Category Archives: nursery

Great Enjoyments

As I promised, we went to Little Tokyo this evening and 1. I found good parking and 2. I got a sweet Totoro plush for Olivia!!

We had fun in Little Tokyo but it was torture for me because my favorite sushi restaurant was right there and I haven’t been since my birthday last year! Bummers. Antz fell in love with Coco Monkey but I find him quite creepy looking but my Antz looks adorable.

I wanted this Totoro hand warmer soo bad but it’s all about Olivia.
I almost bought these Hello Kitty Baby on Board stickers but when the salesgirl was ringing me up, they were $15! No way, for a lame sticker Antz could make for me.

*Nerd alert* we checked out this anime place but they didn’t carry any Totoro, Spirted Away or Howl’s Moving Castle merchandise, how bizarre. I wish we could’ve stayed longer but my ligament pain was getting the best of me and I couldn’t take all those yummy sushi restaurants luring me in. I do want to go back after Olivia is born and check out this awesome place.
I am so happy I got the Totoro plush because the one I found online was from Japan and they only accept yen and it would’ve taken 4 weeks or more to arrive. The one we bought was only $25 and it’s so cute. Now I need to get her this freaking fantastic Totoro bebe set.

We’ve been framed!

Today I heard the doorbell and I ran like a kid at Christmas to the door to get my Sasquatch poster. I waited until Antz got off of work to open it. I am so happy we got the giclee print instead of the poster. It looks so vibrant, the paper is thicker and the artist, Don Clark signed it for us. You may have seen his most recent work for a Target ad

We went to Aaron Bros and got a consultation. I wasn’t sure what our budget was but I knew it would be under $100. When the salesman started pulling out mats and telling us about acid paper protection, I got a bit worried.

The print is 23 x 17 so we looked at 24 x 18 frames and after looking at almost every color of the rainbow, we decided to use an orange mat. I worried it would be orange overkill but it matches the curtains and the print so well we had to use it. We chose a white simple frame for this print because the white will look great against the brown wall and we went with a more ornate frame for the painting Antz is working on for Liv.
I mentioned before that Antz has been working on artwork for the nursery and it’s still in progess. It took us much longer to choose between these 2 frames

I know, more freaking orange, right? Well this sea monster will totally have a sweet face. Antz is going to add more pink to it and I know it will come out amazing. So this frame was only $40 and the mat was $11, the frame looks pretty awesome but this one is my total favorite.

Of course the one I love most is $54.99! I didn’t want to spend that much on frames but when we thought it out, we are still under our $100 budget and Antz knows how to mat the print himself so that saves a ton of money so we bought it. This frame will look so great on her wall. Now I need my dear husband to start painting the Lorax. We have a 40% coupon on a future Aaron Bros purchase so we can get a frame for the Lorax painting too.

I don’t think Antz is as excited about painting this guy because it’s a replication and that takes away from  his creativity. Here is Liv’s Dad putting the mat and frame together. He saved us about $100 in labor with his expertise 🙂

The finished result. I can’t wait to see it on the brown wall over her crib. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Friday is Errand day

I have been a good housewife today. I woke up bright and early and started *well actually finished* the laundry. I folded clothes and put them away *a task I find torturous*. Every Friday I go to the grocery store and run my weekly errands *because Friday is when the new weekly magazines come out*. I went to my #1 store, Target to look for a closet rod for Olivia’s clothes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These curtain rods were all they carried so I’ll have to go to Home Depot because I want a wood rod. I had to buy something for the baby so I got these hangers. Now that I have them, I am thinking of finding cuter ones. I also browsed the baby aisle and caught a glimse of my future life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to get this adorable sewing kit. I needed a measuring tape and white thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This really makes me want a sewing machine. I found this guy on Amazon but it may be too much for a beginner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has an embroidery feature that I would love to use to personalize all of Olivia’s sweaters. It’s supposed to rain this weekend and on Sunday I have a lunch date with Aimee so we may not paint. Maybe I can gather some helpers when we do decide to paint. I’m no longer in a hurry with painting the room because our tax refund hasn’t arrived and I most likely won’t be ordering furniture until late March. I gave Antz until the end of the month to try to find either a used or a better deal on the crib and dresser. He found the crib on craigslist for $490 but it was gone by the time we called. Lame! Last night was the delivery of Jim & Pam’s baby on The Office. It was awesome to see all the things that could go wrong *I will triple check for my ipod* and not be too know-it-all with the nurses. I was even more stoked when I saw the woman who shared a room with Pam had my Helen labor gown. My worst nightmare is if we have to share a room with another Mom because our hospital doesn’t allow any overnight guests if that happens. OMG! I would throw such a fit!!

Nursery Update

I am still waiting *impatiently* for the tax refund to deposit into our bank account. I am almost glad I haven’t started to purchase the big ticket items because I found a better website for the furniture. I was planning to buy at modern nursery because they don’t charge taxes or shipping but I found a site that offers a $175 gift card with any purchase over $499. So if I buy my Oeuf furniture from this site

totsnstyle

I can buy a Naturepedic Organic Cotton Classic 150 Seamless Crib Mattress and get $175 off. Read the reviews and it sounds like a great mattress.

Sounds pretty sweet to me! That makes room for this awesome find I stumbled across this morning.

I must have this hutch, the lack shelves aren’t going to provide the storage I need and this hutch looks better in the room. I somehow calculated the cost in the budget and it works out. There are a few other items I’m adding to the list.

This site is in Japan, they only accept Yen as payment, it comes out to $78 for the gift set. I am bummed that my Totoro musicbox is sold out.

I’ll give Little Tokyo a look to see if they may carry the musicbox but it’s a pretty rare item. So the room will hopefully look like this in a month. That is if we ever decide to paint 🙂

What word surpasses happiness?

Being that I currently suffer from pregnant lady brain I cannot think of a better word than happy but we are beyond happy. Home depot guys just installed our new stove AND they were able to install the microwave/range hood!

We just saved $100 bucks! We tipped them $50 but it’s well worth it than having to wait until Tuesday to have it installed. Now we see we must paint and refinish our floors. How did we live with that disgusting stove and hood range for the last 4 years??? It was super easy, they brought it up the stairs no problem and hooked it up in like 10 minutes. The guy kept telling Anthony, you can install the microwave yourself but there was wires hanging and we are clueless when it comes to installing electronics (we hired a guy to install his office fan). Antz had to drill a hole in the upper cabinet to run the cord through and we have to buy a 3 prong adapter for the stove but it’s looks perfect! I was bummed he couldn’t fix our closet light but oh well, now I have to go to Home Depot to get my $100 refund *dances*. This morning I woke up bright and early to a rainy day but that didn’t damper my spirits as we went to buy the nursery paint. I must have cashed in my Kharma points because I was all prepared to spend $52 per gallon on Benjamin Moore paint but we saw this!

Martha Stewart Living Low VOC/No odor paint!! They just got her line in stores 2 days ago. They were $26.97 per gallon, WOWSERS! Needless to say I am so stoked and no even bummed that we lost today because of the rain. We chose a light beige called Reed for the walls and a chalky white called Tailor’s suit for the ceiling. We also got primer and semi-gloss for trim and the door. So with a budget of $200 we spent $146! Gnarly! I have alot to do today so I’ll post again tonight but before I go, here is the updated magazine storage nook.

Turn that frown upside down

Last night I ordered the delightful Sasquatch! Music Festival Poster see below. What a steal at $37! Today I get an email from the artist, Don saying he is sold out of that poster and he offered me a refund. Hmmph, I was totally bummed so I started looking on ebay and other sites for the poster. I found a site called Poster Caberet that had it for $46.75 so I bought it. Well within 5 minutes I got an email from Don saying he can print the poster on giclee for no charge *usually $50* and he’ll ship it next Tuesday. Antz told me to say yes because giclee looks way better than poster print, problem was I had already completed the purchase with Poster Caberet. So I called them and asked to cancel the order and the guy with super nice and said no problem. Now my nursery will look super rad!

Sasquatch! 2009 Music Festival Poster by Invisible Creature (SOLD OUT)

Antz is going to take it to Aaron Bros to have it professionally framed. I’m just concerned with how expensive that may be but it’s worth it. I am glad I found Poster Caberet because I found these 2 mini posters that I love.

Bjork Concert Poster by R. Black

So rad! and both are under $30 but I need more wall space. So this weekend we have our work cut out for us. We need to prime/paint the entire nursery, ceiling and all the trim and crown molding. We are going to start tonight. Antz wasn’t able to remove the hood/exhaust fan last night so hopefully the installers will know how to do it. We are still looking for an electrician and haven’t sold the TV stand yet. We also have a bookcase, side table and chair we need to either sell or donate. The house is looking a bit less disastrous and Antz woke up early and cleaned the floor of the nursery but we need to fix the gap that is showing from the carpet removal and the baseboards.

I don’t know how we can afford it but I really want to get the floors refinished. We’ll see how they look after some Murphy’s Soap scrubbing. My living room curtains have shipped out and I still haven’t found pillows for the couch. I really want the Karen Hilton Union Jack pillow but Antz doesn’t like them so much.

Karen Hilton Designs

He thinks the color is too bright for the room and at $80 each they are pretty expensive. I found these at CB2 but they feel a bit boring.

https://i0.wp.com/images.cb2.com/is/image/CB2/LeisurePlw23inBrntOrgF12/&$web_zoom$&/1204131141/leisure-burnt-orange-23-pillow.jpg?resize=400%2C400

Maybe we’ll find time to go by there this weekend while the paint is drying. I usually prefer painting at night when it’s not so hot but the weather is cloudy and it may rain. Today I’m going to the container store to pick up some magazine bins so my magazines look more orderly.

I love this collection but from $9.99 – $19.99 I’m not 100% sold. I definitely need a new folder for my finances because this is the state of my current one. It’s falling apart at the seams.

I need a bigger binder and more folders, I could also use a labelmaker so I need to contain myself today because I go crazy when it comes to office supplies. I’ll post my finding later today.

What a year, 2010 Rules!!

Can I just say how amazingly awetastic 2010 has been so far 54 days in??!! Today Antz was off work because we had our annual tax appt with our family CPA, Gail

Gail and her lab Mollie, My Mom and Ching. Gail knew my Mom before I was born and was at the hospital when my Mom had me. She was one of the first people who saw me at birth. I’ve been going to Gail for my taxes for about 5 years now and she is a genius! She is my Jewish aunt. This year’s appt was so much better than last year. We got back $5000 more than I anticipated and that is a miracle because it looks like after some negotiating we may be able to get our garage repaired in March. 🙂  After we saw Gail with huge smiles on our face, we went to Lowes to take back the indoor plant/pot we killed by leaving it on the porch for a week. We bought curtain rods for the living room and I am hoping to buy these guys from Urban Outfitters.

We may have to keep the *horrible* mini blinds because the curtains are quite sheer but we’ll see.

We also went to Home Depot and BOUGHT A NEW STOVE!!! Finally, after almost 4 years we are getting rid of this heinous artifact.

Our new baby!

Not only did I score the online price in-store but we bought a matching microwave/range hood for only $199! I do have to call the Gas company to make sure we have the correct gas line *ours is prehistoric* and Antz has to take down the old hood range before the delivery on Saturday. I am so super excited for our house. No more popcorn in the nursery, new curtains in the living room, Antz put down manure in the backyard this morning since we have rain coming so hopefully our lawn will come back from the dead. More good news, Antz was able to get the new doorknob to fit. I just have to find a budget for the fireplace screen and a candlabra like this one

I am counting my blessings because when things look this good, something bad seems to lurk around the corner. For now I shall bask in the happiness sunshine and as soon as our refund is in our bank account I am ordering Olivia’s furniture. Looks like we’ll have the room finished right on schedule by April. The biggest concern is items on backorder and production time. Every year around this time I make major purchases and it’s inevitable items sell out. Such is life.
My second trimester is coming up on March 10th and my next doc appt. I’m getting tested for gestational diabetes. I am counting down until the next ultrasound so I can see her again.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S that’s the way you spell success!

I have just returned from my mini vacay in Apple Valley at my Mom’s house. I left with Maxwell yesterday to avoid the dust storm from my contractor husband. He worked himself to death till 3am last night removing that awful popcorn ceiling. He said it was fairly easy but tiring work. The new ceiling looks like a map of the world from all the missing plaster but once we paint it should look smoother. Here are the pics he took.

We went to Lowes to stock up on supplies and hardly needed to buy much besides a sander, a small scraper, plastic sheets, a brush and the infamous frog tape!

Obviously the popcorn spirits were dancing around the room

Warm water and elbow grease saved us $600! Antz is a DIY master.

Antz is shocked he was able to get it all done in one night by himself! He should host a show on HGTV.

 

 

Yesterday we went to Anthropologie to buy the Elexia flower doorknob but when we brought the existing doorknob and matched them up it looked to long so we found this one that I adore.

I love the ceramic bird and the color palette. Sadly Antz couldn’t figure out to to make it fit but we’re going to Lowes again to see if we can buy the interior door parts and ask one of the workers how to install it. The bird door knob is absolutely perfect to coordinate with this amazing find at Lowes for $29.97!!

I gave myself a budget of $50 for the curtain rod and accessories and this guy and the doorknob just made it. Now all I need is find an electrician to fix the light in the closet and buy furniture. Good news, I received my pink Naked Malfi yesterday. It is bigger than I thought which is great since it’s a focal point in the room.

 

I don’t want to take it out of the bag until the room is finished. Here is how it looks without the bag

My honey bunny stayed up late last night not only toiling away working on the ceiling but he finished the mobile dolls! It came out better than I could imagine. Everyone is going to want one but I am *trying my best* keeping it a secret until the baby shower when we unveil the finished nursery.

Antz, Me, Bebe Olivia, Maxwell and Lola. He is attaching them to a stick he has been keeping, we just have to find a way to secure it to the wall and make sure Lola doesn’t try to pull it down. We are both pretty tired *although I haven’t really done anything* so we’ll start again on Tuesday after my tax appt. *fingers crossed on a huge refund*
I am beyond excited!! Everything is coming along beautifully! Now I really want to work on the rest of the house. Now off to watch the BAFTA’s.

Toodle Loo!

Cravings…

So you may think I am referring to food cravings but I’m not. I’ve got nursery cravings! I was up late last night checking out babycenter forums and everyone in my June Birth club seems to already have most of their nursery furniture. Arrgh, I thought we were on schedule but I am ready to no longer see that office/storage room and see our daughter’s room. Now that I bought the curtains and the rug, I’ve got a taste of the shopping bug. I am craving this jewel from Anthropologie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if it will fit the french door but I love it! This weekend is exciting because Antz is removing the popcorn which has been a huge obstacle in transforming my room. We also had good responses from last night Antz put our Ikea Klippan couch on craigslist for $60. I think it may be gone by tomorrow. Hmmm what shall I spend that $60 on? I found a great price for a Flip camcorder on Amazon for $154.99 *regular price is $199.99* so I am waiting until we get our tax refund to buy it.

Antz Mom came by to hem our too-long curtains. She has a sewing maching that pre-dates WWII but it works look a dream. I knew she was a talented seamstress but she completely blew me away. She hemmed the curtains better than Pottery Barn did. We used the orange thread leftover from my goldfish Halloween costume and it matched perfectly. I tried to learn as much as I could but I would need a ton of practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took her about an hour to hem both panels. I can’t wait to see them hanging in the room after we paint.

You know what’s bumming me out today, I haven’t spoken a single bonjour since New Years. I should be studying and on my way to having a conversation in French by June. I need a tutor so badly. I can’t think of a single French person who can teach me. Maybe I’ll start listening to my Learn French podcast every night.

Oh bon!

I am beyond tired but it’s worth it!

It was a long, arduous journey to Thousand Oaks but I got my Dream Menagerie rug for the nursery!

I feel like I’ve been driving non stop for the last 4 days. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and I drove to my Mom’s house in LA to pick her up so we could go to Saint Andrew’s Church for mass and I needed to drop off a check to pay for the christening. Let me backtrack a little bit. Yesterday morning our lovely cat Lola threw her daily tantrum to wake up us at 7 am to feed her so Antz gave in and got up. He got the brillant idea to make Olivia’s mobile with felt dolls of us, the pets and a heart. Next thing I know he was working on the bebe’s mobile for 3 hours, he ended up working from home. I can’t wait to see the finished mobile!!

Antz, heart and Me, I helped sew a little bit but he did the marjority of them. He’s working on Lola and Max now. I accidentally closed my dresser drawer on my ring finger and I watched in slow motion / horror my diamond pop out of the setting. Luckily I saw right where the diamond landed and I found the original paperwork from 8 years ago when Antz bought it. While in tears, I went to Zales and boo-hooed to the salewoman. She told me it was under warranty but because I hadn’t come in every 6 months for maintenence it was no longer covered. 🙁 Lame! She has to send it to the repair person and it will take 2 whole weeks to be repaired and possibly cost $130! That’s the bad news, the good news is, the setting had been loose from years of knocking my ring against every surface so getting it repaired may have been a wise choice. I hope they clean it while they are at it, long overdue. So today I drove to Playa del Rey to pick up Aimee and we drove all the way to Anthropologie in Thousand Oaks for my rug. We are in love with the Oaks mall but it is like 45 minutes away.

I am still bummed the rug is so flat and has to be dry cleaned but I couldn’t be happier that I got it without having to pay shipping and I no longer have to worry about it selling out. I ended up having lunch with my Mom since I was on that side of town and she offered to treat me at Jerry’s Deli. I have never been so happy because last night after I dropped my Mom off at home from church, Antz and I went to Sunland *pretty far* to drop off a sample to be tested for asbestos. Today I got an email saying there was no asbestos found in the sample so we are green lit to remove the popcorn 🙂 I am going out to Apple Valley with my Mom on Saturday while Antz tackles the popcorn alone. I would love for him to paint the room while I’ll be out of town with the pets but there’s only so much he can do in one day. I think it will be fine for me to be home while he paints because we are using Benjamin Moore Natura low VOC paint. I have made a decision that I will forgo having professional pictures at the delivery in lieu of buying a Flip camcorder and a printer. I would much rather spend the money on professional portraits when she is 3 months and has that bebe adorableness. I still need to recruit someone to film the labor because Antz is now my doula so I don’t want him to be distracted. I am thinking of asking Leslie but it depends on my due date.