Setting up a Nursery, Part 4

This weekend we took on the chair molding to get us one step closer to being finished with this room. This project was a first for us and I finally got to try out my Christmas present.

The first challenge encountered was that the height of the stripes I taped out kind of increased by about 2 inches between the first wall and the last wall, not too apparent to the naked eye, but it called for some extra touch-up painting. The next challenge encountered was trying to find a process for installing each piece that would not result in liquid nails all over the place. Our general process for each piece went kind of like this:

1. Measure the angles and mark the trim for cutting


2. Walk out to the saw and then try to remember which side of the tick mark to line the blade up with


3. Return and fit the piece into place, check it with the level


4. Take the piece back off the wall and put some liquid nails on it


5. Try to put the piece back in the same spot, check it with the level again


6. Turn to grab a nail quickly before the piece falls off the wall or shifts slightly from whoever's holding it


7. Try to find a stud with my semi-reliable stud-finder


8. Check the level again and fix it


9. Nail a few finishing nails in, counter-punch and then try to clean up the glue that smeared out

It was a success, though, although I did have to cut a few shim pieces, and Lindsay's caulking finished it off into a nice professional looking installation. Lindsay also did the painting, which was not as much fun as the yellow walls. Instead of the Valspar, we just went with some inexpensive ultra-white semi-gloss that claimed to be commercial quality. Commercial quality apparently means very drippy and messy, and requires commercial quality cleaners to get it off the brush and your hands.

The final big project will be the crown molding, which we will take on in early February.

Setting up a Nursery, Part 3

We completed the next major step of painting the nursery this past weekend. Lindsay chose a nice sunny yellow color along with a darker yellow for doing stripes. The color scheme really works with the black furniture and blue accents that we're going to have.

We got the base-coat completed earlier in the week, and thankfully only needed one gallon / one coat thanks to the high quality of Lowe's Valspar 'Signature Series' paint that we had to get because the color Lindsay picked was from the Eddie Bauer line. That was some pretty good paint compared to the stuff we got from Wal-Mart the last time.

Painting the Stripes
Painting the stripes was pretty tricky, but rewarding. The plan was to have the stripes go from the floor to where the chair molding will go, so we started by measuring off that distance and then with the help of a handy little $14.99 laser level from Target, I marked off 4" increments. That part wasn't too bad, but what took all the time was getting the vertical lines taped off. For each one I had to stick the laser level on the wall lined up with my mark, project the vertically level line to the floor and then carefully tape off the laser line. The idea was the chair molding would cover both the over-painting at the top of the stripe and the pinhole that the level left behind. Three full rolls of painters tape and three evenings later we had perfect stripes!

The best part is, no repeat trips to Lowes for more paint (just more painters tape).

Setting up a Nursery, Part 2

This weekend we let the sawdust fly as we finished off the next 2 projects for our nursery:

Letters for his Name
One of the ideas Lindsay wanted to do was to put his name on the wall with wooden lettering. She did some pricing and the letters we liked cost as much as $10 apiece from Pottery Barn, or as low as $3 apiece for dinky little letters from other places. She suggested that we could do our own and I jumped at the opportunity to make a contribution.

We scoured the web for the perfect font, but wound up picking the default Comic Sans font for it's simplicity and roundness. I blew the letters up to full page size and printed them out to use as stencils. We thought we could utilize some plywood in the garage left from Harrison's bunk bed, and it was thick enough, but not really meant for jigsaw cuts, so that got scrapped. However, our second attempt, armed with a fresh piece of solid pine and a better jigsaw blade for scrolling cuts, was much more successful. Lindsay sanded each letter, spray-painted them red and then attached ribbon bows for hanging them. The final product looks great, but there will be no pictures as our tradition is to not reveal the name until the little guy is here (although I tried to convince to Lindsay that it doesn't matter this time around, as there will be no more letter cutting).

The Rocking Chair
Our second project for the weekend was painting our rocking chair red to fit the decor for the nursery. I borrowed an orbital sander and sanded down the finish the best I could and Lindsay dispensed about 3.5 cans of spray paint on it, covering the garage in a light pink dusting and making the tendons in her right hand very sore in the process. The results were amazing, the chair looks brand new and really sets off against the furniture.



Next up, getting some paint on the walls...

Setting up a Nursery, Part 1

With our last little boy on the way, we have an opportunity for a first this time around: setting up a proper nursery before he gets here.

With Harrison, we were still in an apartment when we brought him home, so we didn't get to set him up a nursery until we moved into our first home a month or two later. When Sawyer came along, he had to bunk up with Harrison for 6 months until we got into this house where we could set him up his own room. But now with #3 on the way, we actually have a spare room to decorate before he even gets here.

Our baby furniture has served us well, and probably would have held up for another round, but since this third little guy is going to be up to his ears in hand-me-downs we decided to get something new for him. We sold the old crib, changing table, crib set, and a bunch of stuff out of the spare room, a surprisingly easy task using Woodlands Online. The proceeds from that helped us to pick a nice new crib and crib set with a fresh new design. Matched with a nice new dresser and side table from Rooms to Go and this nursery is already on it's way.

Christmas is Here!

Another Christmas is upon us and I'm getting a head start on uploading the pictures this year. Among our pre-Christmas traditions Lindsay made cookies with the boys (and then Grandma and Lauren came into town to help with that):



And today I made a Gingerbread house with their help:

Christmas 2007 - Gingerbread House

More pictures will come soon, and hopefully some video too (except I forgot to get tapes and a new battery for the camcorder, so I don't know how much video there will be this Christmas).

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2007

The boys both dressed up as Auburn Football players this halloween. They both had a great time, but most of the pictures are of Sawyer because we couldn't keep up with Harrison.

Our 4th of July Vacation

For the 4th of July this year, Lindsay and the Kids spent the week in Austin. I joined them on the 3rd and the following day we took the kids to Sea World in San Antonio. It's only a 2 hour drive and everything worked out perfectly. The weather has been so rainy that it wasn't too crowded, yet we had sunny skies save for a quick rainstorm. The kids got to see the big Shamu show, plus we happened to walk into one of the aquariums just in time to see them feed the tropical fish and sting-rays, which they make a nice little show out of.

Sea World

There were 0-5 minute waits on all the big rides, so we are able to take turns riding the two major roller coasters (Poppy and Lauren came along). Harrison even rode his first roller coaster ride at the end of the day when he rode the 'Shamu Express'. I posted a video of that one, although it's hard to see him on there.

We had a pretty good time, and there's also another album of more pictures from the whole trip to Austin. Enjoy!