Archive for January, 2012

Jost Van Dyke House Tour- Master Bedroom

25 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, January 31st, 2012

I planned to share all of the pictures of the house we stayed at while on vacation in Jost Van Dyke, but as I started going through them I realized that I’m going to have to make this a 2 part post! There are just too many great parts I want to share without overwhelming you with a 50 picture/video post. For today, I will share the master bedroom suite area that we stayed in. I loved loved loved staying in this room. Sometimes I just layed in bed and stared out of the windows. It was like going to the beach, minus the maternity bathing suit πŸ™‚

Our bedroom was the first one you came across when walking down this path from the entrance.

The house was actually made up of several different buildings, connected by patios with loads of outdoor living. Like, if I wanted water in the middle of the night we had to walk outside.

Hey look! I have a tour guide πŸ™‚

The room started with a small sitting area.

Yes, I am kicking myself for not opening these shutters above the desk so you could see the ocean…

It just rained a lot at night and the water would blow right in through those shutters, so we kept them closed most of the time to avoid the random tropical storm.

The sliding wood doors lead to the main part of the bedroom…

Complete with king sized bed (we are now even further convinced that we want one) and Tempurpedic pillows. Do you know how much a Tempurpedic pillow costs? I can tell you. $129. I know this because I was so comfortable in this bed that I struggled when I came home. I figured hey I’m pregnant, maybe I should get myself a new Tempurpedic pillow! What could it cost, $40? The one I was sleeping on is $129. I shall suffer with my old pillow I’ve been sleeping on for about 5 years…

The bed only had light sheets on it because the temperature was perfect. Nice cool ocean breeze. No AC necessary in Jost. Could you imagine a climate where you didn’t need heat OR AC? It was wonderful and the windows opened completely to let the breeze in. It wasn’t so good when it would randomly start pouring, but such is life in the tropics.

Even more wonderful? The views from this room. Seriously the greatest views I’ve ever seen.

These hardcore binoculars were fun to play with too. I kept calling it a telescope…

Here’s the view of the bed area looking back towards the entrance/sitting room…

Besides the views, the first thing that caught my eye when we came into the room was this half wall thingy behind the bed.

The sconces above the bed each had their own light switch and acted as bedside lamps. This is exactly what we planned to do for our master. Equally as great was the wood planking behind the bed…

This wall acted as a room divider to the dressing area.

Oh and the wood planked ceilings! Another thing we wanted to add to our bedroom! The high ceilings in this room made it even better.

There were his and hers closets back there, a vanity area and open shelving full of baskets for storage. At first I didn’t get why they split the room in two, but then once I lived in it I realized that this was a genius idea. It allowed me to change while keeping the windows open (I figured if I have high powered binoculars and can see people lounging on the beach way out in the ocean, those people on boats probably have them too!) The room divide also allowed the bed to be that much closer to the view. If the bed was pushed back, it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable.

I loooved the idea of the mixed and matched baskets.

I’m that person that never unpacks on vacation. Not because I’m lazy, but because a) I have a fear of forgetting something and b) hotel dressers creep me out. But I unpacked here πŸ™‚ I liked being able to throw my clothes in baskets and be able to see everything I had to choose from. Plus I could break everything down easily, like one basket for tanks, one for tees, one for accessories, one for pants, etc. I like being able to see my clothes and only use our dresser at home to store off-season clothing.

The door on the other side of the room led to the bathroom…

The room had a walk-in shower, sink, clawfoot tub and separated toilet.

The shower was tiled with slate and all of the floors were a natural stone that felt like you were walking outside.

The ceilings in here were amazing as well!

If only I could replicate the feel of this room here in NJ. We had a pond view from our bedroom for a few months, but then they built the house across the street…

I’ll be back to share some pictures of the common areas of the house and the views later this week. I don’t have pictures of all of the bedrooms, but I do have a video I can share πŸ™‚

Vacation

5 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, January 30th, 2012

If you stalk my Facebook or Twitter pages, you already know that Mike and I were on vacation all of last week. We spent the week in Jost Van Dyke (pronounced Yoast, like toast, it took us all week to pronounce it correctly) in the British Virgin Islands. I planned to blog as usual from there at night, since I have yet to master the art of writing additional posts on weekends, but the internet connection was very unreliable and slow. The post I wrote about mobiles seriously took me 2 nights to get through because the photos took so long to load from Pinterest. Lesson learned: schedule your posts if you plan to secretly go on vacation.

Anyway, this vaca has been in the works for several months since we went with some friends of ours. With Darwin being sick, we were late to commit to the trip and didn’t get our passports renewed or buy plane tickets until about a month before. Mike surprised me with a first class plane ticket on the way there. We had to cancel our vacation in July because Darwin was so sick, so we had a hefty airline credit to use. I have never flown first class and MY GOODNESS. I never want to go back to coach. But I did, because we are too cheap to pay for first class both ways. So coach it was for the way home! And it was awful because we hit so much turbulance and I get motion sickness. Oh and no one handed me a warm cookie and a blankie…

We all rented an amazing house on the island, which I will share some pictures of another day. The island is very very small and secluded. The house we stayed in was not accessible by car and we had to take a major hike to catch a cab. And by cab I mean an open safari-like vehicle that doubled as the island’s school bus. We had a small boat that was included in the rental of the house, which the owners use to get around the island. But considering I’m nearly 6 months pregnant, neither option was really ideal for me. Non-pregnant me would have loved all of the hiking on this trip. Pregnant me was winded and swollen for a good portion of the trip.

There was a small beach within walking distance (a hike down a rocky hill) of the house and any other place we had to take a taxi or a boat to. We made our way around to most of the main areas of the island, so these pictures cover a little bit of everything. The views from the house were seriously unreal.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! πŸ™‚

View from the house

Beach by the house

Captain Mike on the boat that was included in the house rental

Bubbly pool, as it’s called πŸ™‚

Just some rocks that I thought would make for a nice print around the house

Gingerly strolling along the rocks that kept poking through my flip flops

The pier for the house

Great Harbor

View from the house

Beach by the house

One of many rainbows we saw from the house

White Bay

I have tons of pictures of the bedroom we stayed in to sort through (as well as the rest of the house), so I will share them later this week. If I could have that bedroom for the rest of my life I would die happy. All it was missing was 3 cats. Don’t think we didn’t consider flying them down in first class to meet us… πŸ™‚

Going Mobile

6 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, January 25th, 2012

Up until this point, I think we’ve had a pretty good vision for what we want for the nursery. One element I haven’t put much thought into is what the heck to put over the crib. Though mirrors and pictures always look nice and classy, I still like the idea of having a fun mobile for the baby to look at. I’ve been assembling some happy medium choices on Pinterest since, well apparently, before I was pregnant.

First there are the tissue pom installations, which I always find appealing…

(from Melanie Bauer via Pinterest)

(from Sweet Tea Paper onΒ Etsy via Pinterest)

I’ve always liked big poofy things on the ceiling and they remind me of the paper lanterns we had at our wedding. I’ve even seen paper lanterns used in nurseries, which is a great option because those lanterns are cheap πŸ™‚

(from Cheap Chic Nursery via Pinterest)

Though I like the idea of something large that catches the eye, I think I’m leaning towards something smaller and more subtle. I love the idea of sticking with a pom, but on a smaller scale like these…

(from Petite Lemon via Pinterest)

(from First Time Fancy via Pinterest)

Then I found some mobiles made out of various shapes and they got the wheels in my head spinning. I definitely want to DIY something and here are some of the non-pom ones I’m currently loving…

I love the idea of pretty circles…simple, not complicated, but with major impact.

(from Lil’ Sprout Creations on Etsy via Pinterest)

(from The Whimsy Boutique on Etsy via Pinterest)

(from Jenna Bee on Etsy via Pinterest)

I also like the idea of more unique shapes, like this butterfly mobile…

(from Little Nest BoxΒ on EtsyΒ via Pinterest)

Or this one made out of letters…

(from Project Nursery via Pinterest)

Here’s one made with stars…

(from Little Dreamers Inc on Etsy via Pinterest)

I also love these little crocheted hearts…

(from Fave Crafts via Pinterest)

I do know how to knit and I started to learn how to crochet right before I started this blog. But then, my ‘hobby’ time went here. I wonder if I could knit a shape instead, considering that is more natural to me than crocheting? Hmmm…

Regardless of whether I use fabric, paper or yarn, I definitely want to make something that is appealing to a baby, but keeps some style to it. I’ll have to think of something creative to go with the rest of our nursery… whenever we start it πŸ™‚

Goal Setting 2012- Blog Edition

9 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, January 23rd, 2012

Last week, I listed some goals we’d like to achieve as far as house projects go. After I wrote that post, I realized how many goals I have for this lil bloggy that deserve some of my time. So hey, why not another list?!

1. Complete Casa Tour

I started assembling a bunch of pictures from when the house was being built and where it is now, but it quickly got overwhelming with trying to add to it, while going to school and writing posts. Now that I have a little more time, I need to finish it.

2. Make everything easier to navigate

One of my pet peeves is that my archives and categories lists are incredibly long over there. I’m not sure how to tackle making everything more user friendly (Mike, are you reading? Help?), but I’m thinking a drop down menu and being a little more conscious of how Mike and I categorize posts are a good start. Like realizing that I started an “outdoor space” category and Mike started an “outdoors” category. Whoops…

3. Add a list of our personal favorite projects

The current list we have over there on the right is a list of ‘Most Popular Posts’ that WordPress provides. It counts popularity as the posts that are most commented on, but we’d like to have a list of posts we like the most, complete with pretty thumbnails πŸ™‚

4. Add a Macky & Co button

Since we started our other, more personal blog we haven’t added any way for you guys to find it easily. We want to find a way to integrate it so that you know it’s ours and can check for updates without us having to tell you we posted or be obnoxious.

5. Prettier design!

The most important part and the part I’ve wanted to do for a good 6 months. I have no clue what I want to do with this part and this is pretty much why I haven’t accomplished numbers 1-4. I can come up with design ideas for pretty much any other discipline, but I cannot translate into website design. Mike always asks me to find some inspiration pictures or write down what I want since he designed our current layout, but I can’t visualize these things. I definitely want the current header gone and a cleaner look, but as far as colors, fonts, patterns and navigation… I am clueless.

Now that Mike ditched the full-time gig, I’m hoping he has a little more time to set aside to fix some of these things ::wink wink:: I patiently waited for him to have some more time and it would be nice to get this place in order before the baby comes. You know, like nesting πŸ™‚

The Belly Series

7 Comments

Posted by Rebecca, January 19th, 2012

First, thank you all who came back after we went dark yesterday to protest SOPA and PIPA. It was a last minute decision so I apologize for not posting a warning, but I felt it was important to support something Mike and I believe in. Though I didn’t see any other house blogs go dark, if these laws passed we would without a doubt be affected, if we could even exist. So thanks for your understanding πŸ™‚

On to the fun! I always knew that when I got pregnant I would want to chronicle the growth of my belly. Some people cringe at this thought and believe me, my self-esteem is not at its highest right now. But I felt that some day I would look back at these pictures and be thankful that I documented this time. I chose to take a photo every 5 weeks so that it would be frequent enough to capture growth, but not so frequent as to be difficult to maintain. Plus 5 weeks is easier to measure than months, which vary depending on how you count them.

I decided to wear something as simple and classic as possible– and to wear the same outfit in each photo. I felt that this way, the picture would be timeless and it would be easier to see how much my belly has grown. I also decided to stand against a white wall and make all of the pictures black and white, to adjust for any differences in lighting, skin color, etc. I started by buying a one size larger black tee from Old Navy and paired it with my boyfriend fit jeans from American Eagle.

And all together now!

Things I did not anticipate:

1. Getting the WORLD’S WORST HAIRCUT during week 10.

My hairstylist is out on maternity leave and I took whoever was available. I asked her to take an inch off of the ‘do in week 5 (which was longer by week 10). She did that funny mom cut to my head, which I tried to hide with a flowered headband. And that’s a flattering picture of it. It was missing chunks all over and I was forced to pin back layers to hide it through week 20. I’ve been told it’s going to take a total of nearly 6 months just to straighten out the mess she made. Getting a haircut while pregnant was not a smart idea, bad enough my clothes are not fitting, now my head looks funny too!

2. Not liking my outfit.

Black shirt and jeans? Perfect, right? The truth was even in my 5 week photo when I wasn’t showing, this wasn’t an outfit I’d leave the house in. I usually always wear layers and would probably never just throw on jeans and a black tshirt without some kind of tank top showing or accessories. I also I bought the shirt a size larger and it was awkwardly baggy. I probably should have worn something fitted so that it was more obvious when my stomach grew and it hugged me in the right places. Plus I worked at Chili’s when I was in college and guess what the uniform was? Black shirt and dark jeans…I swear I haven’t worn the same combo since. I don’t think I would necessarily change the uniform concept I had though, just maybe spend more time finding something I liked more.

3. Needing maternity jeans after week 20

I thought those American Eagle jeans were in it for the long haul. RIP guys πŸ™ Not that big of a deal though, I don’t think the denim swap will be noticable in future pictures.

4. Painting my photo wall

I was taking pictures in the new office every week, until we painted it dark blue. We had to squeeze into a white wall in the sitting room of our master and it actually worked out. The lighting seemed to be much better from the new angle.

I waited to share this idea until I started showing. I am actually 24 weeks now and I will need to add another photo the to the collection next week. I’m debating whether or not to change it up for the second half of my pregnancy… Maybe I’ll do a picture in my current favorite maternity outfit? Or start to accessorize the black shirt and jeans combo? I doubt that I’ll abandon the outfit all together, if for nothing other than to document for myself. Maybe I’ll do more than 1 picture every 5 weeks. Maybe strike a new pose or something. We shall see πŸ™‚

Copyright 2010 - 2011. The Lil House That Could. All rights reserved.