our newbie life

nursery part 4!

so this weekend we did the final step to finishing the nursery! all we need now is furniture and decorations!

a few weeks ago, before we painted, we sanded the hardwood floors. now it was finally time to finish them

this is the first project i wasnt allowed to help with at all, so i relaxed on the couch all weekend!

he still had to sand around the edges where the random orbit sander couldn't get reach:

before:

we used minwax high-build polyurethane (super stinky!)

the last floor we finished had to be stained, so we were really hoping this one wouldnt need stained; it took forever and it was a pain in the butt! so he tested a corner and we let we dry for 6 hours and decided it looked pretty good without stain! yay!!

he used a lambs skin pad to spread on the poly

after first coat:

we let it dry over night then he lightly sanded with 220 grit sand paper, swept and mopped it up (just with warm water to get the dust up)

then on to coat 2:

and it's all done!! soo exciting!

total time: 2 days

2 hours of work but lots of dry time

total cost: $41

poly: $33

lambs skin pad: $8

sandpaper: free (left over from last floor project!)

we're so excited it's done! ready to hang shelves and decorate, as soon as the furniture comes in!

30 weeks preggo, only 10 to go!

have a great week!!

~ Christina ~

home & garden show!

so we're going to the Pittsburgh Home & Garden show for the first time tonight and I'm SUPER excited about it! (click the link and you can get a $3 off coupon from them)

like i need more home project ideas put in my head....

but i really want to find some ideas to make our tiny yard prettier!

also....since the weather is still pretty crappy and we might be stuck in the house again this weekend....here's a pretty awesome Michael's coupon. Go get something fun to make! i might try to make candles this weekend while hubby works on the nursery hardwood floors!

nursery part 3

we're only 11 weeks away from baby time and now one step closer to being ready.

this weekend's project was painting and hanging the chair rail.

the nursery is 143 square feet so we went to Lowe's and bought already primed chair rail, 2 12ft pieces and 2 8ft pieces:

we used our mitre saw to cut the ends at a 45 degree angle.

once they were all cut we used the same dark blue from the walls and painted all the chair rail.

we used a 3/8 nap roller so that it got into all the grooves of the rail.

it took 2 coats since it was such a dark color and we let it dry over night.

the walls before the chair rail:

he used the level to make sure they were all perfect and a nail gun to hang them

he had to finish off the nails with a hammer.

and....all done....

clearly our last step is the floors...maybe next weekend...

here's our little guy at 28 weeks...

total cost: $67

chair rail: $55

paint supplies: $12

paint: used left over from the walls

total time: about 4 hours spread out over 2 days (+ drying time)

lessons learned:

measure twice, cut once!!

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