Sisi's New Yellow Bedroom

I know by now what my daughter is into- yellow is her favorite color, she loves animals, the ocean and cars.  She is slightly girly in that she likes to paint her nails and wear tutus on occasion, but she is a tomboy in every other way.  This room strikes a nice balance I think.

Pale yellow walls, teal blackout curtains (had to double them up because one layer wasn't blocking out enough light), and bright pops of color.  We used mostly decor from her nursery, but it looks so fresh and new against the yellow walls.  It's amazing what a coat (or two or three) of paint can do!

A cute couple sells handmade platform beds on craigslist.  They whipped this up in less than a week and delivered it to us for less than 300.00.  Beat that, Ikea!

Her quilt is from Target and it says "Goodnight...Sleep Tight".  Quilts are easy to wash.  We don't do comforters in this house anymore. Also, you can see her magnetic sleep pad which Joe insists will keep her circadian rhythms on track and improve her sleep.  We have one under our bed, too.  Joe swears it has helped him overcome his insomnia.

The bookshelf that I made with my own two hands...

Joe is silly and changed the "SIENA" letters to "IN SEA."  He likes to play word scramble with them.

This is Bella, my mom's boston terrier. Dogs are allowed in Sisi's room only when she gives them permission.  I'm trying to make her room her own private respite from dogs and any future children we might have.

The stamped "quilt" I made looks darling over her antique teal dresser (another great craigslist find!)

The dresser has locking drawers, which is cool.  Until Sisi is a teenager and is hiding things from me.

Souvenirs from Mexico, and Sisi's first portraits :) 

I have a lot more decluttering to do in her closet.  It's mostly office/etsy stuff that I don't quite know what to do with now that our office is basically a kitchen island in the sunroom.  I left her a teeny bit of room for her dresses.  Good thing she has a minimal wardrobe :)

This teeny banner was a gift from Courtney of Joyful Joyful after I told her about my miscarriage.  The banner reminds me of the joy of Christ that fills our household even in the hard times.  I don't mean to bring up the MC all the time, but I can't help but think of it when I am in Sisi's new room.  The reason we got rid of our office and moved Sisi into it was because we were going to give Sisi's old room to Baby #2.  When we lost Baby #2, we decided to keep going on her new room.  It was actually cathartic to use my hands and energy to create and make new. Now her old room is empty and waiting.  We are all waiting...

BTW, Joe bought those Russian nesting dolls for Sisi's stocking.  Made a special trip to Laguna Beach for them.  Love that man so much!

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DIY Drawer Bookshelf

Here is one Pinterest project I actually completed!  We were going to trash Sisi's massive damaged dresser, but then I saw this project online and thought it'd be perfect to store Sisi's books and toys.

One of my resolutions is to be more handy around the house.  I am slowly progressing on this goal.  For example, this project required that I prime and paint, use a power drill to remove hardware, and a socket wrench to insert wood screws.  Before this project, I didn't even know what a socket wrench was.

Basically, here's how I did it:

•  I removed the old hardware
•  primed and painted the drawers pure white 
• glued cute wallpaper in as a backing (I originally used spray glue to attach the wallpaper, but it wasn't adhering well, so I squeezed E-6000 onto the paper instead.)  
• stacked the drawers in a way that made sense and seemed sturdy
• screwed them together using a socket wrench (power drill was just too big to maneuver on this project)
• attached new knobs to the exposed drawers

It's not perfect.  It's slightly wobbly because the drawers were wonky in the first place.  I didn't use spackle to fill in the drill holes or anything.  My wallpaper job is not totally perfect, either. But who cares?  That's the thing about DIY home projects- if you expect perfection, you'll be too afraid to just dig right in and get started.  I really don't mind if my homemade furniture looks a little homemade, and neither does Sisi!  I'm just proud that we were able to upcycle something that would have gone to the landfill.  

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My Minimalist Blue Bedroom

My bedroom used to be a mish mash of clearance bedding and curtains and rugs, whatever I could find that was pretty and colorful.  That's fine and all, but I recently decided to give my bedroom a mini makeover.

The rest of my house is dark, ornate and ethnic, so I went the opposite in this room.  I painted two of the walls bright white, and stuck with neutrals and blue for the decor.  It's so hard for me to choose simple decor.  I'm always led to crazy patterns, but I know that it's wiser to buy solid neutral pieces because you'll never get sick of them.  And subtle is best when you're aiming for a soothing space.

We got rid of our canopy bed.  It was lovely, but it was too big and cumbersome for such a tiny room.  We instead had our carpenter make a very low profile platform bed in dark wood.  I love being close to the ground.  It's also way easier to make the bed now. 

I chose a cheap but nice cream quilt.  I like quilts because they are machine washable, and useful year round.  In winter, I simply throw on an extra throw blanket to stay warn.  There is a big difference between cream and white.  We are just not pristine enough to have white blankets, but cream is definitely more forgiving.  I used to have a thing about mixing cream and white together, but I actually like it now.  I like layering different neutrals together.   I also splurged on some hand-dyed pillows from etsy.

I found two beautiful Persian indigo table runners to use as a tapestry headboard. They are hand-painted and even prettier in person. I love the cracked glass finials on the gold curtain rod.

My husband took the beach picture during our trip to Thailand.  We used MPix to enlarge it.  This empty beach in Tub Kaak was the most beautiful, relaxing place I've ever seen in this world.  During childbirth when I had to visualize a "happy place", this was it.  Now I have it right next to me while I sleep.

We use blackout curtains with regular beige and gold drapes sewn to the front.  Blackout is a must for good sleep!

Lastly, we found this cute light blue rug for cheap cheap cheap on overstock.  I don't invest a lot of money in rugs because with 2 dogs and a toddler, they are bound to get dirty and peed on at some point.  Sadly, I have to think of them as a disposable item that I'll probably have to replace in a few years.

Sisi requested that I take a picture of her tail, so here:

As you can see, we have a truly minimalistic bedroom.  No clutter, no nightstands.  We have one dresser tucked into the closet.  We have no choice, it's a tiny room.  

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Life Is Beautiful

...Even in times of grief.  Here are some things that are making me smile, despite our recent loss.

A new picture for the photo wall... 

Pretty good, right?  

Not only do we have half a steer in our freezer, we also bought a grassfed lamb from Primal Pastures.  I LOVE lamb.  And I love how the butcher packaged the meat all old-fashioned-like with paper and string.

My herb/veggie garden is actually doing ok! Big surprise to me.  Growing our own herbs has definitely saved us a ton of money.  It's wonderful cutting a snip of this and that for each meal.  

Women's tea.  Makes me feel like I'm doing something good for my lady parts, as they've been through a lot the past few weeks.  Placebo effect? 

My precious friend Julie sent the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers.  1 1/2 weeks later, they are still blooming beautifully.  

Ok, this is the coolest toy we've ever bought.  They are called "river stones" and Sisi has found so many ways to play with them.  She pretends the carpet is the water and she has to hop across.  She also pretends they are linked trains and rides around with her friends. I have a feeling these will be a big hit at our next playdate, too.  These would be a rad Christmas gift!

Yes, she's wearing a dog collar.  Don't worry, we don't put a leash on her :)

Sisi is finally old enough to know that glue is for creating, not eating or pouring on furniture.  We have fun collecting stuff around the house for collages.  And then I throw them away.  I can't stand the clutter.  The old me would have saved every single one.

I love that it's December and sunny enough to craft outside.  

Although we started clearing out our office to prepare for the baby that we lost, we decided to keep the momentum going and finally moved our computers to the sunroom.  This Ikea kitchen island is the perfect standing desk, and Sisi can do art right next to me while I work.  It's fun working right next to Joe, like we're office buddies or something.

Sisi's "tail phase" has lasted for months now.  Shoe laces, ribbons, boas, lily grass- you name it, I've pinned it to her butt.  

I ordered this lovely banner from Joyful Joyful  because I knew it would be good for us to sit down and write out things we are thankful for, even through our tears.  The banner included those little leaf cutouts and clothespins exactly for that purpose.  

The old office is now Sisi's new room.  Soft yellow, Sisi's favorite color (probably because of her thing for ducks?)  When I was pregnant, I allowed myself to relax, sleep in, take it easy (as all pregnant women should!).  Now that I have my energy back, I decided to put it to good use and fix up our house.  I'm not a handy woman by any means, but I'm trying.  I patched up the drywall, hung a bunch of pictures, and painted two rooms in two days, all by myself. I'm super proud, even if I complained every second of the job.

I hope you're all finding things to smile about, too! 

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Our New Water-wise Garden!

I've been waiting 4 1/2 years to replace our crummy, crappy, wasteland of a yard.  Not typically one to hire outside help, I've made a few half-hearted attempts to spruce it up in the past.  Every few years, I'd spend a few hundred dollars to plant a couple trees or plants or even a veggie garden, but since I had no real vision or horticultural experience, my meager attempts looked downright silly. And then I'd forget to water,  and then they shriveled up and died an aphid infested death.  Not super encouraging.

This was the magical year we decided to hire an actual landscape designer and invest in a nice garden.  Someplace serene and inspiring, where our toddler can walk around barefoot on grass that isn't dead.  Then maybe she wouldn't end up crying and screaming, "Ouchy grass!!!"  

In my dreams, I've always pictured a "Secret Garden" type of retreat, with tons of hydrangea, bright flowers in window boxes, rambling roses and picket fences.  As you will see, that's pretty much the opposite of what we actually did. So Cal is semi-desert, and water is a luxury (or so it should be), so we can't have a lush garden that needs water all the dang time.  I also wanted something easy to maintain and hard to kill, because I stink at gardening (I'm really good with flowers in vases though!)  So my picturesque secret garden will have to wait until we trade in our generic stucco track home for a quaint Oregon cottage after we retire.  Someday... sigh... 

 I put together a pinterest board of garden inspiration which I showed to our wonderful designer, Yvonne. With her encouragement, we decided to embrace the natural climate of California, and chose water-wise native plants.   Native California plants are not necessarily the lush, romantic flora of my dreams, but they are definitely beautiful in their own funky and understated way. I'm so enjoying watching our succulents, grasses, and native wildflowers bloom and grow day by day.  I'm so thrilled with our decision to hire a designer.  It's like hiring a wedding planner- you can probably get by without one, but you won't regret it if you do.  In fact, you will probably enjoy your wedding more, hire better vendors, and maybe even end up getting better deals if you hire a planner.  I'm pro-wedding-planner, can you tell?  

BEFORE PICTURES:  

Our blah front yard... doesn't our brown, weedy lawn just scream "Welcome!"

 Walk through the gate, and you've entered our lackluster courtyard (which actually looks better in this picture than it did in reality)...

Here is the random space between our house and garage. We did nothing with this space besides put Sisi's poopy diapers in it.

Speaking of poopy, this was our backyard... weedy "ouchy" grass, fruit trees that rarely bore fruit, and a planter filled with aphids.  Yum! (These pictures are actually quite flattering, must have been taken during the rainy season.)

AFTER THE MAKEOVER!!!

Front yard!  No more lawn, just a variety of water-wise plants, including bamboo, jasmine, papyrus, flax, grasses, and succulents.  The plants are not mature yet, so I assume it will look a lot more filled out in a few months.

Walk through the garden gate, and enter our courtyard... 

 Courtyard.  How cool is that modern bench?  Custom built for us by our incredible carpenter, Mark. Any O.C. or L.A. peeps thinking about buying wooden furniture, arbors or fences from big generic stores should consider hiring Mark!  He'll do it better, maybe even cheaper, and you'll feel good about buying handmade.

The spider-infested ivy in the window box was replaced by lime green heuchera.

I'm obsessed with the passion flower vines growing all over our walls.

They produce these purple blooms! Soon they'll be covered with them.

We replaced our diseased roses with papyrus.

  The random space between our house and garage is now an outdoor sitting room.  Thanks to clever wood screens, wooden outdoor wall art, and a vertical garden, it's a cozy area to relax.  All we need is a sofa and outdoor rug to complete the look.

I told you I suck at gardening.  The fuchsias were really pretty before I literally watered them to death.

The side of our house is flanked by a beautiful gated arbor, handmade by our carpenter. Perfect for keeping the dogs in the backyard.

AND THE BACKYARD...

We've got soft "non-ouchy" grass and easy plants like penstemon, senecio, flax, kangeroo paw, and salvia chiapensis.  Also, our carpenter built us this 8 foot picnic table in one afternoon.  I've always had a thing for picnic tables!



I should mention that we recently built a sunroom on top of half our patio, which now serves as our dining room and frees up space in our tiny kitchen.



How amazing is our table, modeled after the Big Sur table from Crate and Barrel, but handmade by a local carpenter on Craigslist for half the price!  Seriously, handmade is the way to go.

We've got a banana tree and Johnson's blue geraniums...

We've got a new planter bed that will one day be filled with veggies and herbs.

And last but not least, an adult jungle gym for my monkey-of-a-husband.   Still in progress.

So, I did experience a bit of sticker shock when I realized how much the garden and sunroom would cost.  Basically, the price of a super nice SUV.  Gulp, that's expensive.  But here's how we justified it.  We like our house and our down-to-earth neighborhood, but the house is pretty tiny.  We would rather add a sunroom in order to free up some space in the kitchen (where we spend most of the day) than pick up and move to a bigger house, which always comes with hidden costs.  We also feel that a beautiful landscape will be enjoyed by every member of our family for years to come.  We've already had picnics, a bbq, and daily wrestling in the grass.  That is worth way more to us than a nice SUV. Plus it all adds value to our home, and blah blah blah.  

Hope you enjoyed  my little garden tour!

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