i'm planning a party

April has crept up on me in a big way, and so it's time for me to start thinking about a Sip & See for Valerie and her baby boy.

My MIL and I are throwing the shower (with input from my go-to party helper, my FIL) the last Sunday in May, and I wanted to pick a color palette that is very *boy* but at the same time can be made very elegant, summery and even a little feminine. 

I came across these two images while I was image searching Google with various color combinations (seriously, try it sometime, it helps so, so much). I tried teal + orange, aqua + brown, grey + yellow (my favorite color combo of all time), yellow + blue, navy + lavender until I finally tried Kelly Green + Navy Blue. I'm in love with the colors together. Perfectly preppy, no? Throw in a little white and we're all done!

As far as the details go, my in-laws have a great house to host a Sip & See. 

Since baby Kennedy will be only a couple of weeks old, if that, we've decided to close off the doorway between the entry and the living room, and we're going to funnel people through the dining room, kitchen, and breakfast room past the spare bath and its sink and soap and a hand sanitizing station we'll have set up. That way, we can keep Val and the baby in the living room, where they can kind of hold court. 

I've already talked flowers with Rog, and he always does something really great, so I'm not worried about that. I'd really like some potted moss to put on the tables we're decorating... I think it'd add some needed live greenery, while at the same time keeping overly-girly florals to a minimum. 

Also, I'd like to find some items, thinking decor items, tchotchkes, that are very representative of a little boy and spray paint them in the three party colors. I think these would be whimsical and add a fun pop of color to the decor. I'm thinking dinosaur figures, little metal cars, blocks, balls... I'm going to start keeping my eyes peeled and picking up little things as I find them. 

Also, can we talk about these straws? 

Who wouldn't want to have one of those sticking out of their drink? I'm thinking it's a must-do. 

I'm really excited to get going on this, get things together and designed. 

I need to sit down with Roger and get the invitations hammered out-- I'm just trying to think of a nice way to say "keep your germ-infested children and sick selves at home." Ha. Adult ladies only. No kids. No men. People who will be capable of keeping their voices down and the baby calm. So yeah, no kids, no guys, no hacking coughs. 

Fun stuff. 

Now... if Baby Kennedy had ended up being a girl, I'd have drawn every single ounce of inspiration from this photo:

{circle monogram, striped tie, moss boxes, hydrangea display, white hydrangea, sweet lulu straws, pink and green}

past painting projects

I can't believe it's taken me SO LONG to get around to posting about this!

To begin with, I started the project in Liam's bathroom when my dad was home last... so, around Valentine's Day? Yes. I didn't quite realize when I made the plans for this room quite the project I was in for.

I designed the look I wanted in my head a long time ago, bought the paint before we moved into our house and never had a moment when my dad was free enough to help me. I've gotten a lot better at my painting (meaning: I have gotten really good at edging everything by hand, without the hassle of painter's tape) so I figured I'd get started.

I wanted the bathroom to be a modern beachy theme- without the kitsch.

crabs left over from the first birthday party

Personally, I could not be more thrilled with the way the bathroom came out. The stripes were the most difficult part of the whole project. My dad helped me a lot with those. We used his laser level to lay out the straight lines and then we applied a single piece of painter's tape to each line (and those were LONG pieces of tape!). Once all the tape was on, I went along with blue paint and painted over the edge of the tape that would define the tan stripe, allowing the blue to bleed under the tape. After all the blue dried, I hand painted the tan stripes. It was a lot of steps, but the stripes are completely spot on, you'd have to look really, really hard to find anywhere where there's even a little bit of a blemish. Really proud of the way this room turned out, and pleased that it's done. I don't think it's childish at all, so it's going to stay this way while we're in the home. 

Back in January (I guess?) I got that "must paint" wild hair and made my hubby decide on a color for the wall behind our bed. I used Ralph Lauren's Regent Metallic paint on a wall in my bedroom in a townhouse in college and just loved the way it came out. I decided to go ahead with that again in this house and am really glad we did. The metallic sheen is very, very pretty in the evening when the lamp is on. I think you can get a little bit of an idea from the sheen the flash of the camera creates, but I think it's far lovelier in person. I'm also really in love with the way the color goes with the inspiration cushions. 

That's the painting -- on the walls -- that's gone on at MY house lately. I did help my mom out by painting her upstairs powder room, but I don't have photos of that. I also bought paint two days ago to use on the "console table" (what it actually IS, I'm never telling!) at our entry. I cannot paint enough furniture. I'm also in the process of planning a display board in our hallway that involves colored chalkboard paint, lacquered frames, sliver clips, particle board and moulding. And my FIL. You know. Gotta have a place to display all those sweet works of preciousness Liam will be bringing home in his backpack come August. 

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. I'm off to draw up a couple of designs for our backyard. Yeah, I think I'm also an amateur landscape designer. Ha. HAHAHAHAHA.

planning a nursery: girl

So in the same vein (I've been saying that a lot this month!) as the post on Liam's big boy bed, I started online window shopping for things for baby E's potential room. Should a baby E make her appearance in our family in a couple years.

Back when I knew I was pregnant, but didn't know Liam was Liam, I had planned out a girl's nursery in raspberry, lemon and white. I'm still stuck on that color scheme. I can't get over it. But it's hard to find *just* what I'm looking for.

Enter Serena & Lily's Ruby Heirloom Crib Bedding:

How about with the Hayes Glider in Punch with white piping?

And for the walls? 2 shades of yellow, in foot wide stripes, all around the room.

Of course, I'm not in love with the shades of yellow they used in the above photo, but you get the idea. The yellows I have in mind are much brighter, more pure yellow- less mustardy.

I'm also envisioning painting the dresser Liam has in his room (which will go to a younger sister, but not a younger brother) a great shade of pink. Then we'll put in a white bookcase like the Lilac Bookcase from Pottery Barn Teen. With the yellow on the walls, the pink on the dresser, the white on the crib and bookcase... it'll allow so many fun accessories to really pop!

Besides a beautiful, dainty chandelier like the White Ella Chandelier, I also see this, the Capiz Table Lamp -- in pink!-- looking so cute!

I'd love to add a few of these Petal Pop Wall Stickers as well, in both the pink and the white.

To keep a little yellow in the room, I'd toss one (or both!) of Pottery Barn's new Bee & Beehive Pillows on the glider.

Then I'd pick up the Pink Senegalese Storage Baskets in large and small to put toys and dirty clothes in.


That's what I have planned, at least. I long to make this room a reality. And I really hesitated about posting this nursery because my design/decor ideas are like baby names to me. I don't like sharing them lest someone decide to rip me off. Oh yes, I'm weird like that. Use my baby name, knowing I like it, or use my nursery ideas and I'll flip out. Warned.

planning a big boy room.

That makes me laugh.

"big boy room."

It's not really a big boy room at all. I don't expect the decor we pick for Liam in 6 months to take him into our next home, middle school and beyond. In no way. Now that is my definition of a big boy room.

For now, we'll say 'big boy room' with a sense of slight irony. Can we? Thanks. 

Moving on.

------------------ ** -----------------

We've talked about Liam's second birthday as our benchmark for moving him out of his crib and into a bed. We're skipping toddler beds (hi, have we met? have we discussed my utter and complete loathing of toddler beds?) all together and going straight into a twin bed. Yep. Oh man.

We've ... ahem, I'VE ... picked the Camp Bed from Pottery Barn Kids in Weathered Navy.

My head is already spinning with plans for Liam's bedroom. Our current quandary is this:

We are not planning on having a second child any time soon.

I know. But it's bugging me because I feel like it's holding up plans for decorating Liam's room as it stands now.  Regardless of a future sibling, Liam will be in his current bedroom until at least late 2013 (hi, have we met? I'm planning my family down to the weeks). So from mid-2011 until late 2013, he'll be in the Dr. Seuss nursery. 

If I can get my grubby hands on it, we'll just get Liam the Dr. Seuss quilt and call it a day. Because he already has the sham and the crib quilt. Sheets I don't really stress about because there's an abundance of color and pattern to work with. If, by chance, they're all out of Dr. Seuss then my plan is to either buy the Kasey Quilted Bedding in Primary, or the Gingham Duvet Cover in Green.  All three will work in Liam's room NOW. 

But in the future? If Liam has a baby sister make an appearance in 2013, then he's going to be moved into the play room. Where the decor is brown, teal and lime. Right. What do I do with all the Dr. Seuss?

(if baby brother instead, baby K will be in the play room. simple)

It's all rather befuddling, because I don't want to drop hundreds on stuff I might not be using in a few years. Blah. WHY do I have to over-complicate things?