The Dog Days of Winter

 

 Good day to you all!  Just popping in to say hi, and to show you that adorable time-lapse. :) Currently on the sewing table... a Valentines Day dress for Emmy!  People really, if all goes to plan, this will be the cutest, epicest (yeah) dress I've ever made her.  We'll see!  I designed it myself and made the pattern myself!  Eeep!  I think I'm going to take photos as it comes together, so if it seems like it's going to come out a success, I'll share the process with you!  If not, I'll curl up in a shame ball.  Wish me luck!

Hello, beautiful babychild. :)

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Playroom Inspiration and Ideas - Part II

Good Wednesday to you! Let's jump right back into the playroom eye candy, shall we?  The last post was mostly about storage and the bigger things in the space.  This time it's all about the decor - because what fun is a playroom without lovely things to look at and spark the imagination?  NO fun! Seriously, the first thing I'm putting in the room is a pink Christmas tree.  Fo' real.  This past Christmas was the first one where Emmy sort of 'got' what was going on, and let me tell you - the tree and the lights were the most amazing things to her - it was true love at first sight.  So I'm going to have a tree in the playroom for us to decorate for every different season and holiday!  And pink just to save the real green one for Christmas. :)  The hubs even agreed to it!  :O BEHOLD! 

Source: foreveradriana.tumblr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  I have no words.  We're getting one. To counterbalance the overwhelming artificiality of a pink tree, I want to bring in some living stuff.  I think either a cool potted plant or a terrarium!  I'm leaning towards the terrarium because of the scale of it - I think it'd be more interesting to Emmy than a random houseplant.  Here's a really cool set: 

Source: marthastewart.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  Pretty kid friendly!  And we could have many!  Totally dig the painted lid with the critter on top, too.  The only expense for these really would be the plants themselves!  Score. I'm sure that in time the walls will be covered with Emmys various masterpieces (masterpi?), but until then, the walls'll need some lovin'!  I came across this sort of mini gallery wall below... What struck me was the dress!  I am a big fan of gallery walls, especially ones with unexpected elements; ones that aren't solely framed art. 

Source: covetgarden.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  The first thing I thought of when I saw that was the Sunshine Sunsuit!  It's not going to fit her ever again, so what a nice tribute to hang it on the wall for all eternity, no?!  Plus the bright yellow will be a nice burst of color, since we're talking basement here.  Oh, and I love everything else in the above room too. Another beautiful space with a dress on the wall: 

Source: withtwocats.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  How awesome is like, all of that? Even though we are getting the Expedit units for most of the toy/book storage, I am head over heels in love with this idea for books: 

Source: dejligheder.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

   Right?!!  All of her favorites right there for her to flip through!  I think it's genius.  And really, what are we talking here - an old dresser drawer and some legs?!?  LOVE.  Making one. Now if I've left any room for anything else, I'd love to have a dedicated art area, like this: 

Source: 2.bp.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  Epic, right!?  I think I could make a mini version of this and be just as happy with it. :) And lastly here's what I'm thinking for a rug.  Since rugs are bananas expensive - the ones I like anyway, I think I'm going to use this throw from Ikea, and just put a no-slip pad under it:

Source: ikea.com via Sarah on Pinterest

  It's just a basic black and white striped job, and it's $19.99.  No joke!  I could get two and stitch'm together to cover the whole flippin' basement!  I love how it adds visual interest, but it's still essentially neutral. So there you have it!  I can't wait to really sink my teeth into this!  I know Emmy's going to love it for years and years, and it will certainly help us stay in our small house much longer! Have any of you made a dedicated playroom in your house?  Leave a link in the comments - I'd love to see it!   Much loooooooove! 

Playroom Inspiration and Ideas - Part I

Happy 2012 everyone!  Going good so far?  All's well on my end... no natural disasters to speak of yet in this new year!  Holler!

More good news... Emmylou has been in a speech pathology program for a month or so now and she's making adorable great progress!  A few months ago, we had her assessed for a possible speech delay, as she was only saying about 5 words consistently, and we were starting to worry that perhaps she needed some help.  We were right, she's delayed.  She's almost two (really!?) and she's wicked smaaht as far as her social and cognitive skills are concerned - so the delay in communication was troublesome to us.  But since seeing her pathologist once a week she's got several more words - and they absolutely slay us when she says them!  Her tiny little voice is the most precious music to our ears!  Seriously, I'm going to take a video of her saying "jooooooouice!" just so you guys can swoon with me. :)

Ahh... happy Mama.

Anyhow, let's get down to biddness!  Playrooms!

Tambourine!

Source: polkadotsandpuppies.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

We live in a one-freaking-hundred year old farm house.  To say that we are tight on closets/room/storage in general would be a negligent understatement (people, my sewing room is in our laundry room).  The bulk of the actual 'space' in our house is in the unfinished attic (that has like, 12 foot ceilings - helloooo, master suite!!?!), and in the partially finished basement.  Our living room, dining room, and kitchen are pretty small.  Cute and functional, but small.  And they're FULL of Emmys flotsam and jetsam.  So with her second birthday approaching we've realized that she cannot receive one more toy/book/thing unless it has a place to go besides under the couch or in the bathtub.  So we're putting our responsible adult pants on and changing the basement from what currently looks like a college frat house (we literally have Tool posters on the walls and coins glued to the floor ala Empire Records) into a playroom for the Emski!  There is a TON of usable space down there and it would be much better served as a place for her than it is for guitars and beer cans and karaoke machines, amiright?

The basement is finished enough to get right to it, so all we need is some good storage and some delightful accents!  Here are some of my inspiration rooms thus far:

First things first - we are going to get two (three?) of these Expedit book shelves from Ikea.  They are the Holy Grail of storage solutions.  Then I can hit up HomeGoods for all the lovely baskets my heart desires.

Source: younghouselove.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Books, toys, more books... Perfect!
Here's another room with Expedit units, two of 'em!:

Source: houzz.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  So much storage, and yet they don't take up much floor space.  Win win.  I'll take 3, thankyouverymuch.

I love the idea of having a swing in the basement!  I think Emmy's a tad too young right now, but in the future I can see this being really fun:

Source: remodelista.com via Sarah on Pinterest

And see that HUGE map there?  I love that too!  But maybe just a US map for now - I don't see us setting off to tour Switzerland any time soon.  I realize that a world map has wonderful educational purposes, but she's not even 2.  ;)

Here's another playroom with a swing:

Source: blogs.babble.com via Sarah on Pinterest

So cool.

We also want to have a cozy place in the playroom, for movie nights and book reading and spontaneous cuddling and such.  Here are a few adorable inspirations for such coziness:

Source: shelterness.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: fancyhouseroad.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Hey, another world map!
I LOVE the storage in the above room.  It's a whole wall of cozy organization.  Ahh...


Ok, wow!  That's enough for now!
Stay tuned for Part II!

Much love!