Happy New Year, everyone! 2016 was one we'll never forget. We celebrated my mom and dad's 40th anniversary in March. We hit one of the lower points in our marriage (being dramatic, kind of) as we wrapped up the major house renovations and finally moved back into one space in April. My grandma also passed away in April. We found out we were expecting Baby #3 in May. We grieved for our siblings as an adoption door was closed. We suffered with our cousins in July as they received devastating news about the baby they were expecting, and again as they lost their baby in November. We rejoiced with our friends as they adopted their baby October. The Cubs won the World Series in November. We celebrated our 9th anniversary in December. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." [Job 1:21]. Praying that 2017 will bring blessings, restoration, peace and joy for all of you!
When I put Colt to bed last night I said "Happy New Year! When you wake up it will be January!" He replied, "Does that mean your baby is going to pop out tomorrow?!" Heavens...I don't know. But I am 37 weeks now so the clock is ticking. Good thing we finally pulled all of the baby stuff out of the attic, finished the nursery, bought diapers, and packed a hospital bag this week! Funny how things sneak up on you the third time around.
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| finished product, facing West |
We decided to make the smallest bedroom the baby's room. When we moved in we made it a toy room, as the boys each took one of the other two, larger bedrooms. As soon as they found out we were having a baby they decided that they wanted to share a bedroom and have Ellis' room be a bigger toy room. It was actually a good plan, so we're running with it. The small room had received a little TLC before we moved in, like a new window and trim, re-plastering of some serious cracks and damaged areas, removal of old heat runs no longer needed once we replaced the boiler system, a new light fixture and smoke detector, and a fresh coat of paint to seal in the patchwork. However, the room was also left with missing floor trim, broken doors, and stained carpet that didn't quite stretch all the way to the walls thanks to the removed heat runs. Oh well, good enough for a kid's playroom. Until we decided it should be a baby's bedroom...then I wanted it completed. The day Ben finished the deck I started emptying out toys and ripped up the carpet, exposing original pine flooring. We knew all of the original upstairs had this, but the condition was in question. The floors were painted at some point, so we decided the easiest solution was to re-coat it with porch & floor paint (recommended by Repcolite, the homeowner of a random house tour I went on last winter with Ben's mom, and various other blogs). I never loved the color we painted it this spring, so we repainted the walls with leftover paint we used in the upstairs bonus room and our bedroom, a warm gray. Benjamin Moore Northern Cliffs to be specific. We bought new doors to match the doors we chose for the addition, re-did all of the trim work, bought new door knobs and spray painted the other hardware that was there. And the result is adorable, in my biased opinion.
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| taken before we owned the home |
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| view from the original stairs. You go up and walk right in this room. |
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| My dad patching and plastering the damaged walls. Technically this is from one of the other bedrooms, but he did this for all three of the original rooms. We just don't have a pic from this one. |
Unfortunately this is one room we don't have very many true "before" pictures of. I did take more before we began Phase II: Baby Makeover.
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| before emptying all of the toys out in November |
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| After an exhausting, pregnant day's work. No more toys, no more carpet. |
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| Ben patching some of the rough spots. I don't have a picture of it, but one area was patched with an unrolled tin coffee can! Too funny. |
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| Painting day - buh bye 'Straw'. |
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| Colt had a great time helping. He did great and ended up with less paint on him than we did. We just had to sneakily roll over his areas when he wasn't looking. |
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| first coat of floor paint! I was sold immediately. |
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| painting trim. One hidden benefit of living in an old, "unfinished" home is that there are areas you just don't really "care" about yet, that are perfect for paint jobs when the garage is too cold. |
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| Well, the hallow core doors we ordered from Menards didn't have quite enough give in them. The doorways in this room are much smaller than standard, so Ben needed to trim more off than the built-in adjustments allowed for. He figured out a plan to make it work...but...quickly decided that when we need to buy replacement doors for the other bedroom we will be purchasing solid wood to save a substantial amount of time. |
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| See? It works and looks completely un-meddled with. |
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| new trim...un-level floor...the challenges are endless. |
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| final touch up paint on Christmas morning when the kids were playing with their new train set. |
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| Finished closet - fresh paint, new trim, new shelves |
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| Finished room |
And THIS everybody...THIS is one of the only spaces in the whole house that we can call 100% complete. There is nothing missing, and it's a wonderful feeling. Many of the other spaces are missing little things like shoe molding, but those are the hard things to tackle because they're not very glamorous. But they still weigh on you. Not this room. Baby, you are so loved already! Don't tell your brothers that you have a better room than they do.
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| Would like a rocking chair yet. The one we used for the boys is a little big for this little room, so I think we're getting my dad's grandma's rocking chair on loan for a while. Her name was Tillie Tromp, which is the best name, so of course I want her chair. |
After the room was filled and stocked, I had a moment of panic because honestly, the baby will probably not sleep in this room for a long time. It's pretty drafty...old house and all...and also on the opposite end of the house from where I sleep. During the night feedings will go much better with the baby in our room, which is chronically messy because nobody else sees it and its easily forgotten. So yesterday I de-cluttered and scrubbed that room clean. Now we have a nice room for the baby AND somewhere clean for he/she to sleep. Spoiled.
Ready or not...
