Check it off the list (mostly)

I love getting things done.  It's especially awesome because most days I get home from work and sit on the couch blubbering about my achy back, pelvic pain, itchy butt (yes this is a thing now) and how none of my shoes fit.  So, the fact that my little $15 nightstand is transformed makes me really happy.  The starting point: 

I scuffed it up with some 220 grit sandpaper because that is what I found first, and time between bathroom breaks cannot be squandered searching for 150 grit sandpaper.   

A coat of Cover Stain spray and another sanding with 220 later, it was ready to be slathered with a new shiny paint job. 

The first coat of BM Satin Impervo in Decorator's White was lookin mighty fine. 

This paint is a dream.  A sweet dream, like the ones where you aren't pregnant and are knocking back gallon-sized drinks on your honeymoon in Jamaica.  Anybacktoreality.....here it is with the second coat and the fancy new hardware on it.  I love how the knobs look like monster eyeballs!   

I finished off the top with this Varathane water-based poly recommended by Centsational Girl Kate...it is nice and thick and dries super fast.  I used a brush to apply it after a failed attempt to use too-small underwear as a rag.  Yeah, let's not talk about it.      

I feel so much better having a beautiful, protected top surface for next to the glider. Considering it may get splattered with, ah, 'liquids'...I appreciate the extra protection for my paint job.  I may or may not do a second coat, I haven't decided yet.  

I love how it turned out, although I do have a little problem...

Not my toes, those are fabulous because I just got them done Tuesday.  Holla for pretty sausage toes!  No the problem is, why the heck do they make those bolts for the hardware so long?  I either need to cut them or get new ones.  What the?  Regardless, I love this before and after.   

And to celebrate hitting my 'full term' milestone this week, here's my 37 week belly:

I've been told I haven't 'dropped' yet.  Thanks, that is helpful.  

Creating a shelf

This area of the kitchen is very naked in anticipation of our open shelves.  Ok, and an outlet cover.  I know, that is silly.  

I finally got on this project over the weekend.  The shelves, not the stupid outlet cover.  Here are the sweet red oak components of one of our two kitchen shelves:

The shelf boards are from a local hardwoods place I found online.   They were able to cut down the oak to the exact measurements I wanted, so I got two oak shelves 42 inches long, 11.5 inches deep, and 1.75 inches thick.  They are so beefy!  I paid $124 for both pieces and couldn't be happier.  Piecing a thick oak shelf together at the local big box store would've been a pain and would not have looked as nice. 

They did need a finish sand before staining.  Especially on the edges....see the difference?

I picked the stain up from our local Hallman Lindsay store.  I thought about painted shelves way back, but I really wanted more warmth in the kitchen, so I went with red oak with a plan to stain to match the floors.  

The American Walnut stain was a near perfect match for the floors, tested here on a scrap piece of flooring.  Fabulous! 

I wanted to only do one coat of stain, and I'm very happy with the color with just one pass.  I didn't let it sit, I just applied and wiped it smooth right away.  

Gorgeous!  The knot on this one will most likely be the top part of the top shelf, so no one will see it.  Although, I don't actually mind it.  

The shelf brackets were really annoying to stain, but I got the job done with the help of some Q-tips for the tight areas.  These four brackets from architecturaldepot.com cost me $125 and can hold 250 pounds.  That's great, considering how heavy the boards are alone!  

The next step is to coat all the pieces with my favorite finish for stained wood, Deft spray lacquer.  I think I will use semi-gloss for this application.  This lacquer is so durable, our dining room table still looks newly refinished a year and a half later.  

We're getting there!

Overwhelmed

Maybe it's because I passed the 'one month until due date' mark, but I'm officially scared that I'm not getting things done.  I'm overwhelmed.  I walk into the baby's room and just walk back out because I have no idea where to start.  Observe the chaos:

It makes me sick that I just can't focus and get things organized. 

At least the dresser is stocked, full of diapers on the right side and onesies, pants, and other clothing on the left.  I also managed to get two coats of Polycrylic on the dresser top to protect the paint.  Thank goodness.  

Not sure where the buggy is going to live, and I still have to figure out where the glider is officially going, since there is no outlet on that wall with the wee window, and I need to plug in a lamp. 

My mom made that amazing blanket, can you believe she found those perfect yarn colors??  She is also recovering the glider cushions and making my curtains for me.  I will have to come up with a great mother's day gift this year....

The closet is actually in good shape.  Most of the clothes are washed, except for things we're not sure we need.  Diapers are unboxed and ready, sleepers  and gowns are all washed and laid out for quick grabs.  Although the baby would not fit in the crib if he decided to come early...

What a mess.  I still need to make the crib skirt, hang the mobile, and the new art I got for the room:

I found so many cool outdoorsy art prints on Art.com....we love that they are colorful and reflect things Shaun loves to do.  Until I can find a print of someone blogging, I guess I won't have one that represents me!  I also picked up this solid nightstand from the thrift store for $15 to go next to the glider. 

I'm probably going to paint it white to match the glider and crib, and I snagged four of these fab knobs on eBay for $13.  Love them!

And outside the baby's room, there is baskets and baskets of clean clothes to be folded and put away, including more wee clothes that are looking mighty strange in my house. 

Wish me luck getting stuff done!  Lots of it.   

We've got blinds

So, I bought blinds (from Select Blinds) for our kitchen and living room a long time ago.  We kept meaning to put them up, but were much too lazy to actually do it.  We actually did it this weekend, and we are very happy with them.  As happy as you can be about blinds, anyway.  After we figured out how to install them, it was pretty easy.  I would mark the screw holes for the brackets, and Shaun was in charge of drilling and mounting them.    

My job was clearly very important.  I would also take many annoying photos of my husband while he was trying to do this.  

Because our window stops were only an inch wide, we had to center the bracket on them and use the big square holes for the screws.  Is this ideal? I'm not sure, but that is the way it worked.  

Once these were mounted, the blinds snapped in and the magnetic valance simply got stuck on.  Easy!  I do have to mention that all the valance pieces were a quarter inch too short to cover the blind frame, so I will be contacting Select Blinds about it.  Pretty annoying.  

The color I chose for the blinds is Pecan, It's a nice warm color that looks great with our floors.  Blinds are pretty necessary in here, since our neighbors are about 15 feet away and the right window looks directly into our bathroom.  We don't always close the door all the way while in the bathroom, are we the only ones?

In the living room, the windows have been blindless since we bought the house in 2008.  We never really feel exposed in here being pretty far from the street, but I still wanted the added privacy of blinds to deter possible baby-stealers.  You never know...

The day is cloudy and I have pregnancy brain and can't operate my camera too well these days, so here's the best pic I could come up with for the 'afters'....

We also added some new sash lifts to the windows, we haven't had hardware on these windows since we got them installed in 2010.  I didn't want to pay for Marvin lifts when I could find cheaper ones myself, famous last words until two years later.  I chose these nice, solid brass ones from House of Antique Hardware:

For $25 including shipping, I'm sure we saved at least $75 from what Marvin would charge for the same thing.  I'm so happy these windows are finally complete!

And, here is an exersaucer we put together yesterday.  I think the assembly made Shaun bleed, baby things are serious! 

I guess I should just get used to seeing brightly-colored plastic in my living room....

Hi Sugarplum! guest post

Hey guys, go check out my Marry, Make Out, Muzzle picks on Hi Sugarplum today!  Cassie has put together the most fun guest post series I've ever participated in.  And this one is helpful, because you gotta keep a list of men you'd like to date handy, even though I'm already married to the perfect guy, carrying his baby, OH...and the men I chose are all celebrities that have no clue I exist.  Details, details. 

Speaking of baby, and because a post without pictures is ZZZZZ, here's me at 34 weeks...as of yesterday, I'm 35 weeks and THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING FOLKS. 

I look 'officially' pregnant no matter what I wear, and strange people are starting to ask my due date...guess there's no denying it now. 

This might be my favorite belly pic yet:

I do a great cross-eye.  And here's one of me holding up a printout of my hubby when he was wee, given to me by my mother in law.  I love it!  I can only hope that our little boy looks just like dad. 

As for me, all my vitals are great, baby is great, I've gained 31 pounds, and I'm extremely tired 24/7.  I think I might miss out on that 'last trimester nesting/energy' thing I keep hearing about?  Maybe it will come later when I'm even more huge and resorting to adult diapers.  My biggest complaint is the constant pressure on my bladder, but I just deal with it the best I can.  I got a maternity belt and it helps a little bit.  I'm also sleeping like doodoo, but I should just get used to it, eh?  (insert half-hearted laugh here)   

PS - Does anyone else wonder how the heck Jessica Simpson is still pregnant?  She looked 5 months along last Halloween!  It's a mystery that is occupying way more of my brain cells than it should right now.  I need resolution.     

It was exhausting

Heh heh, I'm a funny fatty these days!  Our range hood is up.  Taking care of exhaust and such.  When we prepared to put up this hood, we thought it was going to be tricky but not impossible.  Ok, I thought it might be impossible, but I was hopeful.  

We got the proper drill bits to go through the tile, lined up all the tools, and grabbed the instructions.  Then I had a pregnant-lady meltdown because the outlet we had already tiled around was almost 3 inches too low on the wall.  Not sure how that happened, but it has something to do with our electrician not reading super carefully.  

Broan recommends this thing hang a minimum of 30 inches above the range, and that means the outlet needed to be 42 inches high.  It was not.  I cried.  And cried.  And went to the bathroom a bunch of times.  Possibly ate some chocolate.  And then Shaun decided to call a handy friend and he came over in 30 minutes and put the universe right again.  

Ok, we still had to cheat it.  This was as high as we could go and still be able to plug the sucker in.  Not ideal, but it worked.  I just thank the Easter Bunny that we used a 'clock' outlet that recessed into the wall.  At least something was right. 

I had taped some paper up on the sides because the metal hood was making marks on our new tile.  This was a good solution to avoid dings on the visible areas all along the sides, without getting in the way.  And after I took this pic, the guys left for Home Depot because we didn't have the 6-inch round duct connector.  DUH.  Finally, it was done.

I'm so happy that it doesn't look or feel too low, even though it is 28.5 inches above the range instead of 30.  You might also notice we opted to put the vent portion of the decorative flue on the bottom instead of at the ceiling, because you could see that ugly duct through the vent in that position.  That would be silly!

My favorite thing about it is definitely the lights.  I love how they light up the tile!

And that is that.   

One step closer.  Note to everyone doing a kitchen renovation - take very careful measurements, and read the instructions for appliances well before you place your outlets!  Also, don't be pregnant for your entire kitchen renovation!  Only weirdos do that.