Margot's Room: Little English Lady Meets Little Hipster Baby

I've had a nursery planned out in my head for years. Of course, in all my planning, I was convinced we'd have a boy first, so when Margot turned out to be a Margot, not a ____, I had to adjust a bit.  My plans also did not include that we would still be living in a two-bedroom flat with no yard and the laundry two floors down, but that's life I suppose, and we are grateful for what we've been given.

Anyhow, once I actually came to terms with the idea that we were really having a girl, and that we still needed to use that second bedroom for guests, I started to put together a room that would not only still function and feel comfortable for our guests, but could house a growing, beautiful girl and all of her stuff. (Side bar: how can such tiny people have so much STUFF?!) It's still a work in progress, but I always feel that way about every room in my house.


It had to start with a plan for storage. This can be an issue in any house, but we had some particular challenges due to our closet space, or lack thereof. Kyle's clothes have long occupied the closet in our guest room (or Spare Oom, if you will), and there is just nowhere for them to go from there. We knew we'd need a wardrobe for Margot.


We also knew that we wanted this shelving unit from IKEA, which just so happened to fit like a glove into the space we had available. It's currently a bit "busier" than I'd prefer, but did I mention how much STUFF she already has? I don't know that the shelf will ever make it down the stairs and out of this house if we move, but I couldn't be happier with the storage it provides in the meantime!


The second thing I had to consider was color.  I wanted it to feel bright and cheery, and yet not too babyish. Neutral walls and neutral bedding, with brighter colors layered on top. For Margot's bed, I scoured the internet for crib bedding, but didn't like a thing, so I ended up getting plain white sheets, a vintage white quilt from Etsy, and a breathable bumper. It ended up being super cheap that way! We used an old quilt made by Kyle's grandmother as the "comforter" for the guest bed, and I was so glad that the beautiful flower blanket gifted to me by my mother a couple years ago could finally be on display.


Many of the other pieces of furniture and decor in her room came from yard sales, Craigslist, and Etsy.




One of my favorite items (and probably my mother's LEAST favorite) is her little woodland creature, who came from last year's Strange Folk Festival. He's currently just chillin' in her Boppy. I think he's cute and whimsical. Margot's Grandma Lu had a few other adjectives for him, but we love him just the same!


Kyle made some personal contributions to the room, as well. He is an avid tea drinker, a connoisseur of fine tea, if you will. He's been saving dozens of tea tins for years, in the hopes they could some day be used for a baby. They look pretty cute just randomly stacked on her shelves for now, and I suspect she'll love playing with all of them some day.


Two things I'm pretty sure of for the moment:
1. Her room will probably never look or feel this clean again.
2. As with every other room in my house, it will always feel unfinished.

Unfinished is not the same as incomplete, however, and when she is here I am confident the room will feel complete!

Scenes from a Christmas House

I wish all our family could come to our house over Christmas, but the busyness of this time of year always seems to catch up with us.  I wish they could all see how we've incorporated decorations and ornaments that have been handed down to us on both sides from our grandmothers and great grandmothers.  I wish they could feel "the glow" we feel in our home this time of year.  Instead I decided to take some pictures so I could show them our cozy flat from afar.  Hope you enjoy the tour!

No backsplash? No problem.

When we first moved in to this little flat, I thought maybe I would paint something under the cabinets in the kitchen, which is just white wall space.  Then I realized how long that would take, that I didn't have the energy, and that I would rather invest my time into something we can take when we leave this place.

I got an idea a while back to give our kitchen a little facelift using some thrifted plates as a faux backsplash.  Since then, I have been scouring for pretty plates of all shapes and sizes, some thrifted, some store-bought.  I finally accumulated enough this weekend to complete this project.



So here is our newly refreshed kitchen "backsplash."  Sorry for the photo quality.  I was just too lazy to get out my big girl camera.  Too lazy to even move the dirty glasses from the kitchen counter, apparently.



It has definitely been a DIY kind of weekend.  So much homemaking, so little time. Boy, do I love being home and being pseudo-crafty.

Surprise Flowers

One day last week, Kyle and I stepped out on to our front porch early in the morning to find that we and all our neighbors has bouquets of flowers on our doorsteps.  We still have no idea who put them there or why they did it.

It wasn't May Day.  It wasn't the first day of Spring.  It wasn't any kind of special day that we could think of.  It was just a nice gesture, I guess!

Thanks for the flowers, whoever you are.

A Little Slice of Pye (sneak peek)

Sunday afternoon, I had the amazing privilege of doing a little photo shoot for my friend, Jillian Pye.  She needed pictures of the clothes and accessories for the new spring line of A Little Slice of Pye.  It was pretty exciting for Jillian, the models (Josie and Sharon), and me!  These are just a few of my favorites.  The rest are Jillian's to share at her discretion.  I'll post more once she gets a look.



I had certainly never done anything like this before.  In the past I have photographed family, friends, pets, and landscapes, but a staged shoot? No way.



I was so nervous, and I had serious butterflies leading up to the time of the shoot, but once we got rolling, it was much easier.  By the time the shoot was over, we were all exhausted, sweaty, and starving, but I know everyone had fun.

Then, oh THEN, I started editing.  My WORD, I was hooked.  The editing was maybe my favorite part.  I have no idea if my edits are really any good, but I sure had fun doing it.  I have no formal training in either photography, or in using photoshop.  It takes me forever to do simple things, but it makes me so happy just tinkering around.

Now that I've dipped my toes in the water, I could so take this little hobby of mine to the next level.  I know that photographers are a dime a dozen these days, and I know that highly-trained, highly-paid photographers tend to disapprove when hobbyists turn into cheap, for-hire photographers, but Kyle and I are broke, you see, and any little job I could get would help us out big time.  So, for my friends who are real pros, I'm sorry.

That being said, anyone need pictures taken?

The Dilemma of Painting

It has been nearly two years since I painted anything, and at 11:30 last night, the urge hit me and I just had to paint.  I've been holed up in the office most of the day finishing it.

I have a huge dilemma when I finish a painting.  Often I start a painting with the intent that I'd like to try and sell it, and or give it to someone in particular.  By the time I finish it, however, I've poured hours of work and love into it, and I love the way it turned out, and I don't want to part with it!  Such is my dilemma today.

Kyle's suggestion is to list paintings like this that I love on Etsy, ask a decent price (X hours labor, plus supplies) and if no one buys it, we get to keep it.  According to him, it's win-win.  I still hate to part with it, but we could use the money.

Whatever shall I do?

View from our balcony

We never go out on our front balcony.  We're guessing there used to be a door to go out there, but now the only way out is through the window.  Recently I crawled out there to get a closer shot of the glorious tree in our front yard.  The view from up there was great.

This is our view of Saint Francis de Sales Catholic Church down the street.  The building is spectacular, and is undergoing major renovation.  It boasts the tallest steeple in the city, and is the second largest church building, second to the Cathedral Basilica on the central west end.  It was built by German immigrants living in our neighborhood in the early 1900s.  It is a jewel in our city to be sure.

Saint Louis is nicknamed the "Rome of the West" because of its deeply Catholic heritage.  This carries over into today.  I marvel at the architecture of my own neighborhood and think often about the immigrant families who lived here.  Most of the houses around me are between 100-150 years old, and were built by friends and relatives who immigrated here together after the civil war in Germany.  Let me tell you, they just don't build them like this anymore, but oh, how I wish they did!

From my balcony, I got a better view of some of the architectural details of our building.  I am amazed by the craftsmanship, and I cannot fathom how they built such places without our modern technologies. 



I often wonder about the families who lived here originally.  Who were they?  Where did they come from?  Why did they come here? What did it look like back then?

 

I love old homes.  I believe in restoration.  I hope I always get to live somewhere that has such deep roots and such a rich history.  

School days. School daze.

For once, the start of the semester does not make me feel so bad.  I'm not in a daze.  I'm actually quite excited for the upcoming semester, though I'm told it's the "make-you-or-break-you" semester of my program.  I've got a little confidence, not in myself, but in Jesus who is big enough to get me through this. 

Can I tell you how nice it is to walk across campus with Kyle? It's really great. Such an improvement from the loneliness of summer.

I still cannot believe that we're here together.  It seemed like such an impossible thing that we would even get into schools in the same city, let alone the same school!  To boot, our buildings are right next to each other.  Have I told you that before?  I can't remember.  Yeah.  It's awesome.

The SLU campus is beautiful.  I'd grown used to the drab architecture and dull landscape of SIUC.

Sure, the hills and trees are nice down there, but there's a serious lack of style and color.  SLU is quite the opposite.  I mainly attribute the differences to the fact that Southern is a poor state school, and SLU is an affluent private school.  They can't help it, really.

The landscaping here is immaculate.  There are grounds employees everywhere.  They keep the weeds pulled, the sidewalks clean, the hedges trimmed.

There are flowers everywhere.

There are statues, fountains, streams, coy ponds, and clock towers.  It's a place you want to be.

This lovely change in scenery has done a great deal to lift my spirits lately. More than I could have imagined.



Now there are some drawbacks to being a private school girl.  The tuition, for one, would make you cough your morning coffee through your nose.  I won't go into the others here. 

One more really great thing about SLU is that students just seems happy here.  Kyle is nothing but impressed with the law school and the instructors (despite the fact that the backpack he now has to carry is bigger than him).

In general, you don't here people complaining about the university as a whole.  You rarely hear someone badmouth instructors.  You don't hear students making fun of the school or the programs. 

I am totally impressed with the instructors in my department.  They're all doing interesting research.  They're constantly traveling around the country, around the world, making presentations on important topics.  Just in the few months I've been here, I've had teachers travel to Washington D.C., San Diego, Holland, Greece, and Australia.

In short, we love being Billikens!