blogiversary!
Well, this year’s blogiversary would have been completely forgotten (or at least massively delayed) had I not been randomly looking through the archives from last August just now. (I was remembering a post about how we always seem to start big house projects during the month of August.) Anyhow, as it turns out yesterday was chezerbey’s 3rd anniversary (which means we’ve been in this house for 6 years now)!
Last year, we revisited the goals made in 2010 and updated those for the coming year. After the craziness of 2010 and the first part of 2011 (when we completely gutted and remodeled most of the main floor), we were looking forward to slowing down a bit and taking on some smaller projects. Well, we were off to a good start but with a baby on the way we suddenly found ourselves creating a nursery, finishing the basement (albeit partially) and revamping our front yard. Oops.
On the blog front, aside from a few tweaks here and there the blog mostly looks the same as it did a year ago. But friends, that is getting ready to change because there is a big redesign happening as I type and we’re super excited about it! And some other stuff too. But that’s all I’m going to say for now. =)
Finally, blogiversary Q+A again? Yes? If you have a question for us (house-related or not), just leave it in the comments section or shoot us an e-mail and we’ll do our best to answer them in an upcoming post.
Finally, a big thank you and group hug for all of our readers. You guys are awesome and your support and encouragement goes a long way in making things happen around here. Truly. So keep being awesome and doing awesome things to your own homes. Seriously, I have a lot of nursing downtime these days and need fun posts to read!
[A bit of housekeeping – because we’re changing hosts, if you are currently a WordPress.com “follower” of this blog (and there’s a lot of you!), you’ll need to either subscribe to the RSS feed (through Google Reader or something similar) or sign up for e-mail notifications (in the sidebar over on the right) if you want to continue to be updated when new posts are written.]
shadowbox
Ok, I cringe a little at the idea of a “push present” – the seemingly new tradition where a husband or partner is required to buy their baby momma a gift (preferably jewelry) for giving birth. Not that labor isn’t deserving of a present or even a gold medal, it’s just I can’t help but think that the idea was invented by De Beers or some other industry looking for yet another way to make a profit off our emotions.
That being said, I am still a big fan of thoughtful and well-timed gifts from the heart, regardless of the occasion.
When we got home from the hospital last month, Kyle surprised me with this shadowbox for the nursery. (He had been hiding it at a friend’s house and sneakily hung it during a trip home the day before.)
Kyle commissioned our friend Amy to design and create the shadowbox. She owns the Etsy shop Colorstory Designs and makes all kinds of decorative products from recycled magazines and paper. For this piece, she used old wallpaper remnants (that we uncovered during some demolition two years ago) as the background and two smaller flowers. (The bottom portion is actually a piece of an old border and almost looks hand-painted.) The large flower was created from layers of paint chips, using the same Benjamin Moore colors that occur throughout our home.
The composition is a metaphor for both the story of our home (a vibrant flower emerging from a rather grungy beginning) as well as a celebration of the new life that will be blossoming in this room.
Although Kyle accidentally dropped a handful of not-so-subtle hints in the months before Avery was born, I was completely surprised and blown away by how it all came together.
So a big thank you to Kyle for the idea and Amy for the execution. It’s a special piece that I know we’ll have for a very long time.
one month!
Avery is one month old today!
To celebrate, she slept through the night for the first time!
(I’m sure it was a fluke, but I’ll take it!)
Like so many other bloggers, I plan on documenting each month of her life for the first year or two. Until yesterday, I hadn’t given much thought to location or accessories but decided that the crib and a simple white onesie were a safe bet. (I started out by propping her up on the glider but without head control getting a good shot proved to be pretty impossible.)
Avery has been a happy baby and we can’t imagine life without her. This last month has gone by so quickly…but that’s what everyone told us would happen, isn’t it?
Psst – to see more photos of Avery (and Bailey!) follow me on Instagram. Also, stay tuned next week to see what Kyle got me for my “push present”!
basement progress: done(ish)
Hello!
Has it really been over two weeks since I last posted? All is well in the Zerbey household but we have been busy enjoying Miss Avery (which I like to say with a southern drawl) and showing her off to various friends and family members. We also celebrated Kyle’s 34th birthday! The day was way more low-key than last year, but we did go out to breakfast and I managed to sneak off and pick up a small ice cream cake to celebrate that evening.
My mom was also in town to help out last week and in our ridiculous DIY fashion, we finished the basement just hours before her flight arrived. Finished being a relative term of course. Fortunately, our newborn was very amenable to the last-minute construction (I think we have our in utero remodeling to thank for that) and slept peacefully through the chaos.
But enough chit-chat, come on downstairs!
[Need a reminder of how scary the basement was when we moved in? Oh the shame.]
Our first week at home found us balancing the basement project with caring for a newborn, so there are virtually no progress photos. But to be honest, the tasks weren’t that glamorous – painting, trim, electrical, carpet tiles…been there, done that. Yawn.
So let’s just jump straight to the pretty pictures, ok? The week before our family expanded, Kyle and I went to IKEA to scope out sleeper sofas. After trying out every one they had (which was probably pretty comical at 9 months pregnant), we decided on the Manstad. (Or as my sister calls it, the Transformer Couch.)
It comes in a beige or blue-gray color, but we went with the latter because you can never have enough blue-gray in your life. Also, we thought it would show less wear than boring beige. [As we shared in this post from way back in January, the plan is to eventually add a storage/media unit along the blank wall in the photo above.]
The design for this sofa is quite different from the other IKEA options. Unlike most sofas that fold out along the long side to create the bed, the Manstad has a hidden piece under the main portion of the sofa that pulls out to effectively “fill in” the shape formed by the chaise. Like this:
For us, we liked that the sofa configuration had a chaise (which can go on either side) and that the bed was elevated and not close to the floor like many of the other models. The only downside (and this applies to most IKEA sofa sleepers) is that it wasn’t terribly comfortable. After going back and forth (literally) between the sofa and bed departments, we decided that the best solution would be to buy the sleeper sofa and a memory foam topper to provide a little extra cushion. (Annoyingly, IKEA sofa beds are somewhere between a full and queen in width, so the queen size topper hangs over one side by a couple of inches.)
The topper is light enough to move easily and when not in use we’ll just roll it up and store it in the adjacent closet. The memory foam (which is only a few inches thick) does make a big difference and got the seal of approval from my mom.
Another nice feature is that the chaise cushion pops up to provide extra storage space for linens or the sofa cushions depending on what configuration it’s in.
Sofa. Bed. We love how easy it is to go from one to the other, without one of those weird metal frames to wrestle with or awkwardly folded futon mattress.
With a low ceiling height, we were limited to wall-mounted sconces or recessed cans for the room’s lighting. We placed three cans along one end for general/task lighting, with the idea that this is where people will be sitting our laying down. The two sconces are on the opposite end and will flank what will eventually be a built-in media/storage unit. Finding well-designed yet affordable lighting fixtures has always been a challenge for us and Kyle must have gone through dozens of options for this space. Finally, he found these sconces, which cost about $120 each (with our trade discount) from our local retailer, Lighting Supply. They have a nice diffuse light and are appropriately sized for the space. We also ordered dimmable CFLs because you know how Kyle likes his dimmers.
The two windows still need a proper shade (we got classy with some cardboard for my mom) and we’re currently pricing out different options. We plan on installing some type of blackout shade for optimal movie watching and daytime napping. [Side note: this space is significantly cooler than the main floor, which has been a well-timed blessing during our “heat wave” this week.]
To make the space feel as bright and airy as possible, we stuck with our go-to paint color (“super white” by Benjamin Moore), but decided to mix it up for the doors. We had some leftover paint from our sliding barn doors upstairs, so we painted the future bathroom door the same “Thunderbird” as the other bathroom and the bedroom door the same “Lakeside Cabin” as the nursery. Or so we thought. About halfway through painting the sliding door (which was a real chore since it had to be done in place) Kyle realized that it was actually a completely different color (“Spellbound”, to be exact). Neither of us could really remember, but I guess we bought it as a contender for the upstairs doors. After about 2 minutes of discussion, we decided that we liked it and that it didn’t matter if it matched the other doors.
This project has really honed our ability to make quick design decisions.
The carpet tiles are Flor and from the “Flats and Cords” line (though it looks like they no longer have the same neutral brown color, which was on sale when we bought it). This was another decision that was made quickly and without a lot of discussion – basically we picked the least expensive tile that was rated for at least medium traffic (but was still comfortable for bare feet) and in a neutral color that could work for the room as it evolves over time. So far, so good.
For the swinging door hardware, we stuck with our favorite Stuttgart levers from Emtek. We’ve been very happy with our exterior door levers and Emtek is really reasonably priced (we bought ours locally through Frank Lumber, but they are also available from The Hardware Hut).
For the threshold between the bedroom and hallway, Kyle cut a piece of 5/4 vertical grain fir to fit. (It’s bare wood in these photos but is now in the process of being finished.) At the doorway to the laundry room, we hung a temporary curtain for the time being. We’re still deciding whether we’ll eventually want a swinging door between the two spaces or just a simple framed opening.
Even though the bathroom door is done, the space beyond is definitely not. Phase two.
The small closet between is currently holding insulation for the other half of the basement and the shop vac. It’s so exciting having a closet. I spent at least 38 seconds opening and closing the door just for the hell of it.
The other half of the basement got a little love too. After misplacing a bag of electrical supplies and spending a good hour searching for them, we decided it was time to organize and clean up the disaster zone on the other side of the curtain.
It felt so good to be able to see the floor and the top of the counter again. Although we’ll eventually paint the concrete floor in the laundry area, for now we just put down an IKEA sisal rug that we already owned…which means no more putting on shoes to do laundry. Yay!
Sadly, we never did find the missing electrical supplies.
Of course, there are still lots of little details to be completed, but at least the bedroom/den space is functional. In addition to window shades, we need to figure out and install a custom storage/media cabinet. We might also add a lounge chair opposite of the sofa and maybe move the coffee table down there. The end goal is to create a space that can work both as a place to hang out and watch movies as well as a guest or kid’s bedroom.
With the framework complete, it’s now time for the fun part. After we finish the bathroom and laundry room that is. Is it time to make a 2013 to-do list yet?
the first week
Last Monday, I called my mom to chat about how things we’re going (I had worked up until the Friday before so this was my first “free” day). She commented that she hadn’t seen a recent preggo picture of me so I snapped this one and sent it to her before heading to an afternoon doctor appointment. 39 weeks, 2 days.
Last Monday, the nursery also looked like this. (We bought a sleeper sofa for the basement and had IKEA deliver it the day before.)
Last Monday, we also had a baby.
Avery was breech for the last several months of my pregnancy (we tried a version and other methods to turn her, but she was stubborn), so we were anticipating a scheduled c-section on Wednesday.
Wednesday, at 4:00. I even wrote it in my planner.
However, on Monday afternoon I got a call from my doctor’s office saying that the results of some blood work done earlier that day were a little off and they’d like me to just head on over to L&D triage to get checked out. To make a long story short, I felt great and baby was doing well but, per the doctor’s recommendation, we decided to not chance anything and go ahead with the c-section that night. It went very well and we’re grateful for the top-notch team that was taking care of us.
In other good news, Kyle did not pass out.
I’m also grateful for friends who bring us cupcakes. Pink cupcakes.
It was a gorgeous couple of days in Seattle and I lived vicariously through the view out our hospital room window. On the second day Kyle snuck home to take care of a few things…like moving the IKEA boxes out of the nursery. Of course, we thought we had another day or two so the house was in a state of slight chaos. Laundry on the bed, dishes in the sink. DIRTY FLOORS. It was very important to me that Kyle mop the floors when he was home. He did. =)
As soon as we got home we gave Avery a quick tour of the house that ended in her room. All of a sudden, things got very real and that crib felt very big.
Yeah, we didn’t finish the basement in time either. Fortunately, Kyle is at home this week as well and has been spending part of his days priming and painting (zero VOC for both) in preparation for my mom’s arrival this weekend.
For those that have been wondering how Bailey and Avery would get along, I think this should sum things up:
Some friends of ours watched Bailey while we were gone and Kyle waited to pick him up until after we were home. We started with a slow and controlled introduction, but once we knew that he would be calm we let them get a little closer. And then a lot closer. As predicted, Bailey was a gentle giant and Avery seemed oblivious to what was happening.
There’s just a coat of primer on in these photos, but it already feels so much better. We hired out the drywall work and they finished only two days before Avery’s arrival.
Although it seems to be gaining in popularity, Avery has been our “girl name” since Kyle and I first started talking about marriage and babies when we were still in college. In the part of Tulsa were Kyle grew up, there’s a scenic road called Avery Drive. It’s the type of road that you might drive down with your girlfriend on a nice fall day.
Though it’s traditionally a boy’s name, we liked that it sounded feminine without being too girly…that it was unique but not weird. I hadn’t looked into the meaning behind the name until a few months ago while thumbing through a baby name book at the doctor’s office. I think the definitions vary, but this particular book said that Avery meant “counselor to the elves”.
WHAT? Done and done. I think about that now every time I see her swaddled in her fairy blanket.
Meanwhile, progress in the basement continues and the finished stair no longer feels so out-of-place.
We debated different middle names, but ultimately came back to Elizabeth. It’s a family name, a classic middle name, and we liked the way it all rolled off the tongue. We held off on telling people her name (besides family) until she was born. Although Kyle may disagree with me, it was fun to have one little surprise. We also thought there was a chance she would look like a Lillian or a Hazel instead. But she didn’t.
[Also, that girl had some fingernails! I waited a few days to trim them (hence the mitts) but when I did it was easier than I expected. Easier than trimming a kitten’s claws at least.]
To make the space as bright as possible and match the rest of the house, we’re going with BM Natura paint in “super white” for the basement. Except for the doors, More on that later.
Upstairs, a lot of this has been happening. This baby likes to sleep!
As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we finally decided to just buy a sleeper sofa from IKEA. We’d been going back and forth between getting a real bed, a sofa bed, or keeping our comfy (but only sleeps one) couch. Since the room will be used as both a guest room and tv room, we really needed a sofa bed. Aesthetically and functionally, I thought the Karlstad would be a good choice, but we were disappointed with the sleeper sofa version. So we came up with our own IKEA hack of sorts and will share that in the next post.
More brother-sister bonding. Although we never leave Avery unattended with Bailey, we feel comfortable that he won’t try to jump on her or aggressively lick her. She’s also just not that interesting to him now, but I know that will all change before we know it.
Although originally optimistic that we could maybe somehow get the second bathroom and laundry room done in time, we soon accepted reality and only had half of the basement drywalled. I like to think that once we get the itch to start on a project again, we’ll have a nice little one downstairs, ready and waiting.
Avery isn’t quite ready for 0-3 months clothes yet, but not knowing how big she would be I cautiously only bought a few “newborn” size things – mostly little wrap tees and white onesies. I did receive this dress from a friend and remember thinking at the time how itty bitty it was.
Another thing I wanted to do pre-baby was clean up the laundry area in anticipation of an onslaught of baby laundry. Well, clearly that didn’t happen either. But y’know…it doesn’t really matter. Clothes still get cleaned and I just have to be a little more careful not to drop tiny wet baby socks on the floor.
This is our new normal and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. [Side note: the nursery layout and connection to the living area has actually worked really well for visitors. We moved the LCW in for extra seating and impromptu laundry holding.]
Finally, thank you for all your wonderful comments. Even though it took me a few days to respond, I read every single one. Speaking of, if there is one piece of gear that has been invaluable this last week it’s been my iPhone. I don’t know how new parents survived before. I text photos to family, FaceTime with my mom, moderate comments, take about a bajillion photos and even use it as a night-light to check on her in the middle of the night.
Diapers, swaddles, iPhone.
Now that we’re into our second week with a newborn, we’re feeling better adjusted to this new schedule of days broken down into 2-3 hour chunks. I also feel very fortunate that (so far) I’ve had a speedy recovery and almost full nights of sleep. I know this probably won’t last, so we’re enjoying it (and, err…finishing the basement) while we still can.
