Chronicles of a bathroom napper

For the two people reading this who don't follow me on Instagram (hi mom and dad!), I thought I'd put together a post of all of Isla's bathroom naps. She absolutely refuses to nap in her crib anymore (I've tried cry it out so many times, but after an hour usually give up), but will pass out on the hard tile and sleep for well over an hour. Naturally. That's basically par for the course with this kid, but alas I wouldn't have it any other way. 

You have a toilet...in your kitchen

I know I haven't finished a full house your yet, but let's just dive into a little bit of what's going on around here.

it helps to have really strong friends- thanks, Jon!! 

subfloor, baby! 

This is the little mudroom off our kitchen that we're turning into a bathroom. Sam has spent a fair amount of time plumbing it, and we've already purchased the toilet and vanity, but before anything could be done, that floor had to go. Now don't go all Nicole Curtis on me and scold me for ripping it out. It was NOT original and was so ugly, scratched and impossible to keep clean thanks to the huge gaps between the planks. There are certain areas of the house where it just feels necessary to have brand new, and for me the bathroom is one of those places. Anyway, we're replacing it with a carrera marble subway tile laid in a herringbone pattern. I am so beyond excited. All of my carrera marble dreams are finally coming true!! Honestly, I still can't even believe I talked Sam into it. That excitement has since faded. This is what I've been living with for the last week:

As you can see, at least someone in the house is enjoying it. Preparing meals has been challenging to say the least since my already limited counter space is now completely taken over by tools. Luckily it won't be forever. In the meantime, I can't get this image I pinned a few days ago out of my head:

{via}

That tortoise mirror. Sigh. I never would've combined it with the gray vanity, but am pretty obsessed with the look. Now I am determined to find something similar. Please come through for me internets!  

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Front porch

Sorry for the delay in getting this together. We've had 2 nice days (which makes a total of 3 since Thanksgiving), and I wanted to take advantage and spend as much time outside as possible. We threw snowballs, took a long walk and I chipped away at the 2 inches of ice covering our sidewalk. Sigh. Now my stroller is completely trashed, but the fresh air felt amazing and I'm one step closer to Madonna arms ;) So, basically #sorrynotsorry

Let's pick up where we left off. Immediately when you walk in the front door is
the porch. Once we're finished with it, I think it'll be my favorite room in the house. It gets tons of sunlight, unlike the rest of the first floor, and is really bright and cheery. Plus the trim is white (well, technically cream) unlike the rest of the first floor, but that's another post for another day. It has an amazing beadboard ceiling and tons of windows. Let's get to the pictures:

So, things we want to do in this room: 

/ / Replace the ugly tile with something like this (hopefully in a herringbone pattern)

/ / Paint the ceiling pale blue (something I've dreamed of since we got married at Pierre's)

/ / Paint cream trim white

/ / Hang curtains

/ / Hang art 

/ / New furniture (white couch will stay, but everything else is fair game. Ideally, I'd love a couple fan chairs and to create a living room zone and a bar cart area)

/ / Install baseboard heat so we can use it year round

/ / Install a second ceiling fan 

Wow, that sounds like a lot when I type it out like that. So what have I done in there? Ummm, I painted!

left to right: Revere Pewter and Edgecomb Gray (both Benjamin Moore)

 the winner! (Revere Pewter)

Painting stucco was definitely a challenge, but overall I think it makes a pretty big difference and helps the trim to stand out a lot more. Sorry I didn't get any good "afters." I finished the painting just before it started to get really cold, so fingers crossed in a month or less I'll be able to clean it out and get some better pictures. 

I'll leave you with some images I've pinned that are serving as major inspiration for the space: 

Think spring!! Happy Wednesday all! 

Is this a test?

It never fails that when we are in major don't-spend-a-penny-on-anything-unless-it's-completely-necessary mode, I get approximately 700 emails about super crazy sales. And you know I love a good sale. Even though I won't be purchasing anything (are you listening, Sam??) I thought I'd pass them along in case you just got your tax return and would like to do your part to stimulate the economy.

Jcrew and CWonder / / additional 50% off sale. I want to invite this pillow to come live with me. Love the green and orange. And can you ever have too many pillows?! No. The answer is no.

Janie and Jack / / extra 20% off sale. When I first saw this top in the store, I gasped. Dramatic, I know, but it is really, really cute in person and screams summer. And this, come on. Is there anything to say? Someone, please, just buy it.

Tory Burch / / extra 25% off sale. Definitely on the pricier side, but a lot of great deals on "investment pieces." I also love this iPhone case with the iconic Reva flats, and how chic is this desk calendar?

Pottery Barn and PB kids / /  tons of stuff on sale for President's day. I have a love affair with navy (thus the name of this blog) and can think of at least a dozen places to put this vase in my house.

Serena and Lily / / free shipping on all orders. I've wanted these for so long, but already have way too many glasses. The gold is really pretty though, so someone snag them before they're gone! Isla's Hanna Andersson jammies are my absolute favorite not only because of the cute prints, but after dozens of washes they look the same as they did the day we bought them. These are absolutely adorable and a great deal!

West Elm / / 15% off sale plus free shipping. I helped a friend decorate his living room and we got this throw to drape over the couch. It is incredibly soft and a great price! I love cuddling up on the couch with a soft throw, and let's be honest, there's still a lot of winter left. These towels would spruce up any powder room or bathroom. I'm pretty sure they're the same ones John and Sherry used in their guest bathroom mini-makeover.

Williams Sonoma / / free shipping on all orders today. I want to get Isla a play kitchen for her birthday this year and this apron would look adorable hung from a hook on the side of it. Everything mini is so so cute!

Osh Kosh B'Gosh / / extra 25% off orders of $50. I love their overalls (so classic) but they have tons of cute pieces. And they're cheap, people. How adorable is this? And I told you- so affordable.

Are there any other sales out there I haven't heard about? Not that I'll be buying, but it's always fun to look. Happy shopping and happy President's day!

hearts hearts everywhere!

Happy Valentine's Day! Admittedly, it isn't one of my favorite holidays. We usually keep it pretty low key with a card and a nice dinner out, although last year to avoid the crowds  we had a late lunch/early dinner at Tavern on France (very chain type of joint, so nothing fancy at all). Since we got hit with a crazy expensive energy bill a few weeks ago, looks like it'll be another casual Valentine's Day for us. Probably pizza and wine (3 buck chuck holla!). 

I do, however, find holidays are way more fun with Isla. I want to do more, to actually celebrate. Over the course of the last month or so, I've snagged little things here and there to add to her V-day box. It all started with this pink box from Target. I mean, it's pink with gold stripes on the side. I can't even. It's so cute, I find myself wondering how I can somehow display it in her room.

pouf 

I kept it super simple with some 50 cent crayons (thank you once again Cartwheel app), Play-Doh, some sale Target flats, and a couple clearance shirts from CrewCuts. Here  is the pink one, but I couldn't find the other online. We are really lucky to have an amazing Jcrew at the Mall of America, with a sale room the size of most stores. I've found so many crazy deals there; definitely cheaper than ordering online. I snagged both shirts for about $7 each thanks to an additional 50% off sale items and no state sales tax. Have I mentioned before that nearly everything in our house (furniture, decor, clothing, etc) was purchased at least 50% off? It's kind of an addition. Anyway, as much as I love the Crewcuts stuff, there's no way I'm spending $30-40 on a shirt that will be covered in Nutella, strawberries and dog fur within 2.3 seconds of putting it on. When they come down to Target prices though, I can't resist, because the styles are really adorable.

I let Isla open everything before getting dressed in hopes that it would make that process easier (it didn't; it's a daily struggle). She was pretty excited about the Play-Doh until she tried to jam it in her mouth, and I yelled at her to stop. Then she shoved it in my face and said "mama Play-doh." At least the crayons are a hit. 

What do you do to celebrate? Any Valentine traditions? Or are you like us and barely remember the card? Either way, I hope you have a great day filled with the ones you LOVE! 

It's a jungle out there

When we bought this house, it had been on the market over 2 years. Two years of weeds not being pulled, leaves not being raked, etc. It did not look cared for. No fresh mulch anywhere, which is apparently in my mind what a cared for lawn looks like. There were pots hidden in the back of the house by the garage, some filled with soil that had accumulated lots of rainwater without draining properly. Those smell really awesome. There were the contents of someone's purse strewn across the yard. Not exactly what you want to see when you're considering making such a huge purchase. That made us feel a little iffy about our safety living on such a busy street, one of St. Paul's main drags. Every time we walked through the house, which was A LOT (special thanks to our realtor's assistant, Allison, who walked us through once at around 8pm) we found more garbage in the backyard. We hoped it was squirrels dragging things from the dumpster next door. Sometimes we still feel a little less safe than we would be in the 'burbs, but I guess that's life in the city. And that's definitely what we wanted, for the immediate future anyway. Enough talk, let's get to the pictures.

front of house

dead bush. wop wop

side yard. eek! 

first things first, put up a flag. Isla approves.

We haven't done much to the front of the house since this was taken right after we moved. Sam did start to build window boxes for the two sets of windows to the right of the front door, but summer got in the way. When you live in a state where it's nice approximately 3 months a year, you don't really want to spend much time in a dark garage. We plan to finish those this spring (fingers crossed for no snow in May this year!!) and get them up so we (I) can fill them with colorful annuals in the summer and evergreens and branches in the winter. Those big ugly bushes have got to go, and we'd like to replace them with boxwoods. That's probably going to be one of those easier-said-tan-done tasks, as I assume the roots of the bushes are pretty deep. I'd also like to paint or stain the arbor, depending what we decide for an exterior paint color. That's right, new paint job. Cha-ching. The white with green might look ok in pictures, but in person it's pretty drab. I'm a sucker for gray/tan houses with crisp, white trim and think fresh paint will make the biggest difference. It's not cheap, and at this point not something we are interested in tackling ourselves so in the meantime, I pin, and pin, and pin gorgeous gray houses with white trim. 

Here's our fall set up, looking a little better without the the storm door. I totally get the practicality, but  just prefer the look of this better. I also want to mention that I wanted to buy approximately 37 more pumpkins, but Sam cut me off. Next year...

Now for the backyard, aka the jungle:

see that tiny bit of white? that's the garage

thanks for the fake ficus, previous home owner

Luckily, a few weeks after we moved, my parents were in town for Isla's first birthday party (I don't recommend moving and then throwing a 1st birthday party, by the way). They flip houses on the side and helped us a TON with our old house in Iowa, so we knew we could count on them. 

weeds, but OMG GREEN grass!

looking a little better 

bare, but less weedy

fresh MULCH!!!

side of the house

Our backyard isn't huge like our old house in Iowa, but I think once we fence it in (one of the first projects we'll be tackling this spring) it'll feel a lot more functional. The key seems to be setting up little zones. Our backyard in Iowa was 1/3 acre, but we only ever used the small spaces we set up with seating. Eventually we want to build a pergola off the back of the house between the two small dining room windows, where that ugly tall tree is in the picture below:

I can already picture myself drinking a Blue Moon out there. Ahh. That might not happen this summer, but I think it'll be worth the wait. I'm imagining something like this http://jacqulynnsplace.tumblr.com/post/51492986633. Back by the garages, I'd like a little garden. Nothing huge, but enough space for green beans, tomatoes and green peppers. Sam recently mentioned residing the garage with cedar shakes, and I am 150% on board. I plan to paint the garage door a fun color because I love a bold front door. I really liked the color of old door in Iowa (Sea Glass by Martha Stewart) and how it gave a little life to that little tan ranch, so I think painting a door we use multiple times a day will make me so so so happy. I'm currently on the hunt for something that will complement the existing siding. 

Lastly in the backyard, we want to remove the ugly tree on the right by the little back porch and the one I mentioned before between the dining room windows. I'm looking at you, arborvitae. Your days are numbered. 

Whew! That was a lot of pictures. Thanks for sticking with me! We have so much we want to do out there, and although time-consuming and labor intensive, nothing sounds better right now. Is anyone else dying to dig in and get their hands dirty? It's 27 today, so I guess that's a start. 

obligatory Isla shot from her 1st birthday

Interiors next! Happy Thursday, friends! 

To blog or not to blog...

After years of talk, I am finally doing it! This cold, cold Minnesota winter (and with it days of not leaving the house…at all) have driven me to it. Silver lining of the Polar Vortex?! The dry skin and extra 5 pounds sure aren't. Truthfully, I'm completely obsessed with reading blogs and have always wanted one of my own. They're a great place to get inspired, and I really love a little sneak peak into other people's lives. I mean, that's why we love Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, right?? As much as I love being a stay at home mom, I also need a creative outlet. A space all my own. I love--some may say obsess over-- interior design, but my toddler doesn't get very excited about looking at fabric, pillows, and paint colors. Hopefully soon though! Wishful thinking? Maybe. I choose to believe she'll be saying things like, "I love the texture that basket brings to the room" in a few short years though. We're currently working on "baseboard" and "crown moulding." 

This is my space to share the process of decorating and renovating our 1912 American foursquare in the heart of St. Paul, Minnesota. We have lots of big projects planned mixed in with smaller, less expensive ones (we're not made of money here), and I can't wait to share the process. Of course, there will also be a little Isla. What can I say? I'm kind of obsessed with the girl. Thanks for stopping by! Next up: house tour. Get excited!