nursery part 2

today was a LONG day....6 month pregnant back did not enjoy sitting on the floor all day painting! the couch and heating pad feel amazing!!

it was definitely worth it though....today we striped the bottom half of the nursery walls.

hubbie has been planning and mapping this out ALL week.  he'll use any excuse to use Excel.  so here's our pattern, done to scale in Excel.  each wall on a different page....

he marked how wide each stripe was going to be and where the tape should go...i laughed at him but it was a HUGE help...no errors in the pattern at all...

he went around once to measure out the lines then again with a level so we knew where to put the tape.

we bought the 'delicate surface edge lock tape' so that it wouldn't take off any of the base coat.

all taped and ready to go....

our colors...they match the bedding perfectly

our audience....she always looks so sad...

the darker blue was 2 inches (rollers don't come that small so we had to use a brush for that, oh and 3 coats!), lighter blue was 3 inches, and brown was 6 inches.

break to stretch, take pictures, and 26 1/2 week belly shot...

getting close...

all painted, just have to take off the tape...we were a little nervous....

looks pretty awesome!  the top of the stripes look ugly but the chair rail will cover it.

close up...

as exhausted as we are, i'm glad we got it all done (with help from aunt bri and nana) in one day! taking tomorrow off to go to ikea!!  and we get next weekend off to go to NYC!  chair rail and floors in 2 weeks!!

total time:  8 hours

prep (measuring and taping): 3 hours

painting/dry time in between coats: 5 hours

total cost for striping:  $74

paint: $44

supplies (mini rollers, brushes, and tape): $30

nursery part 1

it's finally time to start the nursery!

we probably could've made the wall color in the spare bedroom work, but we wanted to change it.

before: light green and wall-to-wall carpet...

we ripped the carpet up and poor Cali didn't know where to go...

they look pretty good in this picture but they need some work...

we rented the random orbit sander again ($42 for 4 hours and it only took 2 to finish)

lookin good...we used 24, 36, and 80 grit sand paper again 

she really hates weekends now...she just lays there and watches us all day...poor thing...

i had to write his name on the wall with the primer!

no more green...all primed...

belly shot....25 1/2 weeks

we're hanging chair rail to split the walls so we had to tape it off...

baby blue on the top

light brown on the bottom...puttin my sister/Cole's Godmother to work...

all done with the base colors...

it made the room so bright! next weekend we're striping the bottom half!! can't wait!

"homemade" pizza

soo normally we just order pizza but we thought for once we'd make our own.

less grease and way cheaper! not quite as good but a few more times and it might be even better!

we didn't make the dough or sauce or anything from scratch...but it's a start right....

our ingredients:

pillsbury pizza crust
mozzarella & provolone cheese mix (whole bag)
pizza sauce (we used the whole jar)

click here for a coupon for the pizza crust

more cheese and some flavor:

ready for the oven:

ten minutes in the oven and it looks delicious!!

i thought it was really good but hubbie thought the crust was too soft.

next time we'll follow the instructions for a crispy crust!  but it was super easy and quick to make and way healthier than ordering in!



updating the bathroom

so when we moved in, the bathroom was our absolute least favorite room of the house! we threw on a paint of coat, hung a shelf, and bought a cute shower curtain and rug and it looked 10x better! but a year later we wanted more....

we really wanted to cover that old looking floor, replace the ancient, water-hogging toilet, and change out the medicine cabinet (which involves moving the lights and we weren't up for the electrical challenge yet...)

here's a few before pictures....

ugly floor....

ugly toilet....the seat didn't even match and the inside was so stained...it never looked clean!

got the toilet out...pretty stinky....

you have to shove a towel in there so the sewer fumes don't come out.

we took the sink out too to make it easier to lay the floor

we bought the 1sq ft peel and stick floor tiles (a box of 30 was around $30 and then we needed 5 extra squares)

it was pretty easy though.  you just measure to the center of the room and work out from there so that the cut pieces are all on edges. we had a hard time cutting them at first, but if you just score them with a blade-you can fold them and they'll break perfectly

a few hours later (i didn't help too much on this project, so no action pictures) the finished product:

(don't mind the hole in the wall...there was a tile toilet paper holder that fell and shattered and we haven't found a solution yet...ideas!??!)

 

new toilet...$90 and its supposed to use way less water



it looks soo much different....

total time: 

took us ALL day saturday (we had to leave for a lunch/pee break since the water was turned off) so probably about 10 hours of work (some of the edge pieces took awhile to perfect...around the door frame and tub)

total cost: $129

floor: about $36

toilet: $90

new water supply line: $3

lessons learned:

1. buy more floor pieces than you need so you don't have to run back to the store.

2, remove all of the old wax under the toilet before attempting to put the new one down...it will save lots of yelling/throwing things.



gender reveal party!

soo we had our ultrasound on dec 27 (late christmas present!) and found out the sex of our baby!!

we kept it a secret from everyone for 4 days so we could have a party and tell them all at once!

i cheated and baked boxed cupcakes but i did make homemade icing! i colored a little bit of it to fill the center with so when everyone bit into them they knew if it was a boy or girl!

i found the recipe for the icing on on Wilton's website and it was super easy and soo delicious

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

put the icing on with an icing bag add both colors of sprinkles and nobody will know until it's reveal time...

team 'cole'

team 'emma'....we had way more on our side!

reveal time....

its a BOY!!

baby Cole David at 20 weeks!

we're soo excited and can't wait for him to be here....now onto the nursery!