Baby boy's nursery

So my sweet husband and sweet father built a new loft bed for Ava (since the crib-turned-toddler-bed is needed for her brother). Let's just say that it is freaking awesome and I am jealous of it every day. 

I had planned on the loft bed and the baby crib fitting in the same room and had a whole decorating scheme in place and ready to execute. When we actually assembled the bed, however, it was way bigger than I thought it was and we ended up having to switch things around. It was stressful at the time but now I'm really glad it ended up that way. Two kids in two different rooms and all of Ava's stuff in her room. She's still mad about having no toy room sometimes but she will get over it, eventually. Right? Or maybe this will be the seed of her teenage angst...... Oh well. She'll live. 

Anyway, since then, I've had a lot of fun decorating this little boy's room. 

The only thing missing is the changing pad cover annnnnnnnnnnnd a baby. The former will be a cute orange something and the latter will, hopefully, be flesh-colored. Both will be adorable. 

House Stuff. So much of it. All spring and summer.

We, here at The House of Fun, have been working tirelessly to get our crap together before the arrival of baby number two. We have done a whole lot of little and big projects this summer to get things more or less in order so that we can just enjoy this little man. Plus, newborns and house projects don't really sound like a fun mix.

Here is a little of what we've been up to.....more updates to come.

We painted the trim on our house black and added some black shutters. No more jungle green!!! Yay!!!
Before:

After: (maybe we'll get around to a new porch next year....)

I got kind of really bored with the curtains I made out of drop cloths sooooooo I painted them! Most affordable window treatments ever.

Before:

During. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, painting a few curtains, but you have to remember that I have 7 windows in my living room/entryway. 7. So that was a lot of measuring and taping and whatnot.

After: I love them.

Danny redid the upstairs floors ALL BY HIMSELF in July while Ava and I escaped to GramGrandpa's house (because of the fumes). When I say redid, I mean he sanded, vacuumed, mineral spirited, stained, and polyurethaned SINGLE HANDEDLY. THIS MAN DESERVES AT LEAST A BAKED GOOD OR SOMETHING.

Our room before: (pretty bad, eh?)

Annnnnnd after: (sorry for the blur. Also, I will mention that this room got repainted in this past spring and I looooove the color).

Ava's room before:

And after (this room was also repainted this past spring):

I still cannot believe what a HUGE difference refinishing the floors made up there. My husband is kiiiind of the best.


THEN. While Danny was in Las Vegas on vacation doing really really fun things with his family for a work conference, Shannon and I decided that we would do a few small projects to surprise him when he got home.

Shannon started off with the built-in bookshelves in my living room. I have hated the "shutter doors" on them since we moved in and Shannon was itching to do a project.

Before:

After painting the insides white and the back green (sorry about the night picture, but that's like, apparently the time of day when projects get completed around here):

All the books in. I still need to arrange everything in an aesthetically pleasing configuration of books that humans go nuts over annnnnd figure out where to put all my Let's Play Music stuff, but you get the idea. So much better. 

And for our last before and after of the evening we will TURRRRRRN BACK TIIIIIIIIIIIIME. 

To the year 2011. 

When these were my stairs:

You can't really tell the armpit-stain-off-whiteness from that picture but it was there. Trust me.

So, for our other project, Shannon and I refinished the stairs whilst Daniel was off gallivanting. It was a pain in the butt. More sawdust everywhere, only being able to do every other stair at a time, sanding the banister, removing the railing and sanding it, and, oh yeah, the SAWDUST EVERYWHERE. AGAIN.

Buuuuut, as of this evening, this is what my stairs look like:

Totally worth it, don't you agree? Even with the big belly.

Man, remembering how much we've done has exhausted me.  

Look for the second installment soon. 

Preschool

Ava started preschool this past week and she absolutely loves it. How did she get this big??

I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she said, "A MISHARY!!" (translation: a missionary). Annnnnd THAT'S what happens when you have really awesome sister missionaries over for dinner a lot. Your kid wants to be them.