The Goodbye Tour: Anna's Room

I have photos from a few more rooms of the old house still sitting in my blog drafts (just for a mere 6 months since our move...) so I want to finish up the "good-bye tour" before it's ancient history!

(If you're just joining us, this blog was originally the renovation diary of our 1890s era house in Ithaca, NY that had seen some better days!  We moved this summer and are currently house-sitting for a family who is abroad and hope to buy a new house/project this spring).

Anna's room (originally the sewing/guest room) was the most significant renovation we did aside from the kitchen.  It was our first experience with taking a room down to the studs, and our first go at drywall (the final bumpy walls proved that ;) )

Here's the room when we moved in:  My sister called it the "birthplace of Abraham Lincoln" (perhaps inspired by the falling-down wood paneling?  We can't be sure.

We had some wonderful help from friends and family with demolition and insulation.

Sanding, and sanding, and sanding, and sanding.  There's a reason that no one likes to do drywall!

Primer!

Paint!

Decor, Round 1!

 

And then, we found out we were having a little girl, and it was transformed into a nursery:

 Anna still asks from time to time " 'member old house?"  It's still bittersweet for sure to see these pictures, but my trust is growing by the day that in His time God will show us our new home.  I'm just excited to find it and get started making it our own, too :)  Also, it's going to be like Christmas morning when I get to open all of our storage boxes!  I look at these pictures and keep thinking "oh yeah!  I forgot about that thing!"

 But back to the renovation.  Here's old posts chronicling this transformation:

Removed the wood paneling and old lathe, gutting the room to the studs
Added new insulation
Hung & finished drywall
Primed & painted
Had carpet installed
Furnished & decorated a guest/sewing room
Upgraded to a nursery

 And one more time:

See more "good-bye tour" posts HERE and the whole house tour HERE.

Signs that our next renovation will have new challenges

The renovations in our current house were almost completely finished before I was expecting Anna.  Now it's obvious that renovations in our next house (yes, we're crazy enough to do this again) will have some new challenges!

Justin snapped this shot with his cell phone today while I (or, shall I say, Anna and I) were doing a little caulk touch-up between the trim and the wall in her room (yes, to get ready to sell).  I told myself all along that we wouldn't leave little projects like this until the last minute, and that we should do them early on because making it nice for ourselves is just as important as for others.  But, you know, we still have a laundry list of little projects before we list the house in March!  

Good thing we have a helper ;)

Just add baby

And now, what you've all been waiting for: the finished nursery!  After several awkward weeks (probably more like months!) of transition, we went from a sewing room to a room ready to welcome a sweet little girl!

Before

Framed art is from this talented Etsy vendor

The mobile (which is my favorite part of the room!) I made from scrapbook paper, combining ideas from here and here.

I made the curtains; the fabric has sweet little white polka dots and there are tiny ribbon rosettes at the pleats, but you may not be able to see those details.  My sewing is better than my photography!  

The shelf holds a cut-out letter A (for Anna!) that I covered with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.  The doll, Molly, was my favorite toy when I was little.  The stuffed duck is there because, well, I think it's cute.  And my sister (the great "Aunt Soup") made the mouse for Anna.  Apparently this is the ambassador mouse to Ithaca, representing a large family of other cloth mice waiting for Anna in Harrisburg!

Also, beneath the shelf hangs Anna's Baptismal gown & bonnet.  I bravely (or perhaps crazily) decided to cut the train off my wedding gown so that we could have an heirloom gown to use for our children's Baptisms.  I figured that there's a small chance that my wedding dress will fit the style & body size of my daughter(s), but this option allows for (hopefully) many babies to wear it!  Technically, the wedding gown could still be worn again, as the dress is all intact; only the beautiful train was sacrificed for the Baptismal garment!

Aside from the fact that I'm thrilled to have another opportunity to enjoy the beautiful fabric of my wedding gown, I love the sacramental symbolism of new life in Baptism springing from the union of Marriage - it illustrates our Catholic understanding of procreation as an outpouring of the love between husband, wife, and God. 

And before anyone compliments me, you should all know that my EXTREMELY talented mother is the one who took the pieces of the train and made them into the beautiful garment you see above!  She is amazing!  I can't wait for Anna to wear it in early September!

Crib, with the inspiration crib sheet.  And, the nursery wouldn't be complete without some happy fabric pennants, and (way more importantly) a Crucifix over her crib.  Again, excuse my poor photography!

Daybed (the room is huge!) and - finally - a door!  (We still don't have a door for our bedroom, but now we're 2 for 3 on the upstairs rooms.  And, as Meatloaf sings, that ain't bad).

I made the pillow.  Anna's great-grandmother (the "Rose" in Anna Rose) made the afghan.

Bookshelf from Craigslist (a great $40 find, considering the owner reported that their former neighbor hand-built it for them!).  Rocker from Justin's mom (made by the Amish!)  Bear painting is from another of Anna's great-grandmothers!  (How blessed is she to have 7 living great-grandparents!?)

I recovered the lampshade with polka-dotted fabric.  In my mind, the ball fringe makes up for the less-than-satisfactory job I did in applying the fabric.  Bargain books from our new Ithaca Ollies (woo hoo for a PA store coming to NY!)  The picture is of my Dad and me - and looking at it now, I think that in my 38th week of pregnancy my face has returned to the extremely chubby cheeks I was sporting at 6 months old!  Thankfully I already grew out of them once - here's hoping it will be baby Anna and not me who's chubby in a few weeks!

So, I'd say we're ready for a baby!  

We even hung up her little towel bar in the bathroom - check out her cute hooded towel!

 It's unbelievable that at any day now I may be holding my little girl in my arms!  Looking forward to introducing her to all of you.

Baby Anna, if you're reading this, Mommy and Daddy are ready to meet you!  You can come out now :)

Thinking pink

Since last week's announcement of our little GIRL, I'm becoming more convinced that finding out her gender early was one of our best decisions ever.  That probably sounds a little extreme, but seriously I can't get over how much extra bonding has already occurred just by knowing that she's a she.  I talk to her a lot more, I imagine a lot more about our lives together, and I love calling her by name.  By the way, I don't think I announced last week that our little beauty is named Anna Rose.

Granted, the first time I heard someone naming their child before birth, I thought it was a little crazy.  But now that I'm living it, it feels perfectly normal and natural that the little being inside of me has a name.  I suppose it's an outpouring of my pro-life beliefs, to know that she's a person - she won't become someone when she starts living outside of my body.  She is, and always has been, an individual.  My Anna.  She already has her preferences (loves the organ music and church in general), her schedule (night owl, all the way!), and so much more that we will learn in the months and years to come.

From a house-readiness perspective, it took me a little while to switch gears from my perfectly-planned boy color scheme (prompted by this fabric, which will now be saved for Anna's future baby brother).  I needed the perfect inspiration fabric to be the starting point for the rest of the room.  I knew I wanted something soft, feminine, slightly whimsical, and not too overly "baby."  After two fruitless trips to our local fabric stores (they just didn't have the "perfect" design I had in my mind's eye, I found the ideal crib sheet during our inaugural trip to Babys R Us.

And thus a vision was born:

Future sewing projects on tap include: curtains, a crib skirt, glider covers / pillows, a new quilt for the twin bed (which will stay in the room), an alphabet quilt / wall-hanging, and a fabric pennant (similar to my lampshade decoration, but larger scale and hanging on the wall).  Ready, set, sew!  (and hopefully, blog too!)

Oh, boy!

Oh, boy for two reasons....first of all, because I fell terribly behind on my blog everyday "to blog or not to blog" challenge.  Let's blame it on me being very busy, then sick, then busy again.  But I'm back (healthy and less busy) so hopefully I can resume more regular posts!

The other "oh, boy" is because we found out the gender of our baby today!  And, naturally, just like my "blue" post, I was trying to confuse you with today's title.  Because....

IT'S A GIRL!!!

I'm primarily thrilled to report that our ultrasound revealed that she's healthy (and it seems happy!)  All of her organs and limbs appear to be developing right on schedule, and I'm feeling great, too!  (also growing right on schedule :) )

I'm also thrilled that we'll be having a baby girl...I've had a strong instinct that she was a she since about the 2nd month, so it was almost a relief to find out that I was right!  (I initially had no preference, but started to want a girl when all of my daydreams were subconsciously about little girls!)

Justin's also excited about our beautiful little lady...and glad that we don't need to do any painting in the pink sewing room - to - nursery transition!  The perfect polka-dot fabric won't be used (for a few years, at least), but I'll keep you posted as we start working on the room!  You know I'll be at Jo-Anns this week!

So, again, sorry for the absence, and thanks for the excitement many of you have already shared on facebook about our (pink) bundle of joy :)  Here she is...isn't she sweet?  

I can't help but be in awe of the technology that can show us her face.  And, even more awe for the God that can knit her in my womb in such a short time frame!