Pregnancy Week: Room Plan

It’s day two of Pregnancy Week here on Our Dream Foreclosure and today’s topic – the baby room plan! Yesterday, I discussed my birth plan and may have shared a bit too much… heehee.

The most popular post in our blog’s little history is on Kenton’s nursery…

The plan all along was to make that room gender neutral and use it for both of our babies. I can’t believe it’s actually time to move Kenton out and make way for his little brother or sister!

Kenton – about three months old

Kenton – 15 months old

He has very few days left in this room…

But he’s taking the crib along with him to… his “big boy” room!

Well, we’re calling it Kenton’s big boy room, but it’s really going to look like another nursery – a boy’s nursery – for a while.

More on that in a minute, back to where the new baby will sleep.

Note: we later swapped out the rocker/ottoman – pic at the top of this post is accurate.

Baby will go in the nursery and the only major change we’re making is a crib swap.  Since Kenton is taking his crib with him, baby needs a new crib – which we’ve already purchased.

We decided not to get the same crib we got for Kenton and go for a cheaper, Ikea crib for the baby. Why? Because we care less about our second child.

Ha! Obviously, that’s not true. Kenton is very active – jumping in his crib and basically beating the thing up. The baby will be a blob for about three months, then just roll around for another three. Finally, around six months he/she will be sitting up and a couple months after that will start to pull up to stand. Basically, we figure we have at least six months with the “cheap” crib before Kenton may be ready for a toddler bed and the baby gets the sturdier crib in time for shenanigans like standing and jumping. That’s the thought anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, it was far less painful to spend $99 than $300 – plus we still had to buy a $169 mattress. Kids are expensive!

Other than the crib, we’ll only make minor changes – like swapping out the K’s and other items with Kenton’s name. And, of course, we’ll have my mom add a bird to the wire!

The closet will have to be cleared of 24mos clothing and newborn selections will be put back (I kept them all!).

We’ll also add a portrait of the new baby to this wall, once we have a chance to take one.

My initial thought is that I’ll move Kenton’s portrait up higher and put the new one below it – but we’ll see how it comes together.

But that’s it… otherwise this room is ready to go!

It’s the room next store we’re working hard on. That’s where Kenton is moving. Here’s a look at how the upstairs rooms are organized from my depressing Upstairs to do list post:

The most challenging part of this room shuffle was taking all of my sewing/craft crap that had been in Kenton’s new room and moving it into the study – into a merged space – Half office/half craft room. That part is coming together nicely, actually – but that’s for another post!

Kenton’s room is coming along… but is not ready to be revealed. It’s going to be a “Big Boy Bike Room” – with inspiration from Le Tour de France. This photo is my primary inspiration.

It was taken in Annecy, France while we were there following Le Tour. I love the different Tour jerseys criss-crossing the quintessential European street. I have those colors/patterns and I’ll be making some bunting to mimic this and using those colors as accents in the space.

We actually have a yellow jersey signed by the 2009 tour winner, Alberto Contador, that we will display in there.

There’s Jason with the jersey just after we scored the autograph. That was such a fun day!

The Olympic rings will finally move from their temporary spot in the playroom into Kenton’s room:

We’ll also be putting up bookshelves on one side and using a little Ikea tent as a reading cave.

Our goal is to make it look more like the flamme rouge you see with one KM left in a bike race than a circus tent (don’t know cycling lingo? Google it or come back later to see the Ikea hack!).

So, that’s the plan. We’re almost there! I’m excited to show you the new room. Kenton would like to show you his bellybutton, if he could figure out buttons…

Meanwhile, I’m soaking in every second with my firstborn as my “only”…

Self-portrait in our daily-used, slightly-messy nursery. Only my “baby” for four more weeks! 

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Bike Wheel Olympic Rings

I’ve been excited to share this project with you for MONTHS. No, it hasn’t been done for months, it’s been done for about five minutes. The closing ceremonies are on Sunday, so I kind-of waited until the last minute to actually do this project… but it’s been in my head for months.

Oh gosh, do those wheels make me happy.

As you know, we’ve been working on Kenton’s “big boy” room. It is going to have a cycling theme. So, I’ve been tossing around different ideas using bike parts in the room. I got this idea a while back and Jason initially tried to talk me out of it. Where would I get bike wheels? You’ll have to buy a whole bike (three bikes!) and just use the wheels? This could get expensive, quick. Yikes!

So, imagine my DELIGHT when I stumbled upon these beauties at my local thrift store…

Three bikes. $4.99 each. WHAT?! I know. You know what’s even better? I had a $10 off coupon. So, I got all three bikes for $5. YESITSTRUE. They all happen to be the same brand and size. The gal at the register guessed I was pregnant with triplet girls. I quite enjoyed telling here there was just one baby in my belly and these bikes were about to get stripped for an art project for my son’s room. Yep, she was confused.

I got home and could barely contain my excitement as I showed Jason what I found. He was impressed! You need to understand, Jason is a cyclist. but not only does he ride a bike for exercise and fun – it’s also his main hobby. He loves scouring eBay for deals on bikes and bike parts. Many times, he’s purchased incredible bikes for way below retail, stripped them and re-sold the parts via eBay for a hefty profit. We have an ongoing agreement… I don’t care if he spends $2,000, $3,000 or even $5,000 on a bike if he’s sure he can turn a profit off of it. He always does.

So, I had the right guy on my team to strip these girls down to just what I needed.

bike guts

6th wheel

That, my friends is the 6th wheel. I’m saving her for another fun project in the room – but you can see there the toughest parts to remove (thanks to rusty bolts) – the axel, bearings and cog. Once Jason was able to get those off, there was a ton of grease in that middle hole. We spent a couple of days going through cycles of spraying them down with degreaser, wiping, rinsing, letting them dry – before we felt they were ready for the next step…

The first step, once the wheels are successfully naked from all unnecessary parts, spray them down with primer.

Once they’re dry, which takes no time at all here in Arizona, you’re ready to apply the individual ring colors.

Since the Olympic colors are not colors I’m using anywhere else in this room, I opted for Krylon’s Short Cuts, mini spray paint cans:

Aren’t they cute?

Krylon, by the way, didn’t pay me for this post. I just researched spray paint and thought this product would be best. It worked out well. I had more than enough paint for each wheel. I also shopped around for the best price on these puppies, which I found at Hobby Lobby:

Two of the colors were $3.47 and the other three were $3.27. Not sure why red and yellow were more expensive, but still – that was the best price I found.

So, the obvious next step is to start painting the wheels/rings…

The front/back was easy. The sides, however, were a little tricky. At first, I thought the middle hole would fit over a wine or beer bottle, but they were a little small. So, I jerry-rigged three beer bottles through the spokes to hold the wheels just far enough off the ground that I could spray the entire side in one try.

Bonus – after, you have artsy painted beer bottles (which went straight back into the recycling bin!).

With all sides of the wheels painted…

I let them dry for a few hours. Again, the Arizona summer “dry” heat is fantastic for fast drying. It’s not fantastic for late-term pregnancy, but I digress.

Once they were ready, we did a quick Google image consult to check the proper order… then we simply nailed them to the wall, really close together.

Since Kenton’s big boy room is not ready for these rings yet, they are being temporarily housed in the playroom. Before we move them, we’ll be looking at different methods of hanging. This isn’t necessarily the most secure – especially for a curious little boy! Anyway, here’s what they look like right now in the playroom… so you can see the size….

Yes, that’s my little “Made in the USA” future Olympian down there chasing a ball…

We’re hoping he goes for the gold someday in cycling – but his current obsession with balls may indicate another sport interest. We shall see.

Okay, here’s the budget breakdown for this project:

Bikes = $5 ($4.99 each with a $10 off coupon)

Spray paint primer = Already had

Mini spray paints = $16.75

TOTAL = $21.75

Crazy, right?!

What do you think?! Anybody else do an Olympic-theme DIY project this week?

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Upstairs To Do

Since we gave you a brief look at the upstairs of our home yesterday, today I thought I’d explain a bit about what’s behind each door… and just how much work I have cut out for me before this bambino arrives.

And behind me is our master bedroom.

So, here’s what needs to happen in the next 16 weeks… In order:

Cleaning out an office is no fun. No fun at all. I found bank records from 2003. Our poor shredder is working OT. And books. All the books. We have SO MANY BOOKS. We’re going to need to get creative with that.

The sewing room has always been a “/storage room.” It’s basically holding the entire contents of a baby consignment store at the moment. Of course, I can’t get rid of anything because the child in my belly may have outdoor plumbing like his/her big brother – so, therefore, everything is currently being hoarded.

Kenton’s “big boy” room, by the way, is going to be AMAZING. In my head, if nowhere else. I have big plans… but you’ll have to wait for that. (Unless you follow me on Pinterest, then you already know.)

One of my favorite things about our nursery is that it is gender neutral. We basically just have to move out Kenton’s clothes and it’s ready for his new baby brother or sister.

So, that’s “it.” That’s all I have to do – me and my rotund belly (with the hubby’s help of course) – between now and October. Wish us luck! It’s basically completely overwhelming.

Oh, there is one more room… the bathroom.

This is our third bathroom and we’ve never used it. NEVER. It needs to be completely gutted. The shower is pulling away from the wall. The linoleum is pulling away from the wall – and it’s linoleum. The toilet is old. The mirror/vanity are outdated.

Eventually, this will be the kid’s bathroom and we will likely tackle that monster of a project this fall/winter.

Kenton takes his baths in our master bathroom, which has a fun big tub. Also, potty training is still a ways off – so, this room has not been a huge priority.

So, who wants to come over and help?! Don’t all storm down my door at once.

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