Bedroom Update - Construction

Slowly we have been upgrading different rooms in our house and doing new baseboards and trim. After fixing the guest bedroom into the toy room, I was anxious to also get the other bedroom upstairs completed.

This is what the room looked like when we first moved into the house.

It had sliding by-pass doors on the closet that I absolutely hated. The tracks were old and the doors would not slide easy and they kept falling off. Plus, you can only access half of the closet at a time.

When we moved Blake upstairs to share the room with Will, we took the closet doors off completely. It allowed us to put a dresser in there and not have to deal with the hassle of the doors not working properly.

Once I finally got my design figured out, it was time to start construction. We moved everything to the center of the room and started ripping out all of the baseboards. Updating all of the electrical outlets and switches. Adding some wainscoting/board and batten. And finally, fixing that dreaded closet.

I  hated the sliding doors, but I have also never been a fan of the bi-fold doors, especially with kids. I knew I wanted french doors, but I was unsure how to go about the process. About a year ago or so, I even had a contractor come and give me a bid. He basically told me that it would be very expensive because we would have to increase or decrease the entire frame so it would fit standard doors. I wasn't ready to put that much money into it, so I put off doing the room. Then one day it suddenly occurred to me that I could just get custom pre-hung doors and that the entire process would be very easy. So I ordered the doors, and my brother-in-law Josh helped us to install it.

Then we started framing out the windows and working on the trim.

The room was a disaster. And the project took way longer than I anticipated. We threw the kids mattresses in the other room or sometimes on the living room floor. It was pretty hectic and both Lance and I felt the stress of missing that one room. I can't imagine living in a home while doing a full renovation. One room at a time is enough for us.

Doesn't that closet look amazing though?! It is one of my favorite changes about the room.

I learned a lot about doing board and batten during this one. The part that probably took the longest was figuring out the spacing. There were several spots where I was stumped on where to space the boards, especially around the windows. I ended up just doing what I thought was best, and I am very happy with how it turned out. I'm not sure if it is how the professionals would have done it, but it looks good to me, so I guess that's all that matters.

It didn't quite look "complete" so I added a small board to create a lip at the top. It really finished the look. You can see the part to the left of the window is plain, and to the right has that extra board on top.

With so much trim and wood nailed to the wall, there were a ton of nail holes to fill. 

Not to mention all of the caulking!

I had bandaids on most of my fingers. Often when I went to smooth the caulk, it would leave a trail of blood behind with it. It was not pleasant. At this point, I still had an entire wall left to do. It took me days and I was so happy when I finally finished. 

After caulking, it was finally time for some paint. I was a little worried, because the room wasn't turning out how I had envisioned. I kept telling myself to keep going and that it would look better once it was finished. But boy was I worried and a bit upset. With all the effort I had put into it, there was no way I was going to stop and start over, so I was prepared to be a little unhappy with it. Thank goodness I was wrong. What I difference a little bit of paint can make.

And suddenly it was time to pick out the color for the top. I originally planned on going with a super light, soft pink. Not too much more than white, but just enough to have some color on the wall. Then I found this "Coral Perfection" at the store, and decided to give it a try. Based on the small sample I tried, I really liked it and decided to go with it.

Once I had the entire room painted, it was a bit darker than I intended, and not quite the shade of pink I was going for. I liked the color, but I had been expecting something a little different. I chose to leave it and adjust my design a little bit. 

And here is a before and after. 

Now it was time for the really fun part. Decorating!

Click HERE to see the final reveal.

6 Months Old

I wasn't given all of her 6 month stats written down, and I don't remember all of the numbers. She weighed 18 lbs and some ounces, her height was average, and I believe her head was in the ninetieth percentile. Whatever the numbers were, she is growing and healthy. 

Austin is so close to be able to sit up on her own. She can do it for short periods of time, but she still hasn't quite learned how to catch herself or balance when she starts to tip. If I hold onto her hand, or put a little bit of pressure on her legs, she can sit fairly well. 

Her sleep has gotten worse in the last few weeks or so. She is still getting up 3-4 times a night to eat. Luckily, she doesn't take very long to eat and I am able to get back to sleep very quickly, but some uninterrupted sleep would be nice. The doctor suggested we start her on some baby food and maybe she will sleep better. 

Austin loves anything that makes noise and everything goes straight to her mouth. She loves chewing on these little foam letters that we have.

Instead of sucking on a binky, she will grab it and chew on the sides. Rarely will she keep it in her mouth for more than a few seconds.

She's got some chunky thighs and has been wearing size 4 diapers. I'm sure she could fit into size 3, but when we ran out of diapers, I had a lot of leftover size 4 diapers from Blake and just started using those. They fit well enough, I never bothered to go buy the smaller size. 

Nap time can be difficult because she sleeps best in her crib on or a bed. She refuses to fall asleep if she is being held. Now most of the time that is extremely nice. I never have to rock her to sleep. I simply lay her down and she'll fall asleep. However, when we aren't home, it makes it hard. She will fall asleep in her car seat, but she wakes up when the car stops, so I can't transfer her while she sleeps. So when we go places, she wont fall asleep even though she is really tired. Then we get in the car to go home, and she passes out, but is awake a few minutes later once we get home. And she wont go back to sleep for a while. This is the recipe for a grumpy baby. 

She really isn't that grumpy all of the time. And even when she is grumpy, it's pretty easy to make her happy. She smiles with the smallest amount of attention, and laughs freely. 

Austin likes to sit in her high chair and play with toys, but she doesn't like to be left alone. She's content to sit and play as long as she can see someone. If I walk out of the room, she gets a little anxious and starts to cry.

Austin seems to prefer Will's company more than Blake's. That may have something to do with the combination of how sweet and gentle Will is with her and how abusive Blake can be. One time when Blake was near her, Austin started screaming out of the blue really hard and it took some time to calm her down. After a quick glance over, I found bite marks on Austin's hand. I have no idea why, but Blake decided it was a good idea to bit Austin...hard.

   

It is honestly a bit surreal to me that six months have already come and gone. Summer will be here and gone before I know it, and suddenly Austin will be one. 

  We sure love this bright eye, chubby cheek girl! 

Glamour Photo Shoot

Like I said in my last post, I told Ryan McClain that I would be willing to let him take some pictures of me. He said that he would do them for free if I let him use the pictures in his portfolio. 

He hired a make-up artist to come help and we spent some time trying some different concepts. He is interested in shooting more of the glamour and stylized type of shots. One thing I learned for sure is that I am no model. I can smile for a camera, but looking good while having a serious face is hard! Most of the time, it just made me look angry. I didn't know what to do with my hands, or face, or anything. And Ryan is so new to it, that he didn't have a lot of direction either. So we just sort of winged it and tried different things. I think he was going for more of a "sexy" look. But let's be honest - - - I have NO idea how to pull that off. Haha. And when I tried, it usually just ended up in me laughing or smiling.

Either way, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience. You almost feel like a star when you sit there getting your hair and make-up done then have a photographer waiting to take your picture. I wish I would have picked a different outfit, but oh well. It's a bit weird seeing me in these types of pictures, but it was something new for me and I want to remember it.