Good morning 4-year-old!

One last post about Maren's birthday...

I think part of what was so wonderful about this year was that Maren really knew what was going on. There were weeks of anticipation. She talked constantly about her rainbow party. She waited with great excitement to announce to people that she was 4. Every stranger we encountered for weeks before her birthday heard about what was happening in the life of Maren on August 17. World...Maren Eleanor is officially 4!

Since Brett worked during the day, and her birthday wasn't until the evening, we wanted to make the morning feel somewhat special. I saved all the cards from out-of-town family and we gave her our gifts right when she woke up. As requested by Maren, we enjoyed a special breakfast of pull-apart coffee cake and eggs.

We found this vintage desk on craigslist and my parents gave her the 2 little stools. She's loved having her own place to draw and play school. The stools are perfect to carry around and use as beds for her pets, places for 'students' to sit during school, and for any number of things that come out of Maren's creative little imagination.

A very happy 4-year-old.

Maren loves her brother so much. They've become quite the little buddies. I love it when they close themselves in Maren's room and I can hear them both giggling through the door. I know Truett doesn't quite engage in Maren's play world yet, but she genuinely loves having him around. I'm so thankful for her patience and willingness to spend so much time with him. We tell them everyday that they are best friends...my prayer is that they will grow up to be each other's biggest champions.

I love this one...it just captures their little personalities so appropriately.

Maren and her new {pretend} teacher glasses.

I've been hearing great things about The Jesus Storybook Bible for a long time. We've not be disappointed! The illustrations are wonderful, and the content is theologically great, which isn't always the case in Bibles made for kids.

Maren with all of her cards. She thought it was so fun to receive cash and checks from out-of-town family. We're actually going on a little mother-daughter school shopping date on Saturday. She's got her own purse all ready to go!

Playing school...

With a banker as a dad, Maren is learning the in's and out's of the financial world from a young age. {wink} She thought it was so wonderful to endorse her own checks. I love how she writes her 'e's'...you never know how many lines each one will have!

Maren,

Happy 4th birthday, sweet girl!

Four years ago you joined our family and forever changed my life. Your daddy and I prayed for you for years, and we have been so blessed by you, one of our greatest gifts.

You are everything I could've hoped for in a little girl. You're feminine and love to play dress-up and babies. You choose to wear a dress or skirt almost every day. But you're also curious and persistant in your exploration of the world around you. Inevitably, at the end of the day your cute, pink dress goes straight into the laundry covered in dirt, paint, or whatever other evidence of a busy, creative day might have been left behind.

You are a wonderful friend. You LOVE to have other children around, and you tend to be the leader when it comes to creating imaginary worlds. I enjoy listening to your far-fetched ideas of what you could play...whether it be zoo, pet-hospital, some form of mommies and babies, wolves {?!}, school...or any number of other scenarios. On a daily basis I hear you exclaim, "I know!!! Let's play..."

I'm also thankful for your sensitivity towards things of a spiritual nature. You've become quite inquisitive about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I'm so thankful for the opportunities to talk with you about our God, and to have you genuinely listen and work at understanding. You love to learn your Bible verses for Cubbies, and we frequently refer to them throughout the day. Your daddy puts you to bed most nights, and you two have a long list of hymns you sing. I love hearing those sweet  songs come out of your mouth.

I don't want you to think that you're without fault...this has also been the most challenging time in my {short} parenting journey. You are a bit of a slob, and we're working hard at learning how to keep your items contained and how to pick up after yourself. You've also started to test out some of your independence, which results in a fair amount of 'time-outs' and subsequent discipline. I'm thankful for your teachable spirit, even when you make me want to pull my hair out sometimes!

Someday you will read this {I hope!} and know how fiercely you are loved and cherished. Maren Eleanor, you are a dream and I'm so glad God chose me to be your mommy!

Truett's Room

I am so excited to share Truett's nursery with you today! I have to admit that I was less than thrilled to decorate a boy's room after having such a great time with Maren's room. Then I found this fabric collection. I knew it would be a great jumping-off point for our little man's nursery. I chose to use the cars, pebble, and blue asterisk fabrics from the Birch Circa*50 collection. I found supplemental fabrics for the crib bedding and quilt from a fabulous little fabric boutique. Angie stocks a great selection of modern fabric, and I love being able to see and touch the colors and patterns before I commit. My mother-in-law generously offered to make the quilt and crib bedding. It was such a gift, and I love how it all turned out! The walls are Pale Avocado by Benjamin Moore. I can't remember what color the ceiling is, but I'm so glad we painted it. We found the crown molding on Craigslist for super cheap. Seriously, I think we paid about $10 for all of it. It was just wood and Brett painted it to match the rest of the trim in the house. I love how much it changes the room!

Let's start the tour!

We used the same furniture that was in Maren's nursery. The one thing we didn't buy the first time around was a comfortable chair. I found the Pottery Barn rocking chair on Craigslist for a song. I can't say enough good things about this chair. If you are having a baby...buy a nice chair! You will not regret it! The rug, lamp, basket for diaper-changing necessities, and black shelf are from Homegoods. I love that place. The shelf has little wood milk bottles, a vintage puzzle and a turquoise ball jar with dominoes...all toys that belonged to my dad at one point. I think vintage items that have special meaning are such treasures. The print above the chair is from Studio Mela and it's the sweetest thing.

The corner shelf isn't my favorite in here, but it will work until my sweet husband can execute my other vision for that space. *wink* There's a variety of fun little things on the shelf for now...a vintage globe from a thrift store, a piggy bank, a few more vintage toys, a neat picture from a dear friend, a special little carved Noah's ark that my grandpa made. I'll have to remember to get some close-up photos of those things someday. The little rocking chair was mine when I was a girl. I thought it would be nice for Maren to have a place to sit while I'm nursing Truett.

Isn't the crib bedding so fun?!



I love the simple little collage above the crib. I wanted to keep it neutral because I knew the bedding would be bold. The large 'T' is from here, and the smaller one from here. The 'I am a child of God' print came from here. I love Etsy, and was thrilled to support these great shops. I found the little scooter print at Target. I thought it added a little whimsy.

This is the quilt. Isn't it awesome?! The quilt pattern came from Modern Obsession: Modern Quilts with Traditional Roots. If you are a quilter and have not seen this book, you must take a look! It has some wonderful patterns and ideas.

The back of the quilt is even fabulous!
So, there you have it...one special room for a pretty amazing little guy. For now he's still sleeping in our room in a cradle, but he'll be spending some quality time in his room before long.

Thanks for stopping by!

M's Room Revisited

I may have mentioned that Maren and I took a little trip to Michigan this summer. While we were away, Brett went to work on installing wainscoting in Maren's room. We had put it up in her nursery in our old house, and it was the thing I was saddest to leave behind...so much work, and I didn't know when/if we'd ever put it in her room in this house. My sweet husband knew how much I loved her old room, and he surprised me by re-doing her new room while we were away. Pretty great surprise, right?

I love red and turquoise together, and wanted to do something a little out-of-the-ordinary for M's room. We painted the walls a soothing watery blue, appropriately called 'quiet moments' by Benjamin Moore. I found it to be fitting for a toddler's room! {Wishful thinking, at least.}

About a month ago, we decided that Maren was ready for a twin bed. All of the big pieces of furniture were hand-me-downs or junk finds, which you'd never know now. Let's take a tour!

Here's the view from the door. Someday we'll move the bed away from the wall and add a nightstand, but for now we don't want her to fall out of the bed. *wink* As our budget allows, we'd also love to hang curtains, and in my dream world, we'd install plantation shutters. {Swoon.}

Her wardrobe...this was my furniture when I was a little girl. I love that Maren is able to use it now. We also re-finished a smaller chest of drawers that we're using in her closet right now.

The original finish...

I had a picture in my head of navy blue stain, which would allow for the knots of the wood to show through a bit. In order to re-stain the furniture, it had to be sanded down thoroughly.

We used a conditioning pre-stain treatment before we applied the actual stain. We used a colored stain from Lowe's {I think}. The color was Agean. Dreamy name, huh?

I thought about replacing all the hardware, but decided it was going to be too pricey to get what I really wanted. SO, I resorted to spray-painting all the metal parts of the knobs and the hinges the same color as we did the headboard. I LOVE the way it turned out! It makes the furniture look like it belongs together without appearing to match-y. I sprayed a quick coat of primer, and then used Valspar Mediterranean in gloss. I love this color...it is the perfect turquoise.

Believe it or not, I found that little table and chairs on Craigslist for $25. It looked just like that when I bought it. Doesn't it look like it was made to go in this room? I was thrilled!

There's a nice little spot for a narrow bookshelf just inside the door. Maren loves to read, so we have books all over the house. We hung a peg rack behind the door for coats and her dress-up hat. It was my grandma's!

We painted the little kitchen hutch red a while back when we made the kitchen. My grandpa built this for me when I was a girl. Again, I love that Maren's able to use it now. I found the chandelier at a local antique store. The electrical was a mess, so I stripped it and just added candles. We don't ever light them, of course, but it sure looks sweet!

A cradle made by my grandpa {I was a lucky girl, huh?} and a sweet little quilt hand-quilted by my grandma. That little quilt is so special, as she's no longer able to sew because of Parkinson's Disease. She made some gorgeous quilts back in the day. I'm thankful to have a couple. Someday I'll show you.

There's the little girl at work! She loves tea-parties. I'm thrilled to say that she's quite the little hostess. Ha!



The bed 'before'...



So much better! I was able to find bedding I love at the Pottery Barn outlet store. I sort of mixed and matched from different sets that were on clearance, and I love the finished look!

Brett's mom made this fabulous quilt for M when she was born. This was the fabric in her crib bedding...all replica 30's flour-sack prints. I asked for a twin-sized quilt instead of a crib quilt, and I'm so glad! Can you believe all those gathers? A lot of work went into this, and I can't wait for Maren to be old enough to appreciate it. For now, we use it mostly as a decoration. I figure once the random throwing-up and potty-training stage of childhood is over, it can be spread across the bed!

Some more treasures on the shelf over the little table...sweet vintage books, old baby bottles and a little Swedish tomte from my mom.

I was given this lamp when I was expecting Maren, and I glued some vintage buttons around the bottom of the lampshade.

That's all for now! I have a few more things I hope to add in the near future. Maren loves to spend time in her room, which I love. She is old enough to enjoy having her own little space, and I loved making it a fun and special place for my little lady.

The theme over at the CSI project this week is 'turquoise'...go check it out!

Maren's Kitchen

Last Christmas we decided to make Maren a little kitchen of her own. I had seen a few ideas here and there (I'm sure you have, too!), so I can't take complete credit for what we came up with.

We found this little footed nightstand on Craigslist for $15. Here's the best before picture I have. We had already sanded the top, but you can see how the piece looked in it's original form.

And, the completed kitchen:
We used wood craft circles and a square dowel for the burners. We painted wood nobs found in the craft store for the black nobs. The sink is a square cake pan and the faucet came from a salvage yard. Brett cut shelves to fit where the drawers had been, and cut and routered the back splash from a piece of shelving we had on hand. Hinges and handle for the oven came from Lowe's.

The inside of the oven is spray-painted shiny silver, and we have since added chains to both sides of the oven door to make it more sturdy. I made the little curtain rod with leftover fabric from M's nursery, and it's hanging on a small tension rod.

We estimate having spent close to $60 total, but definitely could have done the project for cheaper. Since this was a gift for our only child, we did splurge on a few things. (Namely the faucet...it cost $20, but we loved the size and the 'realness' it brought to the project! We also splurged on the handle for the oven door, and again, just loved the size and look of the one we chose.)

Be sure to leave a comment over here to be entered in my first ever giveaway!

Stop by this fine blog for more fabulous ideas and inspiration!






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The Black Buffet

When we moved into this house last summer, I knew we needed a place in the family room to store Maren's books and toys. This bookshelf worked for a while, but I was always bothered by the cluttered open shelves and the spillover of toys. (Not to mention the boxes of homeless books sitting in the upstairs hallway!)
I started having regular 'dates' with Mr. Craigslist, and finally found the perfect piece. The lady sold it to us for $25.
I didn't mind the design of the door-fronts, but I did not love the original finish on the wood. {Enter sanding+black spray paint}
And, our little cabinet in it's new home. We added a thin layer of furniture wax, because we wanted to be able to wipe the whole thing down easily. Unfortunately, it also adds a bit of shine to photographs. ;) Again, these pictures were all taken pre-blog, so I don't have any 'in-process' pictures. I promise to get better about that now!
Be sure to stop by Kimba's for more DIY inspiration!



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