute shutters on her window, a tremendous amount of light still creeps in early morning, so I bought an ugly pool down shade for a whooping twenty bucks at Lowes to hide behind the shutters to block the light.  It helped her sleep 45 more minutes this morning!  I’ll take it!!  Well worth the expensive twenty bucks on that ugly thing.  Who wants to spend twenty dollars on something really ugly? It actually helps her fall sleep too since it makes her room darker.   I like that if I did have normal curtains up it would hide behind them so it wouldn’t be seen during the day when you had it up.

WAY TO GO LOLA LOU!

Bigger and Better Thing #2: Sew Creative is wonderful! I really look forward to my lessons and it’s going great!  I have TEN girls who take lessons (some don’t every week) and seem to be gaining more.  The nice thing is as of right now I am not looking to have too many more, so this is perfect pace.  My sweet, loving, kind, generous mother came over to get me moving along in my sewing room makeover.  Thank goodness.  I love to organize stuff to make it look pretty especially when everything has a purpose, but my mom and I quickly realized I was a crafting/sewing hoarder and I think I might have actually been overwhelmed.  Yep, maybe I was. 

So in ONE day, we turned a crappy room into a crafty room!  :) (Did y’all like that? Hehehe.) 

Hmmm… maybe I should go take pictures real quick and show y’all now! :) 

(Is it obvious that both my baby and my husband are asleep right now? A quiet house and my Live Writer- perfect!)

Okay a little history before we dive into pictures.

1. The sewing room was a dining room that is at the front of the house that has been used twice in 3 years.  The room is quite charming, but not as a formal dining room.

2. Clay was completely supportive of the transformation and actually even encouraged it! He was a big help!

3. I was on a budget.  Which is fun, because if you weren’t on a budget it would just be too, too easy to make it gorgeous and it would take the proud moments away.  Can someone cross-stitch me “The poorer you are, the more creative you get.”  :)  My mom has taught this very thing to me.

Before dining room:

(It actually looked better than this, but didn’t have the most current one.)

And let me say, the table was pretty and the glass cabinet that you can’t see was really pretty, but I decided to sell it on Craigslist and be patient and get the price I wanted and use half the money for the new room and the other half for the bank account.  Great plan.  It worked and turned out I didn’t even need patience.  Sold quickly. I heart Craigslist. 

Okay picture drum roll…

When you walk in, to your right, you would have seen my metal shelf with all my practical stuff on it, so my mom came up with the genius idea to bring in these green shutters I had in my garage and see if we could block the view of the metal shelf and God was good to us because they were the perfect width and height. They are a good looking green, yet photographed a little odd. 

Here is the shelf once you walk in and look at it! Very convenient! (I didn’t straighten it up for the picture, but should have.  A little messy.  But hey- it’s being used daily!!)

 

The birdhouse Lola painted for me while Nonna watched her while I taught my lessons.  The blue boxes are Ikea and quite practical… the fabric, ribbon, and brushes are a must! The black plaid roll of paper was one quarter at an Estate Sale.

Finding a table I liked that was big enough was a problem.  Finally found one for $40 on craigslist that was solid pine.  Pretty heavy table.  (In case I ever wanted the table to be a dining room table or even kitchen table, I choose wisely.) 

It was this real shiny pine that I wasn’t digging at all.

A nice DIY project turned out great!  Another look… The legs aren’t as blue or glossy as they look in this picture.  They actually look more grey. Crazy story short: a retired neighbor saw me sanding and staining and actually ended up helping by showing me how to stain and even took the table to his house to properly sand it.  I warned him that he didn’t want to become friends with me because I always have a project going!  A nice sander is definitely on my Christmas list this year! I love the table transformation.

The chairs I had in my breakfast nook and Clay isn’t a huge fan, so I decided to retire them to the craft room and replace the chairs in the breakfast nook.  Still on a lookout for good replacements.  The table is the breakfast nook is also getting replaced with a tad bigger of a table that has a leaf which will be good for an expandable kitchen table since I no longer have a dining room. 

The fan was one I already had and even though I like the idea of a chandelier in the room, the fan just worked better and really helped make you forget that is was originally a dining room.

My mom convinced me to take my bookcase I found for $25 at an Estate Sale and stack it on top of this green dresser given to me by my in laws a few years back that I had painted green a couple years back.  I played a long in fear, but really love it now. The acrylic lamps I had but didn’t have a place for them ended up working perfectly.  Across the room is a small black desk that holds my own machine.  I love the balance of black with the brown. The framed art is Lola’s paintings she did with my (and her) Maw-Maw.  Extra special. 

The Select Fabrics box is very, very old and I love it.  My mom picked that up for me at some cool county sale she went to.  (Edit: It has been pointed out to me that “Carrot” actually found this box and my mom only paid for it.  Hehehe.)

Lola has a corner, but I am still working on it a tad.  I bought this corner shelf I will put her stuff on, but first want to add wood cut outs to make the shelf solid. Then paint it all white, because it’s a little dirty looking.  The cute desk (which opens up) was a find by my Paw-Paw and he redid it and gave it to us.  The chair my Maw-Maw gave me, but admitted the other day she regretted it. :) Lucky for me, not enough to ask for it back. Lola loves her chair and desk and certainly her spot in the room.

 

The bunting banner I love and think it gives a crafty/sewing look to the room.  Kebby made one as well in one of her lessons for her apartment in college. I like that the ironing board shows and that it’s cover is a sewing cover and not a design. The collage was a must and the pictures mean a lot. The white piece with the skirt I had along with the chair and foot stool.

This is my Maw-Maw when she was a little younger than me on my Paw-Paw’s motorcycle.  She just got back from her honeymoon.  Lola is named after her.

 

This is my mom just about my age working in her craft room with Nick sitting there.  She is either pregnant with me or about to be! :)  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?

 

This desk I had and love.  My Maw-Maw gave this to me a while back ago and has been in every room in the house and a couple different colors.  Works great to hold my machine.  The chair my Paw-Paw gave me because it’s always been one of my favorite pieces in his house.  I guess I never had realized how much they have given me! ;)  The spool holder my MIL got me for Christmas.  I had it custom made! The clock was a $2 find with Ginni.

I made a lazy suzan and loved it for awhile.  I was going to add it to my garage sale pile then decided to cover it and use it in the craft room.  I had a cuter display there, but since the table space gets used up quickly I opted for something smaller.  I plan on changing the fabric out, but for now I really like the idea of it.  (Notice vintage pin cushion!  If you see a cool one, please buy it for me. I want to collect them!)

Here’s a closer look at the dresser.  I hate the coloring seems off.  Everyone seems to be drawn to this dresser when they see it.  It was a green paint left over from Lola’s bathroom.  I really wish I had a before picture of this dresser. One day I may paint this baby with oil paint.  

So that was the tour of the room!  What do you think?