Cameron's Cabinet: Volume I

I bought this diamond in the rough at an antique store in Fayetteville for just under $50 with some convincing from my family (thanks Mom, Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy).  It wasn't in terrible shape but could definitely use some TLC.

Purpose: Changing table for the baby's room
Cost: About $50 with tax + about $16 for materials
Result: To be determined, but I'm extremely pleased with the progress!

To the left are shelves that I removed

Now, I've DIY'd a few projects before but this one proved to be a little hairy. We sought help from Dale for construction advice and Andrew and Heather for furniture refinishing advice. We put our heads together and came up with an overhaul plan: Add legs to raise it up for the 5'11" and 6'3" parents, fill in the gaps with wood glue and use Annie Sloan chalk paint to make the design rustic looking.

Like many DIY tasks, step one - adding legs - proved to be more difficult than we'd anticipated. Props to Dale and Jerome who visited Lowe's twice to get the right tools for the job. I appreciate them working in the 60-degree weather and in the 25-degree weather two weeks later to complete the cabinet. I wasn't involved in this part of the process, but I know they went through several pieces of broken wood over several hours to attach the legs to this little booger. Oh, and some type of saw was involved.

Andrew and Heather provided some great construction help, too. After all, they've built furniture for heaven's sake! The most helpful advice they gave me, however, was to rub a tiny amount of Vaseline on the edges of the piece so the paint sands down easier when it's time to distress it. Let me tell you - it worked like a charm.

Here are those doggone legs. Oh the trouble my family went through just to attach these creatures!

This was taken after I applied two coats of Annie Sloan's Old White chalk paint. Love the texture and how it really looks rustic, even before chipping away and distressing the paint.

Now for the fun part: Sanding and sealing with wax. I enjoy the sanding step because that's when the piece starts to take on a life of its own. You can sand it according to your preference. I sanded this one down quite a bit today and went a little overboard with the edges on purpose to really rough it up. I took some keys to the top of it and had a hayday beating it up a little, too.

I'm very pleased with the look so far and can't wait to finish it up. Next step: Attaching the doors and finding some cute but boyish knobs to dress it up a little.

Finally, I need to figure out what to do with the tricky inside panels. Paint? Wallpaper? Mod podge? I'm open to ideas here, so hit me up!

Slowly But Surely

Winter weather in our area has brought many things to a screeching halt lately: schools, traffic, trash service, weeknight plans and maybe even grocery shopping for some of us who don't feel like fighting crowds for milk and bread. But I'm thankful to report that we may be at the end of it (well, after one more bout with 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow). We've had snow on the ground for about a week now, and it's simply killing me. I'm not cut out for this white stuff!

In spite of the gloomy weather, things are really picking up around our house as we prepare for Cameron's arrival. Our handyman is coming this week to paint his room and do some other work around the house. After his room is painted, I'll really be able to kick it into high gear when it comes to putting the nursery together and getting it decorated. Only 11 weeks left!

26 weeks (just before the snowpocalypse)

27 weeks (mid-snowpocalypse)

A Shower of Blessings

Cameron's first shower was yesterday, and he scored some serious booty! I'm very thankful for the generosity of friends and family and am reminded how blessed Jerome and I are to have some wonderful people in our lives. The hostesses (Kirsten, Haley and Amber) fixed up Haley's home beautifully. The food, decor and atmosphere were just perfect.

I was especially happy to have the crazy girls in my family in town for the weekend: Mom, Kirsten, Aunt Cindy and Jennifer. We totally girled it up and I pity any man who crossed our paths yesterday while we were out in public. We made a trip to Gordman's to check out some home goods, then made a stop by two or three McDonald's restaurants in order to find Kirsten a dipped cone. Unfortunately, all locations' machines were either out of chocolate or weren't working properly. We came up short and poor Cookie was sorely disappointed, but she only reminded us of that dipped cone about 10 or 12 times all night, so it wasn't too bad.

: )

We came back to the house and sorted through Cam's new goodies. Things got crazy when Kirsten whipped out some 70's music on her phone and Mom and Aunt Cindy started dancing the night away.

In all, we made some hilarious and sweet memories that I'll cherish forever.

Deck the Walls

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love typography. Although I'm not big on quotes or cliches, I do like personalized prints and custom pieces. I'm hoping to use my extremely limited Photoshop skills to whip up some prints for the baby's room.

Pinterest provides a great place for me to gather ideas for wall art. I pulled these from by "Baby" board.

I'm a big fan of framing a collection of photos or illustrations. Have I done this in my own house, you ask? No. I'm too chicken and afraid I won't hang the frames evenly. But I'm willing to take a risk with the fun baby room.

These airplanes are cute but not too cute or cartoonish - definitely a look I like. And don't you love the huge catch-all bins in the cabinets? Great idea: practical and stylish.

There are so many great wall decor options to consider, and I could spend all day dreaming up what to nail into the sheetrock, but dressing the walls will likely be the last piece of the puzzle for the room. My goal? Start with with bedding, a rug and curtains, then build from there.

Let the madness begin

Baby showers are upon us, and I couldn't be more excited or thankful for the things we're about to receive from friends and family.

I was pleased to receive our first gift for baby Cam on Tuesday evening: a pack and play from an old high school friend of mine and childhood friend of Jerome's. It's really sweet to be reminded of old friendships during times like these. People are so kind to remember us.

Thanks, Jason!

Baby Bumpin'

Here's a recent baby bump photo at approximately 24 weeks.

I haven't been forced into maternity clothes yet, but I sure am squeezing the life out of my normal clothes, or rather, they're squeezing the life out of me.

I believe a full-on maternity wardrobe (complete with stretchy pants and leggings, of course) is just around the corner. I've worn a few maternity tops and they're extremely comfortable. At almost 6' tall, my main issue is finding tops that are long enough for my normal, non-pregnant self. Compounded with the ever-growing bump, shirt length has proven to be quite a challenge the past month or so. A small price to pay for a baby on the way!

Cameron is moving around like crazy and it's so neat to feel that. In the middle of an insane work day, I'm constantly reminded of this little blessing.

A Clean Slate

After the holidays, it's nice to start with a clean slate, especially when it comes to decorating. I take after my mom in this instance. We both decorate like crazy for Thanksgiving and Christmas, then scale way back in January.

I'm happy to be able to start from the ground up with Cameron's room and be able to customize it exactly how I want it. There are no crazy colors, patterns, molding or anything out of the ordinary in there, which will make the nursery decorating process a little easier.

With tremendous help from Mom, I now have a plan for the room, and let me tell you, it feels good!

Here are a few shots to show you just how perfectly bare the room is.

The scene as you walk into the room - closet on the left, hidden nook around right corner

Now I'm taking you clockwise around the room 

I'll be sure to post nursery updates as I add elements one-by-one. For now, I'll leave you with this adorable $30 purchase from a local antique store I purchased last weekend. I think this little gem was well worth the money.

Stay tuned for progress!