BINGO! Baby MANIA

Hi Lovelies, today is a bit of November Bingo Mania in December. I finally want to show you what we've done to get ready for Baby in our bedroom, and it hits a bunch of the Bingo Check List!!

In August, Miriam over at the FLOR design blog talked about adding a 'Second Layer' to her house. And I think adding space for Baby has done just that. It's a second, more lived in layer.

Just as a reminder, here's our Baby inspiration- minus the use of bumpers.

Here's Kitty hard at work sewing up Baby Goodness:

In order to incorporate baby we essentially gave her the North and South Walls of the bedroom, and the East and West are still for us. 

What used to be 'empty space' on the North wall:

 

Is now Baby Berry's corner of the room. We framed the ABSea Poster, hung our first anniversary present, stuffed the Ikea dresser with the Anthro knobs full of baby goodness, and the super popular BabySmart Cooshee Changer.

An up close Baby Vignette with flowers. The Pink Converse were a gift from me to Mr. Spice. Mama Sugar made the box for my Baby shower- the cover is a collage of all the cards that were given to my Mom when I was born- so they are over 30 years old! And the Cup with the engraved W (our last name): it was my Grandmother's or Baby Berry's Great Grandma's Silver Baby Cup. I tell ya this is one loved little Berry.

As for where this little lady is going to sleep. On the South wall here's her Argington Bam Bam Bassinet all ready to go. The decal is from Etsy- so cute right? And the blanket and crib skirt are homemade. The bird on the right is for all of her barrettes and hair clips when she gets older.

Here's a side view of the bassinet with bow. The best part of this bassinet and crib combo- we can wheel it any where in our little tiny apartment:

As for the West side of the bedroom, we finally added that second layer and framed our Wedding Ketubah on my side of the bed:

And reframed some Art Work of Mr. Spice's from his early years. We also bought a new ipod alarm clock. I plan to play white noise from my itouch and download baby apps to keep track of Baby Berry:

 

And just a reminder of the east wall, our picture collage, which is almost the same two years later: 

Finally, here's where our bedroom started two years ago:

 

And here it is with the second layer, and a bit of up lighting if I do say so: 

If you are playing BINGO, I think that covers: flowers, a vignette, space for a little one, art, and up lighting! 

What do you think?? Did we make a bedroom/baby room combo work??

Dining Madness

Finally, it's time to show off our dining nook. It's such a small space, but for some reason it has taken me forever to get it all squared away.

Here's what I started with 2 years ago- I think this might have been taken on move in day. A $40 hand me down table and chairs:

And after the great purge of Spring 2011, I sold that table and chairs and moved our desk into the nook:

But for months, we had no chairs. Except for the chair in the back corner- which will make an appearance later.

For our anniversary, Mr. Spice bought me an eco-friendly eucalyptus bench at Cost Plus (romantic, no??). Yet, I couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on one of their cheap feeling seat cushions, so I bought some foam ($20 with a Joann's discount code- foam is expensive, yo) and some fabric at Ikea (which I also used for our couch pillows).

Here she is:

The small pillow is a previous project, I have no idea where I got the fabric or why for that matter. And just so you know, the curtain is also Ikea and from our previous house.

Next, I took some birthday money and splurged ($269) on two recycled metal chairs from Viva Terra (looks like they aren't really on sale any more).

Love these practical metal beauties.

You've already seen this sidewalk beauty revamp:

And to cap it off, I spent another $4 on spray paint and went to town on the one chair we had hiding in the corner. This was my very sad desk chair that I bought in 2003 for Grad School, and what I like to call now- my Color Splash!

I will say that I did not primer this chair, so I/Mr. Spice used an entire can of spray paint on this one chair and it still needs a bit more in some areas.

And before I show off the entire space, here's a look at my 'wedding montage' that I finished a few years ago. If you don't remember (I don't know why you would), I bought and used this frame for our wedding to display the name cards:

Now on display in our kitchen from top to bottom, and left to right: our engagement invite, an engagement pic, our welcome note cards, our RSVP, Wedding Invite, and Save the Date, the ribbon from my wedding bouquet, our signs on our chocolate treats (Save the earth- it's the only planet with chocolate), our rehearsal dinner invite, and a list of all the cupcakes we tasted from Miette).

I love that this one frame holds so many memories.

Ok, without further ado, the whole 6-foot by 4-foot dining nook:

Seating for 6. And yes, we have sat 6 in this small area. I hope to whip up a table runner soon, but really all I am whipping up these days is a baby, so we'll see when that happens.

Overall, we spent just over $400 on all the seating, which isn't so bad, and all of the chairs can (and will be used) in the future when we have a real dining area. Hopefully, we can one day upgrade the table from a desk when we actually have a dining room.

Oh, and since the desk is on wheels, we can easily slide it all in the corner when we aren't using the area:

Until then, do you have a dining nook? Dining room? Eat in Kitchen?

Big Weekend

Hi Lovelies, we had a fabulous weekend. I finished the project I posted on Friday (more on that later), visited my Sister and her Fam at their new house, spent a fabulous Mother's day with my Mom and Dad, and finally pulled the trigger and bought a new couch. Yippeee.

I can't tell you how excited we are. A few months ago we had priced out our ideal custom sectional couch for just about $2,000. It would have been something like this $4,000+ Gus Sectional:

Gorgeous huh?

Well, that 2k and then some went the way of the dodo birds when we got our tax bill. So we've been sitting on the old couch feeling pretty glum. Since we have a whole new financial plan of action going on (also called financial responsibility), we decided to ask our families to contribute to a new couch fund for our b-days - thinking that by August we'd hopefully be able to swing some sort of couch. I was especially being pulled towards the lovely and affordable (~$1,000) Karl at Ikea based on all the Karl-love from Young House Love.

First, just so you know, ideally this sectional would do multiple things- one: be super duper comfy, two: be bigger than our current 87-inch Condo-sized couch, three: be animal friendly, and four: be a sleeper?? Yep, ideally our new couch could function as a bed for our awesome friends and family who need to rest their weary bones. Oh, and four: totally affordable (aka dirt cheap) but still have some quality and design to it. That's not asking much, right??

Well, yesterday we sort of hit the jack pot. After roaming CB2 in the East Bay, our best option seemed like a $1,800 super comfy, sectional lounger. A couch that would have taken us until late summer to purchase. But with a rating of an 8.5 or 9 out of 10 for perfectness from Mr. Spice, we figured that we'd keep it on our radar. Not ready to give up, we wondered across the street to the C&B Outlet.

And holy moly, the same $1,800 super comfy, sectional lounger.

On Sale. 72% off.

What? Yep, for those math majors out there, each piece was $249 buckaroos- I will say that I think this couch was a floor model, so it didn't come in mint condition, but honestly I couldn't really find any stains on it. After discussing our options with some other shoppers (yes, we like to get opinions for all sources), Mr. Spice made the call.

We were getting the couch. Three things led us to this decision: One: it met all of the criteria above; Two: If we didn't like it in our space, I bet you all a million dollars each that we could sell it on Craigslist for at least what we paid for it; Three: If we moved, and it didn't fit into our new space we wouldn't be heart broken about all the money we'd lost. And bonus for me, it's in desperate need of some super comfy throw pillows- did someone say sewing project? Whoot whoot.

So here's a sneak peak of her in all her glory from the CB2 website:

I have to say, that I loved seeing the 4.6/5 rating on the website when I we got home. So for $550 we're getting a low ridin', cafe-colored, 113-inches of loungy-ness couch. Whoot Whoot.

One downfall- the Outlet doesn't deliver. But we knew that when we bought it and figured an extra couple hundred bucks to get it delivered would still be in our budget or some manual labor would do us some good. So we're still working out those logistics, but we hope to have it by Mr. Spice's b-day on Friday and to be tested out by our first overnight visitor on Sat night!!

I would have never thought that we'd get a couch this soon, and I am already dreaming of all that comfy coziness. Actually, with all the money we saved, I am already dreaming of the dining chairs that I want for my birthday!!

Anyone else make some big purchases this weekend?

Style Board: Guest Room #1

For this project, I felt like I rummaged around the Fourty20Four house and rearranged things.

Here's the problem: Last year, Catherine and Micah built a house from the ground up. It's totally impressive and I am beyond jealous!! The good news is- they've been documenting their entire experience of a life time at Fourty20Four blog. The result is AMAZING. The not so good news, they were a bit lost on what to do with their two Guest Rooms. You can see the current state of the rooms right here.

Here's the set up: Catherine and Micah are ginormous travelers and they wanted to have one room to display their travel goods, including Catherine's impressive Babushka collection from her time in Russia. Micah also wanted to make sure the rooms were manly enough to satisfy his taste (no pink pillows for him).

Here's Room #1:

Photo from Fourty20Four Blog.

Here's my plan for Room #1: (1) bring in a big blast of color with a duvet- and make that your jumping off point and paint the wall behind the bed a light bright color to avoid the Seattle doldrums; (2) you need full length curtains to polish up the room- IKEA shears work or a fun striped DIY; (3) I don’t think you need two side tables in a guest room, but you do need at least one substantial one. Would the dresser fit between the bed and the window?? (4) make sure the side table has a lamp (the ones you already have maybe perfect), and a cute clock. Oh, and when guests visit- add some flowers. (5) A must for a great guest room- a $30 Luggage Rack- your guest will love you for this one.

As for what they have: a great wooden dresser and mirror. I'd say paint the mirror a glossy white or fun pop color and put it on the wall opposite the door in the main bedroom to add light to the room. And either paint the dresser white or add cool knobs to modernize it.

#1 Buddha Sunshine: With this room, I wanted to be as bright and cheerful as possible to really block out the Seattle Gray.

CB2 Duvet Set- $129; Urban Outfitters Buddha Lamp, $28;

Urban Outfitters, Pillow Case, $28; DIY Curtains, via Heeled Foot in the Door; Paint- Restoration Hardware- Butter. Side table and mirror- already owned.

#2:Pops of color with basics. This one is similar to the first one, but a bit more sophisticated and a nod to their travels.

West Elm Clock Pictured, $34-69 or Z Gallerie Alarm Clock, $30; Ikea, Curtain, $25

C&B, Hurricane Vases, Sale $11 each; Urban Outfitters Babushka Pillow Set, $28;

Urban Outfitters Woodland Duvet, $78 cheaper option- Ikea Duvet, $50 set; Z Gallerie World Globe, $78; Already owned: Ikea Chair, $99 and wooden dresser.

#3 Babushka Central. I made this one just for Catherine-- a Babushka retreat of sorts.

Folk Patchwork Quilt, $128; Scroll Tapestry, $38; UO Gnome Plate, $20; C&B Outlet, Pillow Cases, $7 each; UO Shelf, $28 Lamp already owned, pictured: Target $25

The Feedback: On the right track, but maybe a bit too feminine. I am so used to Mr. Spice who is a big fan of pink, so I understand if I was a bit out of touch on this one. I also know that I went really young and fun on the above boards, so I took a stab at man-ing them up a bit.

#4 Sunshine redo. Another example of a few small changes making the room feel totally different. By changing the pillow cases, curtain and lamp, it's a whole new feel:

Crate &Barrel, light $49; CB2 Duvet Set- $129; C&B, Sheer Curtains; West Elm Clock, $34-69; Paint- Restoration Hardware- Butter.

#5 Orange and Sophisticated. I up'ed the age of the room by a good 10 years with this one, and even Micah couldn't complain with the balance of masculine and feminine. I added weight to the curtains and duvet to make the room feel more grounded.

Any Gray Pillows will do, these are from CB2, Shaggy, $50. Both CB2 and West Elm have a great selection of gray pillows and comforters. You could also go for a Navy instead of Gray. West Elm, Curtains, $35-47. West Elm Duvet $99 or West Elm Quilt Cover, $97; Storage Trunks. CB2 $50-$70; Wall Color Inspiration. Shown: Yam and Cornbread. Ikea, Curtain, $25; CB2- Wall Hook- $20 perfect for a guest towel or jacket. Potential lamp, CB2, $100

I think the last one was a success. Next time on Style Boards, their second guest bedroom.

Is your house more on the manly side or a bit more girly?

Need some style help yourself- email me at sugarspicelivin@gmail.com, and I promise to do my best in solving your design dilemma!

Oh, and check out my guest post on their blog right now!!!

Subtle Changes in the Living Room

Months ago, I talked about some projects that I was working on. It turns out that it took me awhile to (a) complete them and (b) clean the house up to take pictures of them during the day time.

So without further ado- here are two small changes to the living room.

Here's before:



And here's after:




I finally made it to the mecca that is Ikea and purchased another set of curtains to make the nook area a bit more.... Polished?

I also finally took the plunge and painted our coffee table, but more on that and another project next week.

What do you think?? I'd still love to put an ottoman in front of the two 'nook' chairs, but I haven't found that perfect piece to redo.

Another Sneek Peak

This time into our living room.

What do you think of our Ikea Expedit book shelf? I picked out the book case and Mr. Spice choose the color.


We actually have two, and I love them. They may not be Organic, but they seem pretty well built for Ikea, I can't imagine them not going with a future place we live, and honestly, before we had them, all of our books were on the floor. My parents thought that was pretty pathetic, so they spotted us some cash for Christmas- and voila. A home for our books. {The newspaper basket is from the Container Store and the bottom pillow is also Ikea- the other two pillows are homemade}




Unlike most Ikea purchases, I really do plan on having these for years to come. And thanks to the awesome Bower Power team for helping me figure out how to dress up the top of the shelves.

Can you tell which candle holders are real and which ones are from Goodwill? The lamp is another Ikea purchase from around three years ago. I am amazed that I haven't broken it- yet- knock on wood.

Where do you stash your books?