The Search for the Perfect Headboard

Searching for the "perfect" headboard, where we live, is virtually impossible. If you forgot, we're way up here in Northern Ontario. It's not so far North that we live in igloos, but it's far enough North that there are a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y no fun stores to shop at.

Ikea? No.

Pottery Barn? No.

Crate and Barrel? No.

Antique markets? No.

Any other cool furniture stores? No.

The bed frame that we currently have is the Noresund model from Ikea. It's a dark brown, metal frame with swirlies on it that I actually still don't mind. We were in no rush to get a new headboard or bed frame. That is, until we ordered a MAGNIFICENT, GIANT, KING-SIZED BED. Sorry about the caps. I'm a wee bit excited.

{T-minus 4 days until delivery.}

Over the years I've shopped around for the perfect bed. Since I suffer from a major disorder called 'picky-itis' I only seem to like two bed styles: white painted wood or metal. 

There are a few beautiful beds from Pottery Barn that I ogle at every once in awhile but they are a) way too pricey and b) yellowy cream not white. 

Here are two cottage-y styles that I really like:

Source - Pottery Barn

Source - Pottery Barn

However, since our bed is centered in between the two windows in the bedroom, either one of those chunky wooden bed frames would block the windows and prevent much needed and much loved natural light from coming into the room. Especially once we get our new KING SIZE. Ooops, I did it again. (Hi, Britney!)

So after ordering our new mattress set on the weekend, we were in a bit of a rush to choose a new headboard. We contemplated making the 4 hour drive down to Ikea to get another inexpensive metal bedframe (the Leirvik one to be exact) but road trips are tricky with a baby and two dogs and thousands of Christmas presents still to shop for.

So, while we were in the mattress store, which shall remain nameless for now (dun dun dun) I asked the saleslady if they had any white metal headboards. I was skeptical but we were desperate.

Note: We decided to only get a headboard this time, rather than a headboard/footboard combo to make the room seem more open. It's pretty small and there ain't gonna be much room once that giant bed is in there. (Ahhhhhhh, giant bed with no dogs breathing on me, giant bed with no baby pinching me, giant bed with no husband's-stinky-feet touching me.)

The saleslady told me that they didn't have any white metal beds but they did have a white painted wood one. I was even more skeptical. There was just NO WAY that a department store would have a white (not cream) bed frame that was chunky, cottage-y, and that would have some sort of open section to let light through.

That's when I saw it. And I liked it. I really, actually liked it. And it was on sale for an awesome price because of Black Friday specials. And it was white (crisp white!!!!). And it had an open back. And it had an option for just a headboard.

Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance.

Now here is the part where I tell you where we bought it from and then you laugh at me.

Are you ready for this????

I'm not sure about you but when I think of Sears furniture I always think of matchy-matchy oak bedroom sets.

Don't worry, no oak this time. I think I've stalled long enough. Here's the headboard that we picked:

Well.......... you likey?

From a Queen to a King

Goodbye too-small queen bed. I will NOT miss you one little bit. 

Oh, glorious day. 

The day when we traded in our way-too-small-for-our-family queen-sized bed for a KING. It happened on the weekend and was only about ten years overdue. 

Let me explain. 

Way back in the day when Alex and I were sickeningly lovey-dovey and moving into our very first apartment together, we took any and all free furniture that we could get: including a hand-me-down queen-sized mattress set. 

Don't say "ew" and "gross" because hey, we were poor back then and I vacuumed / febreezed that thing to death anyway.

Fast forward to today. We still have that stupid mattress set. That was like, ten years ago people!

I know this is going to sound ridiculous but I didn't want to spend that kind of money on something that no-one would ever see. Just like when Alex insisted that we needed a new furnace. I tried to convince him that 30 years wasn't too long to have a furnace at all. "Honey, a 30-year furnace life is the new 15-year furnace life." 

So it was time to get a new mattress set. That's when we had to make the ultimate decision on whether or not to up-size to a King.

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Reasons to Upgrade to a King:

1) I need a lot of room on my side since I'm all over the map. Kind of how I imagine a little kid would sleep. Arms flailed, upside down, kicking...... yup that's me.

2) It turns out that a certain baby around here, Coopster, is a bit of a cuddle monkey. He starts off in his crib every night but then magically appears beside me in mine when I wake up in the morning. Soooooo freaky.

3) Despite my protests ("NO DOGS IN THE BED!"), Alex always invites the pups up onto the foot of the bed in the mornings. They are bigger bed hogs than me if that's even possible.

Reasons Not to Upgrade to a King:

1) We live in an old home with small bedrooms. A king sized bed in our master bedroom would leave room for, oh, nothing else. A dresser, maybe.

2) It took me about five years to find the blue/green quilt set that we currently have and I'm still in love with it.

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So after I woke up the other morning with a crink in my neck and was hanging off the side of the bed Mission Impossible style, I decided that we were going bed shopping. 

That's when we ordered the King-sized bed of my dreams. I am shocked at how utterly excited I am. I'm actually having a little mini countdown on the calendar until our new bed is delivered.

T-minus 7 days. Yeah, baby. Yeah.

Wanna know the fun part? We found and bought a new headboard, too! I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. It deserves a post all of its own. 

P.S. I made chocolate chip zucchini loaf for the first time this afternoon and it is too-die-for good. I wanted to take pictures of it to share with you but the little voice in my head told me no. Then it told me to go fold some laundry.

P.S.S. Do you let your pup(s) sleep with you? Your baby? Your husband? Your whole brood of kids? Your collection of porcelain dolls? Throw me a bone here, people. Tell me I'm not the only one!

It's Been Busy 'Round Here

Well hello. Just wanted to say hi and to let you know that we're still alive over here, just busy. It seems that every day there are so many things to do, places to go, or people to see.  

I wish I could tell you that I've been absent from the blog because I've been working on some wickedly awesome DIY projects or renos..... or that we went on a secret vacation to somewhere spectacular. The truth is that I've just been trying to keep on top of regular, every day mom and house stuff. 

No more baking photo shoots. Wah wah waaaaaaaaah.

And I've been trying to be more present, if that makes any sense. I'm figuring out that I don't really need to have mini photo shoots every time I bake a batch of muffins and then write lengthy blog posts about them.  Don't get me wrong, if there were 72 hours in a day I would love to do just that. Instead, I've been making muffins, and then sitting down and eating one while having some quality time with the Coopster. (Although his idea of fun right now is trying to steal/eat said muffins.) I'm also figuring out that it's far more valuable to spend a half-hour of me-time when Cooper is napping actually doing something rather than surfing Pinterest and dreaming of doing something. 

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Speaking of Pinterest, I think we're starting to have a love-hate relationship. A few images I had pinned recently were just burning in my brain. You see at our house there were dozens of nooks, crannies, cupboards, and closets that were jam-packed with... how do I put this..... crap. They were all in need of serious cleaning and purging. Every time I would go to get the Windex I would look at the sink cupboard and die a little inside. Because all I kept seeing were pictures like this:

Source - BHG

Source - Chez Larsson

So I've been using my spare minutes, when Coops is jumping happily in his Jolly Jumper or licking all the toys on his exersaucer, to clean out the "problem areas". So far I've done: 

- under the kitchen sink

- the tupperware drawer

- the kitchen pantry

- the plates/bowls/cups/mugs cupboards in the kitchen

- the broom closet

- 75% of my closet (I'm having flashbacks to this post)

- 90% of the front entry closet

I've taken three garbage bags of cloths to the donation box and have made two trips to the Salvation Army to drop off old dishes, mis-matched mugs, etc.

Maybe one day I'll make those cupboards and closets "pretty" like the above photos. For now though, just cleaning them out is making me happy. 

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I swear that every single other minute of the day has been working with this guy on his sleep.

You see, he was so used to being cuddled and rocked and nursed to sleep that he became dependent on it.

Yup, mom fail. 

But it wasn't completely our fault. We needed to do those things for him to fall asleep. Just call him Distracto-Joe. Since he was about two months old, he would do everything in his power to stay awake. It was like he was on hyper-alert for any noise or movement or thing that could distract him from sleep. (Even still, his eyelids will be rolling back in his head and then he will force them open, over and over again, until he can't do it anymore.)

Then, to make matters worse, he started jolting awake every time we tried to put him down once he was asleep. I think we tried every technique there was to lay him down in his bed - softly, quickly, head down first, butt down first, feet down first. No matter what we did, he was waking himself back up about 90% of the time when we put him down to sleep. So we ended up holding him for his whole nap. Four times a day. Every day. It was exhausting. 

Since I'm one of those types who is a sucker can't handle the cry-it-out thing, I've been doing some super-gradual sleep training. It's taken about a month and a half but now Coopaloops is falling asleep on his back, in his real crib, in his room, without any crying. Granted, it takes him on average about 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and me there to pop his soother back in or rub his head when he fusses/cries but we are making progress people. 

I am happy to report that today he fell asleep on his own without me having to rub his head or sing him a song. Twice. 

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that he was only sleeping for 20 minutes at a time, too. So I had to hang around for a few weeks and when he stirred after the first 20 minutes, I had to hold his arms so they wouldn't flail around and wake himself up before making it to the next sleep cycle.

It worked because he is sleeping for 40 minutes now and I CAN ACTUALLY HAVE 40 MINUTES TO MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{Cooper would like me to mention that other than the troubles falling and staying asleep, he is a highly advanced, super duper good baby. He told me to say that!!!! I swear!!!!!!}

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And last but not least, in any of my other spare minutes, I've been editing photos. I've done two sets of family portraits and two sets of maternity portraits in the last month. Woop woooooooooooop! I'd post some sample pictures on here but I didn't really ask my "clients" if I could blast their pictures on the internet. :)

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So, it's been busy. And that's what we've been up to. How 'bout you? How does your baby fall asleep? How does your under-the-kitchen-sink looks right now? Do you take pictures of baked goods for fun or am I the only super-nerd around here (wink, wink)?

Window Treatment Dilemma

I have a window treatment dilemma.

For serious. (Do people even say that or did I make that up?) 

We bought our house because it was old and had lots of that old-house character that we loved. One of the features that we really liked were the wooden window valences in the living room, dining room, and second floor bathroom. 

They are chunky, scalloped, painted white, and totally cute. Almost everyone that comes to our house for the first time comments on them and asks if they were original to the house or if we made them. 

I'm sure you've seen these pictures before but this time take a look at the wooden valences over the windows. 

Wooden valence over living room windows.

Wooden valence over living room windows.

Wooden valence over dining room window.

However.

Finding window treatments that look good with them has been completely impossible. I've tried almost every style of window panel you could think of: solid, patterned, thick, thin, sheer, younameit. I've also tried curtain panels with rod pockets, tabs, and clips. They all look super weird.

I think the main problem is that I like wooden window trim work / valences and I like curtain panels but I just don't like them together. 

I thought about asking Alex to just take all of the wood down so I could put up regular curtain rods and curtains. But then I think back to our reaction to them when we first viewed the house and fell in love. So, they're staying. 

I've been thinking about it this dilemma for a long time and I think I've finally come up with a solution. 

I'm going to try and find a set of chippy, old shutters to mount them on the interior side of each window. Of course once I thought of it I set out on a Pinterest hunt to find some inspiration photos. There were only a few but here they are:

Source: BHG

Source: Unknown

Source: Lee Caroline

Old shutters are now on my wish list. 

Road trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Road trip? Alex? Please? ;)

P.S. Since I've been so busy (soooooo busy :S) over the last week and have neglected my poor bloggy, I have another post for tomorrow with lots of random tidbits of schtuff. Ahhhh, randoms. My favorite kind of posts. :)

P.S.S. If you have any other suggestions I'd love to hear them!!!! :)

You Ask, I Answer - Part Six - About Adoption

A little Ethiopian doll I made once upon a time.

Now that Cooper has been born, how long before the province will allow you to be able to proceed with your adoption again?

Maaaaaan, the province is all tricky with their adoption rules. Basically, the Ministry of Ontario follows an 18 month rule where there must be 18 months between the adopted child's age and the age of any biological children already in the home. They also follow this 18 month rule for adoption placements. For example, you wouldn't be able to accept an International adoption referral two months after you accepted a local adoption referral even if the children were years apart in age.

While the Ministry usually follows the 18 month rule, I've heard that they will sometimes make exceptions (i.e., allowing siblings to be closer in age) if the adoption social worker makes a case for the family that they have the capability and support systems in place to raise an adopted child and a biological child that are closer in age. Unfortunately the Ministry doesn't have any specific information about the 18 month rule on their website.

We just met with our local adoption social worker on Saturday to update our file on the major changes that we've had lately, mainly the Coopster's arrival and our purchase of The Fixer Upper. We are still able to continue with our adoption, although technically our file will be on hold until the 18 month waiting period is up. Once the required age gap has been met, our file will be opened again and we will be ready to accept a referral again.

Having a biological child at this point in the process shouldn't affect our wait time though. We think we're about #65 on the list and referrals have slowed to only about 2-3 per month at our adoption agency. Booooooo.

Why did you choose to adopt from Ethiopia?

Hmmmm, this may be a tricky one to answer without rambling on for days and days. I'll try to give the short version!

I've always known that I wanted to adopt someday. When I met Alex in University I remember telling him that I wanted to have lots of kiddos - both biological and adopted. Can you believe that he didn't run away screaming back then?!? Hahaha. It turns out that I was very lucky to have met someone who was so open to the idea.

Fast forward a few years later. It may sound silly but I came across an article about the orphan crisis that was happening in Ethiopia. This led me to do some reading. And more reading. And more reading. Then I found out that Ethiopia had a fairly reliable International adoption program. Then I started researching Ethiopian adoption like it was my job. At one point I discovered adoption blogs by other Canadian families that were in the process and some that had even completed the adoption process from Ethiopia. I was sold. I was in.

After a lot of soul-searching and discussion as a little family of three (back then it was only Alex, Roary, and I) we decided that we would start our family with adoption. Well, that was the plan anyway.

Long story short, our international adoption agency declared bankruptcy and what was supposed to be a year and a half wait turned out to this long, drawn-out, emotionally draining, four-year and counting process.

We're sticking it out for the long haul though. Yuppers.

I'm curious about your adoption plans, too. We're going to Uganda on Friday to volunteer at an orphanage, so it's on my mind!!

So, our current adoption plan is to adopt a child (either gender, age 0 to 18 months) from Ethiopia!

When will you update your other blog or will you merge both?

When I was doing my ten thousand hours of research on International adoption, I came across a blog whose family chronicled their entire Ethiopian adoption from the planning stages right through to bringing their three children home. I remember reading every.single.word. of the entire blog. After that I started following several other adoption blogs and finally decided to start my own. That's how I first because involved in this whole blogging world!

I updated the adoption blog quite frequently for awhile. Then I sort of lost my motivation because the process was taking so long. I didn't want to be Debbie-Downer blogger so I just stopped blogging about the adoption altogether. Since this blog has strayed quite a bit from strictly home decor and renos, I'll just share my updates on here from now on. If that's okay with you. ;)

P.S. If you have any more adoption-related questions feel free to ask them in the comments or in an email. But please don't ask how long it took me to sew all the hair onto that doll. Hours, dude. Hours.

P.S.S. Anyone else out there adopting or thinking about adoption?

P.S.S.S. If you are interesting in reading more about Ethiopia / Ethiopian adoption I highly recommend the book There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene. It was a life-changer.

November Sponsor Love + A Random Cooper Update

Wow, I am so lucky! A few lovely ladies decided to take the plunge and sponsor my little blog. I really lucked out because they all have the most adorable Etsy shops!

I might have a teensy love affair with Etsy, and I always love when other bloggers highlight new shops and their cute handmade items. Well, today it's my turn.

Check out the goodies. And they're good.

My jaw just about dropped to the floor the first time I clicked over to The Bungalow Boutique. Jennifer refinishes and re-purposes salvaged windows. I think I found a kindred spirit because this girl seems to love old windows just as much as (and maybe even more than) I do. When you check out her shop you'll find windows given new life as mirrors, chalkboards, and even jewelry displays. Jennifer even takes custom orders with varying sizes and color options. Check out the loveliness:

Etsy Shop - The Bungalow Boutique

I keep thinking that I could use a handy dandy little chalkboard like that on our main floor to keep track of Cooper's last naps n' feeds since at the moment I've been writing them down in my mind and then, you know, forgetting. Doh! Anyway, love this shop and love this girl!

About two months ago I read a post from a fellow blogger about an Etsy shop called Enrouge. I clicked over and made a purchase within five minutes. And you know how indecisive I usually am. I fell in love with one of the little bird prints and have been meaning to share it with you ever since I received it. The colors go perfectly in my living room. Side Note: it also came in the prettiest packaging I think I've ever seen. For realz. Anywhooo, Karla's prints are beautiful and come in a variety of colors and sizes to suit your decor. Take a look at a few of my favorites:

Etsy Shop - Enrouge

Karla has generously offered my readers (that's you!) a discount through until November 26th. Just enter in the coupon code: CozyCottageCute15. I dare you to visit her Etsy shop and not order something!

Lori A McKee Design is an Etsy shop with a huge selection of shabby / cottage / chic items based on Lori's own acrylic paintings. She offers wall calendars, birthday calendars, magnets, bookmarks, wall prints, and other goodies. My favorite items would have to be the calendars since I always have a hard time finding cute, cottage-y ones at big box stores like Chapters. And I can always use a little help in the organization / time management department. Here is a sampling of what you will find:

Etsy Shop: Lori A McKee Designs

Cute and functional. There ya go. :)

I want to give a HUGE thank you to my three lovely sponsors. If you are interested in advertising your small business, Etsy shop, or blog please have a look at the information on my "Sponsor" page or send me an email if you have any questions.

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In Coopster news (for those of you cuties who asked), he is now:

- rolling around all over the place
- scooting backwards on his belly
-sitting up on his own for little bits of time before falling over
- getting his curious little fingers into anything and everything
- loving all of the fruits and veggies we've given him so far (apples, bananas, pears, peaches, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, and pumpkin)
- driving around in his new car seat (we ended up going with the Britax Boulevard)
- possibly cutting his first tooth
- sleeping in the crib (in his nursery!!!) for all of his naps now (without being rocked to sleep)
- saying Mamamamamamamamama (and winking at me while saying it)

Yup, he's super baby. ;)

New Jute Rug in the Living Room

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm pretty much the girl who says she will post about stuff and then never does. Well, eventually I do, but usually about a year later than I said I would. Whoopsie.

I am fully aware that I still have to give updates and/or posts on:

- how to build our front window box
- my blond to brown hair makeover

- whether or not we decided to keep the schoolhouse light fixture from Lowe's in our bedroom

- pictures of my wedding dress

- what happened with our basement renovation

- a burlap flower tutorial (oh man that was like, three years ago)

- our new living room rug

- what we did with those antique corbels

- how I wash my Ikea slipcovers
- the rest of the questions and answers from the FAQ post
- etc.

- etc.

- etc.

I haven't forgotten. They are all floating around in my brain giving me that you-have-things-you-should-be-doing-right-now feeling all the time.

I really could use a personal assistant to help me run my life. You can leave your resume at the end of this post, m'kay?

Anyway, I am very excited that I can finally update you on our living room rug that we purchased in the spring. Yes, in the spring. It's been folded up in a corner of our sun room since we brought it home. 

Why folded up in the corner you ask? Well, when Alex started our basement renovation (cough, cough, two years ago, cough, cough) we brought some furniture up into the living room - including our giant t.v. and t.v. stand. They made the living room sooooo crowded. When we finally took the plunge and bought the rug, I didn't want to put it in our overly crowded, not how I like it, unfinished living room. I wanted to wait until the extra furniture was gone and the living room was all nicey-nice again. 

Yes, I know how silly that sounds. 

One night when we were talking, Alex mentioned that it was kind of crazy that I finally got the rug that I've always wanted and it was just sitting there not being used while I waited for the "perfect" time to put it out. Especially since we have two large dogs and a baby boy. Dear self: I am sorry to burst your bubble but your perfect rug will not stay perfect for long. 

So, I called my father in-law over yesterday to help me move some furniture out of the living room while Alex was at work. I disconnected all of his Internet, PlayStation, and gizmo-gadget cables and crossed my fingers that he wouldn't lose his mind when he came home. It pretty much took me all day but I finally got the living room sort of back to normal.

With a new rug! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

(If you try this at home, make sure you have an open beer and a pizza waiting when your hubs gets home so he doesn't get mad that he no longer has a giant t.v. in the living room to watch all of his weird boy shows with guns and horses.)

The rug does exactly what I hoped it would do. It ties all of the furniture in the long, narrow room together. (I posted about the awkward layout here.) The rug just fits under the front two legs of all the couches and chairs, just like the decorating magazines say to do. (I just high-fived myself in my mind right there.)

In case you were wondering, the rug is jute and fully reversible. It was purchased from Muskoka Living interiors and we went with the largest size they had (9x12). They had several other jute rug styles but we chose the one with the lowest pile to minimize pulls from the dogs.

I have quite a few more items on my list to finish off this room (window treatments, lighting, wall art, cushions, corbels, etc.) but don't worry I'll make sure to share as I finish off those items. :)

Have a great weekend!

Shabby Apple Prize For You and A New Laptop For Me

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Shabby Apple Giveaway that I hosted last week. Or was it the week before? The days are a giant blur of trying to get this baby to nap. ;)

I am excited to announce that the winner of the $50 gift card to Shabby Apple is....... Comment #2:

Starr! She wrote, " I love the sweet sands swimsuit!" Of course I had to go and check out the swimsuit. Yup, it's definitely cute:

If you didn't win the giveaway, you can still get 10% off your Shabby Apple order by entering the following coupon code which will be valid for a few more weeks:

cozycottagecute10off

Starr, please send your email to cozycottagecute@hotmail.com so I can get you your gift card!

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As I mentioned in my last post, I was having a really hard time with my old, crusty laptop. Basically it was on the fritz. One very smart reader advised me to replace it before it crashed and died for real. I took her advice and brought my computer-nerding hubby on a Friday night date to the computer store. 

Again, I was torn between getting an all-in-one computer (super big monitor for editing photos + cute workstation) or another laptop (so portable and convenient). After much debate and discussion I finally decided to go with another laptop for now. I really love being able to use my computer any and everywhere. I'm all over the map most of the time so the computz needs be to all over the map with me, ya now? 

I ended up choosing this beauty:

It was more than we wanted to spend but it had a few little extras that Alex and I were looking for. It has a larger (17") screen for easier photo editing, higher screen resolution, and space for an extra hard-drive for my ten thousand and one picture files. 

And it is silver not black. Score, score, score. 

The reason we went with the higher resolution screen is because we are going to get an extra monitor, keyboard, and mouse (when they are on sale around Christmas time) and set them up at a workstation for me. I'll have to plug in my laptop but that's no biggie. I'm so excited about having a functional machine again. Plus, I'll still get to set up a cute little work area in the breakfast room. Oh yeahhhhhh.

Along with the excitement comes frustration. All of a sudden I feel totally computer illiterate. Windows 8 is tricky, yo! I'm sure there is a learning curve and I will eventually learn to like it but it took half an hour just to figure out how to turn it off. And tabbed browsing? More than two hours of googling and finally Alex's help to figure it out. 

It will take me longer than I thought to get everything installed and transferred over (Lightroom, Photoshop, Microsoft Office, etc.) but I can't complain about that because hey! I just got a kick-ass new computer!!!  

And now I can finally get back into my old habit of having 40 tabs open at a time (blog reading, hello!) without the whole thing crashing every two minutes. Yay! 

Alright, I'm out. I did some baking today and tried another Pinterest recipe. Gooey Nutella Butter Cake.  Mmmmm, cake.

P.S. I miss my blog. Is that weird?

My Laptop is Fried, A Small Workspace Possibility, and Happy Late Halloween

See below for photo sources.

I was complaining to Alex last night that my laptop has been acting weird. It's been soooooo frustrating. Internet Explorer keeps crashing, Lightroom isn't importing any new photos, and my computer screen has been turning white with neon lines flashing through it. He came over, took a quick look, and informed me that (once again) my computer has no disc space left. ZERO. He also thinks that it probably has a few viruses and a loose monitor wire. I am currently typing with the screen pushed back to almost flat on the table just so that I can see this well enough to type. It might be time for a new computer. I absolutely LOVE my laptop, however I've been contemplating whether or not to switch it up and try an all-in-one computer which would be so much better for editing photos. {I've been taking some photos of friends / family on the side and editing the raw pictures using Lightroom. I'm still learning but practicing (and hopefully getting better) every day.} Editing multiple photos at a time on a small laptop screen with a touchpad isn't the easiest. 

 

An all-in-one computer would kind of look like this:

 

 

 

You have no idea how much it excites me to have minimal cables. I hate cables!!! Of course the computer would have to be silver or white to match the rest of the house. Heh heh heh. The only problem is that right now we don't have a place on the main floor to keep a stay-in-one-spot computer. As of now we just leave our laptops kicking around wherever we use them.

 

There is one little spot where I could possibly create a little workspace on the main floor. It's in the corner of the breakfast room where I used to have a wall shelf and dresser. Since I stole both of them to use in Cooper's nursery, that space is currently empty!

 

Possible spot for a computer / workstation on the main floor.

 

I have a few inspiration pictures that will give you an idea of what I'm thinking for the space:

 

Source: Swedish Elle Interior

Source: Me and Alice

Source: Unknown

Source: A Merry Mishap

Source: Me and Alice

Source: Apartment Therapy

 

Oooooh, I'm excited just thinking about it. :)

 

Alex and I are going computer shopping this weekend so we'll see what happens. It's been really difficult to work on the blog in the meantime, hence one of the reasons for my lack of posts lately.

 

In other news, it was Halloween around these parts on Wednesday. Our little monster went on a whirlwind trick-or-treating adventure to visit both sets of grandparents. I know I'm biased but darn it he is cute!

 

 And yes, I did have to confiscate all of his candy. Muhahahaha!

Happy late Halloween everyone and I'll announce the winner of the Shabby Apple Giveaway this weekend. :)