Archive for July, 2011
Behold, Ribbony Goodness.
After admiring various ribbon chandeliers in baby stores, catalogs, magazines, and even over on Pintrest, I decided to try my hand at one for Clara’s closet. Her closet is actually big enough to become a little reading nook when she’s a little older (I have visions of making her a beanbag for chillaxing on the floor with a book). And I love that the closet has its own light but it’s one of those fugly bare bulb ones that you tug on a piece of string to turn on and off. So I thought a happy little ribbon chandy could pretty things up.
So I spent $2 for an embroidery hoop (with a 10″ diameter from Ben Franklin) and used some white spray paint and a box full of old ribbons that I already had (I save them like gift bags to recycle them ’cause I’m cool cheap like that).
So the total project cost was just two dolla. Holla. (Yup, that’s the second holla I’ve used today- and yup, I’m counting).
Anyway, first I went outside and spray painted my big metal embroidery ring thing with white paint on a piece of cardboard. While it was drying I went through all of the old ribbon scraps that I have and picked out the ones I wanted to use. Then I popped back outside to flip my ring over with a stick so I could spray the other side.
Then it was back inside while it dried to cut 16″ lengths of ribbon from all of the ones I picked to use. Here are most of them cut and ready to glue to my drying ring (I still had a few more hot pink ones to be added to the mix). Oh and I should note that I wasn’t exact about my cutting at all. If I wanted to use a strand of ribbon that I could almost get two lengths out of, I’d cut it in half (even if each piece was only 14″ instead of 16″). Yeah, call me Loosey Goosey. Wait, that sounds bad. Don’t.
Here’s where I’d show you a few photos of me and my handy glue gun as I glued each ribbon to the now-white-and-dry metal embroidery hoop. I just curled it over the top and glued the ribbon to itself in the inside of the hoop and worked my way around the top, just gluing each ribbon in place next to the other one with about an eight of an inch of space between them so they didn’t get all up in each other’s area. And I burned my fingers approximately fifteen times, which might be why there are no photos. But it was worth it. No pain, no gain. Sidenote: I accidentally typed “no paint, no gain” at first, but upon thinking about it, I also believe that’s true.
Here’s the bare bulb we’re dealing with in Clara’s closet. And I only realized as I took this photo that we never switched it out for a CFL. Probably because we never actually turn it on, but still – shame on us. It has been rectified. And the old bulb betta recognize. I’m in a weird mood today, huh?
See those hooks on either side of it? We had those in the ol’ tool drawer, and I thought they’d come in handy for stringing up my ribbon chandy. I was going to use fishing wire but I couldn’t find it so I went with white string (you know, sewing machine string?). Wait I mean thread. Anyway, it worked like a charm.
I just made four loops of white thread at four even intervals around the ring and looped them up over the two hooks so they sort of pulled from four points and stabilized the hoop o’ ribbon. Here’s what I was left with:
Cute, right? When Clara woke up from her nap I couldn’t wait to hang it slash show it to her. She loves it. And that my friends (as Martha would say) is a good thing. Oh and I totally should have ironed the ribbons before gluing but I was feeling lazy. I figured I can always take it down (it’s just hanging on those little hooks) and iron it if the urge ever strikes. Not that I’m counting on it. For now I look at it like wavy hair. There’s a place for it.
See that cute pink ribbon with the bunnies on it? It’s from this Easter basket we made her a while back. Memories. Oh and note that the bottom of the ribbons are random and staggered and some are cut at an angle or dove-tailed (is that what it’s called or did I make that up?). I went with the keep-it-casual approach.
As for how it looks from the rest of the room, I love how it just sort of peeks out from behind the curtain like her bright little dresses. So you don’t really know what’s going on until you get closer…
… and peer up to see those fun little ribbons.
So there you have it. A $2 project that the ceramic animals in Clara’s closet get to enjoy (they’re up there because they’re breakable and now that Clara is toddling around they were in constant peril on her dresser and side table- so up they went. And yes, that’s a framed photo of Burger. Clara’s quite fond of him.
Oh and when I showed John he said “how’s it hanging?” and I said “har-har very funny” and he said “no, I’m asking you a question- how is it hanging from the ceiling?” and I explained it while trying not to wet myself. Maybe you had to be there though.
Anyone else making things out of ribbon? Or dressing up a bare bulb in another way? Tell $herdog all about it.
Psst- Don’t burn your house down! Many lamp shades are made from fabric and paper, so ribbon is cool. Just make sure it’s not even close to the bulb (and definitely not pressing against it). Our 10″ hoop offered lots of space for the heat to escape, and using CFLs helps too since they burn cooler than the regular guys. In some places exposed bulbs in closets aren’t even to code (glass domes are recommended, which could still be covered with a fun little ribbon chandy to dress them up).
Mood Board Making: En Fuego
I was inspired by a chipper yellow table runner and a fiery pendant light to make a warm-blooded dining room mood board just for fun. Whoop, here it is:
1. The wall color could be a soft olive-khaki tone, like the stripe in the background of the mood board (try Benjamin Moore’s Limestone 513) with browns, oranges, deeper olives, pops of yellow, and some crisp white in the furnishings/accessories. Maybe even a smidge of navy if you’re into that sort of thing. And now that I see that stripe of olive-khaki, big wide horizontal tone-on-tone stripes might be pretty fun for the walls if you’re feeling feisty (try Benjamin Moore’s Limestone 513 and Flowering Herbs 514).
2. These Target chairs are $70 a pop, and the Ikea table is under $300 (but you could always find something on craigslist and refinish it for even less if that’s your jam).
3. This Stacy Garcia pendant (along with the fun chevron runner) were the inspiration for this entire board. Isn’t the geometric kinda Moroccan-ish pattern fun? It’s down from $225 to $149 with free shipping for anyone interested. I wonder if you could search for a coupon code to take it down even further.
4. Yellow mug = happy life forever. At least that’s a theory I’m working on. Who can sip from this guy and not smile? He’s even called the beam mug.
5. Klimt has always been a favorite of mine. I have another theory that his painting called The Kiss is akin to the movie Titanic (it makes all the ladies swoon). And this lesser known garden print is painterly and soft – which makes it a nice counterpart to the graphic pops of pattern in the chevron runner and the geometric pendant. I also love that it has olive, orange, white, and even a dash of navy. Holla.
6. This giant braided jute rug from Overstock would bring in some natural texture to balance the graphic patterns and sleek dining table (it’s $230 for an 8 x 10 and has tons of 5 star ratings).
7. These bright little appetizer trays ($2.95 each) would be so charming mixed in with crisp white china, a few of those yellow mugs, and the sunny chevron runner.
8. Here’s that chevron runner (from etsy for $15) that started it all (well, I guess he’s in cahoots with the pendant, who also sparked this board). Cute, no?
Anyone out there doing some dining room makeover-ing? Or sipping from a happy yellow mug? Either way, it sounds like a good time.
Psst- See 150+ other mood boards (and sort them by room or color) here. Oh and we just heard the new 376 page (!) Ikea catalog is out here.
Gallery Opening
Dude. Remember last fall when we created a separate little site just for browsing mood boards and mentioned that we wanted to create one full of actual photos from house crashings and reader redesigns (where you could search by color or room)? Well, after a few more midnight coding tantrums and accidental hunger strikes we’ve (finally) done it. It’s a big ol’ gallery full of real rooms for your viewing pleasure. And you can access them anytime by clicking the “Room Gallery” tab under our header. Sidenote: I’ve always wanted to start a post with dude. Mission accomplished.
This new “Inspiration Gallery” follows the same basic format as the existing Mood Board Gallery, only these are actual photos of rooms that might come in handy when you’re looking for ideas for your casa (you know, as opposed to boards full of furnishings and accessories). We’ve uploaded pics from over thirty House Crashing adventures as well as some of our solved Design Dilemmas (which gives you over 340 pictures to peruse) and we plan to beef things up over the next few weeks by adding images from all of our previous Reader Redesigns too. You know, once I can see straight again.
Things are tagged by color and room (just like in our mood board gallery) which means you can search by room or by color scheme if you’d like. So if you’re jonesing for blue rooms or only want to browse kitchens, you can indicate that on the main page or the sidebar to hone in on what you want. Oh and to find out more about each room and see a close up, just click on the thumbnail. As always, it’s nothing fancy since our coding philosophy is just like our home improvement one (learn as you go). So please pardon any glitches or less than perfect searching capabilities and let us know if you find any broken links or typos.
We’ve also added a fun little rating feature. So if you’ve got the warm fuzzies for a particular pic, show it some love by clicking the heart icon below it on the photo detail page. It won’t put that room into a “favorites folder” or anything (in order to code that people would have to sign in, which is beyond our skill level and not everyone likes logging in anyway) but the rooms getting the most love will show up on the sidebar under the “Most Loved Rooms” title – which means everyone will have quick access to whichever rooms the crowd is finding to be the most inspirational. And they’ll constantly change as people continue to explore and weigh in, so that should be kinda fun.
So feel free to poke around and make yourself at home in our new digs (which will just keep growing as we continue to add photos). It’s definitely somewhere I expect to find Sherry all the time (we don’t get out of the house much). Can’t wait to see which rooms pop up as favorites.
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14 Months Of Breastfeeding
Yup, that’s what I did. Well, technically 14 months and three days if you’re really counting. And yup, this really is a post about breastfeeding, so feel free to skip it (you know, if you’re my brother for example). I never thought I’d be writing about it. But I actually get a lot of questions on the subject. And since I blather on about other random things (like cloth diapering) and this blog is really just a way for us to remember things that we might otherwise forget (like paint colors and vacation happenings), I figure that something I did for so long (around 425 days straight) deserved a post about the range of emotions that it elicited. So here we go.
My first emotion: grateful. I was just so thankful it worked. I was acutely aware that some moms try extremely hard but it’s just not possible. I was also pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as painful as I expected. I’d heard a lot about cracked and bleeding nipples (yes I just typed that) but thanks to genetics or a good latch (or some other random happening) I didn’t really have much pain at all (in the interest of TMI, I also never had sore boobs while prego, so maybe those things go hand in hand?). And I know the whole lack of pain thing might make you want to punch me (it annoys the heck out of my BFF) but I had a pretty frightening birth experience so I guess it’s always something (and not always the same thing) that throws you for a loop as a new mom.
Speaking of the whole birth thing, I was initially really stressed about Clara “taking” to breastfeeding because, due to our complications, I couldn’t nurse her until eight whole hours after she came into this world. I heard trying as soon as possible was the way to go, and I guess the whole scary birth experience had me fearing the worst (there was no baby-on-my-chest-to-snuggle-and-nurse-right-away occurrance, which is definitely what I pictured). But the sweet nurses pretty much just said to give it a try and it was miraculous. Clara got it right away. Such a relief.
As far as emotions go, after “grateful” and “pleasantly surprised” I moved into “exhausted and overwhelmed” territory. Clara was blissfully sleeping for 12 hours each night pretty much from the beginning, waking up for just one or two feedings most of the time (after we got the ok from the doc to let her sleep instead of waking her up to feed every 3 hours since she was steadily gaining weight).
But that meant that during the day she was feeding every two hours like clockwork (I fed her on demand, and at almost exact two hour intervals she screamed and wasn’t happy til she was nursing). So I really couldn’t get much done without having to stop and feed her. Which I actually loved for the bonding and the sweetness and the self-imposed break that it gave me from housework, blogging, and all that other stuff – but it was definitely exhausting and sort of all-encompassing in those bleary I-have-a-newborn months. I always joke that she let me rest at night, but during the day she made me work for it.
And when we went on a week-long family vacation when Clara was just six weeks old I remember sitting upstairs alone with Clara feeding her in a bedroom while everyone else was downstairs having fun together and thinking “I’m going to have to excuse myself and do this about eight times a day while everyone else hangs out – which adds up to 56 feedings that I’ll be doing over the next seven days.” That’s an overwhelming thought. At least it was to me. It was times like this that I actually wished feeding in public (or at least in front of your extended family) was more widely accepted. I tried to use a nursing cover but Clara wouldn’t have it. So up in my room I sat (with occasional visits from John who sweetly recognized that I’d rather be with the group and dropped in to keep us company). Back in these days feedings were pretty slow going (around 15-20 minutes per side for a total of 30-40 minutes spent sequestered). But we still managed to fit in some fun in the sun (or shade since she was so tiny).
I should mention that 1) pumping didn’t agree with me and 2) Clara never took to bottles (or pacifiers for that matter). You win some and you lose some. So every time she fed for the past 14 months it was directly from the source. Which was ok with me since pumping just didn’t work out and thankfully I have a job that allows me to be home with her. But it’s definitely sort of crazy as a concept because for over a year I was never away from my daughter for more than an hour or two. Ever.
But with a face like this, I was ok with that:
Around three months in I really got into the groove though. That’s where I’d characterize my feelings as “content and accepting.” I was happy to still be able to breastfeed and glad that it seemed to suit Clara. She seemed to enjoy it and I knew how to do it effectively and easily enough (in a parked car? check. in a dressing room? check). I even managed to sneak in a taping for the Nate Berkus show, nursing Clara in the green room right before we went on and right after (thankfully it was only a two hour process – or we might have heard her screaming for another feeding from on stage).
I guess I had adapted more to it, and it didn’t feel like as big of a job after I got into the swing of things. And by about 6-8 months old Clara had become a lot more efficient, so feedings were only about 15 minutes total (and sometimes even ten). Interestingly enough, the introduction of solid food at six months old (which Clara loved from day one) didn’t have any bearing on her nursing. She still wanted just as much, just as often. And I was secretly kind of relieved because I worried a bit about my production slowing or even stopping if she suddenly dropped a ton of feedings. But that was not the case.
Up until Clara turned ten months old I was still feeding her every two hours during the day at her insistence (screaming until I nursed her = her insistence). That’s right, for ten months (that’s 300 days) I nursed Clara every two hours (except during the night). I was ok with it, and my doc was ok with it, but I heard from friends that only going two hours between feedings at that age was reallllly often (as in all of my friends were only feeding every 4-5 hours or so at that age). My doc explained that it made sense since Clara was such an unusually solid night sleeper (she segued from waking up for 1-2 feedings in her 12 hour span of night sleep to not waking up at all around 2.5 months in – I know, we’re insanely blessed to have gotten such uninterrupted sleep for such a long block of time). But it did mean not-as-long daytime naps and a whole lot of frequent feedings to “tank up” during her waking hours in exchange for such an awesome night’s sleep. Heck, I’ll take it.
Blissfully, after turning ten months old Clara started stretching her feedings to every three hours, which felt amazing. It’s funny how an extra hour feels like all the freedom in the world. It’s all relative I guess. At this point I was coming into the whole “I love breastfeeding” phenomenon. I still felt grateful to be able to do it, Clara was a thriving happy girl, it was saving us money, it gave me a moment to step away from the computer/paint brush/hammer and connect with the bean, and it helped me get back into my old clothes (even though I don’t think I’ll ever have my pre-baby body again, it’s fine with me because Clara’s so worth it). I should add that I’m a breastfeeding enthusiast when it comes to me and Clara, but I don’t judge anyone else when it comes to what they choose for their family. Whatever works for you & your ducklings = my mantra as a parent in general.
The next speed bump that we encountered was when Clara turned a year old we introduced organic whole milk. The problem? Clara wouldn’t drink it. She still wouldn’t really take a bottle so our doc recommended trying a sippy cup. It worked for water, but she refused to drink milk (and we tried about ten million different sippy cup varieties, tried slightly heating the milk, tried watering it down or mixing it with breast milk, etc). This is when I started fearing that she’d be 21 years old and still addicted to breastfeeding.
Next we tried almond milk at our doc’s advice, and she went for it (we think the thinner consistency seemed closer to breast milk so she was down). And slowly we mixed almond milk with whole organic milk and she made the transition to 100% whole organic milk at around 13 months. Yup, it took nearly a whole month to get her on board with it. She’s stubborn like her momma. Haha. Shockingly, that’s when her feedings dropped waaay down. From around five times a day to just two – once before bed and once in the morning. Which made me feel excited and free but sort of oddly sad at the same time. “My baby’s growing up, and she needs me less” was sort of how I felt. I know that’s not really true, but it’s the best way I can describe the feeling.
By 13 months and three weeks she just wanted a feeding in the morning when she woke up. Clara has always been the boss of this whole breastfeeding thing (since we opted to just do the “on demand” thing from day one), so who am I to argue with the girl? Just one morning feeding opened up a whole new world of evening fun for me and John thanks to his parents offering to babysit (we could see a movie or go out to dinner without Clara after over a year of not partaking in those activities – amazing!). Of course I thought about her the whole time we were out, but I guess that’s to be expected (picture me saying “I wonder what Clara’s doing right now” every ten minutes during our first movie together in over a year).
Two weeks later Clara wasn’t even interested in her morning feeding. Which was sad because that’s the one where we lie down next to each other and relax together. I know I sound crazy, but it was such a sweet way to start the day. To anyone who has yet to try it, nursing on your side while laying down = awesometown (they taught me that move at the hospital thanks to the whole c-section thing). And now it’s over. So my current feelings are sad (because I’ll miss it) but proud (because I can’t believe I breastfed for over 14 months) and grateful (because I know being able to nurse that long or even at all definitely isn’t a given).
So that’s my breastfeeding journey. Off to cry now (and I can’t even blame breastfeeding hormones for the tears). I know, I know, someone with a nickname that won’t stick like $herdog shouldn’t be such a wuss. But it was an awesome/exhausting/amazing/tiring/surprising journey that I’m grateful to have experienced. Love you baby girl. Even if you’re over me my boobs.
Yard Sale Score
This weekend we got these vintage kids chairs (they’re just 2 feet tall) for $7.50 each at a local yard sale. They were marked as $10 a pop but we bartered using the old “how about two for $15?” method. Sold!
We knew they looked like oldies (we loved the solid construction, steel legs, clean lines) and were pleased when we tipped them both over and saw the word “Brunswick” engraved on the bottom. Not that we knew what it meant, but we thought google might. A little bit of searching turned up this description here:
This original vintage 1950′s children’s chair, with its mid-century danish-modern design is actually made by Brunswick – the same designer/maker of the famed bowling equipment and supplies. In fact, it was also in the 1950′s that Brunswick introduced the machine that automated the resetting of bowling pins. This is a very sturdy chair.
Cool. And guess how much one of them was going for online? $125!
Our reaction pretty much went a little something like this: Holy cow, are you telling me that we paid $15 for two chairs that could retail for $250? Oh yard sales, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways. And how cool is it that current 65-ish year olds probably used these as kids? Gotta love stuff that’s built to last and handed down to total strangers (and their children) thanks to the phenomenon that is yard sale-ing.
Thanks to my Pinterest addiction, I wasted no time looking for charming little playrooms that our new chairs could slide right into (they’re approximately the same size as all of the chairs below). Like this sweet room (from here):
And this one (from here):
And this one (from here):
As for what we’ll do to our chairs & what table we’ll pair them with, check out our BabyCenter post (where we whipped up a little mood board of sorts with three options that we’re currently debating). On some monitors the one on the left in that top photo seems to be reading as teal, but it’s a murky forest green in real life. Which is really not our thing. And we’re more partial to darker and less yellow wood tones too – so change is a brewing.
Some folks wouldn’t touch something from the 50′s, but we’re all about it in the name of making them fit into our home and not look so mismatched. After all, we didn’t buy them to make a profit (or to keep them in mint condition as “collectables”) – we bought them to use for the long haul (hopefully with multiple kiddos over the years) since we love their look and their solid and sturdy construction. And you know we love a good refinishing project (like this 50′s dresser that we redid for Clara’s nursery). It might take us a while to actually do anything with them though (since our playroom is also our crazy storage room for now). But someday we’ll get ‘er done. And it’s never too early to start planning, right?
Update: After closer examination we realized that the forest green chair (which looks teal on some monitors) has already been painted. It was originally blonde like the other one. So I thought I’d share that update for the don’t-paint-them peeps. Looks like 50% of them are already painted! Too funny. We’re still un-enamored with the scratched blonde wood and murky green color so we’ll definitely be staining or painting them – but we completely understand that other people might do things differently if they were their chairs!
