Front Planters - Planted!

Okay, so these were planted a few weeks ago. But I was waiting, waiting, waiting for the begonias to finally flower so I could take some pics.  

 

I decided to mix it up this year and go all Plain Jane in the colour department. Whereas the last few years I did a combination of yellow, pink, purple, and white flowers - this year I decided to go with just white. 

 

My brilliant plan was to find some grass and ivy in contrasting shades of green to create some texture but alas I didn't really find what I was looking for. Oh well. I still think it looks pretty with a mixture of different white flowers!

 

I'm really happy with the new black planters, too. They really stand out against the concrete steps instead of the old ones that blended right in.

 

See? You can actually see them from the street now!

 

My flower selection was a bit limited because I had to choose flowers for shade / partial shade. Here is what I ended up choosing this year:

Snowstorm Giant Snowflake - Full to Part Sun

 

Rocky Mountain White Zonal Geranium - Part Shade

 

Nonstop White Begonia - Sun to Shade

And the tag for the ornamental grass only had the strange name in italics so how about we make up a translation and call it Spiky Grass. Sounds good to me.

P.S. In another week or so, once the flowers in the window box start to get nice and big, I'll share what I planted in there as well.

P.S.S. I got eaten alive by mosquitos when I ran out to take these pictures.

P.S.S.S. Is it bad if you eat ice-cream every night in the summertime?

P.S.S.S.S. My cute friend (and running buddy from a few years back) agreed to starting jogging with me again! We are going to try and meet up two nights per week. Of course I'm only in it for the girly gossip. ;)

A Day in the Life of Cooper

Not Pictured:

 

6:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. when we lounge in bed for as long as possible and then make our way to the kitchen to make some much needed coffee. Just imagine me with mismatched pajamas stumbling around and Cooper playing in his playpen because I don't have the energy to chase him yet. ;)
 

Also Not Pictured:

 

The witching hour (supper time) between 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. when babies get cranky. Really, really cranky. Picture lots of food being smeared around and then thrown on the floor. It's the puppies' favourite time of day. ;)

 

Mmmm, Cheerios.

 

Messy oranges.

Watching for Grandma who comes at 8:00 a.m. to walk the dogs. Yay for Grandmas.

 

Sitting inside the train track. 'Cause that's what yer supposed to do.

 

Motoring around. Vroom.

 

Climbing the stairs. On our way for sleepy-time #1. 

 

Waking up from a nap is much easier when you have little monkey.

 

Hugs for teddy bear.

Brush, brush, brush.

Splish splash he was taking a bath.

STILL in the tub. Geez.

Favourite game - race away from the mama when she is trying to get you dressed.

Lunch. Mini sandwich bites with turkey, cheddar, and spinach. Followed by a WHOLE kiwi.

Giving the stink eye. Because it's fun.

Waving at a little old man at the grocery store. He waved back. He was nice.

 

Special stop at Chapters to see the train table. Ooooh, excitement.

 

Milk. It does a body good.

 

Nap #2.

 

Dad got home from work early and joined us on our walk to the park.

 

Picking flowers. They might be weeds.
 

Almost walking!

 



The only way that supper gets made: Bubble Guppies.

Playing cars after supper.

Jammies and story time.

 

Silly games to get all hyper right before bed. Bad Mommy.

 

Goodnight.

 

A Light Fixture for the Exterior Side Entry

A few weeks ago I showed you the run-down exterior of our tiny side entry addition. You almost died of shock, I almost died of embarrassment. It was pretty intense.

 

Some of you gave me hope with encouraging words like, "It has good bones" and "It has potential!" Thanks. I needed that.

 

I sanded and primed my little buns off for a few days until I got to the ceiling. Yeah. Ceilings with lots of little spider-y nooks and crannies just aren't my thing. I still remember watching Arachnophobia at my friend's house across the street when I was like, ten. Freaky.  I'm hoping that Alex might help me with the rest of the priming tomorrow. The good news is that it is already starting to look so much better. Phew.

 

So, I started shopping online for light fixtures. I found the dreamiest, most perfect light ever at Pottery Barn. Oh how I wanted that light. I wanted it bad.

 

Can you see why?

 

Pottery Barn - Fisherman's Flushmount

 

 

However, since we were pretty set on replacing the storm door with a new one, and the door opens outwards, the light had to be less than 8" in height. The Pottery Barn one was just too big. Plus, Alex wasn't too happy about the $250 price tag.

 

So, I found a similar looking light online from Wayfair. 'Cept it was still an inch or so too high.

 

Wayfair - Sea Gull Lighting - Sebring Outdoor Flush Mount

 

 

We decided to hit up our local lighting store which we have used for our other exterior light fixture at the front of the house (still love) as well as many of our indoor ceiling fixtures.

 

To Alex's excitement, they were having a huge sale on exterior lighting that week. Almost 50% off ALL in-store exterior lights. He begged me, literally begged me to find one that was on sale.  

 

After looking through all of their catalogues and finding nothing similar to my online finds, the sales clerk brought over a different style of light. And it was kind of cute.

 

It had pretty seeded glass and a lantern-style look to it. Plus, it was just shy of 8" high AND it was on sale for $56.

 

SOLD. I wish you could've seen the look of triumph on Alex's face when we walked out with it. ;)

 

All I have is a lousy iPhone picture of the catalogue but it will give you an idea for now. 

 

 

 

I'll share the info about it once we get it installed and looking all pretty. :)

 

Progress! My favourite thing.

 

(Besides coffee, baby snuggles, and chip stands.)

Why We Still Don't Have Closet Doors in the Master Bedroom

Our Master Bedroom is such a neglected little space. It gets no love.

 

Well, it did get an itty bitty bit of love when we upgraded from a queen-sized bed to a king.

 

Best.Decision.Ever.

 

I'm pretty sure I mentioned at some point that we took the dated louvered bi-fold doors off of both closets with the intention of replacing them with the same closet doors we put in the front entry and the breakfast room.

 

Here's the front entry closet door:

Here is the breakfast room closet door:

Here are the old doors that we replaced:

And here are the master bedroom closets with no doors:

 

 

 

 

A few months ago Alex and I had had enough of clothes falling out onto the floor (time for another closet clean-up maybe?) and headed to Lowe's with some measurements. We were sort of expecting that they might not have the size that we needed in stock and we would have to order some in.

 

What we weren't expecting was to figure out was that they didn't have the size we needed at all because the bedroom closet doorways are about an inch and a half narrower than the closets on the main floor. Which means we would need to get custom doors made and ordered.

 

And they are $300+ a piece. Booooooo.

 

So that's the story of why we still don't have closet doors in our Master Bedroom. Maybe one day.

 

P.S. The boys have almost all of the old siding stripped off The Fixer Upper and are ordering insulation this week. That's a project that will hopefully be happening sooner than those closet doors. ;)

 

P.S.S. Sandwiches taste WAY better when they are cut into little baby-friendly strips. Just sayin'.

 

P.S.S.S. I got an outdoor rug for our back deck. I'll show you as soon as I sweep off all of those darned helicopters.

Two Pretty White Plates and Two Plate Wall Inspiration Pics

Wooooooweeeee. Alex was out of town on a golf trip this past weekend. Looking after everyone and everything around here while he was gone for three days was kinda hard. Note: He doesn't even really golf but let's not go there right now. Hahaha!

 

A few weeks ago I decided that it was high time to add some fun to the rest of the walls in the dining room. See? Bare walls.

 

 

 

I have some shelves that I want Alex to build, but for now I thought I would stick to a project that I can tackle on my own. Plates I think I can handle. As long as they don't fall and break (more on that later).

 

Here are the two inspiration pictures that I've been oogling for the past while:

 

Source: BHG

Source: Unknown

I've seen some really cool plate walls on Pinterest where the plates are displayed kind of random and haphazardly. They look fun in the pictures online but I just don't think I could live with it in person. Oh, is that a little OCD resurfacing? Yeah, that's what I thought. ;) 

 

Symmetrical and orderly it will be.

 

So far I've found two round plates / platters that I absolutely love. The first one was a Homesense find. The other I just found on the weekend at Hilltop Interiors.

Plate - Homesense - $20

 

Plate - Hilltop Interiors - $28

 

Instead of waiting until I have a great big collection, I think I'll just display a set of three (once I find the third one) so that I can enjoy them right away.

 

Any tips on the best way to hang the plates so they don't fall off the wall and smash to smithereens? This house gets shaken up daily by routine mining blasts. I read somewhere that Lowes has some plate hangers. Is that all I need? Help!

Nursery Source List - Part Four

I had a sweet reader send me an email asking if I had ever shared the last source list post from Cooper's nursery.

 

Ohhhhh yeahhhhhh. Forgot about that one. Okay so I didn't forget. I just added it to my list of posts I was supposed to, and didn't, write yet. It's long! Heh heh heh.

 

Instead of going into super lots of detail like in the other posts, I'm keeping it short and sweet today. I forgot my debit card at the grocery store last week and have to go pick it up, I have to plant the rest of my flowers that have been outside for two weeks (I ran out of potting soil), I have to return three different pairs of cushions to Homesense since it's the last day according to the return policy, and I have a cute pregnancy announcement photo shoot in the late afternoon that had to be rescheduled because of the poopy weather this weekend. Busy, but so fun! Well, except the grocery store pick-up (embarrassing).  

 

Alright, here goes.

 

 

Crib - The Land of Nod - White Straight Up Crib (see post here)
Bedding Set - Pottery Barn Kids - Eli's Elephant Nursery Bedding (see post here)
Crib Skirt - DIY Project (out of a white, linen curtain panel from Pier One) (see post here)
Basket - Homesense
Picture Frames - Wal-Mart (see post here)
Alphabet Cards - Chapters Indigo (see post here)
Tissue Paper Pom-Pom - DIY Project (using a simple online tutorial)
Stuffed Platypus - Homesense
Rug - Pottery Barn - Round Jute Rug - Natural (see post here)

Striped Giraffe - Local Home Décor Store

Wall Shelf - Antique - DIY Project (see post here)
Baskets - Homesense
Tiny Frame - Michael's - DIY Project (spray painted white)
Train Picture - Card from Cooper's Baby Shower
Wall Stencil - Royal Design Studio - Endless Circles Lattice Moroccan Stencil (see post here)

Change Pad - Babies R Us
Change Pad Cover - Babies R Us
Change Table - Dresser - Antique - DIY Project (see post here)

And that's that! Have a great Monday.

P.S. We found a light fixture for our exterior side entry. Alex is OVER THE MOON since it was in-store (not special order) and on sale. Hahaha!

Here are the other related posts:

 

Little Ninja's Nursery

Nursery Source List - Part One

Nursery Source List - Part Two

Nursery Source List - Part Three