Sam's 1st room-- TOUR!

We moved, and I know you all are anxious to see pics of the new house and all that... but there was something important I needed to do before we left the town home behind. Something I promised you years ago and never followed through on.
Sam's room was my favorite room in that house. I put a ton of effort and thought into making that room special, and before we left it for good, I really want to document it and share it with you-- in it's complete form.
Before I packed a single thing in that room, we gave it a good clean and pick-up and then took pictures so we would always have documentation and something to remember Sam's first room. The room we brought him home from the hospital to. The room where we spent countless hours rocking, feeding, playing, reading, and growing up. It was the only thing about the old house that I had a bittersweet pang leaving. But here it is, for you-- but mostly for me-- to enjoy and for posterity.

This is the view looking in the door. The chair is a rocking overstuffed chair we purchased at Babies 'R' Us. (Talked about our purchase here). The curtains were made by me. Bobble throw on the chair was made and given to us by my good friend Amy Lee. The P pillow a gift from another friend. White shag rug from target. Trunk has been mine for years. And the bureau is part of the furniture I refinished for the room. The awesome bear painting on top of the bureau was a gift painted by my Aunt. (It is SO COOL.) The letters spelling his name came from HomeGoods.

The crib was purchase at Nebraska Furniture Mart. Bed sheet (white with green polka dots) and the crib skirt were made by me. The chevron quilt I made for him is over the side of the crib. The three small canvases above the bed were taken by Kim Joyce Photography, and the canvases purchased from ArtsCow.com. The corner shelves are from Target. We have an AngelCare monitor (on the right) that we LOVE. Blocks that spell Samuel (corner shelf on the left) are from Little Sapling Toys. The leaf mobile above the crib was made by myself and my friend, of etsy inspiration. To the right of the crib is Sam's hamper, and in the top middle of the photo you can see a little 'sweet pea' ornament that my mom gave us, we hung it from the fan pull, and it became part of Sam's goodnight ritual, touching the sweetpea before bed every night.

This dresser was another piece that I refinished for the room. The changing pad was purchased from Babies 'R' Us, and the changing pad cover I made. The elephant lamp on the right was purchased at HomeGoods, and Amy Lee and I recovered the lampshade. Peeking around the corner (on the floor on the left) you can see the bag holder I made, and also the wet bags for Sam's cloth diapers hang there. Above the dresser is the tiled round miror I purchase at HomeGoods, as well as pictures of Z and I, the puppies, sam's sonogram and framed hospital bracelet. Above the changing pad as pinwheels from the Baby P shower my friend Erin threw. Sam loved those hanging pinwheels!

The view from the other side of the room... My favorite part! Sam had a regular old boring closet that was dingy and had broken sliding doors on it. We removed the doors and painted it this happy bright green color. My dad built the shelf going up the middle, and I painted that and all the other shelving (going up the sides of the closet you can't see) a bright shiny white. We installed the wooden clothing rods. The green tubs along the top shelf and the green kids hangers came from Target. We added a ton of storage, and made the room feel more open bright with out closet remodel. I was so happy. The large ruler to the left of the closet I made as a growth chart for Sam's first birthday. (Meant to put that project on the blog, but... oops.)

 And I think that's about it. If you saw anything in there I didn't mention that you are curious about, please ask, I will answer to the best of my ability! I was so proud of this room, and felt so happy in this space.

Goodbye, Happy Room! We will miss you, but we gotta move on to bigger and better things!

It's a little weird to go back through all those older posts as we were preparing this room for Little Sam... especially since we now have a Baby P II we are preparing for. Oh, we have Big plans for his first little room! I can't wait to get started and share with you along the way. :)

BEING A HIPPIE* IS EXPENSIVE!

(If you suffer through this text heavy rant post I promise to share some pictures and inspiration tomorrow... deal???)

*And I use the term 'hippie' loosely...

Photo

I am by no means a hippie, but I have recently become somewhat interested in more healthy, sustainable, or natural methods of feeding, caring for, and clothing my family. Not that I am anti technology and modern advances that make our life all the more conveinient-- but sometimes I feel as though that conveinience comes at too high a price. There are certain things I can and try to do to make our lives a little more 'green' and there are some decisions I would like to make for my family that would reduce our unnecessary exposure to unnecessary chemicals and additives in the products we consume.
Unfortunately, because being 'green' is trendy, or becuase the over processed way of doing things is cheaper, or some kind of combination of those two... The things I think are going to be best, safest, healthiest for my family are EXPENSIVE. Which just doesn't seem right.

Take the nursery for instance. **
1 quart of normal lacquer for finishing furniture = $8 (+ dangerous fume-y odors, chemicals, fermaldehyde, and danger of off-gassing. awesome.)
1 quart of safecoat Acrylacq for finishing furniture = $19 (but, you can't get it at local store, so have to special order it bringing your total after shipping to $27) (low odor and VOC, seals in off-gassing, esssentially making furniture 'non-toxic')
      One is obviously a healthier choice for my nursery and my baby and my pregnant state, but yikes! $19 difference in price?

5'x7' Chevron rug, made of acrylic or polypropalene = $100 (yay, stiff synthetic fibers that are not easily cleaned and easy to get nasty)
5'x7' Chevron rug, Wool = $270 (naturally water resistant and anti-microbial, plus super soft natural fibers. ahhh...)
     Once again, I think you can guess what my preference would be... but the price difference is steep.

And lets not even get me started on Organic cotton bedding vs. poly blends and chemically treated fabrics. Minky and fleece in all their synthetic goodness kinda give me the willies, I don't want to touch them! Look, like I said-- I have not gone off the deep end here, and I am not a hippie, as my friends and family have accused me. I am just trying to make the best and most healthy choices for my family and my baby. I am not insiting everything in our life be 100% certified recycled organic fairtrade eco-friendly green and natural... I mean, that would be awesome... but even the most dedicated of you 'green people' out there must admit that would be an outrageously difficult and expensive lifestyle.
I would simply like the option of putting my baby in a nursery with cozy natural fiber bedding and clothing,  and safe, chemical free furniture, walls, and toys. I want my baby to grow up healthy, and with a healthy understanding of being a good steward of resources and caretaker of God's amazing creation.
On my more dramatic days (oh come on, we all have those, right?) when I am lamenting the lack of organic resources, cloth diapering supplies, and eco-friendly paint at my immediate disposal my friends laugh at me and wonder when it was I became an off the wall green-obsessed hippie. But if fulfilling all the previously mentioned desires makes me a hippie, then I am most definitely NOT a hippie, becuase I can't afford it! Yeesh.


**I am a bad blogger who is not good at citing resources for my research, so when i put htose cost figures and junk up above, you are all, um, is she just pulling those numbers out of her bum? Nope. I can give you specific sites and whatnot where I found those prices and info... but i was just too lazy to actually look up the links in the middle of my pregnant lady rant. If it's important to you, contact me... I'll send you the info. :)