DIY (if you dare!) Project: Customizing a Bookcase

I have loved the idea of customizing a bookcase by wallpapering the backs of the bookcase with pretty paper or fabric. Honestly, though, I don't have the time or inclination right now to deal with glue and lining things up properly. We need shelving in the baby room, though, and I wanted to do something besides putting another utilitarian bookcase up in another room. So I thought a coat of paint would just be the perfect way to perk up a standard bookcase. I bought a quart of semi-gloss paint and an Ikea Billy bookcase and went to work.
Here's a before pic of the bookcase from the Ikea website:It's okay, but blah...just a regular old bookcase. I painted the back of the bookcase with a gorgeous aqua color (Olympic Premium in Caruso), and here is the result:

I will say that this project did come with a slight snafu. I had perused the Internet and found instructions on Domino that confirmed what I wanted to do: prime the back piece, then paint it. I primed the white laminated side of the backboard (the side that would normally show), and immediately had an idea that it wasn't going to work out because the primer was beading and not really sticking to the laminate. I painted two coats of primer (exactly the kind Domino had mentioned) and two coats of paint and it did in fact cover just fine. I let it dry overnight and when I went to put it into the Ikea bookcase...

Disaster.

Utter disaster.

When sliding it into place, the paint and primer scraped and peeled away from the original white laminated side. Honestly, if I were just going to hammer it into place (with nothing around that could possibly scrape at the paint), this paint job would have worked just fine. But the Ikea Billy has you sliding the backboard into these vertical slits and then hammering the thing along the horizontal supports. Perhaps if I were to sand it well before priming it would have worked better (but honestly no set of directions mentioned sanding), or if I had not used water-based primer and paint, but I'm pregnant and not about to subject myself to higher VOC products.

I actually was able to scrape all bits of paint and primer off the laminated side of the backboard that I had painted. I went to Plan B, which I had immediately thought of right after I started priming. I flipped the backboard over to the unlaminated, cardboard-looking side and primed and painted that. The paint stuck, no problem. And now, if we're ever tired of the aqua, we can always flip the backboard over and revert back to the original white.

Here's a pic of the bookcase with a bunch of baby stuff we've been storing up all around:

I absolutely love the result!

Training the Cats

When my sister came over, I had her help me blow up some red latex balloons to put in the crib:

Now you might wonder why we did this. Here's the answer:

Our cats currently sleep on anything and everything they desire. And my husband and I have been of the idea that they should not be allowed to sleep in the baby's sleeping areas. At least for now. Orange and fluffy above especially loves to hug and groom things smaller than him, and while it's sweet, it worries us. Part of the reason we wanted to get the bassinet and crib set up so early was to train the cats to stay out of them.

I researched and researched and finally decided that latex balloons would be the best way to go. One, for whatever reason, my cats are scared of them. I brought them home once (the floaty kind) and they would not come anywhere near them. Two, if they were to try to jump into the crib, the balloons would either pop or hit them, neither of which they would enjoy. We learned the first night that we had the bassinet that the balloons were quite effective. In the middle of night, startling pops woke us up. Two balloons had burst, and while we don't know which cat was responsible, neither of them will go near the bassinet now. I've removed the balloons at this point from the bassinet, and so far, no cat sightings in the bassinet.

With the crib, you'll notice that there's now space for the cats to land and lay down should they desire. Our grand hope is that by the time the last balloon comes out, they won't have any desire to be in the crib at all.

The Look for Less: Baby Mod Olivia Crib v. Oeuf Classic Crib

So I was trolling my design blogs, as I often do early in the morning, when I happened upon a crib from Walmart called the Olivia Crib by Baby Mod:

This sort of reminded me of that show The Look for Less that Elizabeth Hasselbeck used to host before she went to The View (stick with fashion, Mrs. Hasselbeck, I loved you on The Look for Less...not so much on The View). Gosh I used to love that show. Anyway, this crib looked A LOT like the Oeuf Classic Crib:

There are obvious design differences, of course, but all cribs sold in the USA have to pass the same safety requirements, and for a third of the price, one can get a very very similar nursery look for a lot less. There's even a post on ohdeedoh on how to customize the crib feet.

DIY (if you dare!) Project: Baby Sling

I have to admit that I'm still out to lunch about the whole how-to-carry-the-baby thing -- whether to use a sling, a wrap, or a carrier. It makes it a little easier that my friend offered to make me a sling yesterday. Maya Wrap Sling has sewing instructions on their website, which is super cool. You can make your own with the fabric of your choosing!

DIY Project: Plush Animal Art

I saw this project on Project Nursery:

Photo of inspiration:
Lombard St. Nursery by Steamed Artichoke Studio

I thought that it fit in exactly with our theme and decided to try it out. I went to Ikea to grab the shadowboxes and checked out their selection of tiny soft toys:

They didn't have the panda, they had a mouse which didn't fit the theme, and the crocodile's legs just looked a little bizarre from the side view. I actually grabbed a bunch of the very three in the inspiration picture. My good friend who was with me at Ikea, upon seeing the 50 cent tiny plushies, mentioned that we could just get some fishing line and make ourselves a mobile. I had checked the pet store for some alternate choices, and my husband had mentioned we could just buy a second mobile and cut the animals off of it to frame. That seemed an awful waste of a mobile, but if I see a cheap secondhand mobile, I might do just that. For now, though, we have the Ikea elephant, lion, and hippo framed up, and I have to say, it's super cute.

I used chocolate paper for the background so the animals would pop more, and I may add some aqua ribbon hangers to it later. Here is the completed project (unhung because the walls aren't painted yet) are in all its glory:

Baby's Progression in Ultrasounds...

I've had more ultrasounds than most, including a 5 week one that is not pictured below. At my doctor's office, it's better safe than sorry, so they like to check things out whenever there's a whisper of a concern. It's pretty cool to see how our baby is progressing, and so long as everything remains normal, it's going to be a long wait until our next ultrasound at 32 weeks. I thought I would share my baby's progression in ultrasounds!

Ultrasound, 6 weeks (10/3/2008)

Heartbeat: 113bpm. The pregnancy looks good, but not yet deemed viable by the doctor's office.

Ultrasound, 7 weeks (10/10/2008)

Heartbeat: 136bpm; head-to-rump: 0.945cm. The big circular thing on top is the yolk sac, the bean looking thing below that is the baby. At this point, it is deemed a viable pregnancy.

Ultrasound, 12 weeks (11/14/2008)

Heartbeat: 161bpm; head-to-rump: 6cm. Nuchal translucency testing looks great, ultrasound technician thinks she seems signs as to the sex of the baby, but the baby quickly crosses its ankles and refuses to let her confirm her suspicions.

Ultrasound, 16.5 weeks (12/15/2008)

Suspicions confirmed: it's a boy!

Ultrasound, 20 weeks (1/7/2009)

Heartbeat: 150bpm. Everything looks good with baby, who seemed annoyed at the intrusion during his anatomy scan! Estimated weight: 13oz, almost a pound!