Our super small toddler room.

Hi everyone! So I'm really happy to say that I'm in the middle of unpacking and moving into our new home!! We ended up finding a 3 bedroom craftsman style home in the historic homes part of our town. Our home was actually built in 1926!! It's almost 100 years old and sooooo beautiful. I really love it. 

It has a ton of built ins, charm, and a bigggg backyard. I just really love it. I am not going to share photos of every room just yet because I am still trying to find a place for everything and soft out the things I'm going to donate to my local thrift stores.

Buuuuuut- I'm going to share photos of the kids' room today with y'all. Funny story: before I got to see the home, my realtor said that it was more like a 2 bedroom with a small room that maybe a desk could fit into. This had me not wanting to even see the house because UHH HELLO WHERE WILL MY OFFICE GO? Soooooo long story short when we saw the home I originally thought, "well, she was wrong it could work for an office." But honestly- the more I looked and thought about it I really could see that as the kids' room. It is 7ft by 9ft and more than enough space. 

My sisters pretty much thought I was crazy, but I closed off the door that had access to the kitchen and made it work. I've been very selective over what goes in there and how I store toys. I didn't want to have to get rid of all of their toys, (that would just be so mean), haha! 

What I love most about their room is that it is attached to our bedroom. I feel that it is much safer and leaves me feeling better. Another nice thing is the built in closet. It has added storage up top and a drawer on bottom. I am using the top to store things I don't need right now and bottom drawer for clothes that don't fit (yet) and shoes.

I donated a bunch of their clothes and I feel so much better now that they have less in there!! It was a disaster and was so overwhelming!

I wish that I had more wall space for art, so I'm having a hard time finishing the gallery wall and actually keep changing it completely. 

I am obsessed with the pillowfort collection that Target is carrying right now. I let Opal go crazy and pick out her bedding, rug, and wall art. They're actually gonna be on sale 20% off starting tomorrow (march 6th). I wanna go get my receipt adjusted so that I can buy more!!! Hahaha!!! 😂

So now y'all are up to date on my first completed room in the new home. I'm almost done with the laundry room so I'll share that one next ❤️

Our ever changing nursery.

 Opal and Oliver's nursery has been mostly used as a play room and storage for baby things thus far. Since moving here, Opal has been afraid to sleep in her own room, so we've just kept a crib in our room for her. But recently she has been more comfortable with her toddler bed, so we actually moved the crib to the nursery and the big girl bed to our room. So the bedrooms now look different, but I wanted to share some photos of her room BEFORE we moved everything around, along with links to wear I found some of the ideas for projects I've done.

I got Opal's bed from IKEA. It is called the MINNEN.

I really love this bed because it will grow with her. It starts out as

a toddler bed but can actually extend 2 more times and eventually be a twin size bed.

Peeking out from underneath her bed you can see the extendable mattress pieces.

This is super helpful for me, and will actually be a comfy bed for my sister to sleep on 

this summer while she visits. Way better than an air mattress. :-)

I made the "Scout Oli" banner before moving here. 

You can see the tutorial here.

My mom and I made the faux bear rug! It is my favorite of our DIY projects.

I first saw it on pinterest, and found a tutorial on a fellow Marine Wife's blog.

We ended up not following her's exactly and pretty much hand drew our own pattern.

We also gave our bear extra padding and what not. 

But for those that need a tutorial with step by step instructions THIS ONE is great! :-)

Here's a little close up image of our bear.

I got this bookcase and toy organizer from Target last summer. I think they've discontinued it, because I can't seem to find it online. I totally wish I could though, because I want another one.

I love this fabric bin so much. I use it as a toy box for Opal. I found it at home goods and plan to get another one for Oliver once we get moved into our next home. 

This is the other wall in her room. I got this chalkboard from IKEA. 

I will definitely have to take some photos of this room now that I have yet again changed it. 

It is now full with the crib, Oliver's little clothes, and I've moved around all of Opal's toys and things.

It wont be like that for long either though- because soon everything will be boxed up and on its way to our new home. Wherever in the world that may be. Hopefully I can let you guys know by the end of this month! :-)

XOXO- Chelsea.

DIY Banners for the nursery.

"Scout Opal"

 *sorry for the poor lighting of these last minute photos*

 I've been working on little projects for Opal and Oliver's nursery this week before my move. I saw something similar on Pinterest, and even noted them here on this blog post. I didn't want to be a total copy cat, so I made this my own.

I also did notttttt want them to look like I personally made them. (insert how crazy for detail I can be about things being straight/ even) So, because of this preference for a handmade look I free hand cut the letters out and let it be.

We are going with a cabin theme for their room, so I loved the idea of calling them "scouts". Especially because we hope they will want to go to summer camps and maybe even cub/ girl scouts in the future.

"Scout Oli"

I plan to hang these over their bed/ crib. I'm excited to see them on the walls of the new apartment. I really hope that we can pull the whole "woodsy" look in their room. I don't want it to be too many brown tones though, that is why I used some bright pops of colors. I plan to use turquoise and apricot a lot in their room.

I actually already bought the fabric for their custom quilts that will be put together by my wonderful mom. I am just so darn excited for this. I love being a mom because I get to plan and execute things like this. Growing up, I never really got to decorate my room, so that's something I plan to always do with these 2. I want them to express themselves freely, for sure.

close up of Opal's banner.

 Materials needed:

• printed fabric of choice
• felt in one or more colors
• one large piece of felt (can be purchased at Michael's in individual packaged pieces)
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• dowel rod
• yarn, string, ribbon, or whatever you choose for hanging purposes.

close up of Oli's banner.

Directions:

1. Cut your banner out of the large prepackaged piece of felt. 
2. At the top, glue your dowel rod to the back. Best to roll the fabric over it so that it is hidden.
3. Next, cut your background shape/ image out of your patterned fabric. (I chose a heart)
4. Hot glue your shape down to the fabric.
5. Cut out your letters for whatever phrase, saying, name etc.. that you chose.
6. Lay the pieces down to make sure they fit. 
7. Glue them to the proper places you want.
8. Lastly, glue the yarn with an appropriate amount of slack to hang.

These are two other banners that I did in hopes they will look like a younger child made them. I didn't use any patterns or anything, kind of just rolled with it. I hope my bear and bunny actually look like a bear and bunny!! (haha!) I plan to use these over their dresser with a collage of framed photos, art pieces and maybe a shelf with some special treasures on it.

I hope this gives you inspiration to make a banner of your own. I think I am going to make something for my bedroom and living room next. A little less handmade-by-a-child though. Maybe some nice family or marriage quotes? hmmm! Now to plan my next project!

xoxo,

 Chelsea

Favorite things Friday.

So I've been gone for a while, but I promise I am back. Opal has been giving me such a rough time with a horrible sleep regression and teething with a molar. I have had a lot of sleep-less nights the past 2 months. It has given me a lot of time to surf Pinterest around for some neat DIY projects, beautiful room decor inspiration for Opal's next room, and of course plenty of things I can task to my husband. ;-)

First off, my favorite things to pin to my boards are decor, projects, and plans for Opal's next room. We definitely see another baby in the near future so we are going ahead and planning on transitioning her from the crib to a toddler bed once we move in. I want to have the crib in the room as an option for her, but also so that she doesn't have to go through a weird process of bringing the crib back in once the new baby is on their way.


I also can feel it in my bones that we will have a boy next, so I plan to decorate her room with a gender neutral palette. I am going to keep her side very girly, but I don't want to overwhelm the entire room with pink or purple. Here is my room inspiration for our child(ren). I found the pin on pinterest, and have bookmarked the original author on my computer, phone, ipad, etc.. Go check out Laybabylay.com for some amazing ideas on this shared room inspiration. I absolutely adore the styling and can't wait to order some of these gorgeous pieces. 

I just cannot get over how gorgeous the colors flow together. I hope that our base housing has a nice big room that our babies can share and grow up together in.

I am definitely going to have to make some wall decor similar to the one on the door. It is so cute and looks so easy to do. I can just picture "Opal" and "Oliver" on the pillows and everything else.

I need to find a nice big dresser for their room, that I can redo. I've been considering going with painting the dresser so that it provides a pop of color to the room.

 I probably wont be able to paint their walls, (something base housing generally frowns upon).. So I have been looking up different places that I can order cute wall decals from too.

I'll go ahead and share some photos and links to some of my room decor inspirations and wish list.

I truly cannot wait for the day we receive orders so that I can pull the trigger and order all of this truly amazing and cute stuff. If only Dillon would let me decorate our master bedroom like the kids' rooms! So whimsical and exciting!!

:)

Have a blessed Friday everyone!

xoxo -Chelsea.

WALLS:

Arrow wall decals -Trendypeasdecals on Etsy. 

 Ice Cream Decal- Madeofsundays on Etsy

Donut wall art- Milkandcookies on Etsy.

BEDDING:

Asher Duvet Ser- Petitevintagebel (follow them on instagram too!)

 Hampshire toddler bed (clay) -The Land of Nod

Larkin Metal bed (mint)- The Land of Nod 

 FLOOR:

Gulort rug- Ikea

 

PLAY:

 

Pavillion Play home- The Land of Nod

Little Miss Opal Faye..

Today makes 32 weeks down, and only a short 8 more left! I cannot believe how close we are to the finish line! And boy am I ready to get there and meet our little girl!

I feel so blessed to be having a child with the love of my life. My husband and I both have a great connection with children, so it excites us to be making our own from scratch! (ha-ha)

December can't get here any sooner! Thank goodness my summer and now fall has seemed to go by pretty quickly and has been full of fun events to make it do so. Time goes by fast when you've constantly got something to look forward to!

Right now I am just looking forward to the next couple of weeks. This week my husband and I are celebrating an anniversary so hopefully we have a good weekend. Then, of course Halloween is going to be upon us! (YAY!) In November, we have another OB appointment, a parenting class, the Marine Corps Ball, and then Thanksgiving!

This morning I woke up and had a lopsided belly, you can clearly see which side she was favoring! I can't believe she is about 3 1/2 lbs now. I mean, I have this HUGE belly that is in the way of just about EVERYTHING these days, but sometimes I cannot imagine having this little baby inside of it! Her pokes and jabs have gotten soooo much more pronounced because of how little amniotic fluid there is due to how much room she takes up. Some of them honestly hurt and are uncomfortable!

The newest thing that I've noticed is that she likes to stick a little foot out and leave it bulging out of my round belly. She loves to do this when someone (or puppy) lays down next to her. She snuggles up to the warmth. Sooooo cute!

We have just about everything we need except for a handful of very small things. Her nursery is coming along also! I would like to personalize it, and order some matching curtains/ bedding, but honestly those things can wait until she is going to be actually using her crib and nursery. Until then, those are on the back burner. But- I did finish the paintings that I spent the summer working on for her. (I will have to do a post later on about my art and things I've done.)