Crib Mobile

 Sam has started looking around more so we decided it was time to give him more to look at. We hung a mobile over his bed. It is made of paper dipped in wax and we ordered it from Etsy. We had started to make a mobile of our own months ago by sewing cloth birds and attaching them to sticks but it is difficult to finish with only one free hand so this was a quicker solution.

Armoire holes patched

 

The armoire that is in Sam's room had been reworked a few times in the past. Someone had replaced the original door hardware with some glass knobs that did not work well with the piece. There were also several holes in the walnut due to old hardware.

 We decided to replace the knobs with brass that were more fitting of the original style. Tyler also fixed the holes by patching in new walnut pieces. The locking mechanism is still in place but we don't have a key to fit it yet.

 After filling the holes, it was all sanded flush.

 Then it was painted to match the wood grain and color. Then a coating of shellac was placed over it.

 And the new brass hardware was put in place. It looks so much better with all the holes filled.

Library shelves for the nursery

We decided that we wanted to add some shelves to the baby room to hold books. Kristen is an avid reader and had hundreds of books as a child and wants our child to grow up being read to too. After looking online, the ones we liked the best were these below - called collector's shelves from Pottery Barn. They look really simple to make so we gave it a try.

 First up was designing the length, height, and sides. We went a little fancier on our end pieces and decided to go with one bar across.

 We also decided to add a lip to the front of the shelf so the books wouldn't slide out. The bottom piece was routed to give it a little more detail.

 Then it was time to paint. We went with the old wall color in the room to add some more color.

 Tyler pulled out the nail gun that had been packed away for years - perfect for holding the wood together without splitting the narrow pieces.

 

Then it was time to hang the shelves on the wall. We still need to expand our book selection but I have a feeling that the two shelves will be full before long and we may need to make a third.

Furniture for Baby Room

 We got the last of the big pieces of furniture for the baby room - the rocker - and managed to convince the delivery people to haul the armoire upstairs for us too. The armoire is an 1800's antique that has tons of storage space inside. Right now, we have all the clothing sorted into baskets inside but may switch it around and put the clothes in the dresser and store all of our other supplies inside.

 We got the chair from Pottery Barn - a little splurge that can be used as a normal chair after we no longer need a rocker if we choose. Tyler also hung a painting that he wanted to have in the room above the chair.

 Right now things are pretty much just piled in the room - as you can tell by the bathtub in the crib. Kristen will get to organizing more one of these days...

Baby Room Dresser/Changing Table

After looking at antique shops for months, we finally found what we were looking for to use as a dresser in the baby's room. We will also use it as a changing table when needed.

Baby Room Update - Crib, curtains, and some furniture

 The room already had blinds so we just added some curtains to help block some light if needed.

 Our crib came in and we spent last night putting it together. It is made by Young America, called the stationary spindle crib in lilac. We loved the design because it fit with our other antique pieces well.

 The final positioning of furniture is not set in the room. We are still awaiting our rocker to be delivered (a cushy cream colored one) and will move the other rocker back into our bedroom. Then, once we get the other furniture moved into the room, we'll decide on the layout.

 This little antique table/mirror set was perfect for the tiny entry space.

And we finally went out and bought a stroller and car seat. Our doctor had been pushing getting the car seat the last few visits and since we are under two months to go, we decided that it was probably time to listen.

Each day we're getting a little more prepared for our new arrival - the next eight weeks will probably fly by but take forever at the same time.

Painting the baby room

We decided to paint the walls of the baby room to lighten it up a bit and to a color that went better with our crib selection. We tried out several light blue samples first. We also painted a big piece of cardboard in the color of the crib (which is not arriving for another month) to see which color it went best with. Tyler did most of the painting while Kristen was working so she didn't get all the fumes but she did do some cutting in of the paint.

 The new color brightens up the room a lot. Now all that's left is painting the ceiling and a few baseboard touch ups. We now have to start getting furniture and organizing.

Crown Molding

 Added crown molding to the baby room - still needs to be painted. We're working on the baseboard next.

Framing new upstairs doorway

We have started reworking the upstairs hallway by cutting in the new door to the guest bedroom. First up was cutting the new hole in the wall.

An electrical outlet had to be moved for the new door location.

A header is added and the opening is rough framed.

Some of the old fir boards are used to fill in the door threshold.

Lastly the trim off the old opening is put on the new opening.

 

Here is a picture from inside the bedroom showing the "new" door on the right and the "old" door on the left.

Reworking upstairs layout

We have been trying to figure out the upstairs layout and how to get some more room for the bathroom (which is the room in the bottom center of the image). You can see that it is pretty small right now and we are looking at being about to add about 16 more square feet to it but is it worth redoing all of the walls? What do you think?

The top picture shows the existing upstairs and the bottom shows the proposed upstairs.