Hydrangea's straight from our garden!

I love fresh flowers around the house so much that the house feels bare or unfinished if we don't have any! That's why I love picking flowers from our garden! We also have at least one Orchid blooming in our home at a time! Sometimes more. Orchids are great because the blooms can last for up to three months! And if the plant is taken care of properly it will bloom yearly and twice a year if you are really lucky or if you take extra good care of it! Today I woke up and sadly all the flowers had fallen off my most recent white orchid. So I went out to the garden and picked these beautiful hydrengeas ! My husband always makes fun of me and says: " Everytime you get new flowers you take pictures of the house"! I guess he's right! Haha

How to create a dream nursery on a budget ! Todays topic: The Crib

When we became pregnant with baby number two  we started saving as much money as we could. I knew I would want to take as long of a maternity leave as possible and possibly (if we could save enough) would not return to my dream job for my ultimate dream job as stay at home mommy! We gave up cable, cut back our grocery bill, stopped eating out (including coffee runs) and more! I'll have to blog about all those details at another time. But I am proud and happy to report that all the budgeting and hard work payed off and I was able to decide to stay home! I realize how fortunate I am and try to not take one day for granted!  I loved creating my son's nursery (see pictures of his baby blue nursery here!) and when we found out our second baby was a girl , my dreams of the perfect baby girl nursery seemed so distraught from our savings plans. As much as I wanted the perfect nursery I did not want to have to sacrifice time with her. I could not register for nursery items like I could with my son since my family's tradition is to only have one shower for your first child. So I was on a mission to create the perfect nursery as cost efficient as possible. I started with an dream inspiration board and piece by piece I found similar or budget friendly options. Here was my dream inspiration board with dream nursery items:

And here is what the finished budget friendly room when finished looked like:

For more pictures of her completed nursery CLICK HERE for the Nursery Reveal Post!

I am so happy with the result. Not only did the nursery truly become my dream baby girl nursery but I had so much fun with the DIY projects with my Dad , my husband and sister as well as shopping for deals with my mother. Many of the items in her room have become so much more sentimental and I'm sure will be passed down generation to generation! The next few blog posts I will be sharing with you, how I created my dream baby girl nursery for a little over $1,000 ! Today's post is regarding one of the most important pieces in a nursery! THE CRIB!

I fell in love with a few cribs that were all over 1,000 dollars. My favorite seen in my inspiration board above is the Adele Crib from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child .

Isn't it beautiful!!!! At the time the crib was $1099 not including shipping. It's currently on sale for $879 so if it's in your budget I say go for it !! Because it is simply gorgeous!! Besides the price, This crib like many others I loved were an aged white finish which I feared would not match my other furniture pieces in the room. This crib was so elegant and beautiful I was tempted to splurge. But when I asked myself if I loved the crib more than time with my baby of course the answer was no!  And as just mentioned, as pretty as the other  (more expensive) cribs were they were not the perfect shade of white (I'm particular and a little nutty about my shades of colors) and after spending that much I would have had to still paint them! So I found a much more affordable option with a traditional silhouette , the perfect shade of white and the perfect price!

And ............You will never guess how much I spent on her crib! Factions of the cost of those originally cribs I loved! I found her crib from Wall-mart online. Its the Savannah crib in white! 

It's fisher price brand named Savannah in white. We spent $169.00!!! Can you believe it !?!?!? I was skeptical at first because the price was so affordable. But I took the risk and we couldn't be happier. The only negative was at first the crib arrived with a crack on one of the main sides but luckily we ordered the crib early in the pregnancy and the they sent us out a replacement piece right away that arrived  before she was born.  We couldn't be happier with the result and the price! Its traditional, feminine, and the perfect color white! It has an antique feel but being new it would have has passed current safety regulations. Most of the furniture in her room is antique or used furniture, however I would not recommend buying a used crib and definitely not an antique crib! Safety regulations are constantly changing! I would not want to sacrifice my baby's safety for design!

The only issue we had with the crib is it arrived with one of the side panels cracked. But we contacted the company and they sent us a replacement piece right away.

 Heres what the crib looked like before the crib bedding  arrived.

And here is what the crib looks like finished! 

Stay tuned for more posts about how I saved money on her custom crib bedding, curtains, furniture and more!

- Kelly

For more pictures of her Nursery click here ! 

-Kelly

Our Romantic and Peaceful Masterbedroom (Originally posted July 6, 2012)

For TBT I decided to Re-post our Master Bedroom Reveal originally posted July 6, 2012. After 2 years this room is still one of my favorite rooms in our house. Originally I created the room as a sanctuary for my husband and myself .... however our babies spend a lot of time cuddled up in our bed! Every morning both children come into our bed around 5 am and fall back asleep. I usually wake up with my three year old son a husband on one side of me and my baby girl on the other and think:"how did I get so lucky"! Here is the original post followed by updated pictures of my babies sleeping in the bed! :

July 6, 2012--- I finally got around to finishing our master bedroom after living in our house for five years!!!! I wanted something peaceful and romantic for my husband and I to relax in after a long and stressful day. I also used the space to put a lot of our wedding memories ; pictures, wedding shoes, wedding album and champagne glasses etc. And kept pictures of the baby out of the room (because they are all around the entire house anyway). I also found a beautiful glass jewelry display case (see left and below) from pottery barn. I am able to store my beautiful jewelry and especially the pearl necklace and pearl bracelet that I wore on our wedding day. I don't wear my pearls every day but now I can look at them everyday!  Finally, I used a caricature picture of us and placed it in a beautiful bone inlay frame from serena and lily, it was taken during my best friends wedding and has sentimental memory but also it helps to take some of the seriousness and formalness out of the room. The room may be fancy but we don't always take ourselves so seriously.

Above: glass jewelry case from pottery barn to display my wedding pearls . Accents from Home Goods. Bone inlay box to keep cards and love notes from my husband.  Beautiful decor tray to make breakfast in bed :) And large gallery wrap canvas picture from mpix.com

Large funiture pieces from Ikea except for bench which is from serena lily and headboard from target. 

Small version of the the glass jewerly display for my wedding rings at night and bracelets. 

Caricature in bone inlay frame from serena and lily 

canvas picture from mpix.com

lamp shade from pottery barn, lamp from homegoods

all bedding and pillows are from serena and lily except for bed sheet which is from target

Here are a few updated family pictures in our room! So many memories!!! 

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/tutorials/tutorials-tips-link-party-103.html

New caitlin Wilson pillow!

I'm addicted to throw pillows! Can't get enough! I have always loved caitlin Wilson and always wanted one of her pillows ! Today I received this beautiful package in the mail! He gold fleur pillow! If you aren't familiar with Caitlin Wilson textiles you should check her out! Her colorful patterns are like no other!! 

Everything is slowly coming together! 

New Dash and Albert rugs and pillow arrived!

Bleachable , scrubable hopefully child proof rugs arrived from dash and albert and they are beautiful! I ordered them yesterday and they arrived TODAY!!!