More Nursery Progress ♥

Yesterday my husband and I got to working on the nursery. I am SO glad we did. Everything was worth it!

We took down the white ceiling fan and installed a new gold light, put together the rocker chair, decided on which frames to use and put in the prints I made and hung her customized gold mirror.

Take a look! ♥

We still need to...
Put on the chair slipcover
Hang the pictures with ribbon
and find a side table for next to the chair

Thanks for looking,
xoxo Amanda Nicol

Nursery Chair Debate

Picking a nursery chair for baby girl's nursery has been a task. This is what I have gone through...



Option #1: Was to use the old rocker that has been handed down from my grandfather. I was rocked in it as a baby, and would have loved to use it to rock my daughter. It would just need a coat of fresh paint and a comfy cushion. The problem? I was pretty set on an upholstered chair of some sort. I would love to be able to fall asleep in the chair if needed. We decided to use this in the nursery at my parents house for when Aubrey visits.

Option #2: To pick any of those BEAUTIFUL upholstered rockers/gliders that you see at Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, etc. Except, they are all SO expensive. Most of the ones I like are over $1,000...for a CHAIR! That's a no-can-do for this frugal girl.

Option #3: The famous IKEA Erktorp Jennylund chair. I have seen so many bloggers use this chair and attach a rocker base on it (extra $40). I was pretty sure this was what we were going to use. There were a few days when I was ready to head to IKEA and bring it home. I'm not sure about IKEA's return policy and the closest store is a bit of a drive for me. This is still an open option....but I wanted to try another first.

Option #4: I found an upholstered rocker on Walmarts website. They are out of stock most of the time. When they are in stock, they usually only have 1 color available at a time. It had been forever and the only colors I saw become ready were Chocolate and Demin. Not for me. Well, the Beige cover was available today, so I bit the bullet and ordered the chair. It was free shipping and Walmart is GREAT with returns. If this chair doesn't work out, I will return and try the IKEA Jennylund route.

Our Wedding Features! ♥

It has been 10 months since our wedding, and we have been so lucky to be featured multiple times. I wanted to share a few of our features.

Our absolute favorite is our 2 page spread in our Baltimore Bride Magazine! How cool is this?!

Our wedding is featured on Ruffled Blog HERE

 Our wedding is featured on Ruche HERE

Our wedding is featured on Carats and Cake HERE

Our wedding day was one of the most memorable days of my life. Marrying my best friend and companion of 7 years was the best feeling in the world. Seeing these images brings me back to that wonderful day!

xoxo Amanda

Nursery Progress

I wanted to give a quick glimpse into how the nursery is coming along! 

Here is what we have so far:

 

 

The dresser will be moved in next weekend and I will post another update. I also bought a super soft throw rug that I will post next time as well.  

After next weekend, the only thing we will be missing is the Chair/Rocker/Glider. I am still completely undecided on that subject!

xoxo

Amanda Nicol ♥

Painted Nursery Dresser

Hi everyone! I am so excited about this post! I have been working on Aubrey's nursery and I had to share this dresser redo that I did this weekend.

I knew I wanted a french provincial dresser for her nursery and I had been checking Craigslist every few days for the perfect one. Most were exactly what I was looking for, but with the usual hefty price tag of around $300....way out of my budget. I was psyched when I saw a listing with NO PICTURE for only $75. I emailed the lady a picture of the type of dresser I was looking for and she said it looked like that. Well, we got in the car and made the almost hour long hike to look at it. We don't mind the long haul's since we have gotten so many great deals on Craigslist because we went further.

When we got there and I first saw the dresser, I squealed. No need for negotiating with the $75 price tag so I gladly handed over my money. We loaded it in the truck and I was so excited...I knew exactly how I wanted to refinish it!


          This is what my awesome Craigslist find looked like after we picked it up:

After a couple of weeks I had finally found the "perfect" two colors for the dresser. Those who know me know that I am SUPER PICKY when it comes to paint colors. Down to the slightest hue difference. Luckily, I nailed this one!

I went with Benjamin Moore - Orchid Pink (036) for the dresser.
I used Sherwin Williams- Super Paint in Semi Gloss.
& for the gold, I used Design Master in 24kt Pure Gold.

STEP ONE:
I wiped the dresser down with Lysol wipes to get any gunk or residue that may have built up over the years.

STEP TWO: 
Sand. I used a sanding block and went over all of the surfaces to slightly rough it up. I wanted to avoid priming on this project (I know..). My dad used his electric sander to get the top surface really well.

STEP THREE:
Spray paint the hardware. I took them all off and put them in a cardboard box. Spray away!

STEP FOUR:
Paint!! I did two coats of the Super Paint in Orchid Pink. I waited about 4 hours in between coats to make sure it was dry.


             This is what I had at that point... 

Looks great, doesn't it?! This is when its tempting to stop. It looked good already, why keep going? Because I knew it was about to look even better!!

STEP FIVE:
I taped off the bottom section of the dresser. I wanted this this to look like it was dipped in liquid gold :)
...Spray it on!


I can't even tell you how IN LOVE I am with this dresser. It is going to look amazing in her nursery!

           Check out the after shots below!!!

xoxo
Amanda Nicol ♥

It's a GIRL!!! ♥

We are so excited to announce that we are having a little GIRL! We got a 3D/4D ultrasound done and it was the most amazing thing we've ever seen! They played us live 3D video footage of our little jumping bean :) We got to see her yawn, stretch, and change positions a million times. My parents joined us and they couldn't believe how active she was.

I am so in love with her already. I can't wait to meet her! I'm so excited in fact, that I have already ordered stuff for her nursery and my mom and I went on our first clothes shopping trip for her!

We have decided to name her         Aubrey Nicol ♥

Want to see how adorable she is already?!.....

I also wanted to share my design board for her nursery. I should be able to start working on it in the next week or so :)

Enjoy!

xoxo
Amanda ♥

Boy or Girl?!

 

I am so excited I can hardly think straight! We find out the gender of our little peanut this Wednesday evening! I have been trying to keep myself occupied by putting together some nursery designs. I have worked up ideas for both a boy and a girl. I can't wait to get started doing the nursery for our little bundle :)

We can't wait! So exciting! I will post back later this week with the ultrasound picture and gender announcement! ♥