Making a House a Home

I've finally found a bit of time to share a few of the projects we have undertaken in the first month in Colorado Springs. I have some big "plans"  (aka Pinterest boards galore) for the house and have come to terms with the fact that it is going to take me a while to get everything just how I want it. So far we have had 6 house guests and I've changed a few things between each of their visits.  Also, I've been putting this off because we have been without end tables... but on Saturday we found three perfect ones!

It's my blog, so I only have to show you the rooms I'm done with and you can just wait and see on the other rooms. Without further ado...

The Playroom 

 This is one of the rooms that has a whole Pinterest board dedicated to it, but I am so impressed by how this little project turned out, I had to post it! Here are the instructions from i heart organizing.

My bench is actually one block shorter then the one from Jen's blog. We had an issue with size and covering heating vents. I wanted the bench under the window, so instead of building a wooden corner piece we just overlapped the shelves - we have 9 storage spaces instead of 10. The storage bins are fabric and from Ikea. Jen used the plastic ones from Ikea, but I didn't love the feel of them.  The fabric fit our purpose for now and are better since H is less likely to hurt himself on them.

The pillows are from a previous post and were in the nursery in the last house.  A few items have been re-purposed, including the diaper holder.

We have switched to cloth diapering and love it. However, now I don't need a diaper stacker. It has instead become a place to store some of H's animal friends and it fits our jungle theme for the play room! I have a lot of work left to do in this room, but at least now I have a place to sit while H plays on the floor and have plenty of storage space for toys.

The Family Room 

This is currently my favorite room in the house. I love how we all fit in it. Jeff can be watching football, H playing on the floor and I can sit by the window to read - all without tripping over each other. (Can you tell I was in base housing for too long! haha.)

The major project here was the wooden curtain holder over the big window. (I had to close the shades for the picture, but it has a beautiful view of the mountains.) The former owners had really dark fabrics up on these valances. I loved the polished look of the wood, but hated the fabric choice. In this room I used valances from our old house and reupholsterd it. (Thanks to my husband's staple gun, it was an easy fix.)  I'm not sure about what I want on the mantle yet, and I'm considering finishing the mantle so that it extends to the floor, but for now its nice to have a living space that feels finished.

The Nook 

This little nook is right outside our bedroom. I couldn't figure out what in the world I would do with the nook until I saw this piece of art at Pier One. I'm still debating if I love the vase there, but otherwise I love how well this piece fits there.

The Nursery 

I am so happy with how this room came together. The room was already painted yellow when we got the house. I was able to use a bunch of things that B from Practically Crafty made for my shower. I converted the table runner she made into a valance, I used the flags as wall decor and reused the lanterns.

I love the little collection of things over his crib - from invitations and pictures to little hand written notes, it really brings H's personality to the room. And I know you are not suppose to have bumpers! By 4 months, H was rolling all over the place and we were constantly finding him with an arm or leg between the slats... so bumpers it was. I tried the "breathable bumpers" and hated how they looked and how they felt. H was able to get stuck between them and the mattress because of how they connected. They also said "one size fits all" but we never got them to fit quite right in our crib. These bumpers are excellent and are from Carousel Designs. They are beautiful and lined with the softest fabric - we have had them for a few weeks now and love them.

I have one little spot on the wall there by the bathroom door that needs a little something... too many cute options, so I'm sure I will find something cute.

H's Closet

Another find from I heart Organizing. Jen had used an Ikea Expedit bookshelf to add additional space in her boy's closets. (See her blog for instructions.) We needed the additional storage and hanging room. The built-in wood shelf made the Expedit too tall for this closet. Instead we used the Expedit 2x2 shelf with amazing results. The extra hanging room is perfect and leaves us with four shelves that H will eventually be able to reach. When H is a bit older, I plan to add storage like Jen did in her tutorial.

Here is another close up:

As you can see, we have been quite busy. I have a handful of other projects up my sleeves so I'll keep you posted. I also have been hard at work on H's halloween costume and hope to have a preview of that soon. Until then... Happy Crafting! (and one last picture of H!)