zerbebe nursery: crib + colors + consignment
[Psst! Thanks to many of you, our house is currently the top pick in the “small” category in Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool contest! There’s still a week left to vote and then the top entries from each size category move on for a chance to win $5k!! If you want to “favorite” us, just click here.]
It’s been a while since we did a nursery post, but that’s only because there hasn’t been much to write about. Until now…
Boom! Ok, it’s just a crib and some color samples but it’s progress nonetheless.
I’ve been mulling over all the amazing comments you guys left on our nursery design post last month (seriously, I think it was one of the most commented posts ever) and fine tuning my thinking about what the space should be. We’re still on board with the second scheme (the darker walls, vintage dresser, glider and blond crib), but with a few adjustments. First of all, we decided to get the IKEA Gulliver crib instead of the Oeuf. After hearing so many positive comments about the Gulliver, we knew it was the right choice for us.
So with the bedding already on hand (an organic Naturepedic mattress and Aden + Anais crib sheet that were gifts from my dad and stepmom), I couldn’t resist the urge to go ahead and put it all together. The crib was actually really easy to assemble, taking me no more than 34 minutes. Seriously, I probably spent more time removing the safety stickers on the top rails. (Hint: they come off way easier if you wet them with a hot washcloth first.) So far, I’m really impressed with the quality of construction and finish. In the realm of IKEA, this is one of the better products I’ve seen.
Now, on to paint colors. I was first inspired to go dark by this image from the Oeuf website (and have since pinned a few other dark-walled nurseries). Maybe it’s not the most conventional color, but I like it. To me, it’s more cozy than brooding. Also, because the nursery reads more like an alcove off the living room, having the darker color against our otherwise all-white walls will help add some much-needed depth and texture to the house.
Oh, and I’m sure it will make baby Zerbey feel like she’s back in the ol’ womb and want to sleep for long stretches of time. (This is sound logic right?)
So with a direction in mind I grabbed a stack of paint chip contenders and then narrowed my favorites down to these 5. (Ok, they probably all look the same to you but I did my best to show the colors as accurately as possible…just think dark blue-gray). On Friday I picked up some pint-size testers from our local Benjamin Moore store so I could do larger-scale mock-ups. (This wall will eventually be covered by the wardrobe, so I’m not worried about any potential inconsistencies in texture, etc.)
Kyle and I both have a favorite, but what do you guys think? [Click to enlarge.] Again, I’m sure it’s difficult to see the subtle differences on a computer screen, so if you pick by most awesome name I’ll understand. The plan is to stew on it this week and then pick something so I can get to painting (ugh) next weekend.
In terms of baby stuff, we’ve been making some good progress. Now, I’m not exactly a seasoned pro when it comes to baby loot but I have done a good deal of research and listening. My approach may not be perfect, but so far it seems to be working. Going into this whole baby thing, I knew I wanted to focus on the things we really needed or that would make our lives easier. I also wanted to place an emphasis on products and items that were well-made and could be used again (for us or someone else). Oh, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.
My first step was just to do a crap load of research. I read blogs, looked at checklists, talked to friends and even ventured to almost every baby store in the greater Seattle area. During that time, I set up a universal online registry as a brain dump of sorts. (I quickly realized that there would be no way I could register at one or even three stores, so universal was the way to go.) Over the period of a month or so I added and deleted things from the list and then sent it to a few other new moms for vetting.
Once I felt like I finally had my brain fully wrapped around the subject, I moved on to the next step – consignment sales. There are several shops around town, but I quickly discovered that the big events are where it’s at. (Honestly, I rarely buy used clothes for myself but I’m 100% behind the philosophy when it comes to baby and kid stuff.) Armed with a good mental list of what I needed, on two occasions now I’ve worked my way through throngs of people to find most of the items you see above. (I’ve also gotten a handful of thoughtful e-mails from local readers alerting me to specific Craigslist deals or popular message boards – I had no idea there were so many great networks for parents out there!) My favorite is when I find a slightly used version of a registry item for about 1/10th of the price. In a small way, I feel like I’ve beat The System.
In addition to the mattress and bedding (and lots of books!), we’ve also received a few amazing handmade gifts so far. Like this baby quilt that my mom made:
It’s feminine, but not too girly and in true 21st-century style, it even has its own QR code (that lists the date it was made). My stepdad (a bit of an engineer nerd, but in the best way!) has been into creating and using QR codes lately and when he couldn’t convince my mom to quilt a QR code out of fabric pieces, they opted for this printed version instead.
My sister also knitted this adorable cardigan and hat. I love it. Living in Seattle, I see a lot of cardigans in our little girl’s future.
And that’s what’s going on in zerbebe land. I’m still stalking Craigslist for a used dresser, but no sweet deals yet. Actually, I’ve seen very few mid-century options in general. Am I looking in the wrong place? Is there some local antique store hoarding 1960’s dressers that I don’t know about? Help me interwebs!
landscape plan!
We did it. After nearly 6 years of rocking a minimalist (err, brutalist?) yard, we finally bit the bullet and hired a landscape architect. But before we show you what he came up with, let’s get everyone up to speed on the traumatic history of our yard. It all started in ’06, when we became the proud new owners of some diseased shrubs and dead grass:
Poor little sad house.
Even though our house has received a major facelift since then, our yard has not:
But those days are numbered because BAM! Look at what’s in store! [Click to enlarge]
True, we had every intention of landscaping at least the front yard last summer, but that whole foundation drainage project took a wee bit longer than expected and we simply ran out of time. Not this year though; we have a baby deadline (apparently it’s a million times harder to get stuff done after that happens) and we’re tired of the constant weedapalooza. So we hired our friend Mark, who is a landscape architect at The Watershed Company, to put together a planting plan that we could use as a template of sorts to make our landscaping dreams come true. Although we had a general design in our heads (you may remember this site plan that we shared with you last summer), we mostly needed help with the actual plant selection and layout. Fortunately, after an on-site consultation a few weeks ago (where we talked about our basic goals and ideas), Mark came up with something that really filled in all of the missing pieces while also making some great modifications and suggestions in the process.
Now I know what you’re probably thinking, “of all the projects you’ve tackled yourself, you decide to hire someone to help with plants??” Although we pride ourselves in our DIY approach, keep in mind that architectural design and construction are our territory. Plants are not. Although we could take the time to do the necessary research on species, proper spacing and location, we knew that just wasn’t going to happen. It’s too big of a project and we firmly believe in hiring talented folks to help out when in over your head (just like you it’s a good idea for people to hire an architect).
This is a first pass, so we’ll definitely be making a few tweaks here and there before we bust out a shovel. (Remember all of those pavers that we salvaged from our demo project last summer?) We also realize that this project will be a lot of work (and $$), so the plan is to tackle the front yard and backyard planting boxes this year, while saving the remainder for later. Depending on costs, we may also scale back on the quantity of plants, allowing us to fill in over time.
Finally, If you’re like us and don’t have a mental image bank of all plant types, get ready for your mind to be blown with a cornucopia of vegetative goodness! Along with the draft planting plan, Mark also sent us a booklet of all the plants that he’s listed. For your viewing pleasure, I took the liberty of making the montage below. As you’ll see, it’s a combination of mostly drought-tolerant and Pacific Northwest-friendly trees, shrubs, grasses, perennials, groundcover, and herbs. Don’t worry, we won’t be using every species listed, many of them were just presented as different choices for a single area. In fact, we showed the plan to our plant-savvy neighbor tonight and she gave us some great insight into the options she liked best.
Color! Life! Excitement!
So what do you guys think? We have complete trust in our landscape architect, but this is very much new territory for Kyle and I so we’d love to hear your constructive thoughts or suggestions.
Yay plants!
1940 census
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard that the National Archives recently released an online version of the 1940 census. I hadn’t thought much about it until last weekend when my brother pulled up info on the family that lived in the house we grew up in (built in 1919). I love a good research challenge and instantly wanted to know more about chezerbey.
When we bought our house in ’06, we ordered the 1930’s photo above from the Washington archives. Along with the photo we received a fact sheet of sorts listing the basic info on the home. Between that and our neighbors, here’s what we know:
Our house was built in 1910 and the carport was added in 1965. The previous owner was a man in his mid-90’s who had been a car mechanic and had lived there since the early ’80’s (he moved into a nursing home a year prior to us buying the house). Prior to that, we know very little and that’s why it was so interesting to uncover the census info.
After an hour or so of hunting (I started with our basic location and then sifted through 15-20 pages of entries to find our house), BAM! This is what I found (click to enlarge):
In 1940, our house was home to Carl and Elsa Nelson and their two teenage children Albert and Alice. Carl and Elsa came to Seattle from Sweden, but the kids were born in Washington. (Our neighborhood has a rich Scandinavian history so we weren’t surprised by this.) Carl worked as a laborer at a brickyard and Elsa stayed at home. The house was valued at $2,000.
I’ve often assumed that because our house is relatively small, it had always been home to a single person or couple. But now, a family of four! With TEENAGERS!
When the house was built, there was no interior stair that connected the main floor to the basement. In fact, the dog-legged version that we eventually demolished looks to have been added in the 60’s, so it’s unlikely that anyone lived in the basement before that. So how did a family of four survive in a one-bedroom house? Did Albert and Alice sleep in the living room? At any rate, it was reassuring in a sense. If the Nelson family could live small, so can we.
Anyone else dig up info on their pre-1940 home? I’m also curious if the teenagers (who would be in their ’70s) are still alive and living in the area. A quick Google search didn’t yield much and with such common names I didn’t dig too deeply.
[Psst! Speaking of small, we entered chezerbey in Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool 2012 contest. You have through next week to “favorite” us and then the top submissions from each size category move on to final voting where the grand prize is FIVE-THOUSAND DOLLARS! That’s 2.5x chezerbey’s 1940 value!]
small cool 2012
Happy Friday friends! Just a quick note to say that chezerbey is now officially a contestant in Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool 2012 contest!
I know, I know…it seems like The Homies just ended (another gigantic thank you for all of your support by the way!), but now things get serious. Why? Because the grand prize for this contest is $5,000!
There are 4 main size categories (ours is in “small” – 800-1000 SF) and after voting ends on April 30th each category winner goes on to compete for the grand prize.
Just think what we could do to our small (and cool) space with 5k! Plants for the yard, furniture for the nursery…Kyle might even get crazy and put another window in the loft (and you know you want to see that). So head over to Apartment Therapy pronto and make us your favorite. (Bonus: some new photos are part of our submittal and we even snuck Bailey in!) You have to sign in (or create an account first), but it’s the same thing you saw with The Homies, so no sweat.
In all seriousness, we’ve worked hard over the last 5+ years to make the most of out of a small footprint. Part of our decision to buy a little home was financially driven, but a bigger part has been to experiment with small-space living, a concept that we both believe strongly in. In other words, we believe that your home doesn’t have to be big, just well-designed.
Thanks in advance and have a great weekend!
oklahoma + laundry
Last Thursday I hopped on a plane and headed to Oklahoma for a long weekend. What started out as a sister’s weekend (we have a yearly tradition that dates back to camping in the backyard as little kids) turned into a family reunion of sorts when we decided to meet up in northeast Oklahoma instead of one of our respective cities. My parents live in the same small town that I grew up in and two of my three brothers live a couple of hours away so they drove over for the weekend. I even squeezed in a visit with Kyle’s mom and my sister-in-law (who is due with their first baby in early July!) when they drove up from Tulsa for an estrogen-laden brunch on Saturday.
Even though I love Seattle, sometimes it is hard being 2,000 miles away (an absence of direct flights makes it even harder).
The weather was pleasant (warmer than 55 degrees!) and we even got a real rain storm on Saturday morning! Above is the view from my dad and stepmom’s back porch (thanks to my sister for the awesome photo)…
…and this is the view from my mom and stepdad’s back deck. Same town.
One of the highlights of the trip was meeting my new niece, Holly. She and zerbebe will only be about 5 months apart and I love the idea of them spending long weeks in the summer together (y’know…when the grandparents host “camp cousin”).
She’s the cutest, right? And she makes the whole baby thing look deceptively easy…sleeping 8-12 hours at night, every night. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
While I was enjoying a slower pace of life and temporarily forgetting about my massive to-do list, Kyle was knee-deep in a surprise weekend project:
New washer and dryer! Kyle’s plan was to surprise me with a new laundry set-up when I got home, but the weekend got gobbled up with plumbing diagrams and trips to Home Depot instead. So when he called me on Sunday night he let me in on his plans. Normally, I would have been peeved that he had made a major appliance decision without me, but his intentions were so sweet that I didn’t mind (and we had more or less narrowed down our choices anyway).
We ended up getting the larger capacity Whilrpool Duets from our go-to local appliance store Albert Lee. Using a trade discount, we saved about $600 on the pair and still have at least one utility rebate to apply for, plus the sale of our old machines. [FYI – we’ve worked with Tylar Strong at the Southcenter Location for a few years now and as a new father himself, he assured us that he hasn’t had any problems with washing cloth diapers in the Duet.]
But before the washer and dryer were delivered, Kyle’s first project was to remove the awkward column in the middle of the space. (You can see it in one of the photos from last week’s post.) To compensate for the column, Kyle first bolted a steel channel to one side of the existing beam. (We’d been throwing around this idea for a few months and had our friend and structural engineer Julie do a quick calc for size and bolt spacing.) Once in place, the column could be safely removed.
At each end, the wood/steel beam combo bears on 2x studs.
In the photo below, you can see the opposite face with exposed bolts, spaced evenly across the span at about 20″ on center. Kyle did all of this by himself, he amazes me.
Bye bye column. The next step will be to jack hammer out this funky concrete curb. Removing the column and curb will free up this side of the basement and give us more flexibility in our laundry room layout (which has been modified, yet again).
Kyle also picked up this 3′-0″x8′-0″ birch solid-core door. Although he’s been using it as a temporary work surface, it will soon become a countertop over the washer/dryer and utility sink.
So even though he didn’t get as far as he wanted to, the good news is that all the details have been worked out and the supplies purchased. It’s officially go time! We’ll be back next week to talk more about drain lines, furring walls and if all goes well, just how many jeans we can wash in a single load.
