Custom Made Baby Gate

Here are some photos of our baby gate the hubby and I constructed this weekend!

Okay, well.. we both designed, he constructed most of it, and I did the painting.

Here it is!

Please, someone, tell this little guy that he is 7 months old and is NOT supposed to be scaling mountain size stairs!  LOL.

I thought we'd have a few more months before we'd have to figure out a solution to baby gate off these weird shaped stairs, but the time came sooner than any of us were prepared for.

We debated a supergate around, or building a similar style gate around the base of the stairs, but after Liam decided the computer cords in the front room made a nice teether, we decided to go ahead and gate off the whole front room.   :)  Sorry little guy.

View from the front room Before

After

View from the kitchen/family room Before

And, a few detail shots.

Ahh, just love that little caster on the bottom.  :)

I ultimately want to find a nice little glass knob to put on it, but it works just fine for now,

....although it isn't making Liam too happy.  ha!

Aww.  Poor baby.  Better safe than sorry though!

Here are semi-detailed directions on how we built it LINK HERE.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

:)  Courtney

Linking to:  Just a girl.

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

Our Field of Dreams

This isn't Iowa.

We're not corn farmers.  And, my husband isn't Kevin Costner.

But for some reason, he decided that we needed a mini baseball field in our backyard.  


Every chance he's gotten, over the past two days, he has been sneaking outside, turning this...

into this....

Our own little Field of Dreams.

He wanted me to stress that he still has a lot of work to do, in case any of my readers are baseball field connoisseurs.  haha.

We still need to patch up that grass where the fire pit *was*... I'm going to miss that little stack of bricks.  :(

He's also ordering some actual bases, has been researching how to "stripe" the field, and we might even make home and visitor benches.  :)

The tree hugger in me cried a little when he ran that yellow foul line up that tree.  ...If I had no input, he'd have already dug up most of the sod and laid down dirt.  However, I'd like to have our yard back, one day.  Until then, let's play ball!  :)

-Courtney

Linking to:  Thrifty Decor Chick

Workin' on that Curb Appeal

These gals were in desperate need of a trim.

You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?  haha.

THESE....

Master Bedroom/Nursery Combo

Better late than never, right?  :)

Plus, little guy is actually starting to get on a napping schedule, so I was able to take a few photos yesterday.  Did I say a few photos?  There might be more than a few.

Here is where we started.

It actually wasn't a bad color.  However, it was a very relaxing, almost dreary color, and I need all the help I can get to wake up in the morning.   The carpet was in good shape, as was the ceiling fan.

 The room had a large, beautiful window, but not so beautiful window treatments.

 The double doors lead into the bathroom.

Here we go!

We painted the bedroom door black, just like the rest of the doors in the house.

For those of you who are new around here, we decided to do our nursery in our master bedroom because all of the secondary bedrooms are upstairs.  I didn't feel comfortable with having Liam so far away, nor did I feel like climbing the stairs numerous times in the middle of the night.

After the baby moves upstairs with his brothers, we'll do some rearranging again.  We might leave the bed where it is, or we might move it in front of the window.  That placement would actually give us room for some decent nightstands.  We're sort of smooshed as is.

The framed fabric wall was a DIY project that you can read about Here.

I also made the Euro Pillows on the bed, link Here.

Ignore the ugly fan and cord where it is plugged in.  We've all been trained to sleep with a little white noise, and Liam is no exception.  You have to do what you have to do when there are blog photos to take! ha!

The lamp I picked up at Marshall's Homegoods.  I couldn't resist the coral shape.

I'm thinking about painting the black base white, what do you think?

We replaced the two miniblinds on the windows with one large shade.   I then hung Ikea Vivan curtains on each side of the window.  Finding a rod to cover that span of space would have been difficult and expensive.  There are actually four panels total, for a little fullness.

The rug is a Pottery Barn Kids outlet find.

I painted the diaper changing table red, which I think adds a nice pop of color.  You can read about that project Here

The changing cover came from Target.  I used baskets that we already had to hold diapers and burp cloths.  I purchased two large tin containers from the paint section at Lowes, that hold blankets and pjs.

The chair was my first major slipcovering project.  You can read about that post Here.

I made the art for the side wall, details Here.

The mobile and baby bedding were also a DIY projects.

Mobile post Here.

Baby bedding post Here.

Painted circles on wall, Here.

As you can see, the room isn't completely done.  The bathroom doors are still off white, and have brass handles, but until we have the time and funds to tackle the bathroom, they'll probably stay that way.

There you have it.  Not the most conventional of spaces, but sometimes you just have to do what works for your family.  At this stage in life, this is what works.

Thanks for stopping by!

:)  Courtney

2011 Home Goals

Go ahead and refill that coffee cup and get comfy, because this might take a while.  ;)

We've lived in this house approximately 9 months.  Shortly after purchasing, but before moving in, we discovered we would be blessed with little Liam at the end of the year. 

So, while it might seem like we've done a lot to the house...

...there is still a LOT left to do.  Granted we did do more than I just showed, but I could fill a whole post with before and after shots.  (Hmm... blog post idea?)  However, I feel like I was out of commission most of the year, and I probably won't have much free time this year either.  

BUT, I am big on setting goals, and then trying to accomplish them, no matter how difficult.

So, let's start with that playroom!  After painting the stripes, my Father in Law came in and did some sheetrock repair (yay!) but I never got around to fixing the paint job. (boo!)

See that spot in the upper right corner of the photo?  There are 3 of those around the room.

We also need to do something about the toy storage in this room.  All of the shelves in there were just rejects from other areas of the house.  I have some great ideas to make this room work better for us, I'll just need the time and funds to make them happen this year.

See what I mean?  haha.

I talked about our front room in this post, and it is still a goal I'd like to accomplish this year.

Since I never provided a photo, here is what we are working with.  We did paint when we moved in, along with replacing the blinds.. It once looked like so..

and currently, as of Yesterday.. looks like this. hahah.. good stuff.

Ahhh, one day it will look like I'd like it too. 

I'd also like to get some colors on these shutters and rework the front landscaping. 

Ignore that blue circle.  I'm too lazy to go find a photo without it.  :)

Another goal is to update the small powder room we have, located off of the family room.  I do not have a current photo, just trust me that it needs work.  I have a pretty dramatic before and after planned out in my mind.  :) 

While we've done some repainting on our fireplace wall, I would LOVE to re-tile that sucker.

We originally wanted to do floor to ceiling stacked stone (I'd still love that look), but paint is SO much cheaper, and since this isn't our "forever home" we'll go with the more affordable option.  

The current tiles are ugly, clash with the floor tiles, and look like they were done by a DIYer who shouldn't have been DIYing. 

See that tile in the middle, on top... that is two tiles placed together.  Weird.  And what's with the sliver of tile on the sides???  If the big tiles don't fit, use smaller tiles.  Sheesh.

I really hope the builder didn't put those on.

Oh, and did you notice there are no faux logs in that fireplace?  LOL.  Yep, add that onto the shopping list.  Nothing more romantic than a pipe with flames coming out of it.  :)

Lastly, I'd really like to so SOMETHING with this spare room upstairs.

It still looks pretty much the same as that before shot, sans the SpongeBob curtains.  We're not big on the yellow guy around here, so those went to Goodwill almost immediately, but the walls are still lime green and the room is pretty much empty.   I'd like to turn it into a great guest room/craft room for myself.  We shall see.

Wow, I have quite the list going don't I?  It will be fun to check back on this post at the end of the year and see how much was accomplished.   Thanks to Nester for hosting this great 2011 Home Goals party. 

:)  Courtney