Archive for July, 2012

Crowning the New Office

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Posted by Rebecca, July 26th, 2012

Yesterday, my mom came over to watch Easton so that I could help Mike install the crown molding in our new office. If you recall from our adventures in installing crown in the nursery, I figured out the angles while Mike provided the muscle. We figured this second installation would be cake, though we had to work around the new built-in bookcases.

We picked up 12 foot pieces of molding so that we had less seams to caulk. We started simple with the 3 walls that didn’t have bookcases.

Seemed simple enough, though the wall was longer than 12 feet, so a seam was inevitable.

You can read all about the details of how we made our cuts in this previous post. Though we realized we must really be horrible at installing crown because it was impossible to match up the corners of these long 12 foot runs. The chances of our ceiling being level from end to end are slim to none. The pieces have some flexibility to them, but it’s still hard to get everything matched up to a point where gaps are caulkable. Therefore, we once again ended up breaking some of the longer pieces down to match up the corners perfectly. I think we’d rather build 5 more bookcases than have to install crown again, but at least this shorter wall was easier…

If you notice we didn’t nail the ends right away so that we could move the pieces to match the corners. We learned this trick the hard way last time 🙂

So that was the easy part, next was adding the crown to the top of the built-in. We thought it through a little (okay, not really too much) and decided to start with a straight run of molding across the top first.

When we did the paneled wall in the nursery, we topped it with a straight cut of crown and coped the side pieces into it. We thought we could go with the some method. We called it a quits since I had a baby to feed and we got all of the long pieces done. All that was left to do were these smaller pieces around the bookcases…

But yeah, that didn’t work. First, we need to put that top piece at more of an angle. We tried to install it so that we could avoid making cuts around 2 vents that are on the ceiling.

After that, we have to figure out how to make an inside corner and an outside corner in an incredibly small piece of molding. We’re not sure that coping was the right choice, since that piece is so small to begin with. Mike tried solving it for a bit today, but the little hamster that runs on the wheel in his head got tired and he came downstairs. I think I saw some smoke coming out of his ears from all of that thinking…

If we can ever figure this out, all we have to do then is caulk and paint the built-ins and trim! Then we will finally be able to start moving in to our new workspace… and Easton will have his playroom 🙂

Wish us luck for a speedy recovery solution!

Two Months

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Posted by Rebecca, July 24th, 2012

I know, it seems like I just posted about Easton turning one month old. Because that post was late, I practically did! So I set out to make sure this one was a little more on time. Yesterday, Easton turned two months old.

Can I tell you how much I love this baby? He has so much personality and it’s just such a great one. He has so many great expressions…

Every morning now I wake up to that smile. He’s been waking up and just cooing until I wake up. When I make eye contact with him, I get the biggest smile. The coos, the smiles, the giggles (which sound like a hur-hur) are so much fun. Sometimes he goes on and on with his two favorite noises, the owl (who-who) and the iGoo. Mike and I often wonder how we got such a chatty kid when the two of us are pretty quiet.

He had his two month check up today and he weighed in at 15lbs and 24 inches. He is seriously 2 months old and weighs 15lbs already?? The man loves his milk 🙂

By Easton’s 3 month post, I will be back at work full-time. I cannot believe I have only 3 weeks left at home with him and I’m trying to soak them up. As much as I want to ease him into the transition, I also cannot resist the urge to cuddle and kiss him all day long while I can.

Happy 2 months bub-bub! Now stop growing up so fast…

Some Built-in Updates

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Posted by Michael, July 19th, 2012

When I left you, I had just finished the base of our built-in’s for the new office.  The next step was to build up the sides and then finish up with the valance.  The sides weren’t too bad; mostly straight cuts, a couple nails and some glue.  I left off the back because we don’t have the right tools to make the exact cuts required.  We figured we’ll just prime the back and then paint it white to match the finished built-ins.  Not bad.

You can see in the pictures below, I put support braces at the tops and bottoms of each bookcase.  This was to ensure we could secure this thing into another stud besides through the sides.  I also used a boatload of liquid nails.  I’m pretty sure this thing is going nowhere.  I feel bad for the next homeowners should we decide to move and should they decide to take this thing down.  Oh man, they’re in for some fun.

Next up was beginning the support pieces for the valance.  This is where I became nervous.  I knew this would have to be able to support plenty of weight between the wood valance, molding and puck-lighting.  In addition to support, I knew this would need to be completely level.  But how do you get it completely level when your ceiling is about a half inch height difference from one end to another?  I’m not sure.  But it all worked out; one way or another.

I supported the valance cleat to the wall by drilling screws through just about every stud between the two bookcases.  It also has support with lots of liquid nails.  I think I’m forming an obsession.  I also secured each end to the bookcases via screw.

I then began securing my second cleat to the ceiling.  Do you know how hard it is to find a stud in a ceiling?  I knocked and knocked on the ceiling for probably a half hour trying to find each stud.  The stud finder didn’t help, at all; probably because I’m a bit too awkward holding that thing up against the ceiling.  You’re probably wondering where I am going with these cleats and how it all ties into the valance, huh?  Here is the plan.

Each cleat will secure a portion of the weight from the valance face and bottom.  Then the valance face will secure into the bottom creating a nice clean edge.  Dear god I hope so. You’ll also see I drilled a hole for the puck lighting which will sit on the bottom of the valance bottom.

Here you see the valance face mounted via screws to the front valance cleat. It’s also secured with screws through the sides of the bookcases.  This thing is going nowhere. Don’t worry about those gaps you see between the ceiling and the bookcase; the crown will hide a lot of these imperfections.  Phew.

This is the view from “inside” the valance.  You’ll see I drilled a hole for the puck-lighting again.  See that random screw?  It was my clever way of making sure the valance face stayed level and straight while I was securing it to the cleats.  The valance bottom will fit snug behind the valance front and the rear cleat.

So what’s on the remaining to do?  A couple things actually.

  • Install puck-lighting to valance bottom.
  • Run wires to the left bookcase (where the outlet is).
  • Secure valance bottom to the rear cleat and valance face.
  • Install crown molding.
  • Caulk the heck out of this thing.
  • Prime the heck out of this thing.
  • Paint.

Stay tuned. 🙂

The Finishing Touches

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Posted by Rebecca, July 17th, 2012

Now that we’ve used the nursery for a bit, I feel like I’m finally ready to wrap things up in there. For the longest time, I didn’t know if I wanted a rug and a mobile. I also had no clue what kind of arrangement to do for the gallery wall. I think I (mostly) figured it out!

First, the mobile. Back in January I posted about how I had no clue what kind of mobile to add or if I even wanted one. Well, once we finished the crib area with the paneled accent wall, the bedding and the chevron crib skirt I made, I decided that I didn’t want a mobile and liked the less is more look we had going on.

Well, fast forward a few months and Mr. Easton had other plans. He’s becoming so much more aware of his surroundings and I’m happy to report that he loves his room. He stares at his curtains, ABC art and giraffe sconces… like honestly, he does. He even sometimes enjoys his room so much that he giggles at inanimate objects. There’s something around his closet area that captivates him and always gets a giggle. I like to think it’s those polka dots I slaved over while 9 months pregnant. He’s a future designer…

As we begin to think about putting him in his crib in the upcoming months (sniffle sniffle, tear), we know he would absolutely LOVE a mobile. Wanting to stick with something minimal, I decided to go with one of the ones I found originally, from Little Dreamers Inc on Etsy.

I wanted to make a mobile on my own, but I saw that the Little Dreamers Etsy shop sold DIY mobile kits for $25. I figured that would save me some time cutting out all of those stars and I would pay probably $10-$15 in materials, so I set out to order it. When I told my mom, she told me that Easton would like his mobile before he’s 12. She offered to pay for it fully assembled so that I didn’t have to put it together. Since I’m still feeding Easton every 2 hours and the mobile has around 165 stars, I agreed to accept the offer. It will be here in 2-4 weeks 🙂

Up next is the gallery wall I’ve planned to do over the bookcase.

During one of Easton’s naps this weekend, I was actually able to make some progress! I settled on a nice little arrangement…

I also had a chance to spray paint the darker frames white, when the can of spray paint I was using decided to clog beyond repair. I’m also working on selecting photos and art to fill these things (though that little onesie is staying, after it gets ironed), so the details will be coming. Hopefully this week…as long as the spray paint gods are nice to me for round 2.

Finally, the rug. I knew eventually we’d want an area rug for the room, but I knew it wasn’t an urgent item so I held off. Now that Easton plays more, I really want to be able to put him down in there. I was originally eyeing up the Capel rug from Pottery Barn Kids in either light blue with navy or navy with white…

We have a gift card and I thought the 4’x6′ size would work. But when I measured it out in the room, it is way too small. We need a 5’x8′ rug, which means way more money. I’m back to the drawing board on this one, anyone have any suggestions? I’m actually not all that picky about looks on this one and I’d take any solid blue or green rug in various shades. Heck, I’d take a cool patterned rug as well! The important thing to me is that it’s soft for little knees and that it’s safe and not full of chemicals. All of the 5’x8′ cotton/wool rugs I’ve found seem to be $500. Recommendations welcome 🙂

ps- If I owe any of you an email, I apologize for the wait. Never mind the feeding a baby every 2 hours thing, but my laptop charger kicked the bucket so my computer time is limited. How does one’s charger die? One word… Macky. He chews wires. Twice in one month apparently. He needs to get a job.

Easy Art Switcheroo

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Posted by Rebecca, July 10th, 2012

Remember way back at Christmas time, when I framed some metallic wrapping paper to make our powder room all festive?

Well it stayed like that for much longer than I’d like to admit. One of my to-do list items before Easton was born was to switch out the paper in these frames. I planned to browse Target or Michael’s or something to get some brand new wrapping paper but I ran out of time and ended up using what I had around. I had a few sheets of different scrapbook paper hanging around and I dug out some gray and white damask sheets.

This time around I went with two of the same sheets of paper since I didn’t have two related patterns. But to change it up, I put one right side up and one upside down 🙂

This room is insanely, insanely hard to photograph since it’s well, a small powder room and painted nearly black. A full room shot is nearly impossible, but this gives is where we stand now…

Now that I look at that above picture, it’s quite funny that we can never get the frame and the shelves in the same picture. It looks like a drunken bathroom picture… or like our camera accidentally took that…while drunk.

We originally planned to add aqua accents to this room, but right now it’s just shades of gray and white. And I like it! I like the idea of keeping the shelves white and painting the mirror we have in there white. Then we can change out the accessories as we want and make a hand towel, pictures or little things on the shelf aqua or even red again around Christmas. Up next, I have a date with a can of white spray paint and the bathroom mirror. It’s long overdue.

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