Monday, July 27, 2009

THESE FOUR WALLS

This stay-at-home-mom thing can do a rigorous tap dance on ones psyche. I vacillate between loving every moment of childhood activity while bearing witness to the discovery of life turn the wheels of my daughters little mind - and the feeling of being caught in my very own "Groundhogs Day" movie where the same thing happens over and over and over......and over. I would never take a second of this back and feel, oddly, lucky to have lost my job because I can do what very few moms get to do - really be here for my little girl every day....but jeeez, I'm only human and it can be a challenge to feel fresh and excited for each new day of the same thing.

Now that I have that off my chest (feel free to judge if you are so compelled). I feel I must say that I am fortunate to have had the time and resources over the years while creating our home. Where we hang out ... EVERY DAY of the week ... ALL DAY ... um DAILY. I have realized now more than ever, I like this place. Its nice. Thought I would post a few pics of one of the most inhabited in our small handful of rooms, the nursery.


Few notes on the details:
  • Yea, I painted my little GIRLS room blue...SO?! Don't make me bust out with a lecture on gender socialization people. The other walls are pale grey with huge tonal polka dots on them that my fabulous designer friend painted with a stencil when I was so pregnant I was about to burst (I did make her some rockin pasta in exchange though - I'm not running a sweat shop or anything.)
  • The white chandelier is a vinyl applique from Bilk.
  • The multicolored artwork is a series I painted for her based off of attributes that Mike and I wish for her to have in her life (love, imaginative, happy, confidence and compassion .... its probably not hard to guess which words I chose and which were my husbands.)
  • The crib and dresser are from Walmart.....I KNOW right??!! Who knew? I did replace the wooden dowel legs that came with the set to square metal ones though. I was trying to make it look like the Oeuf crib - that we would have had to take a small equity line out on the house to afford.
  • I scoured online for months to find fabric I liked for my crib bedding and a wonderful friend of mine (my sister through gift) made the sheets for me. The one shown is a raspberry color but we also have one in an orange and white tropical, yellow and white leaf pattern, and pale pink and white damask.
  • The Ikea shelf is full of books, small toys and goofy photos of us (one where we were on vacation with our snorkels on after a dive trip, and one of us...kissing on our first date. I know, I'm a floozy what can I say.)
  • My mom and I recovered a tan Target Ultrasuede ottoman with some amazing embroidered felt fabric, and I must say - we did a DAMN good job!!
  • Mike and I searched high and low for a cool looking rocker (that, again did not cost the same as a four door sedan, from a modern baby website) and I am here to tell you - such a rocker does not exist. So we found this one, the price was right, it looks sleek and swivels back and forth. Something I THOUGHT was going to be equally as soothing to a baby as rocking but was wrong wrong wrong. We ended up in a mad dash to borrow an old beat up rocker my mom had in storage for the first 3 months in an effort to soothe the savage beast. Crisis averted and we are now loving this ones compact size and chic styling without that whole messy 'function' thing in the way.
  • The table is a clearance find from a modern furniture store that was originally created with open holes in the side for magazine storage beneath. I had some plexiglass squares cut at the hardware store and affixed them inside, added a suede 'handle' to the glass top for lifting and now use it for stuffed animal storage. I would like to think that this small unit will always have enough volume to store our entire cache of stuffed animals but something tells me that I am on crack with that one (a mom can dream right).

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome room! I especially like the table, although Horton really looks like he's hoping to get out of there!

Heather G. said...

Thanks! They do have a tortured look somewhat...booohahahahaha!

Unknown said...

Love this blog entry. You had me laughing outloud. Everytime I see that little box of stuff toys...it takes me back to the day I walked by it and said...heather loves that sort of thing! and wah la, you creatively make it a stuffed animal storage box with satin handles!! love you! you rock sister.

Heather G. said...

thanks auntie Nic - I aim to please!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the shout out! Miss you! When's movie night?

Heather G. said...

No problem K. Thanks for the blood sweat and tears! You too - and whenever you want!

Cindi Byron-Dixon said...

Heather, Love Rya's room!! I started finger painting with Joella when she was about Rya's age. Started out as a way for me to kill some time. Got some awesome "modern art" out of it!! Crayola has a non toxic that comes in a toothpaste like tube which worked best for us because it's a little thicker. ~Cindi

Anonymous said...

Her room is perfect! Rya is fortunate to have such and artsie mom.

Sue Byron said...

Love the pops of color in Rya's room. It's perfect! Ya done a swell job, there!

Josie's Sewing Room by JoAnn Burke said...

We need to find a publisher and do books!

 
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