30 whole weeks along...

Here is the 30 week photo- we've taken a total of two whole photos this pregnancy! Funny really, things are just busier this time around and there isn't time for many pictures to be snapped. 

I basically handed Kenton the camera as we were running out the door on the weekend and said, "You need to take a photo of me right now okay?" Snap photo. "Okay thanks let's go". Such is life these days!

Baby Crib Mobile

Last week I had mentioned I had a few DIY projects coming down the pipe. I already posted about the lamps, Wren's bedroom pom poms, and now I will show you the baby mobile I put together. 

I painted these embroidery hoops with a craft paint from Michaels.You can buy the hoops from Michaels as well. Because each hoop you buy is actually two hoops in one, I twisted each one inside itself to have a sort of sphere effect. I used a hot glue gun to keep the hoops from coming apart. Then I chose the largest hoop to hang horizontally from the ceiling while the rest of the circles hung down from it at different lengths. I used fishing line to you can hardly how they are attached. 

It was tricky to hang evenly from the ceiling and keep it all from getting tangled, but other than that it was a super easy project. We never had a mobile for Wren in her crib, mostly because I never saw anything out there I liked and that I could afford. I'm really happy with the way this one turned out though!

Pom Poms!

We finally finished our "crafty" project of Wren's room- the pom poms!

I can't claim credit for the idea, I saw it in this photo from a magazine (which one it was from I can't remember, oops!) and instantly wanted to give it a try. How hard could it be?

To be honest, it was a little bit challenging at first. We followed these instructions from the Martha Stewart website on how to make the tissue paper pom poms. I nearly tore the first pom pom to shreds in frustration. It was so hard to get them evenly spaced and nice and puffy! But one hint: Dollar Store tissue paper is not as forgiving or strong as some good quality stuff out there. It's worth getting that good tissue paper instead, you will be glad you did. 

I don't even have any tips on how to help with the pom pom making process, but if you do a couple you just start to get the hang of it. They will start to look fluffy and the way they do in pictures! We bought the white and yellow lanterns from Ikea- $4 each in the lighting section. You can buy Martha Stewart pom poms and lanterns like the one in the magazine picture above, but they are $16 for a set of 4 and you would probably still have the frustration of poofing out the pom poms yourself- so you might as well just make them!

This was a pretty way to fill the gaping void above her bed, which was looking pretty bare, especially with the white walls. Kenton screwed in two hooks about 3 feet apart and strung a wire between them. Then he hung the pom poms at different lengths from the wire. 

I think our favourite part of the whole project was seeing Wren's cute little face light up when she came home and saw it. She wanted to touch all them and then had to read a few books to herself in bed just for fun. Success!

Two Little Friends

This is Wren's friend, Isla. They really like each other and are both about to become big sisters... 

Spray painted lamps

First small project of the week- lamps!

Kenton's mom was nice enough to let me have her old lamp bases, but they didn't really go with the style of our house. 

We bought some spray paint from Home Depot in "Marigold" and gave the bases a couple of coats. 

I found the matching lamp shades at Home Sense. These lamps need shades that screw into the top so I couldn't just nab a pair of shades from Ikea. 

Maybe one day I will do something fun to the shades as well, but for now, they're pretty okay!

Our Bathroom is Finished!

In all the photos we have taken since moving into our house, this is the "best" one I could find of what our bathroom looked like before we renovated it. It was so ugly that I didn't want to take photos of it...ever. Sadly I forgot to take some quality pictures before we decided to rip it apart.

The tiles are all down in this photo, but you can still see our disgusting (and awkward) sink that used to be in there. The ancient window is still there as well. I say the sink was awkward because of its shape, it was challenging to get into the bathroom without bumping into the door and then the corner of the sink. It was too big in this very small space. Everything was old and needing a huge update. 

After approximately 10 months from start to complete finish, we have our new bathroom!

Technically the reno started last April when I went to a baby shower for my cousin in Airdrie and came home to the tub surround being totally ripped out of the shower. That was a fun surprise :) However, it did get the ball rolling, which it needed to badly. But as anyone knows that lives in their renos, it's not always fun. Having no tub surround meant we were taking baths for weeks. The words "renovations" and "inconvenient" go hand in hand. I should mention that our downstairs bathroom was unusable. So yeah, we were happy to have this all finished. 

The majority of the bathroom was finished fairly quickly but Kenton was making the mirror ledge, medicine cabinet and the window frame. So thankfully we had a very liveable bathroom for the majority of those 10 months. 

Here you can see the mirror and ledge better. Pretty snazzy hey?

Here is the medicine cabinet. Ta da!

I really wanted a white shower curtain- what a challenge to find a nice one! This one is from Anthropologie, the last one and on sale. We used a double curtain rod so that a waterproof curtain could sit behind the fabric one. 

Inside the shower, we just did a simple tub surround. 

Our lighting was a bit...experimental. We're still not sure if we will keep it the way it is, but we can't stand all the other options out there so we will wait until we see something else we like.

Done!

Shoes

In the next few days I will have some new photos to share of our recent projects around the house. Our bathroom is nearly finished as Kenton is putting up the medicine cabinet he made today. I made a mobile to hang over the baby crib out of embroidery hoops and we spray painted a pair of lamp bases and put new shades on them and put them in our living room. I'm also working on a baby quilt from my newest sewing book, Sewing in a Straight Line, which I love! 

In the meantime, Wren continues to do her own thing. I wish they made Clarks Wallabee shoes for toddlers, although I would be nervous of Wren rolling her ankle every 5 seconds in them. I have a pair as well and they are the comfiest! 

Okay actually I stand corrected. On their website they do have Wallabee boots for boys. But they could be just as cute on a little girl I'm sure. They do have a pretty cute desert boot as well for girls though!

We are slowly trying to finish Wren's new big girl room on top of everything else. I finally found dark purple spray paint for the mirror and headboard in her room. Finding varied colors (other than primary colors) in spray paint is actually a challenge. Luckily Michael's sells a fairly ok selection of overpriced cans of spray paint. I have a million ideas of little things I want to do for each of the girl's rooms, and not enough time- or time without Wren there getting her little hands into everything. I feel like I have been nesting ever since we found out another little Sweetie was on the way!

But decorating is fun and basically never ending and being challenged to do things on a budget and hand made is the best part. For sure there are days I just want to go and buy that really expensive thing I love from Anthropologie for example, but there is nothing more disappointing that knowing you spent way too much on something you probably could have done yourself. This is where Kenton's disgust for buying Ikea furniture become a little more clear to me! (By the way, how cool is that Anthro chandelier? But do you see what I'm saying about how someone could totally make that for way less than the price of a used car?)

Anyway, check back later for photos of the finished bathroom. Maybe even a before & after pic!