January 2017 – Page 3

Mood Board – Family Room

Addition / 7 years ago

Sweet Family Room – how I long for you. What, with your plush carpeted surface, and your bright windows and doors that open directly on to the future deck…I just can’t get you off my mind. It’s creepy but it’s true.

We are so excited for a space that will be wide open with plenty of room for lego building, blanket forts, and slumber parties. We also just need a room that is wall to wall carpet. Our sweet babies have bonked their heads enough times on our hardwood. We’re over it. I want a play area where it’s ok to fall down and not have to worry about following full concussion protocol.

Here is the outline of the space once more:

Here are the very basic ideas we have about the design:

I want to play with pattern/texture as much as possible in this space while trying to keep a majority of the color palette light and airy. These throw pillows are a good representation of the color accents I like – mostly blues. I found these at Target a few months ago. Home Goods and World Market are also among my go-to shopping spots when it comes to throw pillows.
This sectional from IKEA is the dream for this room. Relatively inexpensive, comfy, and it’s got nice, clean lines.
I really like this Tripod lamp from Target.
As I mentioned before, we’re going with carpet (& double padding) in the family room. We put a deposit on this carpet at RC Willey.
This rug has just enough pattern and brightens up the vast expanse of darker carpet. Layers of carpet for the win! No helmets for my kids!
We have picked up a couple of mid-century dressers to use in the kids’ rooms. When Ivy’s room gets a closet (a part of the addition plan), we are going to relocate her dresser to use as a media cabinet in the new family room. We have lucked out on Craigslist a time or two but one of my favorite spots for finding mid-century goods is Boise Vintage. Ooh. Also. The Bench Commission is where I found Leo’s dresser.

The other thing we get out of this addition is a boatload of wall space. Adam is a photographer and has taken all of these wonderful pictures of our kiddos that need to be freed from a memory card (and our Facebook/Instagram feeds) and plastered all over our walls. This, to me, means putting together our own gallery wall above the television.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Hooray for families. Hooray for rooms. Hooray for family rooms.

-Layne

The Rundown

The Rundown / 7 years ago

This week, we celebrated that we didn’t have to go into survival mode (as forecasted for a local weatherman whose name rhymes with Sin Grogsby). Strange weather conditions were supposed to be a recipe for power outages/flooding – thank goodness that didn’t happen because how would Ivy watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?

We have it awfully good and we’re grateful we stayed warm and dry.

Here are some of the other good things we noticed this week.

Adam: Oh man, I love our truck.

Most purists wouldn’t call it a truck since it’s a Honda, but the 2006 Ridgeline has been a great purchase. I’ve used it as a hard-core work truck, overloading almost two tons of dirt into the short bed during our patio remodel project, pulling campers, hauling canoes, and just plain working when we need it. I’ve thought multiple times about trading it in for an F150 or some other “real” truck, but this last week, as we’ve struggled through two feet of new snow and icy roads, the full-time all-wheel drive has just been too much of an advantage. And we’ve taken 13-hour trips with friends in the back seat and they’ve had no issues with comfort. It’s a great vehicle, perfect for DIY people like us.

Layne: I’ve been working on mood boards for our new space over the last month or two so when a sponsored Instagram ad for “Design Home” came across my feed, I clicked on it thinking it might be a fun way to design our space. As it turns out, Design Home is a home decorating game wherein you’re given a budget, virtual access to furniture/accessories, and daily design challenges – not a 3D mood board generator. I’m kind of glad I was wrong because it’s pretty fun.

This is one of the rooms I put together for a design challenge.

This app is addicting. There are drawbacks (I hate in-app purchase games) but, overall, it’s a fun outlet for those of us who love $4,500 rugs but can’t afford them/our children would ruin them. You can download Design Home in the App Store.

Also – I cried like a baby whilst watching President Obama honor VP Joe Biden.

Ivy: Ivy’s put together a bit of a nap renaissance over the last couple of weeks. I was relatively sure that she was just done with naps altogether (unless we’re riding in the car, on the way to Starbucks, listening to a podcast ((yes, there’s always a plan B)) and then, after waking up a 2.am. on New Years Day (thanks for Grandma and Papa for taking that one for the team) – she took a threeee houuuuuurrrrrr nap. It’s like she tasted the greatness of rest again and she’s been coming back for more. So. Naps. She likes them again.

Ivy’s friend, Rowan, has passed down all Ivy’s favorite outfits to her including these new-to-her princess pajamas.

Also. She doesn’t know it yet, but I bought her a birthday dress (this one on super sale from the Gap).

Leo: Both Leo and Ivy received homemade loveys from their Aunt Karen for Christmas.

When he was down for his nap a couple days ago, I caught him cuddling his lion.

Man, I love my kids when they’re asleep.

Have a fantastic (long) weekend!

-Adam & Layne

The Making of a Striped Nursery

Baby Girl / 7 years ago

When we found out we were having a girl, I headed to Pinterest for room inspiration. I knew I wanted stripes on the wall – just wasn’t sure what they would look like.

I liked this:

I also really liked this:

So gold became the obvious choice because all my pins were gold and stripey. Our friends Daniel and Katy gave us the gift of painting the nursery for our baby shower (Daniel is a professional). Here’s how they did it!

First, Daniel measured the wall, divided the inches by eight (eight stripes) and marked everything off by tracing faint lines on the wall with a pencil. Then, he and Katy went to town painting these chunky gold stripes (Ralph Lauren Metallic in Burnished Gold).

The next few steps were just genius to me. I wanted thin gold lines (a little reminiscent of notebook paper) so Daniel and Katy applied strips of masking tape (the regular masking tape – not the blue stuff – Daniel insists the regular stuff is much better) on top of the dry gold stripes.

Then, they painted the white color (Sherwin Williams in West Highland White) right over the tape.

Next came the hard part: being patient enough to let the paint dry before we were able to pull the masking tape off (one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done!). I think we eventually had to leave the house just to fight off the impulse to go for it.

Sigh. Still one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.

Two years later, we still love it.

-Layne