the toddler room

As soon as I found out I was pregnant with a girl I started planning her room. 

I knew I wanted her to have a place that encouraged imagination, creativity and playfulness.  I wanted space for reading and I knew it should be girly but not too delicate. In some ways, I wanted to pour all my inner child into my daughter's room. A place I secretly wanted our whole house to be but the grown-up side of me just won't allow (and well, the husband won't allow either).

Unfortunately, reality set in and the cost having a baby, with all of the items we needed and wanted and daycare, and hospital bills, etc., we had to put the nursery dreams on hold.  I chose bright colors for her crib bedding and then decided to wait and see who my daughter was and what her personality was like before designing her whole room. I'm glad I did this because although Emmy loves all things girly and pink, she loves reading more than I could have hoped and she loves music and bright colors and making HUGE messes. 

I have also spent hours and hours going through pinterest and blogger websites looking for fun and creative ideas to decorate a whimsical and modern nursery that also has to work on a tight budget. As soon as I saw this rug from Ikea on Candy Kirby Design's instagram feed, I knew I had to have it. I mixed it with one of Emmy's favorite books, "The Cat at Night" would be my inspiration for her room. I love the way bright colors contrast with black and white. I also really, really wanted this crib sheet. But it just doesn't make sense now that Emmy is nearing the end of her crib days. I'm eyeing the blanket now, with hopes of matching it with a stark white bed and bright pillows.

I purchased almost everything for Emmy's room at Ikea and Paper Source. Birmingham doesn't have an Ikea and Joe and I didn't want to spent a whole weekend traveling to Atlanta so I've spent months tracking craigslist and online trading sites looking for Ikea's expedit. Then, I read that it was going to be discontinued and I panicked. Thanks to one of those trading sites, I found a service called The Wishing Truck. Two local college students travel to Atlanta's Ikea every other weekend and bring back your Ikea goods. They charge a fee but in our case, it was less than a tank of gas and some of their proceeds go to charity so we figured it was a win-win-win. 

All of the frames are Ikea Ribba, the shelves are Expedit and the rug is Lappljung Ruta. The total cost for 5 frames, 2 picture ledges, the shelving units and rug came to $196 including tax. How can you beat that?! The ombre and flower prints are wrapping paper from Paper Source and the donuts print is from their annual calendar which is currently 75% off! I also picked out some greeting cards designed by my favorite, Rifle Paper Co. and printed my alphabet printable which you can have as a free download here.  I have found so many fun prints that I want to use so I'll probably be switching out her pictures regularly. 

The only real "splurge" was the tassel garland. The colors were too perfect and it added so much whimsy to the room. I am so proud of Emmy's room and more importantly, Emmy loves it. She can easily get to all of her books and toys and she loves to dance on her rug. I think this room will have lots of space for her to grow up.  Joe likes it too, his first comment was "why don't you do something like this for my man cave?" which, of course, sounds like an invitation to do more shopping! 

a little coffee nook

I've admittedly become a little obsessed with our house. Once I realized that we wouldn't be moving anytime soon, I started to look at our house as a more permanent home. More than ever before, I wanted to spend the time and money on making it more reflective of my style.
Unlike the home and garden television shows, these things take time. I've been slowly but surely making changes since March of this year. Every now and then I do something small that I just love. 

This little coffee nook just makes me so happy.

Joe bought the Nespresso espresso machine and milk frother for me on Mother's Day.  We had a Keurig but I prefer lattes and he actually prefers old-fashioned coffee so I took the Keurig to the office and lined up our machines on the counter. It wasn't very pretty. We picked up a huge bag of coffee from Costco and didn't have a place to put it. I needed an air-tight container that I wouldn't be embarrassed to have on the counter all the time. 

A quick trip to Target and I came out with this tray (clearance for $14), a 1 gallon mason jar ($17) and a brand new little tea cup ($10 for 2). 
I know it's a silly little coffee nook but sometimes that's all it takes to make your home a little bit cozier. And, I might be slowly but surely sneaking in the Christmas decorations. I know, it's early but I can't help myself. Emmy pointed at this reindeer, threw her head back and said "MOOOOOOO". It was hilarious so I let her hold it. She cuddled it and loved on it like a baby. So obviously, it was hers and now it's on the mantle.  

halloween decorations are up

With only two weeks until Halloween, I figured it was about time to decorate the house!

I found this print on one of my favorite blogs, littlebabygarvin. The artist/blogger had a baby due a week after Emmy's due date so I followed her pregnancy and have watched her little girl grow up with Emmy. There are so many similarities between our daughters and her easy, friendly style of writing always make me laugh and smile. I always look forward to a new post and I figured spending $18 for her print was worth it, even if to just say "thank you". Plus, it's digital so I printed one for my office too! 

Floating hats! This was my favorite decoration but I have to be honest with you - they kept falling. Layers of tape and sticky putty later, I gave up and tied them to various objects around the house. Oh well.

I got the black and white garland at Target on clearance for less than $2 (RUN. GET YOU SOME!). I love that these green and natural looking pumpkins are in. The green color ties in well with our living room and it will make a nice transition into thanksgiving decorations. I did learn that it is essential to shop for pumpkins early. It wasn't easy finding a gem out of what was left!

Going up the stairs are 3 more lil'  bit pumpkins. I love these but Emmy does too, she spent half the night carrying them one at a time to her chair in the living room, grunting all the way and so proud of herself. 

Although most of my decorations came from Target, I made a stop at Hobby Lobby. Is it just me or does it seem like everything is 40-50% off all the time? So much is on sale that I really feel jipped when I pay full price for anything. 

I picked up this lamp from Hobby Lobby (50% off), and the frame and owl from Home Goods last month.

I found this jar at Target for $5.99 and wanted to fill it with candy corn but that stuff makes me sick (when I eat it in huge quantities) so I opted for the family favorite: oreos. BIG mistake. Honey boo boo spent the other half of the night pointing at the jar and crying. I'm thinking about replacing the oreos with a popcorn/candy corn/pretzel mix so I don't have to feel as guilty letting Emmy dig in. 

I spruced up Emmy's chair with her chevron blanket from Target's clearance (last year) and a $1 Minnie Mouse book. She points at a character, I say their name, she turns the page, points at the next character (repeat ONE THOUSAND times).  

Have I ever mentioned how much she loves her chair? Best purchase ever. She still likes to climb up on the couch and sit in my lap but when I'm cooking I'll tell her to go sit in her chair and she will. She loves to lay her baby on it face down and pat her back. At night, I put her blanket and a few cute toys on her chair and every morning she throws them all on the floor so she can sit in it.   

For the front door, I made these little ghosts with styrofoam balls and muslin. I found some cute ones at a store for $7.99 each and thought I could make them cheaper but I ended up spending around $30 and not totally loving the final product. My mom said they looked like three casper the ghosts, since our family of 3 is so pale, they are perfect!

I will probably regret doing all of this so last minute when I have to take it down in two weeks. I can't help myself though. Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the holiday season. I think back to the time in my life when family meant so much to me. From maybe age 5-15, the best age for getting dressed up for Halloween and getting awesome gifts at Christmas. This is also back when I was watching sitcoms like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Home Improvement and the Disney Channel (in general) and they would go all out on the sets with holiday decorations. That's how I imagine a happy home, festively decorated. My parents always decorated our home too and anyway, it's exciting to see your house a little differently for a while and I want Emmy to have happy memories of the holidays too.