A More Restful Bedroom

Oh hi. Happy New Year and welcome back. If anyone thought the lag in posting was owing to my having given birth, I'm sad to report that this is not the case. I'm still lumbering around impatiently.

I've already started my leave from work, which is probably a good thing since I'm so distracted, but it's really exaggerating how slowly time is passing. This would be a good opportunity for me to rest, but I can't sit still. I've read that during the very end of pregnancy one can either be overwhelmed by fatigue or fueled by inexplicable surges of energy. I'm surprised to find myself amongst the latter grouping. For the last few weeks I've been positively bouncing off the walls, on the lookout for something I can clean, reorganize, or store in a Ziploc bag (a strange new compulsion).

With all of this energy and free time, I've come up with an ever-growing list of projects, but most of them are not worth writing about. Unless you want to read about organizing the food storage in the kitchen? See, told you so.

But here's a project worth bringing up: the bedroom. It was the last room requiring our attention before I could finally consider us "moved in."

Unfortunately, this is going to be a room makeover post without Before pictures. Why have I failed you? Well, it's really not my fault. I actually took several pictures during the rejuvenation process, but they were all taken on my phone. And recently my phone turned into an a-hole and I had to do a factory reset which deleted all of my pictures, not to mention my phone numbers. At the time, I was assured this info was all suitably backed up, but it just goes to show you shouldn't blindly trust someone because he's wearing a Verizon Wireless sweater vest. Especially if that someone also pronounces texts as "texes."

Anyway, here is the bedroom.


Now, if you want a before picture, imagine the walls are the color of the Before bathroom.


Like literally I think they used the same can of paint. Have I mentioned how much I love yellow?

Now the walls are a deep smokey brownish gray, which is pretty much the exact same color as the accent wall from the previous bedroom, seen here.


I didn't exactly mean to match it, but I have a tendency to inadvertently pick out the same paint colors repeatedly. This is why Oscar's room is the same color as the second bathroom in the old house, which was the same color as the kitchen cabinets in the apartment before that.

Regarding the curtains and the fabric panels behind the bed from the old bedroom, there's been some discussion about hanging those in the new one. The discussions usually take place on a weekend morning when Devin enthusiastically suggests we tackle it after breakfast, and I respond with a noise that sounds like a sick goat and change the subject. I love how the old bedroom turned out and still love those pieces. I just can't deal.

I'm also into the high contrast of the white blinds with the dark paint, and this inspired me to decorate in a black & white theme. By the bed I hung some black and white pictures of us that we've had for years.


Then on the opposite wall, I gave myself a little project.


I ordered this black and white poster of Hollywood online. It was something like $10. Then, we had this large, framed piece of crumby Ikea art sitting around. The frame was too big for the new poster, but fortunately the blank edges of the artwork served perfectly as a matte. All it took was a little double sided tape.


The frame itself was natural wood, so I painted it with some white acrylic paint kicking around in my craft bin. There was a little bit of a finish on the wood before I painted so it didn't go on totally smooth, but I liked the messy effect I wound up with.

There were pictures of all of this. Oh well. Thanks a lot, Texes.

Now things are sufficiently cozy. But there are two areas that need work, and may not get them for a while.

One is the closet.


It's just too cramped for two people and I haven't given much thought to organizing it or maximizing space. And it's only going to get worse because right now much of my regular wardrobe is stored away and I primarily just have my maternity clothes hanging up.

The other problem is this wall of broken Ikea dressers.


The two birch colored ones Devin and I have had for years. They were holding up okay, but recently the drawers have started to give out. The espresso colored dresser in the middle is one I bought from Craigslist and was originally intended for Oscar's room before I realized it didn't match the crib and was also a rapidly deteriorating hunk of crap. What? Second-hand Ikea furniture isn't standing the test of time? Shocker. Since purchasing it a whole piece has fallen off the front and the bottom drawer has come apart and won't close all the way.

Anyway this just looks cumbersome and awful, but I also don't know how to downsize into something daintier. We've both gone through several rounds of trimming down our wardrobe and still we are busting at the seams. Ideas?

Ignoring those two eye sores, I think the bedroom is good enough to sleep in. Now, if only I could actually sleep...

His First Room

As I mentioned previously, around about the time I painted the bathroom, I was having something of a mental/emotional breakdown about the baby's room. I knew there was plenty of time to take care of it, I knew he wouldn't have a clue what he was looking at in there anyway, and I knew there was no reason to get bent out of shape. I knew all of this, and yet the unfinishedness of it was just eating away at me. You know how they say pregnant women can sometimes be a tad irrational? Yeah, that's a thing.

In the weeks following our move into the apartment, the room was reduced to a storage unit. Naturally, the room we had no everyday need for was the best place to shove anything we didn't have the patience to deal with.

So long as we kept the door closed, I remained in stable condition. But whenever I opened the door and saw this:


...I wanted to cry.

It took time, but eventually we managed to make our way through all of the clutter and get the rest of the apartment in working order. Then Devin took the time to Tetris all the boxes of brand new baby gear into the closet, where they could be temporarily out of sight and mind. And then, we worked together to assemble the crib with only minimal arguing and with only one "extra" screw that we may or may not have failed to put in.



Ah, ok. That's better.

Now I could at least think of things like layout and furniture and color schemes and decor. You know, the fun stuff. Or what could've been the fun stuff if hormones weren't rotting my brain.

Instead, I spent all of my free time at work looking at dressers, changing tables, cute lamps, wall decals, animal themes, sea themes, space themes, bold colors, pastel colors, neutral colors. Whenever I thought I was onto something I would email Devin pictures and links, and then he'd counter with something else that I'd also like and it'd undo all my progress.

There was one point where I was going to leave the walls the dark green color they were when we moved in just because it wasn't a horrible color and it would save some effort. But then I realized another way to save myself the trouble was just to have Devin do it. So when he was on a break from work he carefully transformed the room to baby blue. Classic.

Once that was taken care of, things started to fall into place. I realized there was no way I was ever going to get everything to match as one perfect scheme, so I concluded that the room's theme would be "stuff I wanted."

And, here 'tis!


There are a few elephants dotting the room, and they match the elephant bedding set (still in its box) that was all going to be a part of the elephant themed nursery that existed in my mind at some stage along the way.

But then I wanted to add this decal.



So the elephant thing got sort of displaced. Isn't that darling though?


The bookshelves were the cheapest thing ever, from Target. Only $30! They came with instructions someone should have paid me $30 for having to work through, however. These shelves were all we needed to start making sense of the piles of baby supplies crammed into the closet.



On the wall there is a trio of canvas prints with stenciled robots that Devin made himself as decor for our hallway in the old house. I liked the colors and decided I'd throw them into the mix. Then R2D2 wanted in on the action as well. And since he literally is a toy chest, it made sense for him to live in a kid's room and not in the dining room.


The futon is still a subject of contention. It doesn't really belong here and it's taking up space I would otherwise be able to use for a rocking chair. But we didn't buy it that long ago and it is the only place we can give guests to sleep and when unfolded it can be a good place for lounging around and naptime. So I'll just make some new pillowcases (sewing project!) and make peace with it.


I'm incredibly excited about the changing table/dresser combo.


These can be quite pricey and I really wasn't sure how we'd fit it into our budget. But clearly, it was necessary. I was on the Babies R Us website admiring this one and thinking it would match our other furniture. Then, on a whim, I turned to Craigslist and did a search for nursery furniture.

And wouldn't you know it? There was the very same dresser! $100 cheaper and already assembled. I immediately sent a possibly psychotic-seeming email to the seller and by that night it was mine! Mine! I mean, Oscar's!


The closet is still stuffed, but now appropriately so. If you're wondering about that contraption on the left, don't worry it's got nothing to do with infant care. It's actually made for the much bigger baby who hangs upside down on it for spine alignment... or something.

Last night I hung up the final touch, this print that Devin ordered of a picture he'd seen somewhere around the interwebs. Since we're naming our little guy Oscar, he may as well have a pic of someone who shares the name. Isn't Devin so cute and clever for thinking of that?


And now *deep breath* the blue-green-owl-robot-elephant-tree-droid themed room is complete.

Oh, except for the baby. :)

Christmas Barrettes

I don't know why, but this year I'm more into Christmas than usual. Nevermind the fact that I haven't really done any shopping and I worry friends and family are only going to get rain checks and apologies from me. I'm into it, damn it.

I even did some crafting in the form of poinsettia barrettes to add a little festive touch to any old outfit.


There weren't any instructions to follow, but in my head I had a good plan. I set out to Michael's on my lunch break one day, bringing Meg and Michelle from work for the ride. They ended up being a huge asset because my goal to "quickly pick out a few fake poinsettias," completely underestimated the gargantuan variety and quantity Michael's would offer. The three of us wandered between aisles, picking out and dismissing contenders until we finally had a few different kinds. I also picked up some alligator clips and a packet of little glittery gold discs that I guess are normally intended for scrapbooking (?).


With those supplies and a hot glue gun, it was time to get to work one Saturday afternoon.

The first step is to yank the flower off its stem.


Then remove the green plastic piece on the back that holds the whole thing together.


Just like that, you get two flat layers that are much easier to work with. I threw out the gold bit from the center because I just didn't like the look of it.


Next, it was time to add in a little extra kick with a dose of these beauties.


I cut off a few petals and glued them to the larger of the 2 layers.


Once those were in place, I glued the smaller layer on top, taking care to place it in the right position to see maximum red glitter peaking out. Then I secured one of the gold dots in the center with more hot glue.



By this point I'd burned my fingers several times and there were strings of glue draping over everything like spider webs. But other than that, it was all rather simple.

Now, onto the alligator clip. I began by removing one of the green leaves from the original flowers and gluing that to the top of the clip.



Once it had time to dry, I then glued that to the back of the flower and my work was done.


Some seasonal snazziness for the holiday party circuit. They also make great gifts for the host.

What Happened In Vegas

As we count down the weeks 'til the arrival of this highly-anticipated baby boy, one thing's for sure: I'm stressed the hell out. I'm happy. I'm excited. And I'm stressed out.

Fortunately, the weekend before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to give myself a break and get away for a few days in Vegas. Of course, this destination wasn't exactly my first choice since, in this phase of my life, I can't drink, smoke, stay up late, make irresponsible choices with money, or successfully wear slutty outfits. However, I had a pass for a 2 night stay at The Cosmopolitan that I'd been hanging onto since January... and I can't say no to free. And the hotel has a spa, so.

We made the drive on Friday after work, fought a little traffic, and arrived around 11. As we walked through the crowd in the glittering lobby, all I dreamed of was checking out the room's private terrace, soaking in the bathtub, then crawling into the king size bed for some shut eye. This room may have been free, but it promised some sweet features.

It seemed to be taking a long while to pull up our reservation as we stood at the desk. I always get nervous checking in at hotels. I sighed and shifted my weight from leg to leg. I was starting to have to pee. Finally, the guy looked up from his computer screen, but didn't quite make eye contact.

"Okay, this is the situation right now."

Here we go...

"Your room isn't actually available."

I furrowed my brow, signaling that he was going to need to offer a better explanation.

"What's going on is some of the rooms are still being cleaned... and so it may be ready in an hour or two. You can check back. I can offer you a different room. It doesn't have a terrace. It's 2 queen beds."

And what of the bathtub?! I was having trouble speaking with him because I didn't process anything he was saying as logical. How could they still be cleaning the rooms twelve hours after check out? Holiday Inn can get the room turnover schedule down. How could a major operation like this fail to get it right? And even if it was being cleaned, which I was certain was a lie, how could it maybe be ready when the cleaning was done? If the cleaning was all that was standing in the way, shouldn't the completion of said cleaning put an end to the problem?

Since I couldn't manage to move the conversation forward outside of my head, Devin chimed in.

"But we reserved that room so how can it not be available?"

"Well," the man explained. "The reservation you had was for a style of room." Um. Yes, exactly. His answer just supported our point. All I could envision was the car rental reservation scene from Seinfeld.

Clearly we weren't going to get anywhere with this putz. "Fine," I offered. "Will we be able to move into our room tomorrow?"

"I can't say for sure. You'd have to check in the morning." Sigh.

"So we MAY be able to move into it in the next hour or else we MAY be able to move into it tomorrow. Or maybe not at all."

"If you just call the desk in an hour--"

"Yeah yeah."

In our subpar room, Devin took a shower while I paced around uneasily. I couldn't unpack. I couldn't go to bed. This was stupid.

So we marched back downstairs and found someone else to talk to. "Wait... who told you the rooms were being cleaned? They aren't available and won't be tonight."

"I knew it!"

She was apologetic and set us up to move into an even better room than the one we reserved. We'd just have to stick to our subpar room for tonight.

The thing is, the room wasn't actually bad. Under normal circumstances I would've probably raved about it. Sure, there was no tub. But the shower had a feature I'd never seen before -- a floor to ceiling window that faced out to the bedroom. There was a curtain for privacy, but it was controlled from outside the shower so my advice to anyone staying at The Cosmopolitan is to know and trust your roommate.

And it may have lacked a private terrace, but it did have this view of a wall.

There were also fun touches here and there, like colored pencils. I didn't have any illustrating needs at the time, but I liked the idea of it.

After taking a quick spin through the casino floor to see what it had to offer (answer: the usual), we tucked in for an okay night's sleep. Even though we have a queen bed at home, I swear this bed was too small. At one point in the night I moved over to the other bed to try to spread out a little. How's that for a romantic weekend?

The trip was not off to an amazing start, but it all changed the next morning when we switched rooms.

Now we're talking.

Look at all this extra space we don't need and won't use!

And the king size bed!

And the tub! Not only did it have its own window...

But it also faced out to the bedroom so no one would ever be lonely while bathing.

Finally, the vacation could begin. We spent the day eating lunch and laying around the room. It was possibly the least exciting Vegas story ever and I loved it. In the late afternoon I wandered down to the enormous spa for a massage, then reported back to our room for more lounging around until it was time to leave for The Mirage to see Love.

I hadn't seen a Cirque Du Soleil show yet, but most people seem to lose their minds about them so I had high hopes. Our seats were in the very front row, which turned out to be seriously overstimulating once the show started...and not in a bad way. I didn't know where to look as approximately 200 different things happen during any given moment, sometimes directly over my head or just a few feet from my face.

Aside from the room stupidity, The Cosmopolitan was worth checking out. It has a cool aesthetic about it. Also, a secret pizza place down an unmarked hallway.

See in there?

I may have been the only pregnant lady in the city. I know it sounds paranoid to say this, but it really really felt like a lot of people were looking at me. They were probably thinking exactly what I thought the one time I saw a very pregnant lady in Vegas, "That would suck."

But you know what? I was definitely looking at people funny too. Have you ever been on the outside of thousands of drunk people stumbling around? Barefoot girls carrying their shoes while still trying to convey the sexy vibe they probably had just hours earlier. Guys chomping on cigarettes and loudly failing to complete sentences with their friends "No, but you know what bro? You know what? Bro, you know what though?" I'm never getting drunk again. It's just too humiliating.

Anyway, we made great time on the drive home Sunday and I was feeling SO well rested that I was desperate to launch into some projects around the house and we even managed to put together (however precariously) a book shelf for the baby's room (don't worry... we'll get to a post about that eventually).

Now that we've had our last vacation together as a couple -- for at least the foreseeable future -- there's REALLY nothing left to do but wait.

Bathroom Break

One room I really should be delving into with great excitement is the baby's room. So far, we've acquired and assembled furniture, and Devin spent 3 days painting. It sounds like it's all coming along, but actually I'm going a little crazypants about it. I'm crippled with indecision. And I can't figure out how to nicely arrange the approximately one million new things we have.

To avoid losing my mind, I decided to give myself a break and work on something I knew I could handle: Painting the bathroom.

This is how it was.

You're probably thinking, "Can we get a better angle? I can't see very well what's going on here."

No, you can't because this is the smallest bathroom in the world. This is me standing in the doorway and there is nowhere else to go.

You may also be asking yourself, "Where is the toilet?" Trust me, there is one. It's to the left, in its own dark little nook that gets blocked off whenever the door is open.

While I can't really do anything to increase the size of the bathroom, I could at least do something about the color. Its original combination of narrow and bright yellow gave one the impression of what standing in a stick of butter might feel like.

It also needed some help beyond paint color because it has no counter space. Only this:


I had to stand in the bathtub to take that picture, by the way. To solve this surface area problem, I obtained a little 3-shelf cart from Target that was easy to assemble and fit close to everything I needed. It's not ideal, but it would suffice.

On painting day, which was 2 Sundays ago and did not turn into painting day until about 15 minutes after I woke up and nominated it as such, I started off by giving the bathroom the kind of thorough cleaning I suspect it didn't receive before we moved in. The floorboards were grimy, the tiles were caked with black and pink mildew, there were hairs stuck to the ceiling (?).


There, that's better. Don't look at the floors. They're beyond hope. No, I said DON'T LOOK and then you looked. Jerks.

Now that the room was sparkling clean, it was time to run out to the paint store. I wanted to find a color that was more soothing, but the trick would be finding something to complement these darling gold flecked tiles. Aren't they a treat?


I had a feeling navy blue would be the answer and I tried to conjure up an image of how I'd perhaps decorate the guest bathroom in my house on the Cape. It seemed to make sense. Devin came along to the store to assist my color picking because I never seem to get it quite right. Turns out, all of this interior decorating is rubbing off on him and he was able to carefully consider each swatch and offer up analysis like, "That one's going to turn out more blue than navy. You need to go darker."

We settled on Patriot Blue. How could a name with so much promise ever lead us astray?

Once home, I spent an hour and a half and a full roll of blue tape prepping all of the edges. I also remembered a tip my sister told me for covering the toilet. It can be hard to paint the wall behind the toilet, with limited space and awkward angles. And my particular situation was further complicated by my big ol' belly. So, if you just remove the top and pull a garbage bag over the tank, you're free to just mash blindly around back there with a paint brush.

Finally, with only about 2 hours to go before I needed to leave for our childbirth class, it was time to get to work. Luckily, the actual painting part never takes much time. The first coat looked like complete crap with lots of yellow speckling through. But later that night, the second coat went on nicely.

And, with the addition of a window shade, a new toothbrush holder, and a shower curtain, we have the finished product:





It's certainly dark, but I'll take it over that cheery yellow any day. The shade on the window is not only a nice way to complete the room, but it was also necessary as the sun came in severely and at an intense angle every morning when I tried to do my makeup for work and highlighted every peak and valley on my face. It wasn't a good confidence boosty way to begin one's day.

Here's a secret though... the paint won't exactly dry. I mean, for all intents and purposes, it's "dry." You can't really tell unless you touch it, but over a week later it's still slightly tacky. I think after I wiped down the walls to remove years of messy neglect, I didn't let them dry out enough. I'm hoping it'll dry eventually... right?

Anyway whatever. I'm checking this room off my list!

Further Adventures In Space Saving

I've got good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news.

Space bags? More like space drags. I take back any endorsement I may have offered up in my post about them because they are ruining my life. Seriously, they're the pits. I can't think of enough ways to express that.

Here's why: They don't stay vacuum sealed. Give em a few days -- or in some cases, a few minutes -- and air starts leaking in from some mysterious opening and filling them up like balloons. Every single one that I'd tucked so neatly and proudly into a closet or under the bed has puffed right up.

In a move that really speaks to my confidence level, I assumed surely the bags couldn't be failing me; I must be failing the bags. And so I opened them all up, repositioned everything inside them, sealed them meticulously, and revacuumed them. But again, bag puffery. I'm so disappointed!

In response to my original post, I received a comment from someone actually affiliated with space bags -- true story! The correspondent thanked me for my in depth look at space bags and suggested I join the online space bag community for tips. I guess this means I should log on and see if any fellow space baggers have found this product to be a let down. Correspondent, if you're reading this, help!

Now for the good news. In the home entertainment sector, I'm a space saving genius.

This story goes back many many years, to when I first moved in with Devin and his shelves full of DVDs.

Here they are in the background of a picture of me and his sister, looking our best. (Hey, it was St. Patrick's Day)

I wasn't sure how he'd managed to acquire so many DVDs, but over years of observing him and his behaviors, I reached a better understanding. It seemed he was fond of buying movies he'd never seen before, assuming he'd probably like them and then, bonus, he'd already own the DVD. And if he didn't like the movie, oh well. Or, he'd see an older movie on sale for $5.99 at the grocery store checkout, feel nostalgic, overstate its greatest, and we'd wind up with Mr. Mom.

And so the collection grew and grew, and it didn't really bother me until we moved into the house in Pasadena and there wasn't a good place to put the shelves in the living room. Instead, they got put nicely out of site and out of mind in Devin's play room.

You can probably see where this is going. When it came time to pack up and ship out again, I instantaneously despised the DVD shelves and all of their cumbersomeness. Knowing what we were working with in the new place, it was clear they were going to have to go. The solution, quite obviously, was to move all of the DVDs into binders.

Back when I was packing up to move into the dorms for my freshman year of college, I took all of my CDs and put them in a big, zip-up Case Logic binder. I did this for two reasons: 1) To save space. 2) Because all of my friends were doing it.

But I had a weak spot for all of the CD cases. They had nice artwork... and lyrics... and what if when I'm out of college and living in my very hip downtown loft I wanted to proudly display all of my CDs in a tower? This was back when CD towers were still in fashion, mind you. So I saved all of my cases, and continued to do so for every CD I bought over the next 4 years.

Now jump back to when I'm moving out of the old apartment and into the house, and I uncover a bag of CD cases under the bed. Wait a minute... had I actually personally driven these empty cases all the way across the country, then held onto them through 3 moves into 3 different apartments? What was wrong with me? I threw them out immediately and didn't look back. (In fact, I don't even think I've unzipped the CD binder itself in a good two years. Must not be so into The Cranberries anymore.)

You could say I'd learned my lesson. And since showing off one's DVD collection is about as cool these days as showing off one's CD collection, I could see we'd have no problem moving into binder land. Plus, I fully intend to get on the movie downloading/saving movies on my computer/somehow figuring out how to play computer movies on TV bandwagon.

By the time I'd decided all this, there wasn't time to act on it, so I boxed up all of the DVDs -- over 300, many of them box sets or whole series of shows -- and we lugged them to the new place.

I sold the shelves on Craigslist and later learned that Devin had never paid anything for them in the first place because he found them in the trash (ew). Nothing but profit so far!

Then, after some online research and mental calculations, I concluded we'd need 2 of the biggest storage binders I could find.

And finally, after the binders arrived in the mail, I set to work removing all of the DVDs from their packaging and putting them in the sleeves of the binder pages, alphabetically. Simultaneously, I catalogued them all on an excel spreadsheet for easier browsing in the future. I toyed with the idea of trying to put in key words on the spreadsheet like "comedy" or "Naomi Watts," but then I remembered the K.I.S.S. principle and kept on trucking with my simplistic approach.

All the while, I let the DVD cases pile up in a very obnoxious fashion to encourage Devin to see my point that they should be all thrown away.

He didn't have the benefit of my empty CD case experience and hadn't learned the thrill of detachment. I told him he could hold onto all the cases if he wanted, for when we're living in a mansion with a home theater and can have these all displayed on shelves. But, by the way, I'll be damned if I'm the one who winds up putting all of the DVDs back into their cases. In the end, he decided to part with them and now I love him even more.

The whole binder assembly process only took... oh... 7 hours. But it was 7 hours well spent.

Because look at our DVD collection now!

Wait, are you having trouble finding it? It's right here!

Isn't it marvelously little?

Now if I could just find a way to put our extra bedding into binders, I'll be all set.