At Long Last, A Room Reveal!

It feels like I've been waiting forever to finally share some pictures of a finished space in our new house. Between work and the boys and other obligations, things have been coming along very slowly. But today I have the first finished room to show you if you'd care to see. Below is a little collage of what Oren's bedroom looked like before we moved in. It was the bedroom of a middle aged woman and was in desperate need of updating. Dingy beige walls and worn berber carpeting, it had dark stained trim and was over crowded with too much furniture. It needed a lot of help getting from this to a bright, playful space fit for a two year old. 

Here it is today!

My plan was to bring in as much light as possible and really take full advantage of that beautiful wall of windows. I painted the walls and trim white to give a nice, clean backdrop for all the color I wanted to bring in everywhere else. We pulled up the existing carpet and gave the wood floors underneath a nice thorough scrubbing and wax.  A new light fixture replaced the existing ceiling fan and we were finally ready to bring in the furniture and accessories!

Sources:

Paint; Benjamin Moore OC-17, White Dove. Henrik dipped bed from One More Mushroom. Custom bedding; fabric by Jay Cyn Designs for Birch Organic from Fabricworm. Organic mountain pillow from juniperwild. Gingiber brown bear pillow. Ikea Bekvam spice racks as book shelves. Ikea Latt table and chairs. Flensted Viking Mobile (similar). Ferm Living Half Moon laundry basket (used for toy storage). Area rug from RugsUSA (similar). Ikea Hemnes dresser. Lamp on dresser and model airplane from HomeGoods. Alphabet print from On Paper in Columbus, Ohio. Pendant light from Lowes. Night stand, picture frame and desk lamp from Target. Bear print by Morgan Kendall from Scoutmob. Pennant bunting over bed handmade by me.

Whew! I think that about covers it, if I missed anything you were curious about please let me know and I'll do my best to get you the manufacturer information. I'm super excited to be done with this space, although done is a term I use lightly as I always find myself tweaking things here and there.  The last big thing on my to do list for this room would be adding some roman shades to the windows. I'm thinking something like these. But of course all of these old windows in this old house of ours are odd sizes and it's going to be a big custom project to get it all measured and installed. Besides that though I'm thrilled to have at least one room checked off my to do list. (Wes's is done too, those photos will be coming soon!) So tell me what you think of our little man's room makeover, I'd love to hear! 

xoxo

***POST EDIT****
Turns out dreams really do come true ladies and gents. Oren's room was featured on Design*Sponge! You can see it here!

Words From a Lovesick Mama

I just feel like I need to spend a few minutes writing about my littlest one. Is it just me or does anyone else ever find yourself suddenly and completely smitten with one of your children? Of course I always love both my guys unconditionally, but sometimes one of them will just get under my skin for a stretch (in a good way) and suddenly I'm like a school girl with a crush. That's my Oren Henry lately.  Sometimes when he cuddles up beside me or I look at his smiling little face I get butterflies in my stomach and I feel giddy and lovestruck. Because he's mine. That little weasel up there with the spun gold hair who thinks he can fly and turns his pillow over at least three times before falling asleep because "that side hot" and eats more food than any two year old has any right to, he's all mine.

I know every parent feels like they have the sweetest, smartest, most adorable and wonderful children in the world and you can happily add one more to that list of gushing fools. I just feel like I won some kind of lottery with these boys of mine.

We're always telling them as parent's do, "I love you to the moon and back!" and Wes ups the ante with an "I love you to Pluto and back!" or something along those lines. Oren has started to catch on and wants to chime in with his own contribution. Since he doesn't totally get it, every night in bed he whispers as I snuggle him to sleep, "I love you to Iron Man, mommy". I love that so much it's hard to explain. I turn to a mushy pile of melted goo in his tiny little hands. My sweet and silly little boy, my Oren. I love you to Iron Man and all the way back again too.

Motherhood is everything.

Reykjavik

 

I'm sure by now you are all about sick to death of my Iceland posts. I know, I know, but there is just so much I want to have documented here to remember this trip by before it all escapes me forever. So thanks for hanging in there through all of these with me. I only have one more Iceland post after today's, and I promise you it will be the grand finale. There will be pictures of Puffin, you have my word. As for today, I wanted to touch on the little bit of time we spent in the Icelandic capitol of Reykjavik. Certainly, no one really goes to Iceland to spend all their days in the city, but it really is a place worth seeing. And the architecture! You know I have to talk about the architecture at least a little. Reykjavik is set right on the coast, and two thirds of Iceland's entire population lives right here, bundled up together in this compact little city on the edge of the Atlantic. Our first day there we arrived just in time to catch the town celebrating national gay pride day. Music, people and color flooded the streets and I  must say it was a most welcome sight to our tired, crabby and jetlagged selves. Our fantastically accomodating friends Hildur and Bjorn took us on a walking/driving tour of the city. In addition to having lived there his entire life, Bjorn is also a city landscape engineer and knows just about all there is to know about Reykjavik. He told us about the height limitations on buildings which is the reason you don't see any sky scrapers interrupting that prisitine skyline.

 

Bjorn and Hildur took us through the Harpa, Iceland's brilliant, award winning opera house.

We also rode the elevator to the top of Hallgrimskirkja to see the views and marvel at the church. It took 38 years to build this beauty and it remains the highest man made structure in all of Iceland.

Afterwards we drove to the President's house (because you can just drive right up his driveway), checked out some of Iceland's quirky stores and neighborhoods and some more of Iceland's landmarks. It was pretty much just like this.

 see?

A Weekend in Granville

Hey there! I know it's already Wednesday and I'm just now getting around to writing about the weekend but let's just let that slide, what do you say? I've been home with a sick five year old who's been hacking all his germs on to my pillow and in to my drinks and basically all over my face so I get a pass, says me.

 

So the weekend, right. First of all, how come no one ever told me about Granville, Ohio before? Is everyone just keeping it a secret all for themselves or what? I wouldn't blame you if you were because it's just about the cutest little town I've ever seen, with their adorable ice cream shop, and historic old buildings, and perfectly spooky haunted inn. Ugh, it's the best and I want to move there immediately. Except I don't because buying and selling houses is a perfect form of torture and I never want to actually do THAT again. But as luck would have it, our friends just moved there. And now I have people I can impose upon as much as my little heart desires whenever I need a Granville fix. And the company ain't so bad either.

The York/Godfreys were the perfect hosts and I can't even tell you how excited Wes was for his sleepover with Jordyn.

 

oh hey there, dream house

 

This little museum had a first edition copy of Uncle Tom's Cabin and an autographed book signed by Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was also once a guest at the Buxton Inn only a few doors down.

 

After all our historic sight seeing we spent the rest of the day playing with the kids, having a taco party (the best kind of party), watching movies and roasting marshmallows. It was a perfect weekend, truly. Thank you, Adam and Julie, for all your hospitality and for showing us around your amazing little town!