Behind Closed Doors

We are incredibly blessed.  A year ago tomorrow, we bought this house and moved in on April 2nd--which we're calling our official journey (not to get all Bachelor on you) start date.  Which means Monday it will be exactly a year!  We'll be celebrating our first House-iversary all next week on the blog as we reflect back on what an amazing year it has been sharing every detail about slowly making this house into our home.  We have made hundreds of new, virtual friends (and real-life friends, too) this past year and our little blog has turned into a place where we feel comfortable and excited to share our feats and failures on the daily.  We have shared a mix of large-scale renovations, quick DIY projects, budget-friendly ways to revamp your spaces, some splurge items, all mingled with a few personal stories to make sure you readers know we’re real people, too. Today is one of those personal story days to remind you we're human and have trials just like everyone else.

There is a room in our home that we have been waiting to use and design and fill.  A door that remains shut and is opened so infrequently most people don't even know we have it.  We have shared renovations and plans for almost every room in our house over the past year except one, the third upstairs bedroom.  The second nursery.  Greta's future sibling's room.  And while we are over-sharers about almost every aspect of our lives, the feelings and emotions about our big, fat trial called "secondary infertility" has remained on hush.    As another unsuccessful month is being put behind us, I think it might be time to open up about that closed door.

In November of 2010, when Greta was only 9 months old, Chris and I were eager to have another baby.  I remember thinking, "I wish we could just have the baby without the pregnancy part." Pregnancy has never been easy for me, so the decision to have another baby was purely based on our overwhelming love for Greta-girl.  My first pregnancy, shortly after we were married, was a heterotopic one--two babies, one inside the uterus and one outside.  I lost both.  After that physically and emotionally painful experience, we decided to wait a year to recover.  My pregnancy with Greta, that made me 15 pounds lighter because of all the sickness, took us by surprise two months later.  There are no quick surprises this time around.  Our 9 month old that we had when we started trying is now almost 2 months pass the two-year mark which means we have been praying and trying for our second surprise for a whopping 16 months.

It's kinda funny (and by that I mean frustrating, although a little interesting, too) how just because my body did something once before--I have no guarantee that it can do it again. To quote this article (which puts my feelings into words far better than I ever could),

"I fully appreciate that I am infinitely luckier than all those who are unable to conceive at all – either through infertility, timing or sheer bad luck – but that doesn’t make the pain any easier to bear.

What I could not have known before my daughter was born was that infertility is infertility, plain and simple, whenever it occurs. I had no idea that trying for a second child would be like starting with a blank page; that my accumulated wisdom and experience of motherhood would count for nothing in terms of conception."

I can't help but feel guilty when Greta props herself up on the chair in the living room and stares outside at the kids, a little too young to be included in their crowd.  It breaks my heart, when she waves so enthusiastically at any child in the grocery store and overwhelms them with "hi's!!" and they rarely say "hello" back.  I pray every day I could give her a sibling. A live-in best friend and playmate.  Chris and I would much rather fill the rooms of this house with children than material objects.

And despite many months of failed attempts, we're still hopeful and positive about the whole thing.  At least today I am.  Yesterday, my swollen eyes and broken heart were a different story.  So, that's a peak into where our lives are right now.  I have seen my doctor and there aren't any immediate answers to secondary infertility.  It is so easy to put off further medical intervention when we're so hopeful and say, "This is our month!" Every month.  Last year, we didn't plan this summer's vacation because we were so sure we would have a newborn.  We have done this a lot over the last 16 months and after postponing life events month after month, we have now decided to focus more on living in the now.  This morning we bought season passes to the water park.  I finally bought a plane ticket to my sister's wedding in May.  Now I know, I probably won't have to find a dress to hide any sort of bump--which means I can wear the pencil skirt I've been eyeing.  And next week, I think I'll open the door to that 3rd bedroom and start making plans to turn it into something we can enjoy now--like a playroom!!

You see, we're normal people that have to work through big trials just like everyone else.  We feel beyond blessed to have so many good things going for us to focus on:  Our little girl.  Our big, work-in-progress house to keep us busy.  You readers that keep us motivated.  Warmer weather rolling in.  Our families (who we can't wait to see this weekend)!  A loving, Heavenly Father who has blessed us with these gifts and trials that have made Chris and I closer than ever.

Lest I ever forget how blessed I am:

I'm the Map. I'm the Map. I'm the Map. I'm the Map!

A couple weeks ago, I came across a vintage and extremely well priced world map in this etsy shop.  I put it in my cart and muddled over the possibilities for a couple days and then thought, "It's $10! Just get it!"  

So I did.  And when it arrived the colors were so rich and spot on with the color scheme in our family room.  Could the size be perfect to hang above our couch in the family room?  Maybe.  The only problem was, it desperately needed protected and getting this huge map custom framed would be mega bucks.  Then, I found this great tutorial on Little Green Notebook about using clear plexiglass to protect and frame art and I got on the phone with a plastics company, Delvie's Plastics, about an hour away from our home who gave me a great deal.  $40 for a clear sheet that would cover and protect the map.  

Last night, we decided to hang the whole shebang.  First, we marked off how high our couch will be and then taped off where the map will hang in relation:

Following Jenny's recommendation, we used Poster strips to hang up our map first. 

There were 12 in the pack and I just went nuts with them and used the whole package.  

Once the map was hung, we started prepping the acrylic frame.  I measured and marked the exact location of each hole.  Twice.  :)

Then, we held our breaths and started drilling pilot holes in our 1/8" clear plexi-glass.  We kept the paper covering over the plexi-glass while drilling and started out with the smallest bit and gradually got larger to prevent any chance of our acrylic cracking. If you look closely, you can see the importance of measuring twice--my first line was off.  Whew!

We used simple white screws that double as anchors--which we just discovered and love!

It took 8 screws in all, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom.  The jury is still out if we need one more on each side:

Honestly, the jury is still out on the whole thing.  We love the map, but it is hard to tell if it is going to work here without the couch in place and lamps.  We are even toying with the idea of DIYing a large frame if it still looks like it needs some bulking up once we get the rest of the furniture in place.  So now, we are living with it and practicing our geography. 

The color is less blue and more turquoise than shown above--and as cliche as it sounds, it really does look better in person.  But I am still not 100% sold.  What do you think?

The Big Clash of Progress

Sometimes, I wait and wait and wait for things to arrive or to happen or to work out the way I need them to and then suddenly everything falls into my lap at once and I am left frantic and overwhelmed, but real excited.  That's me.  That's today.  The big clash of everything coming together has been heard and I'm left with a lot of loose ends once again.  What does that mean for you?  Right now--a lot of little teasers:

Tomorrow?  Hopefully, something a whole lot more.  I gave the hints, now do we have guesses?  Or do you love a surprise?

Paint A Pillow. Adler Style.

 I really love this Jonathan Adler pillow that I included in the mood board for our family room.  I didn't love that it was $98.  So, I used it as my inspiration and decided to make something similar for our family room.

I found this dark gray pillow at Walmart for around $10.  It wasn't wool like Mr. Adler's but I had already gotten past the fact that mine version would be the much, much cheaper version.  

I taped off a plus sign on the pillow with painter's tape and pressed the edges down so I wouldn't get any paint seepage (the angle here makes it look wonky--it's not. promise).

Then I painted it with a golden yellow acrylic fabric paint.  Originally, I was all about the orange plus sign in the inspiration pillow, but once we introduced all of the National Geographics into the room, I wanted that same pop of yellow to be present on the couch.  It took about 4 and a half coats before the dark gray stopped peaking through.

Then, I took the tape off and paired it with a few other pillows I have gathered for our family room.  Here they are all hanging out in the living room while we are still couch-less in their future home.

Not too shabby, huh?  You've seen the pillow to the right of the Adler-inspired pillow here, but the other two I picked up last week.  The knitted, turquoise zig zag pillow I found on clearance at Pier 1 and the lime green pom pom pillow I snagged from Ross.  All together, they make a pretty good representation of what I envisioned on our mood board.

Not exact, but the idea is there and that's what is so great about a mood board.  When making mood boards for other people, I always include the links of my exact choices, but keep in mind, it doesn't have to be the exact products pictured for the end result to look just as great.  Maybe instead of forking over $100 for a pillow, you can make a similar one yourself for $10.  And although I absolutely LOVED the petal turquoise pillow from the original mood board--it sold out before I could get it, so I opted for a textured pillow with a similar color--and it works beautifully. 

...now I am just twirling my thumbs until I can see these on our real couch.  Anyone else paint a pillow recently?  Or save a bunch of cash DIYing something high end?  It is a great feeling, right?  Although, if Jonathan Adler (or anyone else... besides Chris) wanted to gift me the real thing, I wouldn't say boo.  ;)

Giveaway Gold: Pouf-erific.

***The Giveaway is now closed***

Congratulations to Jenna, number 140, who said she would love any damask one.  

Over the weekend, on our Facebook page, I mentioned that we'd be having another giveaway and this time it would be something specifically from our family room's mood board that anyone could enjoy.  And then in this morning's post, I teased that another piece of furniture had arrived for the space and I couldn't wait to share it with you.  Well, friends--here it is, a pouf for us and a pouf for you:

Way back when we designed the mood board for the space, I picked out this exact ottoman pouf from the Etsy shop, Aletafae, and it has arrived!  The navy color, and simple geometric lines are going to work perfectly with the rest of the room.  Even with our extra deep couch that we are still waiting on (has it been 7-10 weeks yet?), we still thought it would be nice to have a spot to prop our feet up.  The extra-large leather ottoman that used to be in the room was way too big, so we sold it and decided to downsize to something more casual, but still functional.  With all the storage we could possibly need and then some on our built-ins, this pouf was just the ticket.  We moved the pouf up to the living room to give it a temporary test-drive:

Terrific! It's the perfect size for feet resting (even my big, size 11 feet--meh) but small enough to not take up an overwhelming amount of square footage in your room.  Lucky for everyone, Aleta has graciously offered $125 to her shop full of poufs to one of our readers.

• Prize:  $125 to Aletafae 
• To Enter: Leave a comment telling us which pouf is best (The Office, anyone?).  Really, click here and take a gander at her huge selection, and let us know which one you are eyeing as your prize.  It might be one that fits into your decor or one that you would design a whole room after.  
• Giveaway Closes: Thursday, March 29th at 11pm MST
• Number of Winners: One
• Prize Ships:  Anywhere in the US or Canada
• Fine Print:  Only one entry per e-mail address, people. We'll summon random.org after the giveaway closes to select our winner and announce it on Friday as an update to this post.  Go. Go. Goooooo!!!!!

Advertise

We are expanding our little family to include more eye-candy for you readers. (That was almost a baby tease again.  Man, I'm funny). After nearly a year of living in this home and writing about every last  DIY detail--our blog has grown leaps and bounds thanks to you and we feel it is time to bring sponsors into our virtual home.  Just as we are protective of what enters the walls of our actual home, we want to make sure our advertisers fit in with the vibe we have going on here so everyone benefits.  Check out our "Advertise" page for more information.

I'll be back in a couple hours to spill the latest furniture addition to our family room.  You won't want to miss it.

Jen's Dilemma

Since making the announcement that I would start designing for your spaces too, I have been up to my eyeballs in mood boards.  At first, I was worried that I would virtually design the same space over and over--but it has been quite the opposite.  I feel like I have really connected with so many spaces and readers and have been able to inject their personality in making a unified room.  I have worked with a $200 budget, an unlimited budget, an new unfinished build, a teeny tiny room, a mulit-use room, and more.  I have seen SO many different spaces and I have loved being involved with each one. Some of you have asked if I would be showing all the mood boards on the blog.  In short, there are far too many to share each separately, but, I thought it would be fun to peak in on one every once in awhile.  That being said, here's one I finished earlier this week from reader, Jen.  

She says:

I'd like your help with my living room. It's an awkward size and shape - 24' x 12' with a large window at one end and a sliding glass door at the other end. One of the long sides has an 11' opening to the kitchen and a 7' opening to the entry and railing, so there's only 5' of actual wall on that side of the room. Since the room is so long, I have it set up with about 2/3 for the "living" space and the other 1/3 for my little dining table. The ceiling is about 8' high and there is no overhead lighting.

My style is Earthy Modern. I love clean lines and pretty much everything at West Elm, but I also like textures and grainy woods like teak or acacia to keep it from feeling too cold and stark.  See this print for my color inspiration: http://www.etsy.com/listing/56622713/peacock-feather-5x7-fine-art-photo-print. 

Overall, the room just doesn't feel put together - I keep adding things and don't feel like I'm making progress, and I still have a lot of apartment/college furniture that I need to upgrade. I think a better plan is in order...that's where you come in :) This is my only living/entertaining space since I don't have a separate formal living room or finished basement. I'm open to DIYing anything and everything you can come up with. I've probably gone overboard with the details (I'm an engineer, I can't help it!) but please let me know if there's anything else you need. Thank you so much! 

Jen

Here's what I came up with for Jen:

With the help of your inspiration photo (the peacock feather) I put together a few ideas that I think would work great in your room.

1. A dark, moody accent wall will really make the room spectacular. Try Underwater by Behr and reserve it for the wall behind your couch and extend it all the way to the dining room wall.

2. Above the couch, go for a monochromatic, oversized photo as art. Use this one as an inspiration and take one (or have a photographer friend take one) similar. I'll link you to a great tutorial on a cheap way to blow up and hang photos.
Large photo found here.
DIY Large photo art tutorial here.

3. You said you like clean lines, which means your curvy end tables should go. I love these small ones from Ikea that double as storage.
End tables found here.

4. I don't see anything wrong with your existing table lamps. From what I see in the photos, I really like the bases. Either paint the shades a warm teal color, or splurge on all new ones like I have pictured.
Lamps found here.

5. Ahh, the pillow round up. Pillows are going to do amazing things for your whole room. Mix and match patterns and colors. I have picked out a golden yellow, one with navys, a turquoise with bright green accents, a soft gray fox, a yellow-green print, and a bright orangey-floral.
Yellow found here.
Navy brush stroked pillow found here
Turquoise pom pom pillow found here
Fox pillow found here
Yellow-green print pillow found here
Orange Floral pillow found here

6. I mentioned an accent wall in number 1, but for the rest of your walls--I found a great warm gray like you suggested. See how Martha Stewart Sharkey Grey looks!

7. From the photos I see you are not afraid of an animal print. I would ditch the double Ikea rug and lay a large cowhide on a diagonal. There are tons of options:
One shown found here
Alternate here
And another here

8. I love the idea of a round, leather storage ottoman for this room. It will balance out all the square edges and provide plenty of extra storage for you.
Ottoman found here

9. To solve your TV situation, I'd go for a rustic-looking cart. Mount your tv, or set it on top and fill the shelves with baskets and a few other pictures in frames I see around the room.---even your inspiration photo would be a nice touch.
Console found here

10. As for the dining room side of things, I worked around your existing table because I thought it was nice! I'd start with some lighting since you don't have any overhead. A great arc lamp can be tucked in the corner and still hang over the table.
Lamp found here

11. Underneath the table, define the space with this great, orange 5x7 area rug that's less than $75!
Area rug found here

12. Instead of the curvy console table you currently have, scour craigslist for a great dresser to use in its place. Store spare dishes, wine and on top display a beautiful bowl of lemons or oranges.
Crazy expensive dresser found here

13. Above that dresser (on the accent wall), hang dishes. Collect them from thrift stores, check out Pier one, and even go for a couple woven bowls like the one I included.
Inspiration photo found here
Woven decorative bowl found here

The only other suggestion I have is to paint the frame of your chair in the living room (next to the plant) orange. It will really tie things together and provide a great pop! I hope you find great inspiration from this mood board and I can't wait to see where you end up. 

Who's next?!  For more information, check out our mood board page here, or

Email your submission to moodboards@chrislovesjulia.com

Welcome to the family, Chaise.

Two evenings ago, while I was still trying to get our bookcases styled, but definitely needed a break, Chris suggested we put together our Kivik chaise from Ikea that has been sitting in our garage for about a month.  Now that the room is finally to a place where we can start decorating and using the room, a place to put our feet up until our couch arrives (crossing our fingers it'll be in the next couple weeks!) is much needed.    

When we opened the box, we couldn't find any instructions. I Googled around and found them, but they seemed to be more of a "How to connect your Kivik Chaise to your Kivik sofa" sort of thing.  I panicked looking at all of the bolts and screws and wondering how all these silly parts go together and Chris just started putting it together.  

It took less than ten minutes:

The cover we chose is the Dansbo dark gray one that we picked out way back when we put the mood board together for this room.  It's a really nice, durable fabric that is removable and washable.  Woot.

The chaise itself will actually live over by the small staircase (as pictured above), but fast forward to last night when we pushed it over to the other side of the room, both curled on this chaise and watched a movie with some Coldstone frozen yogurt.  It was so nice to relax in our very own family room.  With something to sit on! In fact, I have been sitting on this pretty much non-stop.  It has become my favorite place to blog/work on your mood boards/cuddle with Greta.

The turquoise knit throw is from target and I am currently working on some little throw pillows for the chaise, too.  I wish I could say I'll have photos of that for you tomorrow, but there are always complications in the battle of me vs. the sewing machine.  Yeesh.

Psst.  Thank you for all the sweet comments yesterday on our styled bookcases.  House party once this room is done and you are all invited.  :)

Our Styled Built In Billys

I spent my whole day yesterday filling all of these empty shelves:

I wanted these built-ins to be a good mix of books and color.  I wanted it to not be so serious, as a bookcase completely filled with books or glass objects can be.  We are pretty playful people and I think these built ins reflect that:

Gah!  What do you notice first?  Huh?  Perhaps the yellow National Geographics lining our skinniest bookshelves.  Or maybe the pops of turquoise scattered throughout.  Or all the baskets!  Strap in, you're in for a full-blown source list. 

On the top right of the built-ins are two black and silver plates from Pier One.  They were on sale for $4.50 each and I got the stands at Hobby Lobby for $2.99.  Down a shelf--The large silver frame and white mat were found in the Ikea As-Is section for $3!  The "art" inside is actually a thick and gorgeous wood placemat from Pier One I got for $5.  Art is all around us, eh?  The turquoise vase was $10 from Ikea, the gold-ish vase I had on hand, but I believe it is from Ross.  The little natural mirror is from Ikea for less than $3.

Moving down, we have a collection of books and a souvenir from our cruise to Mexico 3 years ago.  The little turquoise glass lamp is from Target for $12.99 and the shade, also Target, was $7.50--although they are currently having a buy one, get one 50% off home decor sale, so the little set was a screaming deal.  (Also--we still need to get a plug plate for the plug hiding behind that, oops!) Below that, is a family photo, a framed envelope from a letter exchanged between Chris and I (we fell in love through letters...handwritten ones), a little green candle and my favorite yellow pear--a $6.99 HomeGoods find.  Two pillows stacked on the bottom shelf (have had them forever!) add color, while still keeping it Greta-friendly.

 On the top shelf of the other side is a great basket I found at Home Goods for $6.99 and a large, glass, turquoise candle holder from target for $11 stacked atop my old year books.  :) Below, "friendship" bamboo from Ikea ($5) is appropriate placed next to a "We Not Me" poster (found here) in a simple black $5.99 Ikea poster frame.  The wooden gesture doll is from Ikea and the little gold pot I had on hand and I spray painted gold.

These two frames I had on hand.  The caricature (I'm pretty sure you've seen) is by my talented friend, Lance Fry.  Next door, is a simple $2 white frame from Ikea with a paint chip in it to create a little ombre art.  I threw a couple yarn balls in mason jar and paired it with a vase I had on hand.  Below that are some white storage containers I found in the as-is section of Ikea for less than $2 and a few of my old art books.  On the bottom shelf is a huge storage basket filled with Greta's blocks.  I was so happy to find this at Ross for $19.99.  It's big enough to store toys for Greta and narrow enough to fit in the built-ins.  It was one of my favorite finds.

Overtop of the television, is an old encyclopedia collection I found in the online classifieds for $10.  The basket in the middle is from Ross. While we are talking about classified finds, all of the National Geographics I found on KSL (like Craigslist) for $30!  A 13 gallon bin filled to the top with National Geographics. So far, I have discovered some dating back to 1954, and some newer issues from 2003. We have already enjoyed looking through a few with little Greta.

Below the television is another basket (I can't help it...I just love 'em) from HomeGoods that stores our remotes and a few odds and ends.  In the center slot is our DVD player and Apple TV and a pot of artificial grass from Ikea that is conveniently placed right where all the cords run up to the television.  Next door--our very modest dvd collection.  :) I spy Arrested Development.

Remember the built-ins on the other side of the sliding door?:

We filled those, too:

On the top shelf, is a metal tray we got from my Uncle Victor for our wedding.  It's gorgeous and we are so glad we finally have an appropriate place to display it.  On the second shelf is all of Chris's cookbooks.  He reads them like novels. Really.  And having them so close to the dining room makes sense so that he can grab one to refer to when he is cooking, if need be.  Below, I displayed the magazine art I whipped up a couple months ago and a couple more white storage boxes from Ikea.  

On the third shelf from the bottom I paired some more National Geographics to tie in with the other built-ins and a jar we had on hand filled with some dried spit peas for a pop of green--we work with what we got.  Below, is a few board games and on the bottom shelf is a basket of a some of Greta's books and a giraffe that I have always had, that she has recently taken a liking to.  

Whew! And that, my friends, is what we call a wrap.  Favorite part for me? I honestly love the yellow National Geographics--they were our first find and really served as a jumping point.  What do you love?  What would you change?  Is there such a thing as too many baskets?

The Nitty Gritty on Baseboards

With the built-ins done, we only had one thing left to trim out--the rest of the room was in dire need of baseboards.  The is a photo snapped right after our carpet went in:

And now, with the addition of baseboards (and the built-ins, and the window, and a few things I have started to gather for the built-ins):

I remember when we added baseboards to our guest room after staining the concrete floor and we were blown away at how much they added.  The same is true for this case.  The room feels complete.  Well, empty...but complete.  Especially since we also finished the built-in for the other side of the sliding door:

We used a full-sized Billy for this custom bookcase and cut all of the shelves and top and base down to fit the platform perfectly.  With bookcases trimmed out on either side of the doors, it gives a higher-end feeling we think.  

And here's a similar angle of a few weeks back:

The baseboards really soften the whole room.  As for how we ended up with the ones we did?  We used the same baseboards we fell in love with in our guest room.  5 1/2" tall with very simple lines.  We special ordered them through our local True Value at 90 cents a linear foot.  The baseboards come in 16 foot lengths and we got one extra to trim out our new window once we hang blinds and curtains, so the total was $72, but we have a $10 off coupon which puts us at $62 to add baseboards for the entire room.  I should mention, the thick trim at the bottom of the bookcases is also factored in to this amount since we actually used the same baseboard for that. 

As for the timetable for installing our floor moldings, we got them done in two evenings.  The first evening I painted all of the baseboards outside under our carport:

This went quick!  The boards come pre-primed so I just rolled two coats of paint (Glidden's Crisp Linen White which is a smidge brighter than the Parchment White we used on the built-ins) on and let them dry for a good two hours.  Then Chris worked his magic with a table saw and after 3.5 not-so-fun hours of measuring, mitering edges and installing with our nail gun--we had them in.

Night two, which was last night, we caulked the seams and corners and spackled mini nail holes and then tackled paint touch ups.  Chris and I both agree, trim work isn't so fun.  It is tedious--but it has an amazing pay off that keeps us motivated.

Now that the baseboards are in, it is finally time--FINALLY time--to get our decorating on.  Let the games begin.  Come back tomorrow for some styled bookcases *fingers crossed.*