Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Gender Specific Nursery Designs Part 3

Ok, this will be the last friends.

I designed these before I knew I was having a baby gal. 

Minimalist Glam Nursery
 This one was actually for a boy, but looking at it now, it kinda looks gender-neutral don't you think?
Pink Floral Nursery


I will not be fixing up the nursery anytime soon, although you can tell, I'm itching already.
I plan to do this in the summer and get lots of help. 

Anyway, here's a rundown of the other 2 nurseries I designed for baby girls...

Floral Nursery

Modern Disney Princess
So, which one do you think I'll be trying to do for our coming little one? Take your pick!


Have a Nice Day!

VEL

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Recent Scores

Despite all the "Baby Stuff" swimming in my head, and all the 'joys' of pregnancy that goes along with it (ladies, I know YOU know what I mean ;-). I still managed to squeeze in a little bit of thrifting/shopping in between and here are my latest scores...

$12.50

I could not pass this one up, and for that price, I'd be crazy to right?


Here it is in our entry :-)

$3.50 for the pair
Despite it's imperfections (it's got a lot of knicks on it's mane), the weight, material and over-all beauty of these bookends are just what I need for our growing library and book collection.

$3.50
You know I'm a sucker for brass, so this babies have to go home with me.



$67.00
Ok, I know she's not such a bargain compared to the others, but this lady is made by LLADRO and if you know what the name stands for, you'll see why this is such a bargain for me.

I guess I haven't mentioned that I have a small and growing collection of these beautiful and fine porcelain pieces, I have 8 so far and this is my 9th. I have one given to me as a gift and others I've also paid very reasonable prices for (from Ebay and Antique stores).
I never buy them full price or new, the hunt is what makes collecting these funner for me!

Last but certainly not the least, TJ Maxx clearance never fails to surprise me.
The original is on sale here already...

Original Price was $295 for King Duvet

Got mine for $49
Love this fish scale/rainbow pattern and I love how subtle the pink is in it too!



How about you, any great scores lately? Do share away!


Have a Great week!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Friday, April 25, 2014

Baby Gender Announcement


I just have to share this with you my friends...



This is what I posted on my Instagram and Facebook page yesterday.

It thought the clue was obvious, but about 3 people still tried to guess the baby to be a boy. ;-)

Well, as fate would have it we are expecting a BABY GIRL!



We are so excited and finally can start planning for our registry and nursery more specifically.
The boys are looking forward to 'protecting' and playing with their baby sister and so far, in our household, the "Naming Battle" has begun!

Another equally great news we had was that all our genetic screening tests for the baby came back NEGATIVE! So we're very hopeful our little baby will be normal and healthy.

Thank you for your prayers dear friends and I hope your continue to pray along with us!


Have a Great Weekend!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Spring all around the home

Spring is probably my most favorite season.

I love the cool weather, the birds chirping, but most of all, I LOVE the BLOOMS all around!
Spring is the rainbow after winter's rain to me.

And lately, all around our home has been just perfect. Take a short walk with me...

Driving up our hilly road I see our home in it's full beauty during spring

I love the mix of colors, mother nature does things so perfectly


On the side of our house, more blossoms abound


I bet you recognize this picture - this is the angle I used as background for my blog header only the picture above was taken last year!
Below is my favorite tree...


Beautiful in every way


Closer views


More of Mother Nature's Perfection

Our simple Spring Entry - no wreath this year

Plants for the lazy gardener like me - fern and annuals plopped up in a pot!
I hope you enjoyed this mini tour of Spring around our home and I hope you too are enjoying this wonderful season in your own home!

Have a Wonderful Spring Day!!!

VEL

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Monday, April 21, 2014

My Gender Specific Nursery Designs Part 2

I hope you all had a wonderful EASTER!!!!

Anyway, I just have to get some things out of my mind. And so far, you know what's been hovering around it right?

Here are two more designs I've concocted for my baby.
More modern and contemporary than my previous designs, but nonetheless, I enjoyed making!
Modern Disney Princess Nursery

Modern Traditional Boy Nursery
I have one more pair to show you, then you can pick which one is your favorite and which one you think will be the design I will follow the most. 

Of course, baby's sex is still "unknown", and will let you know as soon as we know too!

Have a Wonderful Week!


VEL 

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Easter thru the Years

I think this short and sweet post would be appropriate for this coming Sunday...

2012



2013


2013


Here's wishing you a very Happy Easter!

Vel

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

When things just don't work out and when some do!

Sometimes, it just really happens.

You try so hard to make something work, but in the end you are unsatisfied and discontent with your choice. Just like my recent 'mishaps'...



I asked you back in February what to do with it and you guys all gave terrific suggestions.
In then end, I went with what I wanted and ended up with this...


Thank you to my handsome assistant for holding this up!

The cubby, which I got from TARGET was 20" wide and was still TOO WIDE for my narrow wall.
I think some of you are right, I just probably need to hang art there and just give up on any storage solution for that narrow space. It may save me some 'headaches' and 'heartaches' in the end. 
This saga continues...

And then I got this fabulous Brass Lamp from a Resale store for $8!
But the shade was yellowing already and so I tried this...


Still a failure, I also tried a black drum shade and both drum shades ended up looking very wobbly and small. I think the lamp is telling me not to change what's already right for her.
I will just try to look for a similar sized and shaped shade and maybe I'll be content.
We'll see...

Lastly, I adored Jennifer's Malachite Pagoda Prints and wanted to place them desperately in my kitchen. And since I didn't want to put it on my huge wall-papered wall, I ended up hanging them on the window corners like so....


It looked fine, but still felt 'off' and plus, the frames I used was cramping the picture itself (these were the same frames I used for my Christmas decorations last time). And so, you probably know, these babies moved and got a different frame...

One sits here...


... and the other hung here

It took me months to find the right frame and place for these beautiful prints from The Pink Pagoda
and in the end I ended up DIY-ing how I mounted it!

I used the RE frames from TARGET ($16.99 I think with the mat). I spray painted the backside of the mat with my favorite gold spray paint and just put the picture up top! Easy and perfect for this I think. Plus, I can still use the other side, which is white, if I ever change my mind again (which I don't think I will just yet)!

And lastly, about the "Chaise Chase". I finally ordered the chaise that  I think would go well with our home. It's not one of the ones I showed you HERE before. I ended up going to ARHAUS recently and ended up getting a custom piece...

Brentwood

No, I did not get a sectional but got  to try this one and loved the' feel'  & comfiness of it.
And since I did not like the arms and leather per se, I ordered a boxed double- arm chaise, in lush arabella taupe velvet fabric with brass nailheads on the bottom!

I cannot wait to see it and of course, lie down on it. With this piece of furniture, the FEEL really mattered a lot to me since I wanted to make sure it had the right inclination, softness and of course, look too!
And one last huge plus, when I ordered it they had a 30% off sale! 

Anyhow, that's my little story for today.
How about you, do you have some things that nag your head an in the end didn't work out at all? Or at times, does it work out  only after such a very long time of tweaking or thinking?

Have  a Great Spring Day!

Vel 


Monday, April 14, 2014

My Gender Specific Nursery designs Part 1

Hello Friends!

Thank you, thank you for all your well wishes on this exciting chapter in my life! I truly feel more blessed there are many of you my friends, whom I've never even met in person yet, who care so much ,are hopeful and excited as I am on this pregnancy! You guys are simply the BEST!

Anyhow, like I mentioned, baby stuff will be popping in and out of my blog and so here goes the first, definitely something to do with my future nursery design.

I don't know yet if I'm having a boy or a girl, either one would be great, so I've been designing up some nursery for both! And here are the first ones I did...

Flora & Fauna Nursery for a baby girl

Forest Nursery for a Baby Boy

As you can see, the essentials for me will be the crib (duh?!), changing table/dresser and a rocker.

I've been looking at so many options for nursery furniture around and so far Babyletto and Babymod have been my favorites. But anyhow, this is just me getting EXCITED with this new baby and I still have other designs to share. Definitely though, my future nursery will follow along one these lines!

Have a Great week everyone!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Linking back to...

The DIYersFrom my Front Porch to yoursSerenity Now

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Pregnancy Announcements



Our simple pregnancy announcement I placed on my Social Media Sites


Yes, now you know, what's been taking up a lot of my time and energy, and the 'excuse' for my 'ho-humm' & fewer posts- a new life growing inside me!!!

Not so big yet but shorts un-buttoned already!


We could't be happier my friends, after my heart-breaking miscarriage two years ago, we didn't want to get any ones hopes up, including our own even if we found out as early as 7 weeks!
 We called ourselves 'cautiously optimistic'.
 Aside from our own devastation, close family and friends were also heart-broken, so this time we decided to wait before we were positively sure everything would be ok.
And by now it seems to be so!!! Hoooray!!!!!
I'm 16 weeks going!


How big my baby probably is right now


I have so many thoughts going thru my mind right now, after all, I am under the AMA category (Advanced Maternal Age - uggghhh), riskier for sure for both me and the baby.


Ok, I admit, I'm not that old.

We did not plan on this too, after Aidan was born, it took us 7 years to conceive again and now, this one makes a 9 year gap from my youngest.

My husband and kids are super excited, perhaps even more than me, we were all bursting inside on when to tell our friends and family especially my older son, but we patiently waited until today!

My actual belly shot recently taken in Destin

As I was contemplating on how we were gonna break the news, I saw some other interesting ways of sharing a pregnancy...

Cutee!

Getting the Whole Family Involved

Artistically Direct to the point

Well-said by Jennifer Youngblood photography
Anyone can do this shot, perfect!

Something more hip perhaps?!
How about some chalkboard art?

We still need your prayers though, it's still a long ways off until my due date and I truly am hopeful, excited, happy, a bit scared and of course, praying that baby will be alright.

So bear with me if I post occasionally  on 'baby stuff' on my blog, after all this blog is called 
"Life & home at 2102", and this new baby will definitely be a HUGE PART OF THAT LIFE!!!!


Have a Great Weekend Everyone!!!!

VEL 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...

Linking back to...

Serenity Now