Thrift Haul

 Last Thursday, my SIL, friend and I tested our poppin tag skills at the Goodwill Outlet in Seattle. This was never something that really interested me but after seeing some of the finds my SIL brought home after her many GWO adventures, I wanted to give it a shot!

 

Here's my haul:

 

American Eagle Mini Backpack: Perfect for throwing a bunch of stuff in for summer excursions

BIG Straw Clutch: It's huge but I love it!

Eddie Bauer Men's Plaid Shirt: Hubs has yet to try it on, but I think he'd look smoking in it! 

 

 

Obviously I like stripes?!

Two Nordstrom brand sweaters, perfect for summer evenings.

Striped hoodie and patterned pullover from H&M.

 

 

 Denim vest, Forever 21 racer back tank and Gap chambray.

Red Old Navy flannel, plain white Forever 21 tee and red harem pants (these will most likely be lounge wear).

 

  

 

 Ann Taylor Loft striped 3/4 tee and Old Navy distressed trousers.

Graphic tee, plaid, hoodie and jeans for the Cru-ster.

 

I have yet to try everything on but when you're paying per pound, you can justify the questionable items.  If you choose to check out the GWO my advice would be to go on a weekday morning and bring gloves and face mask.  It was kinda fun digging for treasure.  My grand total for all this was $18.72.  Not bad!

 

Freshly Picked: A Review

I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity to work with and review a pair of Freshly Picked Moccasins! We were sent a pair of their moccs in the weathered brown color.  They are the perfect neutral and match everything!

 

  

Why they are so great:

 

They are so easy for mama to put on baby and not so easy for baby to pull off.  This is wonderful for me because my child takes off everything I put on his feet.  These, he leaves on!

 

They're soft, the elastic ankle band doesn't allow pinching and the general nature of the shoe is easy, breezy comfort perfection. 

 

They're adorable.  The very first day we wore them I received so many compliments. 

 

They're quick. Forget the socks and it's a quick slip on and go, perfect for the wiggle worm phase (which we're in)...

 

I couldn't find any bad things about these moccs.  They've survived their first week walking in grass, gravel and dirt. They've gotten wet and even

scraped against concrete and nothing seems to phase them.




Not only do we love the moccs but the Freshly Picked team is awesome! Their customer service is exceptional and they were wonderful to work with!



 

 

 

So now that you've read this, go to their site and order a pair for your littles!  They just added Carryall handbags to the mix that look like the perfect mommy sidekick!

 

Freshly-Picked

 

Website - Instagram - Facebook
 

 

 

Disclaimer: Freshly Picked sent us a pair of their awesome moccs for use and review.  All opinions are my own and 100% true.

 

 

 

What Going On?!

Well we have 2.5 weeks until our Cru is due! We have been working like mad to get the house in tip top shape so that we don't have to worry about much after his arrival!

 

We've been working in all areas of the house and when we are done I will post a full house tour on the status of our construction, decor and untouched areas.  Our goal is to have everything complete by this weekend so that we can spend then last two weeks before baby just relaxing and hanging out with each other.

 

Since my last post, my sweet co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower, my girlfriends threw another and like I mentioned earlier, all of our spare time is being spent working on the house!

 

I will post shower posts today and tomorrow but here is the status of the housework plus a few teasers...

IN PROGRESS:

 Cru's Nursery:You may remember this post where I laid out all the plans for Cru's nursery.  I have to say that I pretty much nailed this exact look.  We had to make a few changes but It's looking awesome and I look forward to sharing a full on detailed post with you either Friday or early next week!  If you follow me on instagram or FB you'll see that I posted a little teaser of Cru's bookshelves.  I love them so much!

Master Bedroom: Progress is coming along in this room, you may remember my decor inspiration I talked about in this post.  We have our chandy hung (pic below) which we love.  Scale wise it's probably a tad to big for the space but it makes a statement and I love the look of the light using the round bulbs vs the candle wick looking ones.  As far as decorating, I need to purchase some key pieces for the space.  I need to get some throw pillows, a fiddle fig plant and move up one of my antique chairs.  Right now I am working with what we have as far as accessories and it's not really clicking for me.  I think after I find the perfect key pieces it will all flow together perfectly.  I plan on shopping this weekend to get all the goods needed for the rest of our pre-baby house plan and get the Master all decorated!

 

Master Bathroom:  I gave you the updates here. This room looks the exact same.  Our priorities keep shifting but I do have the mirrors purchased and some other pieces that I am excited to get in here!  Justin plans on doing the plumbing this weekend.  After that, it's ready for all the accessories.  We still need to get a shower kit for the clawfoot but are putting that on hold because the installation is pretty intense.  We're deciding on how we want to deal with that.  At least until then we will have an almost fully functional bathroom!

Guest Room: Our main floor guest room got an upgrade to a queen sized bed from a full which the in-laws appreciate as well as a nice memory foam mattress topper to make sure all are comfortable.  We also threw on some new bedding, did a little frame painting and un-accessorized a bit.  We don't have a bed frame so I need to get on that so we can get the bed off of the floor.  I also want to get some hooks for the wall so guests can hang their towels up in their room or whatever else they might want to get off the floor. 

Old Bedroom/Now Office:  The room we used to lie our heads on the main floor is now an office with sleeper sofa.  This room definitely has a vintage vibe.  We've put to use an old library table, some old suitcases and other old accessories.  I've gotten it all cleaned up and organized but there is definitely still more I want to do to it. I'm going for a vintage travel theme and purchased these post cards from Fab.com (see below).  I want to use them to document where hubs and I have traveled together and eventually come up with a great collage/central art piece.  More on that later. =]

STILL TO TACKLE:

Hall Mini Makeover:  I still really want to do this and told you all about it here.  We just haven't gotten there!  It would take probably an hour to complete but I have been dragging my feet on this! I have the perfect collage frame I want to hang here from my mom, started a calendar system to keep our lives straight and want to get a wall letter organizer to keep track of what to file, what to address, and all that jazz.  I also want to add hooks for dog collars, leashes and maybe find a slender basket to throw dirties in.  I know with a baby coming there will be a larger accumulation of dirties.

Stairway: Besides the carpet, this area still needs work.  I painted it a while back but that needs to be touch up since moving furniture up has caused some scrapes and scratches.  We are also going to put up a photo wall of all vintage family photos and put up railings so people don't go falling on me.  We took down the old light which we both love and spray painted it black.  It will pop against the Vanilla Milkshake colored paint.  This space will go pretty quickly as well.  My portion is printing the pictures, My brother and Justin will have to handle the rest.

COMPLETED TASKS:

Closets:  One of the things I wanted to complete was to get all the closets cleaned our and organized.  I am so happy to be able to check this off of the list!  All the closets/drawers are organized and cleaned out!  Our hallway/2nd pantry was the most major and it may not look organized to you but this is amazing! I was able to fit all my extra dishes and kitchen supplies in here as well as entertaining pieces and disposable cutlery and dishes!  After we move all our bathroom stuff upstairs I would like to use the cabinet in the main bathroom for all the things in the bathroom box you can see on the bottom shelf/floor.  Then I will have room for my wok, deep fryer and bread maker.  It's still a lot of crap but it's a lot of crap we use and at least its all in one place and organized. =]

Baby Gifts: This was quite the feat! We are so blessed and received so many wonderful gifts and are so thankful but man, going through and finding room and washing everything for all these little person things was quite the task!  We were able to get everything put away and have it all make sense and kept everything organized! It took over our guest room for a few weeks but with his impending arrival (any time!) I wanted to make sure everything was ready so that we didn't have to worry about anything when we came home from the hospital. 

Here is all his loot before the big wash/put away party.
 

 

All his diapers fit in the drawers of his changing station. More on this later ;]

 



 

His pack n play found a home in the living room since that is the main hub of the home and where we hang to watch TV, eat and visit.



Other than that, the hospital bags are packed and I am doing my best to keep on top of the cleaning so that we can come home to a clean house. 

 

Long story short, you can see the psychotic OCD nesting mode has fallen on me.  I am crazily trying to make the home perfect which I know is stupid but you can't tell a nesting pregnant woman that because that makes you crazy and wrong!  =]  I have to say thank you to my amazing hubby who is putting up with all the crazy and handling it like a pro.  I wouldn't be able to stand me right now...

 

As you can see I have a lot of home related posts I want to go into more detail about so stay tuned for those as well as a couple more baby posts! 



SUPER SCORE!!

This year being 6 months pregnant I decided to forgo the Black Friday madness I had participated in the past 2 years.  As I perused the ads I was pained at this vanity that was on sale for $99!!! Vanity base and top for $99!  Not to mention the perfect size, additional storage and is exactly what we have been looking for!!!

 

You can imagine my sadness when I went to the store on Saturday just to see if maybe I could get my hands on this great deal.  Having only the display left (that was already spoken for) I was able to physically see the wonderfulness of this piece.  It is even a perfect height for my tall hubby. 

 

None were left and I was sad.

 

Now, lets fast forward to Cyber Monday!  I almost piddled my pantaloons when I saw this!

 

 

Then I saw this! There are 3 in stock in the home depot that is 5 minutes away from my work!

 

So I added two to my cart and for $215 I have two beautiful vanities that I get to bring home! This price is amazing! Even just a normal ol pedestal sink would have been at least $250 a piece.

 

Needless to say I am giddy with excitement and can't wait to get these babies set up! We will keep you posted!!! YIPPEE!!!!

Baby D Nursery

I am so excited to decorate the nursery for our sweet little boy! I want him to have a fun and unique room that will be visually stimulating for his developing eyes and incorporate pieces that can mature from a nursery to a "big boy" room.

 

The subtle theme I chose was "retro Disney" and want to incorporate an eclectic mix of textures, patterns and colors.  I already have a couple pieces I want to use in combination of a bunch of new stuff.  :)

 

With that said, I give you Baby D's Nursery!

 

 

 

1. Here is the actual room baby will be sleeping in! Since this picture has been taken, I have painted the cubby blue, hubs trimmed the scallops to create a straight line and chocolate carpet has been put in.

 

2. This red desk was a street find I mentioned in this post.  We will need to secure it to the wall, but it will be perfect with all the drawers and shelf underneath.  We'll just need to add a changing pad to the top!

 

3. I want to incorporate either a bold rug or bold window treatments.  I haven't decided which yet...

 

4. I've always wanted a marquee light too.  Once we figure out the name I think it would be cool to get his initials in these lights.

 

5. I'm obsessed with this industrial style light.  I love everything about this light.  It's happening.

 

6. I also want to get a good floor lamp like this one.  Some accent lighting is nice so you don't have to have the overhead light on all the time.

 

7. To support my theme, I want to incorporate vintage Disney attraction posters as the room art.  I'm going to pick more of the "boyish" posters (obviously).  This allows me to instill my love of Disney to my bebe without having Mickey plastered all over the walls...

 

8. I am also obsessed with this crib.  It adds the perfect touch of retro to the space. This will also be happening.

 

9.  I registered for this chair and ottoman.  I love how it brings a more traditional feel to the space and I chose an ivory color because there is going to be a lot color and patterns going on in the room.

 

10. I also want to do a wall of book storage like this one I found on pinterest.  Some friends of ours gave us a bunch of children's books and I can't wait to display them all!  What a fun idea to add function and a playful accent wall.

 

11. Fun baby accessories like this mobile, owl bank, books and stuffed animals will tie this room together.

 

We haven't bought anything for the space but I can't wait to do so!

 

Main Floor Wishlist

Our main floor is alllllllmmoooost there!  Much of our home is working with what we have but I really am wanting to get some new pieces that pull everything together.

 The new dining light that I mentioned here is going to look amazing in our dining room.

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I love the antique/industrial look and like how they almost look transparent which will be great when looking from the living room all the way into the kitchen!

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I also want a new living room sectional.  I love the sofa and chair we have now but they are SO hard to keep clean with the dogs and all the traffic running through that area.  I am trying to decide between faux leather and fabric slip covered sectional.

I really like this one.  I want one with a chaise on one side, I also want a lighter color which will get dirty easier but as long as its slip covered I can wash it easily.

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I also want new living room curtains but don't know which ones to get! I can figure that out once I get a new rug.  I want a rug that makes a statement against our neutral walls and sofa.  I found some examples.  The rug has to be something that can easily be cleaned.  I need to do some more research!

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New countertops are definitely on the wishlist.  Our current countertops were installed as temporary and I can't wait to get new crisp, clean white corian countertops!

Love the clean look...

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and how it makes everything stand out! Our backsplash and curtains will pop with new, white countertops!

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*Found these by typing "white corian countertop" into Google*

Well, there you have it.  A bunch of big expensive items I want but am going to have to be patient for!



Lighter and Brighter

I am in the process of making our home more light and bright.  I'm trying to do this only with things we already have or things I can find on the cheap.

The room I decided to start with was the dining room.  Before the room looked good but was a little crowded with the hutch and was darkened by the burgundy roman shades.

The wall color will stay the same but I am contemplating painting the trims white like they are in the bedrooms, bath and kitchen... more on that later.

First, I switched the wall canvas art with my plate collage and found a big white basket I had to put on the table for fruit.

Second, I brought in the white curtains from the guest room.  This probably made the most difference in the brightness of the room.  It also makes the window more of a statement in the corner.  I like!

I added two white floating shelves I had on hand from IKEA and loaded them with brightly colored kitchen goodies.

I like where this is going but I want to do a couple more things.  I would like to find some fun fabric to recover the chairs with to add more color and the light fixture needs to go.   Its too dark and I want something more light and transparent so that when you look from the living room to the kitchen there isn't any visual blockade.  Just a nice, flowing, cohesive feel from room to room.

The light fixture I would like to get is from the Pottery Barn.  I love the vintage/rustic look of it and I think it would look perfect in the space.  Now I need to decide how many fixtures I want to purchase.  I could just hang a single pendant or I could do multiple...

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I LOVE the look of multiple pendants like in the photo below. I LOVE these lights.  I love how subtle and elegant they are. Love. Love.Love.

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So what do you think?  One light?  Two lights?

I have lots coming up for you too! We started upstairs this weekend and my in-laws will be coming to stay with us next week!  So you know there's about to be a bunch of progress up in here!

Living Room Upgrade!

We've made some changes in the living room and we LOVE it.  By completing our upgrade we were able to check off some items on our to do list.

Here is our new living room layout! The wall color is looking very yellow in these photos so I apologize...

I moved the bottom part of the buffet that was in the dining room to the back part of the living room.  I took off the top part of the buffet and added the mirror that was on the mantle...

We have always wanted the living layout like this and were only able to because we got a new T.V.!  We moved some pictures around and the small bookshelf was placed under the window for components and other things....

We also added a new light fixture by the front door.  It used to be a rusty nasty thing but we upgraded it to a new but vintage looking fixture...

Looks great!  I still need to polyurethane that closet door!

So as far as our "To Do" list goes, here is what we've completed:

Front Door Light: The light in our entryway consists of a bulb hanging out of the ceiling. I want to find an inexpensive, yet vintage inspired fixture to place here.

Bathroom Fan: Our main floor bathroom fan is NOT cutting it. You can see the moisture on the walls and our shower curtain rod is showing rust spots. This is something that needs to be addressed ASAP before the moisture starts breeding mold! EEEK!

TV: Our weird flat screen/tube television set has proved to be nothing but an awkward eyesore for the living room. We would like to upgrade to an ACTUAL flat screen that could be put in a more fitting location and provide one focal point in the space.

Vent Oven Hood: We have a hood above our oven, but now we need to vent it so that it will actually take the cooking air outside so our smoke alarms won't go off on a daily basis.

Stickem Linoleum: Our entry landing and steps at the garage and basement doors has tired nasty stickem linoleum that show every dog hair, dirt and whatever else gets dragged in. We want to purchase a darker linoleum to put there to give it a fresh look and hide some of the grime.

Caulk Moulding: The baseboard in our living and dining room needs to be caulked. We have the caulk, now we just need to do it!

Clean Paint Off Hallway Floors: I was a little bit messy in painting the baseboards in the hallway. There are a few areas where I accidentally got some paint on the floor. I purchased some Goof Off wipes that I will review and used to clean up my mess.

Dining Room / Kitchen Revamp: I'm tired of all the tan. It's broken up nicely in the living room with color and such but the dining room is baaaaad. The tan walls with oak trims and table is not working for me. My plan is to paint the dining room and kitchen a lighter beige color that will create a cohesive look with the two spaces but will also compliment the darker tan I have going on in the living room and hallway. I also plan to make some new window treatments and recover the dining room seats for a fresh, new look. I also want to paint the open cabinet backs an accent color to break up the white and add a little flare.

Stain Closet Door: It took a blog photo for me to realize that I need to do this.  So I am adding it to the list!

Working on the dining room and other project now! These snow days are making very productive days in the Dobson home!