Story's Updated "Big Kid" Room

Story Sunshine is seven years old today. SEVEN! Where did the years go? it seriously feels like just the other day she was a sweet little toddler who couldn't use the potty.... Now she's done with the First Grade and is the best big sister.

In honor of her birthday we decided to give her room a little update. There wasn't anything wrong with her old room. She just didn't have enough space. This kid has got a lot of stuff. I mean, A LOT. Thing is, she really does play with it all. All at the same time. Needless to say, her room is a disaster area majority of the time. Her biggest issue was storage and space. The room was lacking in both. I brainstormed for a while and came up with a solution that seems to be working. Don't get me wrong, it still looks like a bomb went off in there a lot of the time. But, we're getting there. Baby steps. So, we sent her to spend the night with her Great-Grandma on a Friday evening. I went into a frenzy getting the entire room completed by the time she got home Saturday afternoon. It was a lot of fun, and a little nerve wracking.

Let me give you a little refresher on what the room looked like before. All of her old furniture moved from the Townhouse to here. Some of it worked, but some didn't. I didn't really have a chance to do much to her room when we lived in the Townhouse (I'm looking at you, Dirty Neighbors). But, I had completely remodeled her room when we lived in the Apartment. -- You can check that out here, and here --

It's definitely not horrible, just cramped, and not much personality. I wanted to finally add her personal items, fun things she had been saving.

Here is the after! The main thing you'll notice is the bed! We took it all the way to the ceiling. This gave her so much more room for activities #namethatmovie 

My dad gifted Story a loft bed for her birthday! This really opened up the whole room and gave her the added square footage she really needed. We've been really fortunate that every place we've lived has had large bedrooms. This one is average sized, maybe a bit on the small side, but still a decent sized room. It would be great to have a play-room where all of the kids could keep their toys. But the age gap is just too big between the girls. Story is into Lego's and other small things that Finley could and would choke on. Story's room has to be both a bedroom and a playroom.

I was able to put her old school desk under her bed to create a study area, along with a "book nook" as she likes to call it. The peg board lets her add things that are special to her at the moment. Right now it's a few Girl Scout items, her "Dirt Land" flag and the medal she received for dance.

I finally had the chance to hang up her photos! She's been asking about them for months. I honestly don't know why I waited so long. It's super easy to do and adds instant character to her space. This gallery wall has family photos, Circa 2012. They really need to be updated.

Across from her bed I added another small gallery wall. It's a mixture of fun prints she's liked. I didn't touch the closet. I honestly wouldn't of had enough time. She's at this weird age where she wants to do more big kid activities but still wants to play dress-up.

This was really a small scale update. I'd love to do a complete overhaul. That might be something fun to do come Spring. When Story came home from her Grandma's, her old bed frame was in the foyer. She was super confused and I played it up like something really bad happened in her room. She ran down the hall and was completely shocked by her new room. She may have even cried a bit and gave me a really big hug!




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Sneak Peek At The Nursery

I've been working semi diligently on the nursery/master bedroom. I will make a bit of progress and in the process I make a bigger mess in another part of the room. And wow, the baby gear just doesn't stop coming in! As soon as I get a little bit put away we get a whole lot more. Like diapers, I have no idea where to put all of these diapers! :) Which is a wonderful problem to have.

I finished a few major projects that really helped to move the room along. To start off with, I painted. I love how much paint can change a room!!! All of our townhouse is this off white color that chips really easily. And the trim doesn't match the walls. So, putting on some paint really helped change the entire tone of the room. And helped save my sanity, a bit.

The color I chose was Knoxville Gray by Benjamin Moore. I had it color matched at the home depot in Behr. It went on really great and I only had to do one coat! Before anyone freaks out, I painted in a well ventilated room.

I got so excited half was through that I hung up the curtains and started styling the nightstands. Painting was a two day job, being 26 weeks pregnant makes it a bit harder.

After that was finished I painted Finley's dresser. It's an old one that I've used for over 10 years now. It's in great condition and other that being a bit on the small side, is perfect for her changing table.

Once the dresser was done and the walls were painted I finalized the layout of the room. I wanted a few defining spaces. Mainly because I still want to have our master bedroom. The next thing we did was build the crib. We went with the Gulliver crib from Ikea. It's supposed to be the smallest crib that still fits a standard mattress.

By this point we were about 30 weeks along.

So, here we are, at 35 weeks and this is as far as we've gotten. There is a ton left to do, but I'm feeling really good about how the space is developing.

With all of this being done I was able to cross a lot off of the Complete House To-Do List. It also added a whole slew of new things. But that's to be expected.

Nursery

Repaint dresser

Organize dresser

Add art/shelves above changing table

Buy/build crib

Add mobile

Add art

Hang curtains for canopy

Update bookshelves

Add "closet space"

Create diaper storage

So, that's it for now. I hope we can get it all done before the baby comes, but she has a mind, and timeline of her own!






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Half Bath Reveal

Our poor little half bath. It has been put through the ringer! It was the first space I started to fix up when we moved into the townhouse. I got all excited and painted it , way back in July. I started adding a few finishing touches and was about to call it done. Then we adopted Annie. We had always planned on getting a crate for her, but didn't get around to it. So she stayed in the bathroom, all the way up until we got the kitten (who I still owe an update on, but you can read a little about her on the "About Me" tab) We had to keep her separated because she had fleas for a while and hadn't been spayed so she was pretty wild. She also didn't get along the greatest with our other cat. Anyway, she was put in the half bath and Annie was moved to the full bath upstairs. Yeah, it was not a fun time, at all. Everything was going smoothly until one day we came home and heard the kitten, in the walls. Yep, it was just like the episode on "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia"

She had ripped out the plastic baseboard and then crawled into the walls and up into the ceiling, where she got scared and became stuck. Luckily we were able to remove the light fixture and then yank her out. It was very traumatic for everyone involved.

About a month after that ordeal we can home to an even worse situation..... We had been at a doctor's appointment and had been gone for about two hours. We stepped in the front door and the first thing we noticed was that the kitchen looked like it was flooded. We heard running water and Annie barking as loudly as she could. I ran upstairs and opened the bathroom door. There was water spraying everywhere and the entire room was flooded. Annie was hiding between the shower curtain and the tub. She had chewed a hole in the plastic pipe connecting the toilet to the wall. We think she did it pretty close to the time we left because the entire half bath was flooded as well.

Fortunately the kitten had not been in there at the time. Unfortunately, her litter box, food/water, and blanket were. The room was a mess. Being pregnant and hormonal, I started crying and freaking out. Because I was crying, Story started crying too. Poor Jordan, he had to send us both to our rooms and handle the situation. The maintenance guys came out and replaced the pipe. They also called a clean up crew who got the water out of the carpet. Needless to say, Annie was in a crate the next week and the kitten was out of the bathroom. Clean-up was easy and it got me motivated to finish the room. So, now that you've made it through a small novel, here is the finished room!!

The first thing I did was add two shelves we bought forever ago at Ikea. They have been used in a few different places around our houses ( here, here, here) but this is the first time being used in a bathroom.

 

Almost everything you see is collected from Goodwill.

Another update was adding these prints. They were at the end of our hallway in the last apartment.

The sink area stayed the same. Except I added some hand soap. 

There were a few other small changes I had planned on adding, but for now I'm calling at good and done. It's nice to have at least one space that is finished in this place. I swear, I've got to get on top of it. But you know how it is, if it's not one disaster, it's another. Hopefully when our current one is over I'll have another finished space. (ahem, the master bedroom) Stay tuned! I promise there is more to come.

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Summer Hibernation and a Chalkboard Calendar Wall

Oh boy. It's the first day of October. I haven't seriously (not that I ever really seriously blogged) blogged since the middle of July. I threw in a few random family posts every once in a while. But I even failed in that! I forgot to do an anniversary post, and we also have a new cat. So, I might catch you up on all of that. In the meantime, I finally got around to completing the project I mentioned back in July. That's right, I finally finished the chalkboard calendar wall.

We placed it on the wall past the stairs, right before the closet and hall bath. Here is a good before of the wall.

and after

I'm really glad this project is finally complete. It's embarrassing how long it took. Those blue painters tape lines have been haunting my dreams! Believe it or not, there are a few other things I'm working on. I hope to start blogging at least once a week. Pretty lame, but a good start. :) :)




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Painted Powder Room

I know I said Monday. I even had it finished by Monday. I just didn't get around to finishing the post...... At least you got to see the updated foyer :) So, like I hinted at in the first ever "Weekend Plans" here at Pike's Place blog, I painted the small powder room in our Townhouse. It's the same color as the full bath in our old apartment, which is Poppyseed by Behr. I really like the richness of the color. I like that it's grey with a hint of blue undertones. While I enjoyed it in the full bath, there was just too much ivory tile. It sort of made the entire space look dirty. There is still the same tile in the powder room, but much more wall space.

Before

All of the walls are off white, as is the appliances, tile, baseboard and flooring. The light fixtures and mirrors are all chrome plated. And, of course the door knobs are gold colored. Makes for a fun trip back to 1990. We try and update everything we can, but there are a few things we're not allowed to change. 

What I noticed first was how much whiter everything looked. I was afraid the color would make it all look darker. It was a nice surprise.

 

That door. Oh that door. It took so long to paint. Way too many coats to cover it all.

I've just started decorating. I knew that I wanted the walls painted, and that's as far as I got. I did add an Ikea towel bar that I spray painted gold a few months ago. I added another Ikea hanging storage thing. A plain white hand towel from Target and an old bird container from World Market. 

I decided to paint everything. I thought it would look strange if the trim and doors were off white. I kind of wanted it all to blend in. I ran out of paint before I could paint the ceiling, but I'm pretty sure it will look awesome when everything is the same color. 

Over all I am pleased with how it's turning out. Not a whole lot left to do in this room. Which is good, cause it's the tiniest room ever.

To-do

Add art

Add shelves above toilet

New rug

Change light switch and cover

New lighting

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 Romance On A Dime
My Girlish Whims
Sew Much Ado
Someday Crafts
Sew Woodsy
Seven Thirty Three
Southern Lovely
The Trendy Treehouse
Rae Gun Ramblings 

Updated Living Room / Office {House Tour}

Sorry about the silence for the past week. I'll tell you all about it later :) In the meantime, we're rounding out our updated tour of the house.

One side of the living room was devoted to my office space. It also had our library.

This is the view from the front door. Office to the right and living room to the left.

There you have it! A completed tour. You can check out the rest under "Apartment Tour"

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Updated Dining Room {House Tour}

Back before Story's birthday, ballet recital, and rainbow party, I was a cleaning fool trying to get everything ready for our guests. Our house hadn't been that clean in a long time. It sure was nice while it lasted. I was able to show you the master bedroom tour before all of the family time.

I feel like there were a lot of updates to the dining room that I didn't tell you about. I showed you a little bit of our new-to-us table, and you were able to see a bit in to the dining room when we revealed our "HELLO" wall art. Believe it or not, there have still been more updates since then.

The biggest change being the shelves. I swapped the bottom one out with another wooden one we had floating around. I then painted them the same color as the full bath and spray painted the edges gold.

(terrible photo. but it was the only one I had of the shelves up close)

 

This is the view from the living room looking back towards the full bath and bedrooms.

 

I'm not going to show you the view in to the living room. That's a surprise for a later post! It's pretty amazing.

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