Nesting and Resting

I have been in a nesting frenzy for a few months, but now am feeling particularly restful. Things feel just about in gear to add another love muffin to the clan.
Well, I can't say I'm entirely restful, considering I have very, very little Christmas shopping done and Christmas is only 3 weeks away! Oh my! But I'll get around to that soon enough, hopefully before the things my kids have shown some interest in, aren't sold out! :/

So anyhoo...baby Reed finally has his room waiting for him! I believe every baby should be celebrated and prepared for just like the first one was! It is truly no less exciting every time God has blessed us with another little one to raise up in His ways. This miraculous thing could never get old or mundane! So, one thing that I particularly enjoy is preparing a nursery for our babies. I love every detail of creating a little space for all of their little baby things, and for them to nap peacefully in. Our newborns sleep at night in our room/in a room conjoined to ours for the first few months, though. This preparation of a baby room is just a little way that I feel like I'm getting ready and rejoicing in what an incredible thing is about to the place!

I had originally planned to do baby Reed's room in vintagy whites/creams, but as I was painting the room country white, it hit me! I need old flour sacks and grain bags, and lots of them! That was the birth of the idea for baby Reed's room.



I found some super cool grain and flour sacks on eBay, several which were from the 1930's! The baby blanket was a soybean sack from the 1930's, but it had never been used! Apparently, lots of grain sacks were printed up, and some didn't end up being used. You can find grain sacks with bright vivid colors that are also very old, and un-used. I backed the blanket with red minky fabric. Because I wanted the blanket to stay brightly colored, I sealed it using a technique I found online. You take Aleene's fabric glue and paint a coat over an image you want to be sealed. It worked! I wanted the rest of my sacks to have the faded, washed look. Another bonus to this nursery theme is that grain sacks can be found for pretty cheap!



I found this farmer's market print fabric at a Jo Ann's fabric store for next to nothing! Score! I covered an old bumper I had with a combo of the new fabric and some old grain sacks. I think everything used to make this bedding and the curtains ended up costing about $50, or a little less.










I've been saving the old door for something special, and it dawned on me that it would go wonderfully with the baby room theme. Our baby's "mystery" name will be hanging on the burlap at the top of the door.


This old mantle was something my husband found on the side of the road! It is solid walnut and all of the detailing is also carved from wood! It's amazing! We live our own version of American Pickers, okay?! Believe it or not, the dresser also came off of the side of the road as well. It is a beautiful antique dresser! I painted it black, but still have to buy a couple more knobs for it.




The books are old child readers from the 1950's, and there are some antique tins and milk bottles on the mantle. I'm still looking for a few more finds to add. I'm thinking of some small blocks, or other vintagy toys. The wooden train was made by Danny's mom when he was a baby. It has been in all of our baby nurseries.



I framed a couple of flour sacks I already had, and painted some old frames I had on hand.






The black rocking chair and antique school desk were given to us by a friend who was throwing them out! We love them! You can see why we call this baby nursery our "trash" room! Lol



This may be my favorite baby nursery yet. The only things remaining on my "prepare for baby Reed" list, are:
-Order some new, newborn cloth diapers and some burp cloths
-finish the baby hammock...it's almost there

And here are some pics of some of the other projects that have been going on around the house. I've painted our two living room areas a khaki color. They were previously a gold and a terra cotta color. I painted the hallway the same color as well.









I found this project on Pinterest to make roman shades from blinds. It worked well! I used burlap and lace.




I used an old picture I had, to display some of our favorite photos from our time in Peru. I painted the frame black and covered the picture with burlap, too. I decided to stencil the scripture that was the anthem of our adoption process on an old board.









And here is finally a picture of our new wooden counter tops. The wood is v-groove "siding" flipped upside down. We've had this leftover wood for years and it dawned on us that we could use it for new counters! It worked perfect, and after many rounds of sanding, staining, and polyurethane by my dear hubby, it is just as water repellent as any other counter material. There are a couple of small sections of counter that need a little more of this process.









The only other re-do in the house was the boy's room with triple bunks. It's still working so great! The pallet shelves for a dresser and the bunks! It's really simplified things! The room was also painted a similar khaki as the rest of our house.






And the final Christmas decorating is complete! The mantle in the living room is decorated with fresh cedar, various feathers, and pine cones.











All of the stockings lined up...



Outside door...I think this will be it for my outside decor. I'm already thinking about the clean up after Christmas at 41 weeks pregnant. Lol



My favorite ornaments on the candy tree:









And that's that! It's been a busy and exhausting few months fixing up around the house, but it is so nice to have it done now, as we wait for our new son's arrival!