Fairhope children's consignment sale

The timing of finding out we are expecting a little boy this May couldn't have been better.  Just a few days after we discovered we were having a boy, Fairhope had their semi-annual children't consignment sale and I really racked up.

 These are just a few of my favorites for our little boy.

 And of course I bought both the girls stuff, too.  Here are Faith's clothes.

And these are Grace's.  One thing I've really noticed about these consignment sales is that a ton of stuff can be found for kids in sizes 3T and under, but once you get bigger than that the pickings becomes quite slim.  I guess soon I'll start having to buy Grace brand new stuff.  Regardless though we are set for this summer I think.  Especially since I went back on 1/2 price day and bought a whole lot more...+

4 year olds like to play in boxes, too

After our family photo shoot the other day, Grace wanted to stay outside and play in the box.

 So we let her.

 She might be a bit big for that particular box though.

And she pouted for a bit after I told her we had to throw the box away.  If it was up to Grace, we'd play in boxes every day.

Dressing up an old dresser

This is an old dresser that I found at a garage sale (only $35) in Omaha roughly 2 years ago.

It's functional if not very pretty.  And since we didn't have a good sized dresser for the baby's room, I decided to give this one a facelift.

After using two cans of spray paint and some green glass knobs that I found on clearance at TJ Maxx (who knew glass knobs were so expensive?  I priced some at Home Depot for $8-$15 each before deciding to just reuse the original wooden ones.  But then I found these green glass ones for a buck a piece and just couldn't resist them since the nursery is cream, yellow, and green...), here is the final result.  

Please ignore the splotchy-looking paint job.  I took this picture 1 hour after painting since the paint was dry to the touch.  It won't be 100% dry until 24 hours after painting.  From my past experiences with spray paint, the overall color and sheen will be more uniform after it's fully dry... 

All in all, I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Repurposing an old chair

Remember this old chair?

I finally got around to reupholstering it with some fabric I got a couple of months ago.

 I think it's a great improvement.

Now it finally has the girly look I want for Grace's room.  I'm certain Grace will love it.

Bringing new life to old frames

While in Charlotte my mother-in-law and I went to a garage sale and found this beautiful mirror for only $5!

After I got it home, I covered the mirror with paper and used a little spray paint to give it new life.

Then David and I hung it in Grace's room next to her bed.

And Hope brought me this old frame when she came by to visit.

It too received a good sanding and a fresh coat of paint.  And I was finally able to frame the artwork that David and I bought on our  last cruise.  I adore this piece!  It is a limited edition color lithograph on Unryu-shi paper titled "Tarlatans" by Douglas Hoffman.  I love his work!  After giving life to the old frame and providing a home to this treasured piece of art, we finally hung it over Grace's bed.

 And here is a picture of her room with her mirror to the right of the bed and the framed art above it.

A family treasure gets a face lift

This is Grace's desk.

She calls it her "boo tare" (blue chair).

As you can image, it's quite an old desk.  In fact, I remember playing on it when I was a little girl.

After a half hour of sanding (using an electric sander, of course), two cans of red enamel spray paint, a warm sunny day outside, a painter's mask (remember I'm pregnant folks, and didn't want to chance harming the baby.  So yes, I wore the silly looking painter's mask while painting outdoors for all the neighbors to see), and a lot of patience while waiting for the paint to dry, Grace's favorite "boo" (blue) chair is now a bright and cheerful red. 

When Grace first saw it, she said, "Oh my boo tare!  What happen to my boo tare?"  (Oh my blue chair!  What happened to my blue chair?)  Uh-oh.  My heart plummetted to my stomach as I told her I painted it for her.  Then she said, "Oh it's boo-full, Momma!  I yub it!"  (Oh, it's beautiful, Momma!  I love it!)  Whew!  For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to buy some blue paint and start all over again.  Thankfully she loves it and so do I.

Time to dust off my sewing skills

I have been thinking about recovering the desk chair in Grace's room for some time now. 

Her chair has a nice shape and is comfortable, the cover is just really natty and covered in paint stains (from me, not her - when I painted and painted our house in Omaha).  After searching for a long time, I finally found the perfect fabric for her chair.   

I love the pink and greens in this striped upholstery fabric.  The creamy yellow is the same color of the walls in Grace's room.  I think it's girly and fun, but not toddler-ish.  I don't think Grace will outgrow it too soon.  Best of all, it was on clearance!  So I bought enough to cover her desk chair and extra to maybe recover my glider for the new baby.  Or maybe I'll make some throw pillows for her bed.  I actually have enough to do both.  Anyway while shopping at the fabric store, I also found this fabric.

I really like this pattern and it has the same colors as the striped fabric.  So I bought it, too!  I am going to make a quilt for Grace out of it.

I took the extra vanity area off our bedroom and turned it into my sewing and crafting niche.  I am so excited to dust off my sewing skills that I can hardly wait to get started! Wish me luck!