work with what you've got...

i am blown away by the sweet comments about walker and his room. thank y'all so much! i thought i would be here sooner but its amazing how time consuming staring at a newborn can be! he totally has me wrapped around his finger....

i wanted to answer some questions about the nursery and show how w/ baby #2, you've got to work with what you've got. which was basically zero $$ and tweaking taylor's super girly nursery into something a little boy could feel "manly" in.

1. the first challenge was the size of the room. usually a nursery is tiny and intimate but our two upstairs rooms are huge. the bed and end tables are loaners from my parents. my dad is super talented when it comes to building and he built the bed based off of maine cottage's lizzie bed. it's great to have a bed for when guests come and if i want to sleep in here instead of going up and down the stairs at night for feedings. the bedding was a great budget find....micheal kors duvet and shams from tj maxx. the "walker" pillow was a gift made by one of our family's oldest friends.

2. the crib was taylor's and is stokke sleepi in whitewash (i purchased it at b. braithwaite- FAB baby store in atl). i loved the oval shape of the crib when i was pregnant w/ tay but have since realized that you are limited to bedding when you have an oval mattress. luckily, one of my favorite companies, dwell studio, offers oval bedding. for tay's room we had the chocolate dots which warren thought wasn't boy enough. i loved the pattern owls so i got crafty and bought the shower curtain and took the bumper and had it recovered (i left the brown and white stripe on the inside). shower curtains are great ways to save $$ on fabric b/c they are 72" W but beware they are thin so they typically have to be interlined.

3. the changing table was taylor's...loved that dwell studio offers "cool" changing pad covers at great prices (also, they are constantly having free shipping so i buy during that time). i decided to go w/ the dots here b/c i think it adds some personality. the mirror was leftover from our previous house. and the mobile is blabla...it's leftover from tay's room and they don't offer these versions anymore but here is one on super sale :)

4. the chair and ottoman were taylor's. at the time, i thought a giant pink chair would be cute...i love it so much more now so i am very happy to have it recovered. plus when you order these gliders from baby stores, the standard fabric selections aren't great!! the new fabric is robert allen and was some in my hoarding stash. and my mother-in-law shared a great secret w/ me on reupholstery....the prison does it for cheap (like $20 a yd which is a 1/3 of the cost i am use to paying). you just can't be in a rush to have it back b/c they have things like "lock downs" at the jail (i kid you not) and it delays things...

5. the bookshelf was a find from habitat for humanity ($30). it was rather ugly when i purchased it but i loved the fact that it was real wood and had a bead board back. i bought leftover paint at habitat as well, $4 a gallon to paint it with.

other random information:

- the lights are potty barn kids...i found them at a neighborhood yard sale for $5

- the industrial initials above walker's crib were bought at bungalow classic (LOVE this store if you are in atl, go here)...i think they were $13 a piece.

- the metal baskets are old locker baskets...i love these things...i find them at antique stores. warren doesn't think they are very kid friendly but since walker isn't grabbing anything at this current time, they're staying :)

- playskool chalkboard...thrift store find...old school!

-roman shade is lulu dk catwalk..it was in my kitchen in my old house

- the bookshelf at the end of the bed is one that warren and dad made for tay's room...we just added the left over fabric for the top of it

okay, if you are still reading this i am impressed! thanks again for your sweet comments! i hope to post more regularly....i know it won't be daily just yet. have a wonderful weekend!

*ps. the designer's attic will back to its normal posts next week...i have some good ones too :)

the little man....

is finally here.....and i can't get enough of him :)

we thought we had the perfect baby...the first night home from the hospital, he barely woke up to eat....the second night, a completely different story. we are a little sleep deprived (warren just made a grill cheese and forgot to put the top piece of bread on). here are some pictures of walker's room; promise to be more bright eyed later this week...well, maybe :) thanks so much for all of your well wishes for the delivery....it was very easy, thankfully.

*ps. taylor LOVES her baby brother, which is a good thing b/c he looks just like her!

pardon me....

while i pause for a week to add one more to our family :)

*image courtesy of misty bliss/ wide open spaces

10 things....

paloma was sweet enough to ask me to participate in her series 10 things i can't live without....if your interested, check them out on la dolce vita! thanks again paloma :) it was a lot of fun!

*image courtesy of bippity boppity boo

blog = amazing opportunity....

this blog has been a blessing for me for so many reasons and one of those was having the opportunity to be contacted by a magazine scout from BHG/ Meredith Group. i was beyond shocked when i received the email last summer asking if she could go see some of my projects. and luckily for me, the sweet team at BHG Kitchen and Baths Ideas liked what they saw. back in oct. i was able to go behind the scenes and witness how the magazines work w/ this photo shoot of my client's kitchen on sullivan's island (they also took pictures of the master bath which will be featured later this year). it is insane how much work is put into each shot and i tried to soak it all up...listening to how the photographers, editor, and stylist captured and tweaked each image (i think that would be so much fun). it took 2 full days to get 10 shots. and i couldn't be happier with the results or having the honor to appear on the cover of the july/ august issue. a huge thank you to sandi mohlmann for contacting me and for the best clients a girl could ask for, sammy and tracey, for giving me the opportunity to design their houses. and last but not least, for anyone out there contemplating what starting a blog could do for you....i hope this gives you the incentive to go for it :) i promise you won't be sorry!

*top 4 images from taken of actual magazine/ photographer richard leo johnson, bottom two me (behind the scenes)

today is the last day of camp for taylor so summer starts, well tomorrow....

so i will enjoy my last moments of alone time....coffee and pandora is a great start (brandi carlile is rocking my computer this AM)...and a thai lunch date w/ my hubbie isn't looking too shabby either.

*images courtesy of happnstance, sacramento street, wide open spaces

happy tuesday.

i am lacking things to say....i kind of feel like i am tapped out. do you ever feel that way...like your life is on standstill or that you are peddling a bike really hard but you aren't moving?

*images courtesy of once wed, polly wreford, oh so beautiful paper, house to home, heidi claire

a little pretty....

these gray and white pics have me swooning....such a pretty and fresh color combo!

did y'all receive the house beautiful 500 paint colors edition in the mail this weekend? i did...

i love reading other designer's favorite colors but beware, if you are loving the actual paint chip that they show in the magazine, it might be slightly misleading. I got out my paint decks to compare and somewhere b/w the paint and the printer, the colors got off. however, it is still such a valuable resource b/c these colors have been tested and used again and again by the designers. my only thought would be to take the magazine to the paint store so you can look at the actual colors they are suggesting in person. happy monday everyone!

*images courtesy of once wed, the city sage, house of bliss, this is glamorous

i can't thank y'all enough for my sweet b'day wishes....31 has been great so far. i'm off to get a mother/daughter pedicure *he got the hint*....have a wonderful weekend.

*images courtesy of linda and harriet, me, lake jane

31

yep...that's how old i am today...my husband reminded me last night that my b'day 10 yrs ago was quite different from this one (yes, i will definitely have to agree w/ that and thank goodness the video of it is lost) and that i am closer to being 40 then 20...sweet. so today, i am drinking 1 1/2 cups of DD coffee (pushing the limits b/c i am a rebel like that), me and the big belly might go float/ capsize in the pool, a pedicure would be great (hint, hint), and then my sweet husband is cooking some kind of special dinner for tonight (hopefully there will be lots of cheese dip and cupcakes...a pregnant girl's fantasy). as far as gifting, i can seriously say that part doesn't matter to me. warren calls BS on that, but it's true. we did buy some fancy camera that is way beyond my learning curve for our anniversary/ b'day. so once i get done reading the 300 pg manual in all of my spare time, maybe my pics will start appearing better on this blog! okay, enough...this girl is off to enjoy being a yr older.....and i am keeping my fingers crossed that this kiddo stays put for today and doesn't still my thunder.

if you've got to...

run errands, don't you wish that they would always look this stylish......

*images courtesy of rinne allen/ hable, lake jane, ish and chi, house and home

oh my....

is it june already.......

*images courtesy of sparkles and pretending, room 22 design, rikshaw design, lucky boy sunday