something pretty for a monday morning...

Instead of complaining about the fact that it's monday... I thought I'd just skip right to something pretty. I picked up this cute vintage-y butterfly poster from Spruce Collective a while back for Eme's side of the soon-to-come shared kids room.  Isn't it cute?

If you live in the area and haven't stopped by the shop yet-- you've gotta do it!  They've got so much great stuff.  And tons of other great vintage inspired posters (kinda like this one) for like $5 that are perfect for kids rooms and fit perfectly in an ikea frame.  Really... $5... it's cheaper than a Starbucks coffee!

Progress in the Big Girl Room

If I would have attempted to post on this blog earlier this morning it would have been pretty sad-- too much sickness in this house this week, too many early mornings (since when is 5:44 am an appropriate time to wake up!  never!), too much puke to clean out of Eme's hair, too many cranky kids around here, too much messy-ness all around the house, not enough coffee...  glad I decided to hold off.

Because... my fantastic husband (of EIGHT years-- as of yesterday) brought me a starbucks latte before heading off to work for the day,  Caleb and I cheered as Canada won a silver medal, the kids miraculously recovered from their extreme dislike of one another and decided to play downstairs, together, with no screams/cries/blood/puke for an hour which allowed me to clean my house and get a jump on the laundry, and now I suddenly find that I have a few uninterrupted moments to sit down... 

things are starting to look up around here.

So, how about I shift gears and share some of the progress that's been made in Eme's big girl room!  As you may remember, I've been gathering inspiration for her room.  Well, my mom and sister were out visiting last week and we did a little shopping.  I managed to find a few things for Emerson as we were out and about...

I already had the blue lamp (something I found in my thrift store adventures last year) and the pink floral sheets.  But I found the white beaded basket in the clearance bin at Chapters (couldn't find online)-- so cute.  Then I picked up the Emmie Ruta duvet cover from Ikea along with a down duvet-- she's already been sleeping with the pillow in her crib and loves it.  And then, I found pink and white paisley sheet set from Home Sense last week.  We've got our bedding ready to go!  Now I've just got a find a bed-- oh and find the energy to ditch the crib.  Not sure if I'm ready for that yet :)

Big Girl Rooms

Tis the season of birthdays around here.  On Saturday Caleb turns 5 (yikes!!) and in August Emerson turns 2.  Turning 2 means it's time to move on outta your crib.  So far she hasn't really attempted to climb out yet... but this afternoon I heard her yelling from the dining room "HELP!  MOM!  HELP!"  And I discovered this...

And because I'm such a great mom I laughed, grabbed my camera to snap a picture, and THEN helped her down off the table.

Somebody around here sure likes to dance on table tops... but can't seem to figure out how to get off the table.  The days of climbing are upon us... which means it's time for a big girl bed sometime soon.

So!  You know me... I'll probably want to switch up her room a little bit too.  Lately I've been drawn to kids rooms that have some hits of bold pattern... on the floor, on the bed... so fun.  Here are some of my recent favorites...

anthropologie

design sponge

amber interior design

house to home

apartment therapy

bliss

apartment therapy

Elle Decor

Finishing up the kitchen is definitely going to be priority around here... but once that's off my radar, Eme's room is next.  In the meantime, I think a trip to Anthro is definitely in order :)  Anyone wanna come with?

Elephant in the Room

I've been searching for a piggy bank for Eme for the past few months-- and couldn't find a cute one.  So logically, I decided to branch out to Elephant banks.  I found the perfect one at Chapters.

Isn't it adorable?  It looks so cute in her room...

And I think we're officially transitioning out of the "change table" phase-- after weeks of wrestling with Emerson and pictures frames from her gallery wall going flying across the room, we're moving her down to the floor.  My baby's growing up!

Something New

There's been a new addition to Eme's gallery wall in her bedroom.  It was created yesterday by the little lady herself.  Caleb was painting yesterday morning and I figured it was time to introduce Emerson to the world of fine arts.  She actually did a pretty good job-- only tried to eat paint twice. 

She watched her big brother very carefully, studied his technique, and created her first masterpiece.  I decided that it needed to be displayed in her room-- it's the pink and blue number there at the bottom.

I just love that my kids love to paint and create.

And if you've been reading my blog for a while you will notice that the dresser is new in there too.

Previously, we had a white change table with open shelving... but Emerson was getting too long to lay down on it and the baskets/open shelves were becoming a nightmare to keep neat and tidy.  Plus-- Eme has A LOT of clothes.  I don't buy that many for her, but she gets quite a few hand-me-downs from some other stylish little girls.  Storage needed.

I searched for a used dresser that I could transform with paint but I kept running into two problems.  The first problem was the height of the dressers-- I still wanted to be able to use it as a change table (for Eme and any other future kids) and not just anything would work.  My husband is TALL (as in 6'7" tall) so a dresser that's too low wasn't going to cut it.  And secondly, most old dressers have drawers that do not glide in and out easily.  They are sticky and difficult to open.  One thing I love about the drawers in Caleb's room is the fact that he can easily open and close the drawers to find his own clothing and put away his folded laundry.  The drawer glides in Ikea's dressers make my life a whole lot easier-- so I decided to purchase an Ikea Hemnes dresser-- it's got the storage I need, it's the perfect change table height, and it is easy for the kids to use.  Perfect.  I love the white one, but with the white paneling in Eme's room I felt that I needed something else to break up all the white.  So I chose the gray-brown finish-- one day down the road I can always spray it another color-- but for now I'm loving the gray-brown.

Of course, it needed a little something special-- so I traded in the boring ikea knobs for some brass ring pulls from Lee Valley.  Emerson love her new dresser.

SIDENOTE-- yes, Emerson is wearing her boots-- indoors.  I have yet to find a child who loves footwear as much as this little lady.  She carries her boots and shoes around the house ALL day long begging for me put them on her feet.  I find her shoes hiding in every nook and cranny of the house-- and when I hide her shoes, she starts trying to wear mine!  Ah well, guess she takes after her mama-- boots, shoes, sandals-- I love em too :)

Probably because she loves to look at all her clothes and carry them around the house-- pajamas anyone?

Okay so for now-- easy drawer access is kinda working against me-- but one day, when Emerson is able to put away all her own laundry-- I'll be laughing.

Emerson's Room

My baby girl is growing up!  She's outgrown her change table and it's only a matter of time before I take down the crib and move her into a bed.  As I'm sure you can imagine-- I've been planning out her "big girl" room.

I discovered a new favorite online store-- Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.-- they sell the most fabulous vintage inspired lighting, furniture, and home accessories.  Everything I see in their catalog is fantastic.  I saw this bedroom on their site-- and totally fell in love with it.  When I picture how Eme's room should look when she moves into a bed this is how I envision it...

I love all the layers... all the vintage charm.  It's so sweet and pretty-- girly but not over the top.  I was at my local thrift store the other day (yup-- I'm always there!) and found a white vintage looking twin metal bed frame-- just like the picture.  I didn't buy it-- but I'm so tempted to go back to see if it's still there.

Anyhow... first I need a dresser-- than I can figure out the rest of the details for Emerson's room.

But, while I'm talking about Schoolhouse Electric-- how about I show you some of my favorite items...

Isn't this such a fantastic lamp?

It's a little too pricy for someone like me-- but I think it's just gorgeous.

Wool Camp Blankets-- I'd love to cozy up in one of these!  And they'd look fantastic folded over the edge of a bed.

Stripes-- cutest teapot I've seen in a long time...

Kitchen Stools-- look good awesome-- and they're industrial strength-- ready to take a beating from a couple of kids :)

Striped cotton rugs-- a favorite of mine.  This one is pretty awesome... although I do like the $14.99 price tag of the ikea one I found for Caleb a whole lot better :)

Again-- I keep coming back to the stripes.  Love the ticking stripe sheets-- they remind me of the ticking stripe flannel ones I found at Superstore-- although mine were a fifth of the price...

Mirror love.  Would look fantastic in a powder room...

Awesome wall sconce-- would be perfect as bedside lamps, over the kitchen window, or anywhere.  Just fantastic...

And I haven't even started on ALL the fantastic light fixtures they sell!  Well, I probably won't be ordering  any of these items anytime soon-- but Schoolhouse Electric has got some pretty great inspiration.  Definitely worth checking out...