Introducing: The Nar(wall)

I have been a little MIA over the past several weeks.  It may have a little something to do with a growing business and a baby arriving sometime very soon (as I write, I am due in 7 days).  I have been at the phase of my pregnancy for awhile now where my body is so physically exhausted that it's a good day if I get a load of laundry done, breakfast and lunch made and my son off to preschool for the afternoon.  Forget bending over to pick up, clean floors, etc.  You get the picture.

But like any true pregnant woman, I still have the urge to nest and have been doing *some* things little by little (oh, how I wish I was able to get more done before this baby was born).  We have been working on the nursery since April and it's slowly coming together.  With my last two kiddos their rooms were done months before they were born.  With this baby, I know it won't be done completely until after he/she is born and I've come to terms with that.  I have to choose my battles :)  

The first thing we did for the room was paint the walls gray and hang charcoal gray curtains.  Then we painted the crib kelly green.  I had grand ideas for us to create a narwhal  for above the crib out of scraps of wood we already had.  After several tweaks, it turned out pretty cute.  

I drew the narwhal onto some kraft paper to create a template.  Jared, my husband, screwed together strips of plywood we had lying around and then I traced the narwhal shape onto what was now a large surface.  Days later (this is real life, people), he cut out the narwhal using a jig saw.  Several more days after that, we used some stain we already to cover the piece and then distressed it vertically with sandpaper and a hand sander.  I wanted it to look older, like it was found in an old shipping vessel.  

We hung it using a very lightweight and inexpensive picture cleat we found at the Home Depot.  I plan to eventually put Velcro between the cleat pieces because I know how rowdy kids can be in their cribs and don't want this thing coming down to be used as a sword!  

For now, I have a button taped to the head for an eye.  For the longest time I couldn't decide on eye placement and kept moving it around.  Depending on the photograph or image, a narwhal's eyes are pretty low on their heads so I think I will keep it where it's at and glue it down soon (again, this will probably take me months to get to-ha!).  

I searched high and low for some fabric for a crib sheet that mimicked waves but felt somewhat sophisticated.  I had seen Japanese fabrics that looked like handrawn waves but at $17.99 a yard, I knew I could buy a much cheaper sheet than have one made from fabric that expensive.  After almost giving up and then deciding to look at Pottery Barn Kids one more time, I stumbled upon THE PERFECT SHEET on sale for $10 (I had looked at their website a million times and never seen it).  I mean.  I couldn't even buy 2.5yards of fabric for $10 and this was the whole shebang!  That was a happy day.  

The whales even matched the crib color!

I didn't start out to do a nautical nursery.  I really just wanted something that was gender-neutral but still felt like it had personality with some fun quirks.  I planned to combine a little preppiness with some rustic woods and industrial elements to hopefully get something suitable for either a boy or girl.  I think that's happening so far, but after the narwhal went up and the sheet was purchased, it started leaning nautical and I decided to go with it.  I bought some accessories for the room that feel coastal but hopefully aren't too theme-y (more photos to come!).

I will do a whole write-up on the room and show you the rest of the space when it's done... we still have to add a couple of pieces of artwork and hang a different light fixture.  For now, however, this is one of my favorite corners of the room and since it's complete, I thought I would share!  

I wish this were my room now!

xoxo,

Rachel

An eclectic bathroom collage

One of the things I had on my to-do list before my pregnancy went into full-swing-sick-mode was putting up some fun art in our downstairs bathroom.  I picked out what I wanted to hang, set it in the bathroom corner and there it sat for close to 3 months while it waited for me to get off the couch and hang some nails. Well this weekend came and I was ready to hang those babies! 

I was inspired by the bathroom collage in Jeanne Oliver's main floor bath (halfway through her post).   Her style is just slightly more rustic than mine but in a lot of ways her house reminds me of mine or ideas I've had for mine.  It was funny because my bathroom was already painted the same color and the tall ceilings are perfect for some art.  I felt like we had the same bathroom!

In our house, this is the bathroom most people use when they come over.  It was already a fun room due to the adorable bowl sink placed on an old sewing table and the unique industrial faucet put in by the previous owner but I wanted to add some of my own touch.  It feels eclectic and old and I hoped to reflect that in the art I hung.  

I chose a mix of textures, colors, shapes and images.  I didn't want it to look matchy-matchy but like it had evolved over time.  Most of the prints and frames I already had.  A few things I was given recently and the mint metal medallion and old wooden clipboard are from my favorite vintage shop in town-- Vintage No. 35 (though I might be a little biased on this).  

The bathroom is teeny-tiny so it was super hard to get in a place where I could take photos.  I think I was curled up on the sink at this point.  But I contorted my body in an effort to be able to show you the corner half of the room.

There's a floral tapestry I bought at Goodwill, a photo of a French garden found in a recent issue of Southern Living Magazine, a spring bike printable from my Etsy shop and a jar of button flowers I placed inside a blue shadow box and secured with a dab of glue from my glue gun. 

The little shelf is from a friend and is a cute fit for the room and my mini-succulent. The butterfly print was a gift from Jared and is just sitting there until I find a frame for it.

I wanted one more thing and ran to my art room for some ideas. I ended up framing some vintage key burlap in a mint hoop I bought at Goodwill last year. 

The egg print is a reprint from a vintage textbook and the frame is one I found at Goodwill and painted.  The wooden "JOY" sign I have had for awhile and next to that is a little stitching that says "Bless your Heart" done by my friend Jayme's mom.  The white frame on top is from IKEA and has a photograph of a potting station from a recent Better Homes and Gardens issue. 

My friend Maggie (made?) the chalkboard tags and mailed them to me in a pretty package with a bunch of other adorable things while I was sick.  I liked the idea of something in the bathroom other than frames and this was the perfect "something".  

I'm still looking for something cute to hang on the clipboard.  Maybe something with writing.  Not sure.  

I hope to add to this wall over time.  There's a lot more space I could hang things on.  But for now, it looks fine and as I see things that will go, I may hang them.  I also love that I can change out some of the art for the different seasons.  I had a whole different set of prints and photographs to hang when I thought I was going to be doing this in the winter.  Oh well, winter will always come again!

Until next time,
Rachel

Spring has arrived.

I've been in hiding lately and am finally re-emerging.  Kind of like the grass around here, I'm coming alive again.  In early January, we found out we were pregnant with No.3.  As with my other pregnancies, it wasn't long before I was sick, sick, sick.  I think I probably logged more time on the couch and in front of the TV in the last two months than in the last two years combined.  

Let's just say, I'm extremely thankful to be feeling like myself (mostly) again.  Here I am these days:

15 week bump

Obviously, when life gets hard and you enter survival mode, decorating is not a huge priority.  Just having clean clothes and dinner on the table becomes a very difficult goal.  In fact, one of our Christmas trees didn't even come down until around spring break.  Life.  It happens.  

Needless to say, my house was in constant disarray for quite awhile and that's just the way it had to be.  But boy, have I been eager to put my touch on our home again.  Spring always invigorates me and makes me want to break out color and fresh flowers and birds.  

So, that's exactly what I did this past weekend.  The decorations are nothing crazy and in fact, almost embarrassingly simple.  But it's spring at the Serene house and life feels fresh and new again, in more ways than one.  

Praise God for new beginnings and fresh starts!  

Does spring have you wanting to break out some new decorations?  Paint your toe nails?  Set a new goal?  What's new in your life today?

Rachel

A wreath + a fun tutorial

I love black and white stripes.  Probably a little too much.

As I thought about it, there are a lot of black and white stripes in my house:

{Ikea throw}

{Ikea bowls}

{Target crock, from two years ago}

And I just bought eight knobs for an armoire that are black and white striped.  I love how classic they feel and how they go with anything.  They are charming and a little vintage but bold and modern.  Basically everything I love together in one stripey-adorable-contrasty-way.

I made a wreath for our kitchen.  And of course, it was black and white stripes.  It actually took me awhile to come to this conclusion but once I did, it was like the seas parted and I knew it would be *perfect* in the space I had planned.

So, I wrapped some yarn around a straw wreath form.  For hours & hours.  It took me longer than expected.  But it's easy, inexpensive and striking-- so hey, it's a win!  I didn't include a tutorial for this part because it's basically holding and wrapping and most people have made a yarn wreath by now and know the jist of it.

But I did try something new this time.  I figured out how to make pom poms and stuck a bunch in the middle.

I adore the whimsy of the poms.  They are so fun and cute, and again, easy and inexpensive.

I made a quick video tutorial for you to see:

They take about 3 minutes to make.

If you need more details, this is an awesome and very detailed tutorial on pom poms. The only thing I do differently is use my fingers instead of the cardboard. I like them this way because you don't need any fancy equipment.  Just your hand, scissors and yarn.  The poms I made come out to about 1.5" in diameter.  But wrap the yarn around more or less fingers for a bigger or smaller pom.

Also, if you want a long string to hang them by, just make sure the string you use to tie the middle is long (you can always cut it off later if you change your mind or need it shorter).

I ended up having so much fun with pom poms that I added them to many Christmas gifts this year instead of bows.  I found that they looked good on the men's gifts with the cabin-ey wrap I had.

But there is all sorts of uses for poms (garland, anyone?).  So give it a whirl and see what you come up with. If you are on Instagram, tag me in your pom posts :)

With love and poms,
Rachel