Blue Lament

Josh and I seem to have the WORST trouble picking out colors that do not come from Restoration Hardware. Set at sea in a bevy of choices at Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Home Depot, or Lowe's, I come home with swatches upon swatches hoping that one will do the trick. When we first moved into our beautiful home, we painted 3 of the rooms right away: master bedroom (Celery), upstairs bathroom (Buttercream), and the office. The office was supposed to be this gorgeous tiffany blue, very subtle and amazing -- well, RH doesn't have a subtle and amazing tiffany blue, so I was left on my own. I chose, Josh bought, we painted. Some of you may remember what I referred to as our pool room. The room actually GLOWED! into the hallway, it was soo blue! The effect was that you were entering an indoor pool, without any water in it. Well, we quickly repainted with the more sedate Sage.
Fast forward to the present. When faced with the choice of what color to paint little Kate's room, once again, RH did not have the perfect option, so I was left to my own devices. I chose a color that SOUNDS demure (Harbor Fog), but when painted above white bead board lost all fogginess and became more harbor. Fortunately, the mistake was not as grave as last time, but it did give Josh and myself NIGHTMARES about our last painting faux pas. One complication was that we were looking at it in the flourescent light of one of Josh's work lights. Once we got the regular bulbs in there and a little sunshine, things looked up. Then, last night, Josh added a little more white to the color before he put on the second coat. The color is more muted, and I know that things will be different when we get all of the furniture, bedding, and curtains inside. I feared that we had another Pool Room on our hands, but we teetered back to the safety of a bright, but not TOO bright, blue. Why, oh why, does not RH have a line of blues that are perfect for MY needs???

Beddie Bye

Today, on a marathon shopping trip, I quelled some of fears about not being ready for this baby should she come early. I bought 3 pkgs of diapers in varying sizes (critical, I was told this Thanksgiving by several experienced mommies). The other most important and exciting purchase I made was . . Kate's crib & a dresser! I spent HOURS wandering around New Baby Products in Snellville. I was by myself, and I just had so many choices to make. I'm sure that the employees were really wondering about me. Here's a link to a picture of the crib: Kate's Furniture. Click on the Peyton collection. We bought the 3 in 1 crib (not the Lifestyle) and the combo dresser. I chose the chestnut color for various reasons. Firstly, because the bead board is white, we thought that a white crib might be too much white. Also, a darker finish might transfer more easily to a boy's nursery than white. Lastly, white could show marks more easily. While I was wandering round and round the mulberry bush, Josh was really getting stuff done at home. He painted the nursery! It's not quite done, but we can at least get the basic idea. :-)

Calling all Mommies!

I'm currently in the straits of thinking about nursery furniture. I feel like I'm a little behind the 8 ball here, but I have some queries for all the experienced mommies out there.

1. What do you think of these lifetime cribs? Did any of you buy one and actually use the toddler portion?? Unfortunately, if it's not worth it, it seems virtually impossible to find a crib that does NOT convert in a style that I like.

2. What do you think about cribs without the movable gate on one side? In other words, they are fixed lower than the back. The particular one I was looking at seemed quite low to me which is actually a good thing since I'm a shorty. It does have variable mattress positions, however.

3. Do you any of you have WHITE crib furniture and do you think that the paint holds up to child abuse as well as a stain might????

4. Do any of you have any particular commendations on your crib or brand of crib??

Thanks for your input! Sorry to you non-Mom's for this particularly focused post.

Nursery Solved

Well, thanks for all of your input on the nursery linens everyone! Jen and I tooled over to the Forum today to check out the PbKids and my favorite thing in the world happened -- we found a super great deal! As soon as I get myself put together I'll get some pics of it online. It's definitely girly, but there's room for more than just pink. It's a patchwork quilt with pinks, blues, and greens. Another fun thing about today was that Ben took care of Lydia, so Jen and I had a girl's shopping day just for ourselves. Of course, it wasn't exactly normal because I had to stop every once in awhile just to sit down. It's amazing how your body changes as you go through pregnancy. My low back is a part of my body that NEVER hurt me before, but lo and behold, that and my buns are achey after a day after shopping. The great news is that I had enough energy after a long day to come home and make supper. For those of you who have the red & white plaid cookbook, the recipe for Tostada Pizza is really good. A good mix of Mexican with the concept of pizza. Yummy. And, (note to Amy) totally fake Mexican food.

And So It Begins

Yesterday, Jen called me with an all important question: "Are you ready to register?" Calmly I answered, "No," and we hung up after some chat. REGISTER??? Are you kidding me?? Well, I decided that since I had neither GCA nor Sylvan today I was going to sit down and do some major internet shopping. As I sit here at midnight, I'm clicking back and forth between Pottery Barn, Target, Babies R Us, Benjamin Moore, and Restoration Hardware. And, at a critical point in my decision making process, the PBKids website decides to have a breakdown! Fortunately, I have their catalogue as well, so I begin cutting up pictures and doing a bit of mix & match. B the B, I did discover something HIGHLY exciting in my random search for paint colors. Benjamin Moore carries a Pottery Barn collection. In fact, their regular catalogue is matched by color to specific Benji M. palettes. So, if you've ever lusted over colors in THEIR catalogue -- hope is in store. All that to say -- I love decorating. I just wish that all of these stores weren't so dang far away from each other, so I could do power comparison shopping in person. I was wondering if anyone knew where the closest PBKids Store was? So far, I've toyed with bedding from BRU -- Wendy Bellisimo Honey Bee collection. I am also toying with two really cute sets from PBKids, both way more girly. We're planning on putting beadboard in the nursery and I'm looking for the perfect paint color for the rest of the wall. One idea is to find a great blue shade and go for blue, pink, and green bedding & accessories. If I go with the Honeybee set, I'll paint the room green, I think. Thanks for letting me brood online! Enjoy the links:

Honey Bee Collection from Babies R Us -- Josh's pick
http://www.wendybellissimo.com/nursery/honeybee/index.php

This one is in the Nursery Bedding and Nursery Bedding
I love sheets in this set! Cherry Blossom Sheets/Duvet in the Floral Matelasse Collection
http://www.pbkids.com

This one is in the Kid's Bedding
Possibly my favorite -- but Josh brought up the point that it is a little grown up. . Bella Quilted Bedding
http://www.pbkids.com