After a year, much fruitless shopping, purchasing fabric that wouldn’t work, and living with nothing on this window, I have finally put up curtains in our living room. I knew what I wanted for fabric, but just couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. But then Crate and Barrel pulled through with their Marimekko bed linens, and with a giftcard I purchased a king sized duvet cover and turned it into lined floor-length drapes. Total cost: $20 in tax & shipping. Another ten bucks for a curtain rod.

Yesterday we put up the curtains, and I quickly moved on to my next project which was to paint the doors on our console white. We picked up this console which I loved for the shape, but the panel doors had a funky woodgrain pattern that I didn’t like, so I am painting them white for a two-toned look. You’ll see in the picture below that they look a bit greyish right now. That’s because the only primer we had in the house was oil-based which I did NOT want to use, so the first coat of “primer” is actually a coat of gray paint for our dining room & living room using Behr’s paint & primer all in one. Tonight I’ll coat this layer of light gray paint with a crisp white layer (Behr’s “Polar Bear” in flat), and we should be ready to go.

Can I also take a minute to say that Matt splurged on some Purdy paintbrushes and OHMYWORD they are to die for. I am never going back. In fact, I think I’ll go around the house and touch up all my sloppy painting with my new Purdy paintbrush and its crisp edge. You know, when all of our other projects are done.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Do you like how I didn’t even try to clean up the surface of the console before posting a picture? Mismatched photo frames, library books, and a bloomless orchid. That’s how we roll.

I have a big beautiful antique mirror from my Grammie to hang over our piano on the other side of the room. My debate now is whether or not to repaint the chipped frame which is currently painted gold. I’m wondering if I should keep it gold or go with some bright yellow to modernize it a bit and balance out the yellow curtains. I’ll post a picture eventually and get your vote.

Speaking of votes… don’t forget to vote tomorrow.

Last week I got an Ergo in the mail as an early birthday present from my mom. This brings my baby wearing gear up to two ring slings, a Bjorn and and Ergo with glorious intentions of making myself a mei tai. I love having so many options because there really are times when one works better than the other, and I can’t help but love them all.

My oldest sister introduced me to babywearing as she also introduced me to the world of midwifery, doulas, and cloth diapering. I give her all the credit in the world for Penny’s good-lookin, rash-free bum, and for her happiness at being worn regularly (you already know that I adore midwives & doulas). I jumped into babywearing thinking it would be very convenient to have my hands free during the many tasks I take on in the course of a day. But I have come out on the other side seeing just how happy Penny is while being worn.

I read somewhere that babies who are worn spend many hours of the day in “contented calm,” and I really believe that’s true. As long as I have her positioned comfortably in whatever carrier I’m currently wearing, she is happy to watch me load and unload the dishwasher, shop at the grocery store, and change the sheets. She regularly naps for long periods while being worn when I take Berlin out for a walk. And my fear that she would never want to be put down just hasn’t come true. She happily plays in her exersaucer for up to a half an hour at a pop.

One thing that I’ve found interesting is just because a kid likes being worn doesn’t necessarily mean they want to be held all the time. They can definitely tell a difference. Penny is at a stage where she doesn’t want to be passed from person to person all the time – she wants to flop on her back or belly and squirm a bit instead of being restricted. But she almost always enjoys being worn. So when I’m craving some snuggle time, I often get better results by wearing her than by holding her in my arms.

Yesterday we took a nice long hike in the woods, and Matt wore Penny in the Ergo while I walked Berlin on the leash. Or rather, Berlin walked me. After 2 hours of walking approximately five miles, Matt had absolutely no soreness from wearing Pen – a testament to just how comfortable that Ergo really is.

The foliage was stunning.

From Daily Daguerreotype

And our nugget napped for the first hour.

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While being “contented calm” the rest of the time.

From Daily Daguerreotype

The whole hike we couldn’t stop talking about how much fun it will be to wear her all around when we go on our family cruise in February!

So babywearers… what are your favorite carriers?

The first thing I wanted to do when moving into this house was remove the awful awning above our front door and paint said door red. Here’s what it looked like:

From Daily Daguerreotype

Ick. Uck. Nasty. What were they thinking, right?

Despite much nagging over the past year, my dear husband (understandably) was not eager to remove the awning because there were much more pressing issues (bathroom floor rotting out, a kitchen ripped down to the studs, broken AC). Plus he was nervous about what damage and/or staining there might be to the brick under the awful awning.

Yesterday we found ourselves hanging out with our neighbors outside and decided we were finally motivated to take it down. With the help of our friend across the street, Matt took down the awning to find no damage and no staining! All we were left with was a much more inviting front door flanked by two ugly old lamps. So after I begged for one more quick project, we hopped in the car to pick up new lights at Home Depot and home to install them just before dusk.

Here’s the new entryway with new lamps:

From Daily Daguerreotype

I really need to take a photo this evening when the sun sets because this photo doesn’t do the lights justice and really they are too cute for words when they’re turned on at night. It makes the house look like a tiny little cottage where tiny little turtles live. How very fitting.

Of course now I’m interested in replacing our house numbers with something a bit more visible from the road and install a new storm door. I also need to decide on a color for the front door & door frame. I’m no longer interested in painting it red, and while Matt wants to paint it black, I just don’t know. I am feeling something a bit more creative and inviting – perhaps a tasteful turquoise blue? Or maybe yellow? What about green? Or is that too Christmasy? CHRISTMAS!!!!

So what color would you paint this door?

We’re still recovering from the excitement of having family here all last week, and I just have so little to say. (As an aside, I’m considering a rather substantial blogging hiatus. Sharing has become tedious, and I’m tempted to become reclusive and make other people do the work to know me for a change.) I have a million and one things I need to do, so here is a picture of my not-so-tiny-anymore turtle playing in the exersaucer that used to be her cousins’. She totally digs it.

Life before her was totally unnecessary.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Over the past few weeks we have been diligently working in our breakfast nook and have made significant progress. Matt finished installing crown moulding and building the door trim, baseboard, and corner bench (which opens for storage!), which we then caulked, primed and painted. We still have a bit of touching up to do on the paint, and the whole process has made it such that we will need to completely repaint the floor. But that’s how renovations work. Project begets project.

Here’s what it looks like today:

From Daily Daguerreotype

My mom and dad come into town tomorrow, so I’m excited to capitalize on my mom’s sewing expertise to create box cushions for the bench. I’m hoping to find a gray and white (or will settle for blue and white) ticking to use.

About a year ago we bought this print from Hatch Show Print to hang on the wall. It’s an odd size, so I need to hunt around online for the appropriately sized frame.

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I have high hopes of painting all the doors in our house black, including that door to the basement pictured above. Then when Matt finishes the window trim, I’ll put up cafe curtains that I’m going to make from this Anna Maria Horner fabric I picked up a while ago.

I love seeing that which I envisioned a year ago finally coming to fruition. And I so adore my husband for making it all happen.

Penny and I are off to shop for fabric, so I figured I oughtta dress her up all smart-like in her adorable Uff Da dress. Emily makes these adorable dresses as well as bibs, hair clips and hats which are all for sale in her Etsy shop. Buyer beware: you are going to want everything in that shop.

From Daily Daguerreotype

Guess I should have thought ahead and put her in a green or blue diaper. My bad.