We are still here!

Well, it’s been a while!! Please excuse my absence from the blog but I’ve been a little busy! We’ve had a hectic couple of months, we moved into our newly renovated home at the end of February, very quickly unpacked and got settled and then we welcomed our little man Wyatt Douglas Loflin on March 19th. We had some complications towards the end of the pregnancy so we were induced a week early. Since I am finally getting into the swing of things I decided it was time to return to blogging, I will be updating more often now that we finally have internet at home! (YAY)

Some topics I want to post on:
The Nursery Reveal; since we moved and I never showed it finished!
Our labor story
What actually went into our hospital bag
Nursery Organization
Cloth diapering and how it’s working for us, as well as caring and organizing your diaper stash
Our favorite baby products, I’d like to make a series of these as he grows and his needs change!
DIY galore - Crafts, more furniture updates.. I have a lot of ideas!
As well as general updates about life with Wyatt!

If there is anything I’m missing and you want to hear about let me know in the comment section!

I will try to be around more often!
Thanks for sticking around!
xo

Wyatt's Dresser/Changing Table Overhaul, pt. 3

Check out part two, here.

Once we got the bulk of the work done, all the painting and sanding and time spent letting both of those dry (!!) the rest was super quick and easy. I am just really impatient and excited to see it finished so it felt like it took forever. I decided to try to polish and use the original brass hardware and rather than picking up a bottle of Tarn-x or something similar I wanted to use what we had on hand, I googled around since I had previously heard you could use lemon juice and baking soda. I found this article on Apartment Therapy and got to work. They cleaned up super easy and quick but I sort of missed a very crucial step..

 " 7. When you're done give the brass a really thorough rinse making sure there's no paste left over and then dry it with a clean dry towel."

 Now I did rinse and dry them, but let my mistake be a lesson.. REALLY rinse them good, possibly even wash them with soap and water and then dry them just as thoroughly. I wasn't as meticulous as I should've been and my knobs totally rusted! It wasn't all that bad and I managed to fix them but that was a disappointment.

 

It only rusted along the little crevices where I'm sure I just didn't dry well enough.

At this point they were either going in the trash or I was going to have to try to paint them. Over on Young House Love they've repainted hardware before with Sherry's favorite Rust-oleum Oil-Rubbed Bronze Universal spray paint so I knew we would be in good hands. I went ahead and sanded all the rust spots off and just roughed them up in general with some 225grit sandpaper. I wanted to make sure they wouldn't be too slick for the paint to really grab a hold of so I took my time and got into all the little nooks and tight spots and made sure I got rid of every bit of rust and roughed up the entire thing.

After I did that with all the knobs and handles, all EIGHTEEN of them, I rigged them up to be painted. I used the cardboard piece out from a bolt of burlap leftover from our wedding and wooden kebab skewers to do the knobs and got super creative with some thread and a tree in our backyard to hang the handles.

To set these up I just broke the skewers into smaller pieces and stabbed them into the cardboard and set the the knobs right on top.

I hit them with quite a few really thin coats, giving about 10 minutes between each. I let the handles dry for a while with them hanging on the tree so that the handle wouldn't ding it up by laying on it.

I used sewing thread and made a large loop around the handle, and another large loop which I just hung in the Dogwood tree in our backyard.

Once I felt they were dry enough that they wouldn't make a mark, I cut the thread and laid them carefully on a piece of cardboard so I could move them inside overnight. I let those dry for two days and then I put them back on and they look perfect! The deep chocolatey brown is so gorgeous next to the blue and I swear it has hints of gold sparkle but I am not sure if that's the paint or the brass showing through.

I also decided I would line the inside of the drawers for a fun surprise every time they got opened. It was super quick other than waiting for it to dry. Which seems to be a common theme among DIYing, and I am one impatient lady. But it was fairly simple. I used another tutorial from Young House Love where they lined the drawers for Clara's dresser/changing table remodel as well! I got all my supplies together and it went super quick.

I wiped out each drawer with a lone sock, his mate is still missing in the laundry, and then measured the inside of my two differently sized drawers. After that I cut all nine of the liners I would need so I was ready to go after that. I found I got the least amount of bubbles and wrinkles in my paper if I would mod podge half the drawer, line my paper up and smooth it out, fold it back over and mod podge the second half of the drawer and then smooth that half out.

I got into the corners more than is showing in that photo, I think I should've done it a little thicker though.

I did all the drawers and let them dry overnight so that the bottom layer of mod podge would be completely dry before I just put more on top of it. I used a foam brush to apply the mod podge and it was super easy. I made sure to get a good seal along the edges. I love it! This was definitely a successful project. :) And now for some detail shots and dresser porn.

Gorgeous lacquered top, nice and shiny!

Our gorgeous fluff! I will be reviewing the ALVA diapers once W is here.

And our Honest disposable diapers we are going to be using until he's large enough to fit into the All-In-One cloth diapers without us having to worry about leaks.

Wyatt's Dresser/Changing Table Overhaul, pt. 2

Check out part one, here.

Finally you could say the dresser is finished. Well, finished if we were just going to buy new hardware or use the old hardware as-is. (Hint: we are not.) Once we got the top stenciled and stained we went ahead and let that cure/dry for a couple days and worked on getting all the drawers and the body of the dresser primed. We used KILZ 2 latex primer and it worked great. We did two coats on the drawer fronts and three on the body, lightly sanding in between each coat with 220.

After that was given ample time to dry we went in and did our first coat of paint. We chose Valspar Ultra in Playful Pool in the gloss finish. I didn't want too much of a primary blue color and I fell in love with the gorgeous almost Tiffany blue color. We got it in the gloss so that it would be more durable and easy to clean since it will be in Wyatt's room. We did two coats, rolled it onto the flat drawer fronts and dresser sides using the same 4'' foam roller and cut in along the edges of the drawer fronts and then along the bottom of the dresser with our brush. The can said to let it dry overnight between coats, and it was a little chilly overnight so we gave it a few extra hours on top of that.

 And I love how it came out! I am so surprised how much I love the color. I have never painted such a big piece a bold color and I'm so happy with it! I love how the blue looks against the stained top, and makes the decorative edge along the bottom pop. This will be so perfect in Wyatt's room! I can't wait to see the rest of it come together. In part three I will cover how we refinished the original brass hardware, since it was super rusted, and how we covered the inside of the drawers.

Wyatt's Dresser/Changing Table Overhaul, Pt. 1

We didn't have a solid plan for Wyatt's nursery but I knew I wanted a solid wood dresser that could double as a changing table. I also knew it would be older and in need of some sprucing up since we would most likely be getting it off of Craigslist or from an antique store... And I wanted to get a little crazy and have some fun with it. Daniel's dad moved into his mom's house since she decided to move into an assisted living home so he was dealing with all of her furniture and belongings as well as moving his stuff in. We just got really lucky. He gave us a bed and dresser set, as well as some other random furniture and I was lucky enough to inherit Grandma Dorothy's set of vintage Pyrex dishes as well as this cute little lamb cookie jar that Daniel loved during his childhood.

Before, sort of.. I forgot to get one with the original brass hardware

The dresser was in great shape for being around 50 years old, solid wood (we think maple?) and only had very minor but totally fixable damage on two of the feet. The matching bed is in great shape as well, we are just staining it to match the dresser my Papa made me when I graduated high school but that's a whole other project.

One foot came clear off and the other broke along the seam during moving it.

To fix the feet we just flipped the dresser over so it was resting on it's top and completely removed the half broken foot by just unscrewing the one screw that was keeping it attached. We then ran a thin line of Gorilla brand wood glue along where the two pieces would meet and set them right back on. We wiped the little excess bit that got squeezed out off with a paper towel and rested some books on each foot to put a little weight on and help it set. After a couple hours we flipped it right side up and got to work sanding it.

Daniel got the flat panels with the orbital sander and some 60 grit (That's all we had for that sander)

I took care of all the small decorative grooves by hand (80 grit,) and Beau kept me company.

We probably didn't need to sand quite so much since we primed it but I wanted a very smooth finish after painting. We went ahead and sanded the top and that decorative piece along the front down to the bare wood since we were actually staining those parts. Once we finished sanding them we gave them a nice thorough wipe down with a clean towel and moved into the garage due to the rain and moisture in the air. The next day we got to work bright and early because we were both so excited to stencil the top! We started by taping off along the edge of the top of the dresser to make sure the lines where the stencil would end would be nice and crisp. I went ahead and taped anything we would end up staining so we could get a coat of primer on as well.

I taped along the edge first and then went ahead and taped anything we would later end up staining.

I got the inspiration for the dresser top from a pin on Pinterest that led me to Domestic Imperfection where she did this awesome revamp on a dining room table. I knew that was the perfect statement piece for Wyatt's nursery! I showed it to Daniel and lucky for me, he loved it too. We went out in search of a large enough stencil to use. First we went to Michael's, they had a pretty cool paisley Martha Stewart stencil but we wanted more of a larger repeating pattern. We went to Lowe's next and they surprisingly had no wall or floor stencils, but the sales associate there suggested Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Lucky for us, Hobby Lobby had quite a nice selection of wall and floor sized stencils. We decided on this awesome Moroccan patterned stencil by Stencil Ease. And we got lucky since they were on sale for 50% off that week. $8.49! Sign us up! But really thats super inexpensive for a stencil that size anyways so sweet deal either way. Once we got the taping done, Daniel measured the top so he could place the stencil. I have never stenciled anything in my life and wasn't sure what the trick was to getting the seamless repeating pattern, with this stencil they have these great little triangles in each corner so you just line those up and you're golden. The instructions said if you were stenciling a wall to start at the top and center, we weren't doing a wall but that made the most sense for this. Daniel started by measuring from the edge of the dresser top into the stencil edge, he made sure there was an equal distance from each side of the dresser into the edge of the actual stencil cut-out since the instructions specifically said not to use the edges of the stencil plastic since those may not have been straight.

 

Once we quadruple checked that it was straight and even, we taped it down using painter's tape for delicate surfaces. Then we went to town! Just kidding! I was so terrified we would roll on too much paint and make it bleed that we ended up doing the thinnest coats possible and went over it twice. We just let it dry for a few minutes in between each coat, and for a couple minutes before we took the stencil up. We were using a 4-inch foam roller and just white craft paint so that dried pretty quickly. Once we did the first stencil, it was easy to just line up those little triangles and tape it back down. Even with thin coats we still got a little bleeding but I didn't mind it at all. I was so enamored with the pattern, I swear I must've said "wow" at least 15 times.

 

It took us that whole afternoon to get the top stenciled, but while Daniel was working on that I was priming the drawers and the bottom of the dresser. By the end of the night we got to do our stain! I think we were both pretty nervous to stain it since it had taken hours to get it stenciled. And the end result was definitely dramatic but it was made one thousand times better once we added the stain. We used Minwax stain in English Chestnut and using one of Daniel's old cut up undershirts, he applied it with the grain. I mostly stayed out of this step due to the fumes but of course had to snap a couple pictures to keep myself from hyperventilating.

 

It turned out gorgeous! We ended up doing about 3 coats of the stain, only leaving it on about 5 minutes each time since it was blotchier in some spots. Then we hand sanded it using 625 grit to try to smooth out the paint. In hindsight we should've started the stenciling with a higher quality paint and done the sanding with maybe a 220. The 625 was way too fine and clogged up easily and the paint got rubbed around a little at the edge of the dresser. Then we stained it one last time. The end result is still a little splotchy but I just love it. We finished it off by spraying it with Minwax Polyacrylic spray clear coat. We did three coats but I definitely want it to be a thicker, glossier finish so I've been googling what to try over this. Once we get the painting finished I will post up part two!

Hospital Bag!

We are 20 weeks pregnant! Finally halfway there! When did this happen!? I have started working on my hospital bag packing list! We shall see what gets the axe or if anything gets added. I will post an update on this as we get closer to delivery and once my bag actually gets packed!

Packed for Mexico in August, how will it compare?

My bag:   
Toiletries (travel size shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lanolin cream, lotion, chapstick, toothbrush + Daniel‘s, toothpaste )
Pillow, colorful pillowcase so it hopefully doesn't get left behind.
Robe
Hairbrush, extra hair ties, headband
Warm socks and slippers
Phone charger
Going home outfit, something stretchy and comfortable
Breast pads
Makeup, basic stuff
Sweats or yoga pants
Nursing tank tops
Birth plan & medical papers in my handy organized binder
Book or magazine, iPad
Laundry bag for dirty clothes
Make up remover wipes
Underwear (black, boyshorts)
Baby book w/ pen for footprints and doctor/nurses signatures

Daniel’s bag:
A change of clothes
Snacks, gum
Camera/Video Camera
Phone charger
Comfortable clothes to sleep in
Extra underwear/socks

Wyatt’s bag:
Boppy
Going home outfit, newborn & 0-3 month.
Blankets, steal as many as possible from hospital
Hat
Socks
Pacifiers
Scratch mittens

Even though we are going to cloth diaper we are going to make it a little easier on ourselves getting used to having a BRAND NEW BABY around and will use newborn disposables until he outgrows them. This also saves me from worrying about leaks since we are using the one-size cloth diapers, and from what I've read those seem to leak more on smaller babies.

If you have any tips or recommendations feel free to comment! I am new to this and would love any feedback! :)

Why not?

I guess I will give a quick little introduction since this is my new blog-baby. :) Hi all, my name is Vanessa. I decided to start this blog since I am a 'heavily-dependent on the internet, new mother to be' I figured between ALL my googling from what to pack in my hospital bag, to cloth diaper reviews and recommendations, to nursery decorating ideas I would maybe be able to contribute to someone else's googling.

I will be using this blog to document the rest of my pregnancy, as well as how we are preparing for our sweet baby. Once baby gets here I'm sure I will be posting on our labor and delivery experience, our experiences with cloth diapering, and breastfeeding as well as lots of pictures of our baby boy!

I am a 23 year old girl from central California, I married my best friend on September 15th of this year after a very short engagement. My husband, Daniel is 24. We met many years ago in middle school (!!!) haha. We attended middle and then high school together but went our separate ways after graduating, he joined the Navy and I moved to Texas for a couple years. After moving home in October of 2011 we reconnected and have been inseparable ever since. On June 23rd, I proposed to Daniel, I don't think he was expecting a marriage proposal over drinks but he was thrilled. I was thrilled he accepted! About a month and a half later my period was two days late and I took a pregnancy test and we got the ultimate surprise! After we got over the initial shock and surprise, we finished planning our wedding and are trying to get through the second leg of this pregnancy as easily as possible!