Best Custom Quilter

Etsy shop: gmaronda

I have met the best custom quilter any decorator could ask for!  As a custom muralist, I know the type of dedication that my clients expect of me.  I strive to treat them as my top priority and with my undivided attention to detail and listen to exactly what they want for their mural or canvas wall art.  I have found a custom quilter, Ronda Houle, who shares a common dedication in her work.  I encourage you to check out her Etsy shop and send her a convo if you have a quilting project in mind. This photo is a rag quilt she has made for me from my extra fabrics.  Too sweet!  The rest of my custom projects are in the works, and I can't wait to see them in the nursery.  I still need to get the Jenny Lind crib from my sister's house and decide on a color to paint it.  I'm waiting for the bedding and window treatments before I choose the color.  These fabrics in the rag quilt will be in the crib quilt, so if anyone has any ideas on crib color please feel free to comment!   

And remember to check out Ronda's shop!

Etsy shop: gmaronda

Custom Order *** Work in Progress

The Rug Is Here

My rug came today! OK, everyone, this is going to sound like an official product review from Overstock.com.  The quality of this rug is very high.  It is one of the only synthetic zebra-esque rugs on overstock.com and it doesn't have the shedding problem that I read about on all the wool rugs.  It was a lot cheaper, too.  It's the perfect size and very plush.  It actually looks and feels like a very soft wool, but it is synthetic.  I haven't noticed any strange chemical smell I was afraid of.  Then again, my DH is cooking boiled shrimp and red beans & rice with deer sausage so maybe that's why I can't really smell anything else!  Really though, it is awesome.  I loves it!

Nursery Interior is Complete

The interior construction is now complete!  My favorite modern touch is the fan.  It's called "Avian" by Harbour Breeze and we got it at Lowe's.  It has a modern nickel mounting set, wide maple wooden blades, and it has a remote control!  The 5 inch diameter canned lights were pretty easy to install, and they make the room feel like a posh boutique!   The lights swivel any direction, so I will aim the two near the built-ins toward the top shelves to showcase all the books and nursery accessories.

One Ceiling Fan, Going Up!

My DH (darling husband) is installing Baby Walter's new ultra modern ceiling fan.  In Houston, a fan is a MUST!  Can I get an amen?

Tonight I will post more progress, but he looked so cute up there I had to share this pic right now.

Got Paint!

My Blue Bauble paint is on!  I love it!  It is exactly what I wanted, and it will be so cheerful with everything I have planned.  Still pondering colors for furniture.  I'm thinking green on the changer and maybe a dark charcoal for the crib to go with the zebra waves rug.  The little chair in the corner is something I am repurposing from around the house, and I think I will paint it too.  Totally lost there for a color.  What do you think?  Help!

My Etsy finds came in yesterday!  See the stool and the pillow?  Digaliggins ROCKS!  Here's another view of the Rocky Raccoon pillow:

Here's my little rug from overstock, too.  It is very muted compared to the picture on the website, but I think it will work.

These little sea creatures will be my subjects for the mural!  I'm going to paint a school of them over the changing dresser surrounded by sea kelp and bubbles.

Rug Change

I have pulled the trigger at overstock, and this is the target rug.  The orange one I had been considering has an ivory background, and my ceiling turned out very white and beautiful against the blue walls.  I'll take a picture in the morning light of how the paint looks!  It's incredible.  I do love this room.  I can't wait to decide on a color for the changer/dresser base and begin the mural.  I also need to decide on a color for the crib.  It's Jenny Lind and I think I might paint it a darker teal?  Any suggestions?  I know I may get some after you see the wall color in tomorrow's post.  It's very late...must get sleep.  Nite Nite.

I Think This is the Rug

I think I want this as the large rug (at right 5 x 8), but still not sure.  I would like to feature a school of zebra fish and other tropical fish that are striped.  When I saw this rug, I thought it would be a good way to bring in the orange with the aqua walls and the school of zebra fish. 

I have already purchased a small rug (at left) to be placed in front of the changer.  I found this at overstock, and the price was right for the small size, 2 x 3.  It looks very plush, so I hope it will be a nice accent to blend all the colors.



Original Swatches



Only one little problem so far, and that is that I have purchased fabrics before I decided on the colors of aqua, orange, black & white.  I think some of them such as the blues and greens will still work, but I bought some yellows, too.  The small rug has yellow so as long as they do not clash I think I can still use the yellow fabrics.



I originally bought the fabrics to be used as basket liners.



Just What I Wanted

The built-ins are painted and they are exactly what I wanted.  I am so happy with the quality and craftsmanship so far.  My contractor for the interior is AGC in Houston.  Their website is under construction, but it is agchouston.com/.  Isaac is a genuinely good person and he pays close attention to detail.  If anything comes out wrong or different than your expectations, he quickly sees to it that it is made right.  He has made sure I know that he's not happy unless I'm happy.  If you're looking for a great contractor for your interior projects, call or e-mail them.  They will be done with my project in one week just as promised!  The wall color goes on Monday.

Primed, but Not Ready

Wow, we thought we were going to need a  hotel room last night due to the fumes.  Of course, my sister, Holly, had a free bedroom if we really truly needed it.  So, we sat on the front lawn with the neighbors for hours and then decided it was OK to sleep upstairs since there is a separate return for the AC.  The primer had dried and there were no fumes at all upstairs.

The crew is still working on the tweex I requested, so the beadboard backing isn't primed yet.  Tomorrow, they are spraying the actual oil-based paint in "pur white" by Sherwin Williams.  It will need two days to dry before the "blue bauble" goes on the walls.

I know the wooden panels looked really cool on the ceiling, but it wasn't in the plan.  I chose inexpensive paneling from Lowe's that had plenty of imperfections such as grey spots around some of the knots that looked like dinosaur eyeballs, etc.  The white primer is looking great, so the white paint has to look even better.   Can't wait to get all this done and begin the FUN!

 

Built Ins are IN

The painters and the carpenters began this week. I love my built in wall unit! They had them done in a day, and I can't wait to see them painted pure white. I'm striving for the pottery barn catalog here. Can you tell? If only I had the Pacific Ocean outside the window.

I am having one change, and that is to remove the three rectangle panels across the bottom because it looks too formal for the nursery.  I just wanted simple beadboard under the window, but the carpenters got creative with the extra trim.  It's difficult to ask a talented craftsman to change something especially when it does look very nice, just not what I had in mind for the nursery.  Maybe a library or formal dining, but I wanted to keep these looking a little more casual and fun. Once it's all painted white and I get the hardware on the cabinet doors it will take on just the look I am after. Can't wait 'til Saturday, that's when they said they will be done with everything and the real fun begins.  I am normally very hands on, but I can't do any of this work.  I can decorate, though!

Etsy Purchases!!!

I just made my first Etsy purchases for the nursery:

Etsy Shop Digaliggins

This will either be my Dutailer glider ottoman to replace my small wooden one from 1999 or it will be one of the seats around the toddler play table I'm still searching for. I'd like to find a wooden child's table at the thrift store and paint it.

also from Digaliggins shop on Etsy, and this was Bradley's idea because he likes the song Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles. I fell in live with it immediately and both of these creative items are OOAK (one of a kind) by Digaliggins. LOVE 'EM!

Yay! Hi Stacey

Looks like I have another follower!  Hi Stacey, and welcome to my blog.  Soon, I hope there are many more joining you.  I will be awarding 3 lucky followers a free 16 x 20 original gallery canvas in the Fall.  This painting can be a custom order or one of my designs from my etsy store, Sweet Dreams Wall Art.

OK, so I have finally decided that I will paint soft aqua walls and a white ceiling. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the window seat. If I have it built I will need it to be at least 18" in depth for comfort. I would actually like it to be wide enough for a nap, but chances are I would never fall asleep there when my bed is so close.

Our nursery is connected to our master with just a large archway between the two rooms. It's like one big room, really. Because of this, I am limited on wall space for other furniture. I will hang white curtains inside the archway for my gallery pictures I'll be submitting to ProjectNursery.com so I can place a chair or even the changing table temporarily against the white backdrop as a curtain wall. My closet is going to be a boutique style inside one of the shelves by mounting a brushed nickel curtain rod under the shelf and just leaving it open. This will force me to keep the closet nice and tidy.

The contractor will be doing some repair work before he gets to the built-ins so I may have another day to take a think on it!

Too Many Decisions

I got the call from the contractor this morning, and he will be here by 9 am on Monday.  That gives me tomorrow to choose a color for the ceiling and walls, to decide on an exact design for the built-ins, and also decide if I am going to install shutters or just go for an inexpensive window treatment.  The room is hot because of the cathedral ceiling, so I will need a fan for sure, and the temperature is the main reason I am considering the splurge on the shutters.  By tomorrow, hopefully I will have all the answers as to colors and room arrangement.  I want a soft aqua or muted blue on the walls - I think.  I want the ceiling painted white, but still not sure.  And, I think I want a window seat between the built in shelves, or maybe just shelves on each side, and nothing under the window.  If it's left without a window seat, I can use 2 upholstered chairs and a lilttle table in that space.  If I do a built in window seat across the 8 feet of window, I will have only one option.  I thought I knew what I wanted a week ago, and then I had to go and discover project nursery!

I'll get it together tomorrow.

Here's the nursery that started my career as a professional muralist, and that's my wittle pumpkin, Bradley.

And now...

He's so excited about becoming a big brother!

Hunting and Gathering

I'm in my hunting and gathering phase full swing even though my nursery is still not finished.  This morning Dale and I had some reality check that this interior will never get finished if we do not turn to the professionals.  I called a contractor and we should have paint and floor by Friday of next week.  Still debating over the built-ins.  I have been going through the house looking for things to repurpose and I have a sette and a chest of drawers that would go nicely in the room.  The chest of drawers was about to find its way onto Craig's List, but I'm definitely inspired by some amazing room ideas found at Ohdeedoh.com.  I have a long dresser that matched the chest and as I have discovered the height it just perfect for use as my window seat base if I remove the legs.  The set is retro 1960's dark walnut finish currently, but I know a fresh coat of paint is in order.  Probably decorator white for these two pieces and a bright pop of color for the new antique.  I hate to paint this antique dresser, but bright color is irresistable.  Besides, my floor is a honey oak laminate I purchased at Costco, and this antique dresser is going to blend right into the floor with no contrast.  There is a mirror to match the dresser, but I am thinking I want to leave it off because it takes away from the changing table effect and it is quite ornate with lots of scrolled carvings for a boy.  I asked Dale and he said he likes it.  Maybe I'll remove it from its pivoting base and hang it in another place.  I could leave it natural and paint the dresser to be used for the changing table.  I want aqua paint on the crib which is Jenny Lind, a hand-me-down from my older sis.  So, I'm thinking fresh foliage green on the changing table.  Thoughts?

Baby Nursery Add-on

14 more weeks and right now we are moving very slow with our progress as I am getting bigger and bigger (can barely use the laptop over my baby bump).  None the less, I am just now starting to blog about it.  Here's what we've done so far:

After the slab was cured, my darlilng husband, Dale, began busting brick off the outside of the house for the framers to begin.  We are adding 14 feet to our master bedroom for the nursery area because all the bedrooms are upstairs, and I want our baby to be very closeby.

Jose and his crew had the room framed and ready for shingles and brick within 3 days!  Good thing, too, because we got a huge thunderstorm the day after the shingles went on.  At this point our master bedroom is only separated from the elements by a thin sheet of plastic.  At least we had shingles, and absolutely no leaks.  The brick didn't go up for a few more weeks.  Houston has been in a severe drought ever since that storm way back in March 2011.

The exterior is finally complete, but we are still working on the interior:

                                                           

I will be posting my dream nursery on this website once it is all done.  The followers and members of the website can vote on how much they like the finished project.  If you are reading my blog and you would like to keep up with my progress over the next 2 months please follow me here.  I will post a link when it's time to log onto Project Nursery and cast your vote!  If you are designing a nursery right now, check it out.  I am not affiliated in  any way.  I just discovered it and I am excited to get my nursery completed now.  I hope you keep up with my progress and check back soon.  More posts tomorrow...nite nite.