Soft Spot

I've been spending a lot of time lately in Chloe's room. It really is the nicest room in the house...dreamy yellow walls, plush carpet underfoot, and now - soft, soothing spaces to lounge on.


Gail the seamstress did a fab job on the bench cushion, curtains and accent pillows. The cushion is covered in a subtle diamond and gingham print. It coordinates nicely with the swirly pattern of the curtain in shades of taupe, cream, and yellow. I figured that the bench cushion and curtains would be long-lasting (while some of the accent fabrics could change over time), so kept them fairly neutral. The slight sheen of the curtain adds a touch of luxury to the space - and the dim-out lining makes the curtain highly functional for a baby's room. We haven't installed the shelf above the window nor the curtain rod so for now, we just 'mocked up' the curtains and have the curtain hooks resting on the top of the window casing. Getting this room completely finished is a bit slow going these days ;)


My favourite fabric though is the pattern on the glider. Its bold, fun, and graphic. The pattern will help hide and stains or spills that are bound to appear when there's a baby around :) And boy, is it comfy! Chloe seems to like it too and falls quickly asleep as we rock away.


We had some bolster cushions and an accent pillow made with the leftover fabrics. Repeating fabrics and using them in various areas in a room really helps to create a cohesive, finished look. I think rooms feel best, feel more complete, when there are fabrics used. I'm surprised too at how many different fabrics and patterns you can use in a room. I worried that with all the polka dots, stripes, swirls, and other graphics Chloe's room would look a bit of a jumbled mess. But luckily it doesn't. It looks and feels just right :)


Gotta run now... there's a little girl who's asking to be rocked to sleep.

Baby Is On The Way!

24 hours...that's how long my doctor told me I likely have before I'm in the throes of labour. And that was at my appointment 10:00am this morning so if we do the math people...yes, Baby HandyLuster is likely on his or her way :) All signs point to Go. I've had some symptoms of impending labour - things have dropped, things have loosened, and things are starting to feel really really really uncomfortable :o\ And if the experience of my mom and sister with childbirth are any indication - things are gonna happen really really really fast!!

So, this is probably my last post before we (cross my fingers) become a family of three. What a strange, surreal thought. Time to show you all the room Baby will be coming home to. Its not quite done... the banquette cushion, curtains, and glider fabric won't be done until Wednesday. And we haven't figured out the radiator mesh or the shelf above the window yet. But its good for now. We'll be co-sleeping in the beginning, with baby's crib in our room. That explains why this doesn't look like your typical nursery. Instead, it'll be our calming escape room. A room for Grandma Wanderluster to stay the next few weeks as she helps me learn the ropes as a new mom. A room for HandyMan for when he just needs a full night's sleep and mommy and baby aren't letting him have one ;) A room for me and baby where we can lie on the bed, window open, breeze blowing, birds chirping outside... and I can just sit there and look in amazement at this tiny little thing that came out of me. How wonderful is that :)

The room before...



And the room after...



You can see the Ikea Pax wardrobes we made to look like built-ins. The baskets will eventually sit on a shelf above the window and the banquette will be a comfy spot with curtains, pillows, and cushion. The wardrobe on the left houses linens and the one on the right has baby's clothes. I've put some stickers on the drawers to help keep things organized.




A few of my favourite details around the room...



I especially love the picture ledges and the art wall. On the ledges, we have some of HandyMan's childhood books, a painting I did, a photo of the Eiffel tower taken on our honeymoon, and a moon and star handmade by baby's Aunt Kim and Uncle Kevin. I love personal touches in a room. And if you look closely, you can see some of the potential names we've picked out for baby ;)



On the art wall, you can see the Catherine Ledner armadillo print, my favourite little painting of a nightie and stockings on a clothesline by Alison MacKenna, and some etsy prints by munieca and mariajanosko.



And that's the baby's room. All we need now is baby :)

Peekin' In On Baby - Part II

Baby HandyLuster's room is almost done.  I'm dying to reveal it to you all, but am still waiting on a few final pieces... the seamstress is still working on the glider and the bench cushions and HandyMan and I still have to figure out solutions for the rad cover and the shelf above the window.  I'm not sure we'll even get those things done before Baby arrives but I hate to show you the room when we're so close to done.

So you'll have to settle for a few more sneak peeks in the meantime.  First up is the crib.  This actually isn't going into the room because we plan on having Baby's crib in our room.  That's the plan anyways :)  Hopefully we'll all still manage to get a good night's sleep.  The Pottery Barn Kids gingham crib sheet and bedding was a $50 steal on Craigslist, I found the monkey at a local bookstore, and the custom blanket was made by etsy seller whynottsewn.   

And here is the recovered ottoman!  The seamstress is doing the rest of the cushions but HandyMan and I decided to tackle the ottoman ourselves (and we got to try out our air compressor staple gun too - bonus!).  Funny, but we didn't end up using any of the fabrics I first liked.  But this one is just perfect :)  It really stands out in the room.  I can't wait to show you the rest of the room...hopefully soon!

Building For Baby

What a difference a week makes :)  We've made great progress on the baby's room.  HandyMan has put in the filler panels to make the wardrobes look like they're built in.  And he built the banquette too!  Now we just have to find some metal mesh to face the front and still allow the warm air from the radiator to flow through.

There's still alot to do... painting and installing the baseboards, installing the closet doors, getting the curtains and bench cushions made.  We're also planning on putting a shelf above the window to hold baskets of toys and such (you can always use more storage in a kid's room!).  And then there's all the fun stuff - hanging artwork, filling the drawers, putting up a mobile and the lighting.  Hope you're liking your new home so far, Baby HandyLuster!  We're loving putting it together for you.

Baby Steps

Today is a holiday here, Family Day, and what better way to spend it than working on the baby's room. Our weekend has been a flurry of trips to Home Depot and Lowes for materials to build the banquette and filler panels to make the Ikea cabinets look like built-ins. Dumb mistake on our part... we could have saved ourselves alot of trouble and cost by pushing the wardrobes into the corners of the room and having a longer banquette in between. The window would have looked off-center - but once we install the curtains you won't even notice the difference. Ah well, live and learn.

We're scrambling to get it all done - wardrobes installed, banquette built & painted, filler panels built and painted - before carpet is installed on Thursday. HandyMan is working so hard... I fall in love with him even more when I see everything he's doing for this little baby :) A few pics of our progress:

...the Ikea wardrobes and the rough banquette frame. You can see the pale yellow walls and blue ceiling too.


...the closets. I can't wait to fill them with Baby HandyLuster's tiny outfits!


... and a close up of the wrapping paper we backed the closets with. We went with something a bit more subtle & sweet than what I originally considered. We found the paper at The Paper Place; they have such a wonderful selection of papers.


It's all starting to come together - and so quickly too! Seeing the room and feeling the bigger movements of the baby more lately...its all seems much more REAL. Ohmigosh - we're having a baby in two months!!!

Waiting, waiting...

I realize posting has been light around here lately, but there’s not much to report. The glass for the bathroom has been measured but won’t be in until next week, the door is somewhere en route to us, and the basketweave tile is sitting in our hallway waiting for the tile guy to find some time in his schedule to install it (I thought it was a recession around here and we’d actually have an easier time getting the trades in. Guess not!).

On the baby’s room front, we’ve got a first coat of paint on the ceiling and walls. Our berber carpet from Home Depot will be installed next week, which means we have to move our butts and get the Ikea wardrobes assembled and the banquette framed in this weekend. Home Depot also offers two free carpet cleanings so I’m planning to have a steam cleaning (no chemicals) right after installation in order to speed up the off-gassing. Since the carpet is in a baby’s room, we thought better to be safe than sorry (and its free so why not take advantage of it!). But I know how you all love pictures so I’ll leave you with these little snippets of things going into the room. Where they end up, you’ll just have to wait and see…

baby's room - by wanderluster on Polyvore.com

Smooth Ride

Hmm, the baby-related purchases seem to be piling up around here. I am most definitely in a spending mood, it seems. Over the last few days, I've purchased some organic baby clothes from Joe Fresh, some pristine Pottery Barn baby bedding from craigslist, and this oh-so-comfy glider chair off of craigslist too.

I know its not much to look at - but have you ever sat in one of these gliders? They're extremely comfortable and I can picture Baby HandyLuster just falling asleep in my arms as I rock, rock, rock the night away. But you know me, I can't leave well enough alone, and will have to schnazz this chair up and have it fit with the design scheme we've got planned for the Guest Bedroom/Nursery.

Since the chair is a small piece, I'm thinking we go with a bolder, fun fabric. We could mix it up and have the arm rests and ottoman in one pattern and the seat and back in another. The room will be yellows, creams, and greys-taupes, so here's a few options. All fabrics shown from Designer Fabrics. Decisions, decisions...