the room

frankie & the new baby will share a room and i have to admit that putting together a girl space has been really fun.  i switched the studio with F’s old room and painted the walls off white and a soft peachy orange above the moulding.  i spent one long afternoon doing faux bois on one wall.  it turned out really well and was incredibly inexpensive.  i tinted the glaze with a soft cappuccino color and the effect is lovely & subtle.

i found this fabric on ebay almost 10 years ago and it was the initial color inspiration. the combination is not for everyone, but i absolutely love it.  very liberty of london / anthropologie.

i was at an estate sale months ago and found this quilt.  it is perfect.  it is signed, made by mother / aug 31 / 1939.  i don’t think it was ever used.  i love all the vintage fabrics and the beautiful hand stitching.  it was only $25 and really complements the curtain fabric.  it also amazingly works well with the owl crib bedding i made for frankie before she was born.

i found a beat up, but very cool black shelf for $5 & painted it raspberry.  here is it before the paint job.

i kept seeing some lovely lantern/pom pom combinations on pinterest and decided that it was the perfect touch.  i found some really inexpensive lanterns & combined them with poms made out of tissue paper.  i found some picture shelves on craigslist for $10 and we created a book wall.  here is the room so far…

another view.  i love the way the painted shelf turned out.

detail of the shelf & faux bois wall.

frankie really loves the book wall.  we sit on the big bed and read books together before nap & bedtime.  she still sleeps in her crib, but will probably transition in the months before the baby arrives.

i absolutely love the flower/pom/lantern display!  the poms are really easy to make, but you can also buy them from an awesome portland girl at prost to the host.

it’s still a work in progress.  i found twin bed frames for $20 at a garage sale this summer, which i am sanding and painting raspberry (like the shelf).  i will store the second one for when the baby gets older.  we also found a vintage cabinet ($25!) from the 30’s at a garage sale.  it has a cupboard above and shelves below.  i am sanding it & painting it raspberry too.  i need to hang the bird mobile and some of the owl/woodland stuff from Frankie’s old room.  i have a great art idea that will be fun to work on with the boys over the holiday break.  all in all, this project has been really rejuvenating for me.  it’s nice to see your ideas come to fruition, especially for next to nothing!

In the moment…

I have been struggling with being in the moment.  The last few months have been really difficult and it almost seems easier to be negative.  This way, when I receive bad news (or mail), it’s expected and I don’t have to experience an emotional tumble.  Years ago when I divorced, I refinanced the house in Eugene…it not only seemed like a good idea, but the only option. The boys were so young and the thought of not having a stable environment for them was devastating.  Little did I know that I would find a relationship (and now marriage) and life in another city.  The years of renting the house were challenging, but the situation I face now is unbearable.  With the fall of the market, my house has dropped significantly in value…I have been unable to rent it.  The only option now is to put it on the market and hope for the best.  And hoping for the best is a stretch for me right now.

I try to remind myself that some of the toughest moments of my life were the greatest opportunities for growth & also creativity.  I am so grateful to have a wonderful husband (we just had our 1st anniversary, or 21st if you count our Church of Elvis wedding at 15) and three amazing children. Frankie is currently sitting on the vintage green couch and drawing very small people in her sketchbook.  I am trying to fight the urge to dwell in fear, as there is so much beauty surrounding us.  Today I have an OB appointment and look forward to sound of our new child’s beating heart.  I’ve been working on creating a space for the girls and it is very therapeutic to do simple, productive things…paint walls, fold laundry, rake leaves.

I will try, if only for a moment, to be present in this beautiful life.

a bit late, but here it is…

when we lived in eugene, we always went to the pumpkin patch at thistledown farms with the douglass family. we have a lot of great memories from those days.  here are a few pictures from back in the day.  ethan, violet & noah must be around 3 and 4 years old.

maya & jen

in portland our tradition has been to go with the stephens family to the pumpkin patch at sauvie island.  here is a photo from our first year with them in 2008.

this year was fantastic, eating roasted ears of corn (dipped in butter!), exploring the corn maze and hunting for the perfect pumpkin.  i am only 20 weeks pregnant here, but i look like i might pop.

frankie started out the trip asleep…

and woke up in a bad mood…

and kept crying for the group shot too.  i can’t believe how much the kids have grown in 3 years!

very cool tractor shot.

we jumped on the hay ride and ventured into the fields.  ethan & poppi.

frankie finally stopped crying and started looking for the perfect pumpkin.

grayson in the field.

aidan being himself.

hunter & ethan on the hay ride back.

sarah found a big one.

all in all, it was a wonderful afternoon!  bryn & maya.