The Great Room Switcheroo

When we first moved into our home in September, 2009, we chose to take the blue room, which had belonged to two brothers, and change it into a girls' room. Now that we are having a boy, that room is blue again, and the girls are now in the bigger bedroom, which has been a playroom, an office and a guest room since we've moved in. Below are the details and progression of the changes over the past two years. I must add that none of this would have taken place without the ideas, the encouragement, the time and the hard work of my family, specifically my Mom and Dad for coming and painting, Mom for making dust ruffles for all the beds, and my wonderful husband for the endless list of things he did to make it all happen (including custom built shelves in the boy's room!). Thank you!!!

Here's what the small bedroom looked like when we moved in...

After the initial painting in September 2009...

  

Just before Joanna moved in, January 2010...

Then, for our little boy, I was looking for an orange and blue combination to statisfy his orange-lovin' Daddy without blinding our child (little joke there). After an internet search, I found my inspiration, a blue and orange nursery with a globe/world map theme! This was especially fitting, because we are most likely going to name the baby William, party because of the missionary William Carey, who was an English missionary to India, and, who made his own world map out of leather (more to come on his story in a future post).

Here are the pictures of that nursery (for all the details, click on "inspiration" above):

I decided instead of bright walls, I wanted dark blue. Here's the new blue color in June 2011, thanks to my Dad...

And, the finished room:

 

I love so many things about this room, but my favorite item in the room is the German "Kinderweltkarte" (kid's world map) over the changing table:

Now, onto the larger bedroom. Before we moved in, it was a paneled playroom...

 

We decided to paint it the same neutral sand color as most of the rest of the house, not knowing exactly what it's function would be...

 As you can see, it was a storage room for a while...

And then it turned into a guest room/office for a majority of the past two years...

When we decided the girls were going to move in there, these pictures from Pottery Barn Kids, combined with my Mom's suggestion, were the motivation to paint the paneling pink and white and to put in a chair rail...

And so it began...

 

The ceremonial first piece of chair rail...

The room before hanging the pictures...

And after...

A bit dark, but I think you can get the idea...

And a perfect spot to hang Joanna's beautiful quilt, given to her by the ladies of Reynoldsburg Baptist Church when she was born...

I must say, it was more work than anticipated, but I am so satisfied with the results, and I know Greg and I have added to our home decorating skills in the process! I am reminded of the well-known verse, that puts home decorating into perspective:

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Psalm 127:1a

18 Months Old and About to Be a Big Sister!

Joanna is so much fun. She turned 18 months about two weeks ago. She is more emotional than Phoebe, which includes jovial times of smiles and silliness as well as somewhat dramatic times of being upset. The latter usually passes pretty quickly, thankfully!

Her vocabulary is starting to take off. Her current favorite things to say include cereal, banana, belly, up, Daddy, Mommy and Phoebe, and many of the stuffed animals the girls have. Her "sentences" usually begin with "no want..." when she doesn't want something. She loves to sit and "read" books, including our childrens' Bible, has started singing songs, including the alphabet song and "Jesus Loves Me", and loves to brush her teeth. She is doing very well eating with a spoon. She also gives great hugs and kisses. She is our little cuddle bug. Here are a few recent pictures of our soon to be middle child, currently our baby girl.

At the 4th of July parade...

With cousin Yasemin at the Easton fountains...

On Phoebe's birthday (wearing a dress that my Mom made for Phoebe last year)...

At Mimi and Deeda's...

Being silly at lunch time on 7/26/2011...

Just a cute picture, also from 7/26...

Fourth of July Parade

We went to our first parade as a family this July 4th weekend. We are blessed to be able to walk to our city's parade, which made the experience even more enjoyable. The girls got an abundance of candy!

Baby Shower

One of the many very special things about our church is that it is common to have a shower for every baby. I was blessed to be thrown a shower outside at a park to anticipate our son's arrival. The hostesses took the world map/traveler theme and blue and orange colors of the baby's room and had the theme "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with lots of blue and orange, and blessed me with a devotional from Psalm 139. The games were even map games! There was also an abundance of delicious food! Thank you! And thanks to Mom for the following pictures!

My gift helpers Caia and Allie...

The lovely hostesses: Michelle, Sarah and Laura with baby Aron...