Heir to Blair » Nursery

Ronald McDonald House ~ giving for the holidays, 2.0

heirtoblair — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:00:56 +0000

This one is for both the kiddos & the home, brought to you by one of my favorite products EVER. I became a nutter for Scentsy awhile ago & when they introduced Sasha, the Scentsy Buddy to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities, I was first in line to purchase.

You’ll make a child’s day when you give Sasha, Scentsy’s first Charitable Cause Scentsy Buddy, in support of the mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities® to improve the health and well-being of children all over the world. Scentsy will donate 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of this Buddy directly to the organization.

We keep Sasha on the dresser right at the door, so when potential buyers come into Harrison’s room, it smells fresh & cozy. You know, not like diapers. A little Scent Pak fits right into a velcro opening in Sasha’s back & we chose the Oats & Honey scent. She’s also super-soft, but Harry’s really not into any stuffed animals other than his monkey, Templeton. Sorry, Sasha! You’re just decoration & smell-goodness!

My good pal Tracy set up a party for Sasha & 100% of her commission from each sale will go to Ronald McDonald House Charities, on top of the standard benefit they receive from each Sasha sale. THANK YOU, TRACY!

Here is the par-tay!

Be sure when you buy Sasha to also select a Scent Pak!

(& just so you know, Sasha is $5.00 more than the standard Scentsy Buddy to cover licensing fees.)

legal stuff: i purchased our Sasha & pak with my own cash money in support of rmhc. tracy is simply being generous with her own personal donations of commissions.

Hurricane Harrison.

heirtoblair — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:30:34 +0000

I’ve been asked often about big-boy beds. & potty training.

I usually cover my ears & sing “LALALALALALA CANNOT HEAR YOU!” When I’m feeling generous, I answer the questions truthfully, saying that we had no plans for a “big boy bed” until Harrison learned to climb out or turned three. I was in NO rush to uncage the beast & despite walking before ten months, the kid surprisingly stayed (quite happily) confined in his Munire crib.

Until Saturday, when I opened the nursery door to catch the kid just before he hit the floor.

Crib diving, coming soon to the X-Games near you.

(also, I will be praying for the next week on forgiveness for the words that came out of my mouth in this moment)

I put the kid back in the crib, stepped back with my camera ready, & the picture to the left happened. AS HE LAUGHED. So I took out the bumper to remove his leverage, & my spider-monkey skills caught the kid again.

It was time to face the music.

Toddler bed time.

I texted my husband & he’s like, “Oh, geez. Hey! Check out the deer on the fourth green!” & I’m all ::headdesk:: So I sat Harrison down with some books & juice, dug out the trusty old Allen wrench, & got to work removing the front of the crib. Trying not to cry the entire time because didn’t I just put this crib together? Wasn’t it just yesterday that he laid there swaddled, only 8 lbs of delicious baby pudge?

The first night went about how I expected. I am pretty convinced he spent the night sleeping by the door rather than in his bed (we’re those mean parents that closed our kid in his room) & we had three wake-ups of crying. Nap time was much better – I’m pretty sure he stayed in bed, but he definitely did not sleep as long as usual. Last night, he was sacked ON THE BED! at 10pm, but up at 4am. Which means that I am pouring an extra cup of coffee in the office today. Will he just naturally learn to stay in his bed? Do I need to invest in ties or handcuffs?

He’s also cutting his fourth & final incisor, so there’s that. We had to go inside when he refused to stay in the yard on Saturday, despite his screams. & we started the battle of feet on the kitchen table yesterday as well, which means that toddlerhood? It is here like a hurricane. Complete with the inability to eat anything but ham & chicken nuggets & epic meltdowns when his mean momma won’t let him play in the thunder & rain.

Despite this? I’m still totally digging this age. He’s all kinds of awesome with making animal sounds & asking to color & leaning over to smush your face when you ask for a kiss.

oh, what’s that you say? Potty training? LALALALALALALALA I CANNOT HEAR YOU.

Then we painted Harrison’s room. Again.

heirtoblair — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:00:23 +0000

I’ve hated the color of Harrison’s room since the moment it went on the walls. It was supposed to be a deep navy to set off nautical tones & a quiet hush. Reality? Superman blue that peeled off the walls.

Before Harrison’s birth, I took the bumper & quilt into Home Depot & stood for over an hour picking out (what was supposed to be) the PERFECT shade of blue. This time, I held up two swatches of blue paint that I thought to be “pretty” & made Nate pick his favorite.

It doesn’t really match the bedding, but I love it on the kind of crazy level where I sit in the glider for hours on a Sunday night & muse about how life has changed.

But at this rapid deterioration of paint color concern, the second-born will just get whatever is on the walls.

new color: “clear pond” by behr.
old color: i’m not going to tell you because i refuse to be friends with anyone that thinks it’s a suitable color for walls.

Life is a Beach. Art can be, too.

heirtoblair — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:34:46 +0000

It’s so funny to see how nurseries transform over time – I know that I put so much time into designating a home for every baby item, thinking where it would be easiest to reach, what I would need immediately. (ha! foolish) Some mother’s will walk into an expecting nursery & cluck their tongue, knowing that the new mother will inevitably move things around in that perfectly-organized & labeled closet, just to make grabbing a burp cloth .2 seconds faster. But I will say that with the exception of the lamp, which had to be moved across the room, Harrison’s nursery layout has stayed the same. (oh, & now we always leave a stack of blankets on the blue dresser to grab at a moment’s notice, versus putting them away.)

Nurseries = paint, organization, & decoration. Pretty much the Top Three Nursery To-Do’s.

After the paint settled in Harrison’s nursery, Nate’s job was complete but mine had only begun – DECORATION. I lovingly picked out my Pottery Barn Kids bedding. Painted a dresser. Scoured for nautical-inspired things like weathered framed with rope stitching. A sailboat mobile, hanging over the glider.

But when it came to his dresser/changing table, I was just plain burnt out.

It stayed blank for MONTHS. Finally, only a few weeks before his arrival, I slapped up an (unpainted, mind you) “H” onto the wall & cut construction paper into a sailboat picture. No, really. That’s what I did. Unoriginal, boring, & I hated it.

I never knew what I wanted for that space. I had ZERO inspiration. Until JessaZG contacted me, I sent her a few pictures, & she whipped up this with her typical flair & talent:

Yep. That’s Harrison!

It’s Harrison. & a nautical/beach theme. It ties in the teals & dark blues & yellows in his nursery.

In short? It’s PERFECT.

When I opened the package up last week I literally gasped. Jessa had sent me proofs but to be honest, I never though I would love it as much as I do. I never thought I was a “silhouette” person. Or a “modern art” girl. But sometimes, we have to step outside our box to find something perfect.

& that’s what Jessa, as an artist, made this uncreative girl do.

& it’s what she’s going to do for someone else. Y’all know me…I hate complicated giveaways. So follow JessaZG on Twitter & Tweet this bad boy to enter:

Pick me! Print giveaway @thejessazg #modsilhouetes

Bam. Done. & then Jessa will select a winner in 3 days!

But the meat of this post – I’m most interested…how has your nursery evolved? Or childrens rooms? Or any rooms in your home? I started thinking about this during the Twitter Home Tour & realized how often our homes & rooms shift to accommodate our lives. (including putting together a bookcase at 11pm because you cannot take the look that a baby hurricane blew through your loft one more moment or you’ll scream)

MTV Cribs: Baby Edition aka The Nursery

heirtoblair — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:04:00 +0000

The official debut of Harrison’s nursery, after months of tears, paint touch-ups, many runs to Babies R Us, & hours of laundry folding. I feel like the nursery & I should both be in a white dress, receiving flowers & beaus at the bottom of a winding staircase. What started as the most frustrating experience of my entire pregnancy has turned into a room that I adore.

The crib, from the Essex line of Munire in espresso color. We absolutely adore it. Bedding is “Baby Boats” from Pottery Barn Kids. (the play mat is waiting for batteries & to be moved to the loft, where it will more than likely spend 90% of it’s time)

The refinished dresser…yes, yes, I know there are both lovers & haters of it, but I think it fits perfectly, plus it holds all bibs, burp cloths, sheets & savers, etc.

Dresser/changing table! Also part of Munire’s Essex line. Six drawers stuffed full of clothing. Because my child will not be an exhibitionist.

Nobody puts baby in a corner…except his Momma. In a glider. With a bottle.

Where he will hopefully slumber through the night very quickly:

A few favorite details, including Pirates vs Sailors in an epic battle to the death:

from TJ Maxx Homegoods for $15 apiece. Greatest find EVER.

and his sailboat mobile (Pottery Barn Kids) above the glider:

Sometimes I’m still shocked at all the STUFF this little dude has collected before he’s even pushed through the birth canal! & sometimes, just between you & me, I sit in the glider & just look around, re-folding clothes & thinking of the little boy that will be sleeping in here very soon.

A competition of distress – Blair vs. Dresser in a fight to the death.

heirtoblair — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:37:00 +0000

Since HJ’s closet is painfully small & will mostly be used for storage of bedding & diapers, I decided to refinish a dresser given to me for my own nursery. After 26 years, it definitely needed a little TLC with a sander & paintbrush. My friend Meredith (remember the mentioning of a designer friend? yeah, that’s her) helped me select a few colors out of the bedding & instructed me on how to distress it, much like the red bedside table. She’s a genius, & these colors will help tie in the rocker & the bedding with the dark blue walls.

After spending 2 hours at the hardware store getting paint matches for Benjamin Moore colors, shifting my weight back & forth & rolling my eyes at the other customer who kept insisting her match wasn’t perfect (dude…not going to be perfect), I finally made it home to 90-degree heat & 100% humidity. Lovely day for painting, no? First, I sanded the dresser lightly, since it was a pretty bleh walnut stain with 26 years of wear. Next came a coat of Buxton Blue. Wait forever for it to dry in the humidity. Then a coat of Buckland Blue. Wait an entire week for the dresser to not stick to everything it comes in contact with. Realize that I forgot to paint the damn door, so restart the process for one piece. A week later, CAREFULLY sand down parts of Buckland Blue to reveal areas of Buxton Blue (to show “wear”). Touch-up areas I messed up royally. Then finally wash Hale Navy over entire piece with a wet rag. Let dry in the blazing heat, thanking God for a repast from the sweltering humidity.

And what was SUPPOSED to be a one weekend project spanned three weeks, due to heat, humidity, & my ability to completely eff up a project with white lacquer in the final step. But alas, I conquered the art of antiquing:

& I LOVE IT. I know you can’t get the full effect of the nursery with this one picture, but it really pulls in the lighter blues from the bedding & the glider. Plus, it helps solve the “primary colors” problem that was driving me bonkers — I wanted nautical, not an American flag! Praise God for good Canadian friends with an eye for design.

Painting this nursery has destroyed my manicure.

heirtoblair — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:10:00 +0000

But I guess my days of flawless nails are coming to an end anyways, no? I finally hung up my paintbrush after a week of tedious touch-ups, finally happy with the end result of the trim. The color has grown on me, too. It still looks Superman blue when the flash is on (ie the mobile picture), but it’s a nice rich, blue color in reality.

Now I am just trying to figure out which fabric to use for drapes. Which is hilarious, given my past experience in fabric stores. If you thought my overwhelming psychosis at the Great Wall of Nipples was bad, you have not seen anything until you catch Blair completely out of her element in a fabric store. I won’t even pretend that I can rub elbows with interior designers or the creatively-gifted women-folk of the South, so poor Harrison may end up with store-bought clearance rack Target drapes unless my designer friend Meredith can shock some inspiration & calm into my brain from Canada. Inspiration doesn’t need a passport, does it?

& I’m officially too exhausted to write anything else. I learned today that high heels are officially a thing of my past, due to the 10 extra pounds I lug around, not to mention swollen feet & sciatica. Goodbye, faithful red peep-toe pumps. We shall reconvene our love affair next spring. ::sniff of sorrow::

Hallelujah.

heirtoblair — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:52:00 +0000

The paint color is simmering down, no? (you can click on the photos to enlarge them in a new window)

Thoughts?

Epic Paint FAIL.

heirtoblair — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Well…I am exhausted. & almost at the end of my wits to the point that I cannot decide if my impending meltdown is hormonal or justified. Shall we tell this story with pictures?

We begin our story a few weeks ago, when Nate coated the walls with one coat of Kilz primer to cover the stripes. I taped off the walls after the first coat, & we decided that we needed another coat to be safe.

& there we have it, the second coat! While Nate coated this, I pulled out the windows & screens for a scub-down with vinegar & bleach. Because God forbid my son press his nose to a dirty screen, right? Now it’s time for the color! After an hour in the Home Depot to pick out the color, convert it to Behr (they were on sale), & pick up all the supplies, we headed back home & picked up the roller & brush.

First coat is on. HOLY HELL, it looks like Superman. Not at all what I envisioned; I desire near-navy walls. Nate assured me it would dry darker, especially with a few coats of paint. Placated, we let this coat dry. & while it’s drying, Tuck walks through the paint pan on the floor, tracking blue paint ALL OVER THE CARPET. Not just in the nursery, but also down the stairs. Blast it all to hell, mutt!

So while I scrubbed in a futile & desperate fashion at the carpet, Nate added the second coat. Please notice the beer that is involved. At this point, I’m noticing how thick the paint is going on & how…shiny…it is. & I realize that this is not flat paint. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that when we bought it. & while I’m staggering at this revelation & trying to decide what course of action to take, Tuck leans her fat ass against the white part:

…& leaves a trail of hair down one wall, which must be scrubbed off & repainted. I’m 10 seconds from internally combusting at this point. & putting an add in the paper that a German Shepherd mix is free to a good home (just kidding, promise). I also realize that with the new white on the bottom, the chair rail & wood trim looks grey against it, which simply won’t do. So now I have to repaint all the woodwork in the room as an unexpected “bonus.”

We sleep on it last night, & get up this morning to add the third coat of blue. It looks better, no? & in the morning light, it even looks closer to navy! This picture shows exactly the color I hoped for. This makes me happy, considering the LAST thing I want is some hokey bright-blue color on my son’s walls. After a few hours to let it dry & one romp in the sack later to celebrate our tenacity, we got in to peel off the painters tape…to see this:

& this is where I officially lost my shit. As we peeled the tape, the paint on the wall was literally gummy against it. & pulled with it & pulled off in places. WHAT THE HELL DID WE DO WRONG?! So Nate pulled out a razor. To try & separate some of the paint, of course….not to stab ourselves, which we were tempted to do at this point. Which doesn’t work. & I realize that I will have to get a water-color brush to do the tiny touch-ups.

Seriously, it looks TERRIBLE. I’m not exaggerating. & as you can see, as it dried even farther & the afternoon light came in, we have hokey hideously bright blue walls. I think the starkness of the blue against the white makes it stand out even more, but there is not one spot in that room that looks like someone over the age of 3 painted it. I’m at a loss for words at this point. I just wanted his room to be PERFECT, & it’s simply not happening at this point. All I want to do is rewind the past 48 hours & re-do the entire room. Nate suggested that a) we have lunch since I was probably hungry without realizing it, thus fueling my teetering mental stability & b) put together the crib, which should make me happy.

So we pull out HJ’s crib & start assembling it, leaning it against the dry white part of the walls while we assemble it. At least…they should have been fully dry after sitting for over 24 hours. & when I pull away the footboard during the last part of the assembly process, there are FLECKS OF WHITE PAINT ON MY DARLING, LOVELY, VERY EXPENSIVE CRIB. I scream.

No really…I screamed. & then quivered on the verge of tears while Nate couldn’t decide whether he would laugh or chug a beer. Thankfully, the paint peeled right off the crib with no residue or evidence of its crime. & I screamed again that WHY CAN’T THE EFFING WALLS JUST EFFING DRY ALREADY?!?! So as we attached the bumper to the crib (yet another attempt to cheer me up), we discussed our problems & our options.

Problems

1) We have latex satin paint, not flat paint.

2) We may have painted it too quickly, & should have let there be several days between painting coats.

3) The paint is literally peeling in some places, meaning loads of touch-ups.

4) The paint isn’t drying. It’s still tacky to the touch, even the white stuff which was painted 24 hours ago.

5) I don’t love the color.

Solutions

1) Give it a few days to really, really dry & set.

2) Razor off where it’s peeling & not setting.

3) Repaint with a flat paint, one shade darker than the original.

So there we stand, with a nursery I currently hate, teetering the delicate balance between loathing it & not wanting to hurt Nate’s feelings because he worked so, so hard & I appreciate his efforts. I’m trying to relax & roll with the punches, realizing that motherhood will require that of me many, many times….but it’s hard.

If you have any suggestions…any at all…I would love to hear them. Especially ways to fix the walls & the paint. I don’t even think I’m wild about the white on the bottom anymore, but I think that will change when the other furniture arrives & we get a colorful rug on the floor & curtains up.

We’re being swallowed whole.

heirtoblair — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:49:00 +0000

My house looks like it is vomiting HJ’s nursery & gear.

Literally.

I have a crib in a box barricading me from my laundry room (although this is a blessing, no?). The conversion rails are balancing precariously on the arm chair downstairs. The Babycook machine arrived today, & it sits on the coffee table with two cans of formula, a stash of formula checks, & baby toys that I picked up for free today. Not to mention two potential bedside tables, perched on either end of the huge box that contains the crib bedding. Oh yeah, & a bag of bottles & a massive flat box that contains the sailboat mobile.

We’re working on the nursery this weekend, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures to show off next week! We’re being super-lame & missing a lake trip & a golf trip to stay home to clean & paint, but it’s much-needed. We apologize to everyone that suffers a direct effect from our sudden loss of radness.

oh, & I’m working on a breast feeding, aka “Blair’s Nipples Don’t Function” post…yet trying not to have it rival the length of David Copperfield is a struggle.

Y’all have a wonderful (hopefully long!) weekend!