My Day Off

Say whaaaa?

Why, yes! I enjoyed a lovely day all to myself on Monday while Craig was at work and the kids were at the sitters. (Yep. You heard that right. I'll update on our home/family situation soon.) I was covered at work (my boss's suggestion) in the anticipation that I might want an extra "recovery day" and I was using paid sick time for it. Yeah!

I had great plans of making LOTS of progress on my photo albums and taking long naps over the weekend, but I didn't really do either of those things. Instead, because I was feeling so well, I decided to run a bunch of errands that I never otherwise have time for.

Sophie's room makeover has been at the forefront of my mind lately and my decorating radar has been on high as I scour various magazines and blogs for inexpensive ways to add unique detail. Thankfully, the whole nature-y/bird theme is all over the place these days and there are a lot of options. When I first started hunting for a bird cage months ago, they were hard to come by and way overpriced. But now they're everywhere. Check out this huge one from T.J. Maxx for just $24.99!

I actually already have a bird cage (remember from Hobby Lobby for $15?) that's a little smaller and I love it. So today's shopping trip was for other items: a 5x7 frame to showcase this print I just purchased from Etsy (I requested a 5x7 instead and the seller lowered the price to $10), a full bed skirt, a lamp (I had a very specific idea of what I wanted), paint and any other decor items that might add a little flair.

We also recently ordered and received this window panel from PBK with must-have blackout liner and got a simple nickel rod and holdback from Walmart for cheap. I have always avoided showing pictures of the ghetto blanket we used to hang over her window to block the light during nap time. I don't know why we put it off so long, but finally we got an actual curtain. My parents gave Sophie some money at Christmas specifically for it. :)

I hit up T.J. Maxx, Target, Home Depot & Menards (for paint), Bed Bath & Beyond (for the bed skirt) and Hobby Lobby... and was very successful with my finds without breaking the bank! Thanks to the return I got on the kids clothes I just sold at Once Upon a Child, I had very little out of pocket spending. Hooray!

Here are a bunch of pictures of things I liked or bought on my outing.

This pink tray did not come home with me, but I'm keeping it in mind because I think it's super cute (from T.J. Maxx).

This frame is exactly what I was looking for for the print. And for $7.99 and an old store credit still hanging out in my wallet... SOLD! I almost wish that "Grammercy" word wasn't in the center because I love that turquoise print inside and might have considered just leaving it like that. :) I'm very into playing around with frames. I think it's cool when people put scraps of fabric or perhaps a cute gift wrap in a frame and add it to a wall of other vintage looking frames. I have another 8x10 frame that I'm planning to spray paint a chocolate brown, take out the whole backing and glass panel and just center it around the letter "S" on the wall. The rest of her name letters are coming down.

(This frame: T.J. Maxx)
This lamp base is sorta' like what I had in mind, but I don't like the square, chrome base and shade's too big. Plus, I was picturing more spherical shaped crystal balls in graduating sizes up the stem. (Lamp: T.J. Maxx)

This one's super cute but not the color I'm looking for. Maybe for my bedroom or dining room someday though?

Next stop: Target!

Craig and I have been talking seriously about painting our bedroom gray... eventually. And like you, Amanda, I am in love with mustard and aqua/turquoise accent colors. Isn't this pillow cute? Some day... maybe next winter? The summer is going to be filled with outdoor projects (the garden, residing the house, etc.) and I've vowed not to do home projects in the fall when there are just too many fun fall activities to do.

Aha! Jackpot!!! Exactly the lamp base I was looking for! They had one even bigger than these, but I bought the $29.99 one. There wasn't much in the way of shades and I was kind of thinking pink and perhaps slightly frilly, but I found a plain white one that looked okay and I went with that. It was $12.99 and I had it setting ON the base at check out and realized after leaving that the clerk only rung up the base. Oops - her bad. So if I decide to look for a pink shade, I'm not out anything. :)

While at Target, I also picked up some party supplies on clearance for Sophie's birthday party! I have been putting that off way too long because I'm not looking forward to spending lots of money on a party. But I've just made up my mind to keep it simple and stick to a small budget. I found invitations for about $3, two packages of cute napkins for 50 cents each, and two sizes of plates - dinner size for $1 and dessert size for 50 cents. Score! I have some inexpensive decorating ideas too and we're going to have an easy, crowd-pleaser meal. Easy peasy. And it's a relief to finally start formulating a plan.

Oh, and p.s. - I didn't even walk through the little girls clothing section... way too tempting. ;)

Next stop: Home Depot. Craig absolutely insists on Dutch Boy paint from Menards specifically because of their easy pour containers. But their color options are pretty dull. So I found new color samples (different from the ones I showed you last time because I'm not doing a chair rail style - instead it's going to be two walls each of two different colors) of the Behr brand at Home Depot and later took them to Menards to have them color match them with the Dutch Boy brand. Bonus: there was a nice rebate being offered for the kind with primer and paint combined, so I got paint for the play room too.

Following Home Depot, I picked up a pretty, white, eyelet, bed skirt for the full bed that will eventually be Sophie's big girl bed as well as some pillows (the cheapest they had).

Moving on, Hobby Lobby was right next door. That store is just overwhelming! I never feel like I have enough time to really scour there. So I just breezed through in search of a few specific items. This was not one of them, but I loved it. :)

It's small and elegant and, for $4.99, I thought it would look pretty sitting beside the frame on her mirrored dresser (the current changing table).

I wanted a sprig of tiny, pink buds to stick in with the branchy stems in her vase. (I had the branches set out for decoration at her first birthday party.) I think I like this, but I'm still mulling it over. Seriously, I've rearranged the tops of her dressers at least 10 times. And I think I'm finally happy with it.

Her bedding is still waiting in the wings up in her closet. Left to right: quilt (that's the underside of the quilt), sheet set, bed skirt, pillow sham. And below that is the smaller decorative pillow with her initial on it. (It's the Brooke bedding from PBK and I've had it for an embarrassingly long time.)

Here's one of the pillow shams. And that's her new curtain panel to the left.

So besides an oil change in the morning and a little blogging over lunch... that was my day. It was all about SOPHIA! But it was so fun and I felt very productive. Now I'm getting ready to repair some spots on her walls and get to painting!

Oh, and since rearranging the furniture (she's still going to be in her crib for awhile I think), there is just no good place for the glider. Where else but a corner do those things fit??? So it's kind of awkwardly along one open wall. But we always read books in that chair and Sophie and I have gotten into a really soothing (for both of us!) ritual of rocking before bed and there's no way I'm giving that up sooner than I have to. So the glider is going to remain awkwardly in there. :)