Henry's new playspace...

Our little eating nook has now been transformed into a new playspace for Henry. I couldn't be happier with the way it's coming along. I still have lots more I want to add, but so far, so good, I think. I made the little banner on Sunday with all of my favorite fabrics, moved the leaning shelves in from the sewing room, and relocated the upholstered chair from our bedroom (Cindy, was this originally your chair?!) We may not have a lot of space in our sweet little house, but we can do the most with every last inch of the space that we've got. It forces me to be extra creative...which is so much fun! Still to come: pillows & artwork.

My new soap dispenser...

...John drilled a hole in the top of my canning jar lid and then we slid an old soap dispenser pump into the hole. Very easy.

Cabinet for the patio...

Thanks to Shelly's recent purging efforts, I became the proud owner of this fantastic cabinet. And after a few quick sprays of Valspar's Mediterranean spray paint, it fits perfectly on our patio! (I still need to give it a third coat & spray the toe kick, but it's good enough for now). I've been determined to decorate my patio using only what I have on hand, so this was indeed a lucky break for me. I think it's my favorite part of our backyard :)

Tea towel pillows...

I've had these Martha Stewart tea towels for ages. They've been stashed away, waiting for just the right project. I think I found it! I turned them into pillows for the furniture on our patio. I love the way they turned out. I think I'm going to start hoarding tea towels...they make for such fun, fast, and easy projects.

Felt dot banner...

...I spent one evening last week digging through my sewing room trash can. I was looking for felt scraps and boy did I find some! I took the felt that I found (and some larger scraps that I had lying around) and cut out randomly sized circles. After all of my circles were cut out I sewed them together (shoving them under the presser foot one right after the other) and what do you know, another banner was born! This was a very fun & mindless project, just what I needed after finishing Henry's garden panel for his playhouse.

Henry's "new" high chair...

I bought this high chair from our church yard sale way back in October. It was a bit wobbly and in need of a paint job, but perfect in every other way. I asked Bob if he would mind helping me tighten it up a bit with some wood clue, and he agreed. However, it required a bit more than just wood glue, so Bob took the entire chair apart and planned to glue every piece back together so that it would be really secure. It was at this point that he suggested I just repaint the thing while it was taken apart. I agreed to repaint, but then life got in the way (I still am not quite sure about how to paint with a baby around) so Bob, being the good father-in-law/grandpa that he is, painted it for me. I love the way it turned out! Thanks Bob!

BEFORE:

AFTER: (Yeah, it's white...kind of hard to tell)

Henry loves it...

most of the time...

(This is what he looks like when he runs out of cheerios...)

Finished kitchen cabinets...

I've been talking about these kitchen cabinets for awhile now (evidence here, here, here, here, and here...they are linked in reverse chronological order) and they are finally done. Well, they've been done for awhile, but I just realized that I hadn't taken the time to post the after pictures. Better late than never right? So, here they are:

Being used as the changing table in the nursery

The bottom cupboards are currently storing books. We have a ton of books for the baby. So many, in fact, that we even have some stored in the closet. John agreed to build a bookcase this summer out of leftover beadboard & fenceboards (my request). So look for that project coming soon.

The top two drawers are being used to store receiving blankets, burp rags, & sheets

The second cabinet we painted brown and are using as an entry console in our front room. It's basically empty at this point, but I'll figure out the perfect use for it soon.

I love that side panel piece...because I was originally going to use both cabinets in the baby's room, we only put the panels on the sides that would be exposed. Due to the fact that these pieces are now standing alone, we (John) now have 2 additional panels to make this summer. Boo.

Countertop material: pronomen butcher block from Ikea. This is also what we have on our kitchen countertops and I love it. Low cost & low maintenance.

Knobs: Pottery Barn classic hardware

Old door idea...

When Denise & Andrew moved into our Great-Grandma Bartel's old house the front door was in a state of desrepair. It was removed & replaced in order to ensure its occupant's security. Denise, recognizing buried treasure when she sees it, saved the door, and then gave it to me...I've been planning to do something wonderful with this door, and have had a few ideas, but I think this idea (discovered here) is by far the best I've seen yet.

The only problem for me is...I don't need a desk. And, I certainly don't need a desk without storage. However, I'm thinking I could use this idea and turn this door into an outdoor table (operation backyard improvement starts this summer). I'm wondering if I could make it with collapsible sawhorses so that it could be put up and taken down with ease (not sure that this would be a good idea for stability purposes...) And, the glass would be super heavy and not a great idea maybe, but I wonder if I could use a plexi-glass of some sort. Maybe that would be lighter & more outdoor friendly. I don't know, but it's fun to think about...I'll keep you posted.

Rebirth of the brown chair...

It's back...finally. Our local upholsterer finished it yesterday and called John while I was out at lunch with coworkers. Being the gem that he is, he drove down and picked it up amidst the ominous rain clouds. Not only did he pick it up, but he drove to the atm to pick up cash to pay for it, as I had the checkbook with me. When I arrived home from lunch, John had unloaded and set it up, just as you see below. He didn't utter a word about it, so when I walked into the room to show my mom the crib skirt, I let out a gasp and was elated with his stealth set-up & delivery (and, of course, the chair made me a tad happy as well).

Overall, I am very pleased. I was warned about this particular upholsterer's thread choice, and those warnings were indeed true. The entire chair was sewn with turquoise thread...crazy I know. Luckily, all of the seams on the chair are hidden, so this is not obvious. Until, of course, you examine the chair skirt. It's surprisingly not very noticeable, so it doesn't bother me. It mostly just makes me laugh, as does most everything else about our dear upholsterer. Our brown chair has now become the brown striped chair (with turquoise thread ;).

Check out that turquoise thread

View from the door

The best seat in the house

The Brown Chair...

We have a brown chair, or more accurately, we have the brown chair. It was the chair that Sharon rocked John & Jill in when they were babies. It was the site of many a nap for John in high school. It is old & it is, of course, brown.

John loves this chair. It became his after college. He will never part with it. It has been with us since the beginning of our marriage. And while it is truly a comfortable chair, the upholstery fabric has seen better days. It is faded, dirty, and worn. Yet despite these issues it remains a favorite. We haven't used it much as it seems to be a bit large & bulky for our living space, but we both knew that when the day came to expand our family we would welcome the birth of our first child with the rebirth of the brown chair.

That day has come. We took the chair to our local upholsterer today. This will be, literally, the first time that John has spent more than a night or 2 away from the chair (excluding his college years). When we dropped the chair off, the upholsterer marvelled at the quality of the chair. The frame was sturdy, the foam was intact. An "easy" job to complete he said. So now we sit and wait, on pins & needles, for the return of the brown chair. What a happy day that will be. Only to be closely followed by that April day that we are waiting for with great anticipation. I'm pretty sure John's first stop upon arriving home with Baby Wiebe will be the brown chair. What a celebratory occasion that will be...

seriously faded

The chair will be recovered in this brown ticking fabric. I was firmly told that the brown chair must remain brown, so I complied...

Kitchen Cabinet redo...

...he's started painting the cabinets. The hardware has been ordered. The countertops will be purchased this weekend. Hopefully we'll wrap this project up very soon.

Cedar Chest redo...

G. Sue gave me this cedar chest for my 8th grade graduation. It provides great storage and plenty of sentimental value, but its looks aren't exactly my thing. There were plenty of directions I could have taken this chest, but I didn't really have time to ponder any of them. So, I (John) just painted it your basic brown.

Before

Up Close

After...it is now officially out of the baby's room and into it's new home, where it will store blankets & miscellaneous table linens.

The kitchen shelves are now inside...

...They've been living in the garage for far too long now. John glued the baseboards on Saturday and brought them in yesterday. Prior to pregnancy I had envisioned them in our front room, but once we found out about the baby I thought I'd use them in the nursery...Um, now I'm rethinking that. They are huge! Which is great for storage purposes, but I'm not so sure about them being in the bedroom. We'll see though. I still have a few ideas about their final location. Right now they are currently primered, but will be painted a color based upon their final resting place. I also need to buy a countertop (most likely butcher block from Ikea at this point) and knobs too, which wil also have to wait until I actually know where I want to put it. I'll keep you posted.

G. Sue's stuff...

My mom and her four sisters gathered last weekend at G. Sue's house to begin the long and arduous task of splitting up her possessions. Her decision to move into a small apartment meant that much of her stuff had to go...to a good home. I made my requests known to my mom, and she did what she could to snag them, in a fair and gracious way, of course. Here's what I got:

Christmas came early this year. I love old pyrex and pretty much anything green. I also inherited a stool, bench, and old library table (it's amazing), but my mom is holding onto this piece for awhile :) Pictures of those items will come later. For now I'm enjoying my pyrex and glassware.