[adventures in domesticity] our nursery

I'm so excited to finally reveal the finished nursery!  It's been a work in progress for a long time, but I love it even more for the time we took and the care we put into the details.  Nothing in the room is part of a set*, which gives each piece of furniture & accent more of an eclectic, hand-picked feel.  But yet it all ties together so nicely.  Sorry to be tooting my own decorating horn here, but I'm so in love with this room that I can't help it.  I've been sneaking in there to sit in the glider and admire everything.  And of course to imagine being in there with the final sweet thing that's missing...!

It's difficult (if not impossible) to get a shot of the entire room at once, so I'm starting with the view as you walk into the room.

Here's the opposite view, from the glider:

...and the view from over by the shelves:

Now for the details!  The crib - here is where my asterisk comes in - the bedding is the only set in this room, from Pottery Barn Kids.  I originally didn't want to do a bedding set, but this one was a little too perfect for our nautical theme:

The art above the crib is from Etsy (Keep Calm Shop), an original pointillism piece by a close friend of my grandparents (the lighthouse), and a rusty anchor from a local antique shop.

Moving across the room, I love this Ikea Expedit shelving as both a display and storage unit.  The shelf above it with hooks is also from Ikea:

The red rocker, like the rusty anchor, came from Alston's Antiques in Garland, TX.  Alston's is one of my favorite antique shops in the DFW area.  It houses endless treasures, and this chair was certainly one of them.  We didn't paint it or anything - this is how we found it, and we knew we had to have it.  A couple other detail details - art is from Etsy again, Studio Lyon for the alphabet chart, and African Grey for the narwhal and otter prints on the wall.  The other frames on the Expedit shelf were custom created for me by my friend Cassie of Hi Sugarplum and are awaiting pics of the little guy to fill them!

Speaking of Cassie, she was awesome enough to hand us down her glider since her babies are not so tiny anymore (and she's totally overhauling her daughter's room - stay tuned to her blog for the big reveal SOON, I hope! :).  I can't resist a good before & after, so here's a shot of the chair when we adopted it:

It was cute to begin with, but the yellow didn't tie in with our nursery...and Cass won't mind me saying that light colored fabric needed a little TLC after two kids!  $10 worth of Ikea fabric later, et voila:

It's pretty hard for me to pick a favorite piece in this room, but this one's a real contender.  My mom and I (okay, mostly my mom) recovered this baby in about 2 hours, and I still can't get over how great it turned out.  The oar side table is from Christmas Tree Shops, and the rug from World Market.

Another DIY gem in this room is the changing table.  We picked this up at a thrift store in Oak Cliff for all of $40, and it was glossy black, tagged with graffiti on the back.  We left the graffiti because it's kind of humorous (and not visible), but Rod covered the hideous black with a couple coats of Behr Paint + Primer in an inky blue.  I want to add some pulls eventually, but the ones I love currently are from Anthropologie and cost twice what the dresser did.  Screw them and their stupid prices - the search continues.

And since I can't resist jumping in a photo, an outfit shot in the nursery...this was sometime in my 36th week:

dress: Gap, cardigan: C&C California, boots: Steve Madden, headband: Lacoste, leggings: Target

Finally, I'd be completely remiss if I didn't mention the great help I had in the creation of this stunner of a room, especially in the final stages.  First, my mom who recovered, assembled, painted, moved & lifted heavy stuff, etc. etc. etc.

...and Bill who helped my mom paint on his day off so that I could avoid fumes and backache...

...and last but not least, Rod who painted, assembled, hung stuff up, endured shopping with me and most importantly, had opinions & took an interest in this stuff!  Love you.  :)

Thanks for taking the tour with me!  We are beside ourselves with excitement at this point...hopefully I'll be posting soon with some big news!!

[haute mama] w34d5 ~ back in black

I'm getting to the final stretch, and although baby & I still need some time, I'm so ready to be done!  I've had a wonderful pregnancy, don't get me wrong, but I'm also looking forward to being able to take my own shoes off again.  On that note, there haven't been a whole lot of outfits that have inspired me to take pictures lately either.  I'm sort of in 'whatever still fits' mode, which is so boring & mildly depressing!  However, I really want to document up until the end, and today's ensemble was a little more worthy of the camera than usual. 

Note the short sleeves & bare legs.  It is so warm this week!  I can't believe Christmas is in a few days.

*sings* I don't think you're ready for this belly...

top: Urban Outfitters, skirt: Motherhood, boots: Frye, necklace: Haute Hardware (similar here), cuff: flea market, geode ring: gift shop in San Juan

In case this is all she wrote before Saturday, wishing everyone an excellent & safe holiday!

xoxo

ready for my close-up

Thanksgiving weekend my friend & favoritest photographer, Ange Fitzgerald, was in town, and was able to steal away from her family for a bit to do some maternity photos for us.  I love every last one of them & wanted to share a few of my favorites here.

We couldn't forget about our current babies, so Ange did a series of shots with the buns!  It was hard to keep them from tearing around the yard, but we managed to do it.

Transporting them from the photo shoot.  They all look so thrilled right here!

Ange is so talented, and I'm so happy she was able to squeeze us in (and on short notice).  Thanks again, lady! 

[haute mama] w32d1 ~ over the knee & through the woods

I truly didn't think that over-the-knee boots were something I'd be trying whilst pregnant, but in the end I was lured in.  In general I prefer a flat OTK boot to avoid any potential Pretty Woman implications, and that just happens to work out a lot better for me these days in the comfort department.  I think I've been wearing heels about once every two weeks, at best...and my feets and calves aren't very happy with me when I do.  I wore a mere 2.5" heel to work last week because some sweet co-workers threw me a shower & I wanted to look fancy, and then I got a debilitating leg cramp on the way home (yes, while driving...fun).    But anyway, these Steven boots are actually easy to get on (also important) as well as comfortable, so they work.  And keep me from feeling like a total schlump these final months.

 Layered up with a vintage swing coat that I've had for a few years.  It happens to be a pretty fab maternity winter coat (for Texas winter...it only has 3/4 sleeves but is otherwise relatively warm), and I'm glad to not have to buy one:

boots: Steven, jeans: Loved, sweater: Max Studio, tank: Liz Lange, coat: vintage, bag: Rachel Nasvik, necklace: Haute Hardware

Necklace close-up - I'm still all smitten with this piece from the Jingle Bash!

Last but not least, I'm also wearing a new Chanel Rouge Coco that I splurged on during a mini-post-Bash-spree.  The shade is Rivoli which is a dark berry red that can be applied relatively sheer for daytime and vamped up for night.  I love it.

[haute mama] w29d5 ~ cinnabun

First things first, have you entered the giveway yet?  If not, jump on it!  It's free jewelry, peeps!

I wanted to sneak in an outfit post this week, amongst the Etsy madness, and today's seemed like a good day for a couple of reasons:  1) My top is by fellow Etsy Dallas member, XY Factory, and 2) it was a present I got for my best friend Gail while she was pregnant, that she's sinced loaned back to me.  Here's a pic of Gail and her son Kenny, to give you a visual of these x-treme cuties:

Kenny is 5 months old, which will make him approximately 8 months older than our bebe...which is coincidentally exactly how far apart Gail & I are.  Poetic, non?  Now I just need to get them to move to Dallas so the boys can grow up together...

So.  Gail gave me a stack of great hand-me-down maternity tops when she was here a week ago, and I've been wearing something of hers almost daily.  Here's the aforementioned XY Factory skull top:

 tunic: XY Factory, jeans: Forever21, cardi: C&C California, glitter flats: Gap

I also attempted to get a close-up of my hair today, as I tried out a new bun style that I spotted on Second Star, which she tried thanks to this tutorial on The Daybook.  Now, thanks to my stick-straight, slippery mane, my bun didn't turn out as full our boufy as either of those lovely ladies', but I do like it anyway.  It also feels really secure (except for the million flyaways!). 

That's what I love about the blogsphere - there are so many good ideas out there on how to do just about anything.  And my hair actually wasn't the first thing I tried out from a blog this morning - upon waking up, I whipped up this Cinnamon Toast to Die For from some leftover French bread, thanks to Hello, Splendor.  It not only tastes to die for, but it makes your house smell to die for.  You should seriously try it out, but I warn you, you may not want to return to regular ol' cinnamon toast after you try this version!

[haute mama] w28d7 ~ great job!

Hang onto your hats, I'm posting twice in a day.  I still have last weekend's baby shower to document, as well as more Jingle Bash banter, so I figured I'd better get crackin' on some of my post backlog. 

Just a quick outfit post from yesterday, which included work followed by The Tim & Eric Awesome Show (Great Job) Chrimbus Spectacular at the Granada Theater.  If you're not familiar with T&E, you just need to set your DVR to Adult Swim and see for yourself.  It's a little hard to put into words, to say the least. 

top: F21, skirt: American Apparel, boots: Seychelle's, bag: Rebecca Minkoff, scarf: World Market, necklace: Haute Hardware

One more for the cheap seats - shot of me in front of T & E's super rad bus (which according to an inside source couldn't be parked in front of their fancy hotel because of all the tongue action.  LAME.):

w27d6 ~ mama's got a brand new bag + jingle bash preview

I've been dying for JCrew's Exhibitor Pouchette since it was released several months ago, but was waiting for a sale.  Although JCrew likes to send me an e-mail about a sale or promotion every. single. day, this bag is still hanging out at full price.  So I turned to my good friend, eBay.  I found one in the Beechwood color I wanted for $125.  Not bad, so I bought it.  A couple days later I got the shipping confirmation from the seller, along with a note saying the bag was not up to snuff with their standards & they were discounting the bag by $50.  They didn't tell me exactly what was wrong with it, but they said if I was unhappy with it I could send it back.  A little crestfallen, I waited, expecting the bag to arrive with a giant hole in it or worse.  When I got it, there was basically a tiny mark on the bag (which could just be a variation in the leather), that's under the part that flaps over to boot.  In a nutshell, it's no big deal (I'll almost certainly get worse marks on it after carrying it awhile), AND it means my bag rang in at all of $75.  Score! 

Enough of my yammering.  Here it is in action:

I'm drawn more & more to small bags like this that I can wear cross-body.  They're awesome for shopping and errand-running, and they're also small enough to chuck into a diaper bag in the near future.

bag & cardigan: JCrew, top: Joie, jeans: Gap Maternity, oxfords: Uterque, necklaces: Haute Hardware

My necklace is actually a pile of 3 different necklaces, all of which will be available at the Jingle Bash.  So don't forget to come - November 20th at the Palladium. /plug  Anyway, I did really quick snaps of these pieces, so forgive the less-than-stellar photo quality. 

 antiqued gold-plated chain + citrine

 various brass chains

layered brass chains - gold toned

[haute mama] w26d1 ~ it's friday, i'm in love

The weather still can't seem to decide whether it wants to be summer or fall, so it's a good time for in-betweener clothing.  Such as a sweater dress (or tunic, if you're stretching it over a bump) with short sleeves.  In most climates something like this would be useless, but in Texas "fall" it works.

I couldn't resist taking the YSL cage heels for another spin while the weather permits.  I will surely get a lot of crap from the mother hens in my office for wearing these crazy high shoes.  They all think I'm going to spontaneously fall over every time I'm in something other than flats.  It's sweet of them to worry, but as my wardrobe gets more & more functional, I'm not ready to give up ridiculous shoes just yet. 

  

dress/tunic: Banana Republic, jeans: Loved by Heidi Klum, shoes: YSL, cuff: Marc Jacobs, necklace: Kohl's, leather pyramid ring: Ted Rossi

Today's lipstick is a brand spankin' new one that arrived yesterday by way of eBay.  eBay is good (or highly dangerous, depending on how you look at it) for feeding beauty addictions since you can almost always** find better-than-retail deals on overpriced cosmetics.  This gorgeous red is from the perfectly formulated Chanel Rouge Coco collection.  It's called Gabrielle, and it's a true, bright (but not too bright) red with just a hint of orange to it.  It's not a frost, but it does have the slightest bit of shimmer to it if you look really closely.  It applies and wears effortlessly, which can't be said for all bold reds.  All in all a winner, and at almost 40% off of retail to boot!

Chanel Rouge Coco - Gabrielle

**I *still* can't find the new Tom Ford lipsticks on eBay or anywhere, for that matter, below retail.  And at $45 a pop, I need to hold out for a deal!  If you can find me a deal on these, I will send you a pony.  Or even a unicorn. 

[haute mama] w25d7 ~ she's a brick...house

So I'm definitely to the point where there's no mistaking my "condition" (I love that euphemism), which is pretty fun for me.  I've graduated from that 'is she pregnant or is she just packing it on' phase, and you wouldn't believe how many perfect strangers want to talk to me about being pregnant.  I've also been fortunate enough SO FAR to not have anyone make stupid, insensitive remarks (I'm bracing myself for the day that that happens...and I know it will).  People generally are just really excited about pregnant women and want to talk to you.  I like that.   

All that said, I think today's dress makes me look even pregnant-er than I am!  Which is just fine, I just didn't realize how mighty mighty I looked until I saw the pics.  In theory this is the perfect cut dress - it's not maternity, but it might as well be - but I think the length makes it a little (or a lot) "tent-y" with a bump.  It'd probably look sassier at knee length, pregnant or not.  Maybe one day I'll get it tailored, but for now, here it is, as-is:

 

dress: eight*sixty, tank: Liz Lange, bag: Hayden Harnett, shoes: Ciao Bella, necklace: Early Jewelry, earrings: Haute Hardware, scarf (on bag): Junko Koshino

I don't know if I can chalk this up to pregnancy or not, but I've developed a little bit of a lipstick obsession as of late.  Actually, I decided I prefer lipsticks to glosses about a year ago, but the sheer obsession has definitely heightened since becoming knocked up.  Lipstick still fits even when nothing else does, and it's cheaper than a  handbag.  In most cases.  Anyway, I figured why not highlight what I'm wearing on my lips as well?  Sometimes it's the most exciting part of my daily ensemble.

Today I'm wearing MAC Party Line from the Cremesheen collection.  It's a red-toned plum, and although it looks dark in the tube, it can be worn fairly sheer, or built up for a more vampy effect.  The Cremesheen formula is moisturizing and wears well - my morning application lasted me until lunch and still looked great. 

Not that I need to add to my lipstick want list, but I'm curious to know, what lipstick(s) are you loving currently?