The fact that Rory has already moved into his toddler room is so bittersweet but I had so much fun doing it:) Below is the beautiful toddler room that I found on Pinterest that I gained inspiration from. The link will take you to the room another interior designer created. The second I saw it was like an “AHA” moment. I knew that Andy would be able to do the wood work on the walls and that he could get it done fairly quickly. (I am so thankful he can do anything like this around our house with much guidance at all). I wanted to make sure Rory was well adjusted in his new “big boy” toddler room for at least two months before the new baby arrived.

I asked Andy to weigh on the difficulty level of this project and he was on a scale of 1-10 it was a 7. The main challenge is making sure that you measure the whole wall in it’s entirety twice to make sure that the squares you are making are equal to each other otherwise they will not all look even. Here is a visual again of the woodwork:

https://www.thelearnerobserver.com/blog/shared-toddler-room/

Here is Rory’s design board for his room and all of the sources for you to reference. I absolutely love the area rug in here by Loloi. It is beyond comfortable and perfectly durable for a toddler room.

Bulletin Board|Paper Airplanes|Pilot Knowledge Print|White Faux Rug|Truck Artwork|Studio Mcgee Ottomans|Navy Black Out Curtains|R Initial|Wooden Stool|Leather Hooks|Alphabet Art|Rug|

The inspiration behind the décor in Rory’s nursery was to really lean into the many different things he is interested in at the moment without going overboard on the theme throughout. He loves airplanes, firetrucks, trains etc. I love the wooden shelf ledge that Andy added to to display different artwork and other favorite things of Rory’s. It is easy to interchange the different pieces we have up here at any point.

The paint color in this room is front porch by Sherman Williams. It was already the color we had in this room and we really liked the way it looked plus I am sure in a few years Rory is going to want to change his room color to what he loves so I wanted to wait to change it.

Finally got to sourcing almost everything in our new babies nursery for you. As I mentioned before I kept a lot of the furniture in here but switched up the artwork mainly and that is it:) I love creating these design boards for you to reference so that you have everything available for your access and it takes a lot of the guessing out of what flows well in a room. For some reason my Instagram was not letting me link everything in the product section but here is everything I have in the babies nursery. Some of the items I have in this room are no longer available but I did link similar items. As always I had so much luck finding everything for this nursery at some of my regular places. Etsy, Amazon, Target, HomeGoods, and Wayfair.

As always I hope this helps inspire you in your home! The revamp in this room cost around $250-275 including all of the new artwork and the frames I purchased for them. The gallon of paint was $86.00 It really does wonders painting the walls of a space and switching around the artwork. I can’t believe the transformation.

Here are all of the sources that I used for this room:

Crib|Pendant Flag|Boston Freedom Trail|Global Map| Whale Art| Alphabet Art|Watercolor Truck Art| Play All Day Art|Curtains|Bookshelf|Rug|Benjamin Moore Smoke| Baby Mobile|Jeep Art|

For those of you that are new here this is what the nursery looked like when Rory was born. We didn’t find out the gender until he was born so I kept it very gender neutral. The walls were painted Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore and I love the way they looked in here:)

Here is the post on his nursery for you to reference.

Once I found out we were having another boy I wanted to lean into that a bit more this time around and paint the walls. I had been eyeing SO many different blue tones and ultimately kept coming back to smoke by Benjamin Moore. It really is the perfect combination of blue/gray paint color that changes with the light to create interest throughout the day. Here is the checklist of the few items I swapped out and changed in this nursery:

• Paint the walls a different paint color
• Pick out some new artwork and put the existing piece of art in our living room
• Purchased a cute sign from Etsy with a quote from the Sandlot

For $200 I was able to achieve this revamp in this room. The paint was probably the most expensive singular item as it is almost $80 a gallon now. Otherwise I purchased the artwork from Amazon and then purchased the frames separately. This is a great example of how much paint and and artwork can change a space without having to switch everything around in the room and having to purchase all new furniture.

Here are some photos of the nursery revamp!

I will post the sources for the artwork and frames in my next post for you to reference. I LOVE how this nursery revamp came out.

If you have been following me for a while you know that over the years that I have realllly simplified how I decorate for each season. I know it can be intimidating seeing so many festive designed homes filled with so many seasonal and holiday pieces and while it does look beautiful in this season of my life it is too hard to manage and keep up with at that caliber. Below I have listed four ways to get your home ready for fall without making it something you don’t look forward to doing.

You can still incorporate so many seasonal touches around your home without feeling like it has to be next level, stressful and overwhelming.

Artwork: Some of my favorite ways to do that are by getting pieces of artwork that match the season of life you are in. So in the fall I tend to decorate with all of my fall oriented pieces of art. If you don’t like thrifting for artwork or just would like to be able to find something in a store I recommend trying Target for seasonal artwork and Amazon. On Amazon you can buy the print and then get an inexpensive frame for it somewhere else.

Faux Pumpkins: I have collected ours over the years from HomeGoods and the Target dollar spot. They come in all shapes and sizes and the beauty of these is you can’t go wrong with them and grab the color or style you gravitate most toward.

Faux Branches: These are another WINNER. I mean the way they make them now is IMPRESSIVE. They easily elevate any surface in your home and are an inexpensive way to interchange depending on the season. You can also use these same branches in window boxes outside.

Pillow Refresh: Easiest way to incorporate textures, and colors of the season we are in is to grab some pillow covers and inserts if you don’t have any handy and WHALA! You can get any color or texture you want on Amazon. Just remember the rule of thumb when getting down pillow inserts. (You want that karate chop look on your pillows FOR sure).Use inserts that are 2″ larger all around.. For example if you have an 18×18 pillow cover, you’ll want to use a 20×20 insert. This will ensure that your pillow is filled out fully and looks luxurious and comfortable to have in your home.

Here are some options for you to look at that I found online that may point you in the right direction with the links:)

Artwork| Faux white pumpkins| Pillow covers| Red eucalyptus leaves|Autumn Faux Plants Silk|

I am going to walk you through some before and after photos of the space and then I share all of the bedding with you that I purchased that is great quality and at a great price point.

Just a reminder of where we began up here and what it looked like when Andy first began:

Here is where we are today!

I cannot believe the transformation and how well it looks with the built in beds. It is amazing what one picture of inspiration can turn into:) All of the bedding is from Target and Walmart. I have provided everything I used for this below for you to reference because I want you to know that you CAN make a bed look great without breaking the bank.

Plaid Pillowcase| Knit Throw Blanket| Lumbar Pillow| Reversible Cotton Stripe Quilt| Artic White Sheets| Velvet Pillow Cover| Pillow Inserts|

We did our transfer back in March and I went into it with the same mindset as I had in the past obviously being very hopeful that it would work but also knowing in my mind that I already have two beautiful kids that I am so incredibly lucky to have in my life. I did acupuncture before the transfer which they do in house at our clinic and it is such a great way to ease your mind and help you relax when you are going through this process. We go to Boston IVF and my doctor Rita Sneeringer is an angel. I highly recommend her to any of you who are having any sort of fertility struggles she is such a wonder reproductive endocrinologist and having an initial consult with her would leave you feeling hopeful I promise.

Doctor Sneeringer always cleared her schedule and made sure that she did my transfers day of which again from a patient doctor standpoint made such a difference because doing IVF is already so nerve wracking and she always made me feel seen, heard, and respected. Right after the transfer was complete I came home and waited the ten dreadful days before I officially got the word I was pregnant. The official word comes from the IVF clinic once you go in and do blood work. Something I do for my mental sanity and health is I do test on day 5/6 with an at home test. I know you are strongly discouraged from doing this as results may vary and even with a negative or positive but it is something I do to cope with the entire process.

Fast forward to my first at home test and it was positive. Given the journey we have been through to have kids for me anytime a positive pregnancy test was shown it always took me a minute to take it all in. Around the time I became pregnant Andy’s dad had just recently passed so it was bittersweet news for both of us because I know it would have been something that made him so happy to hear.

I had my 8 week ultrasound (with IVF they do monitor you very closely in the beginning stages of pregnancy to make sure everything is ok) and I loved my ultrasound technician and she eased my anxiety right away. We did end up finding out the gender this time because Andy really wanted to know although I would have gladly waited again which I know many of you may find hard to believe haha. I had a weird feeling I was having another boy very early on because I had the same symptoms that I did with Rory. They were pretty minimal but it was the same food cravings (cereal mainly haha) and crazy sense of smell that I had that seemed to be a dead giveaway.

I am due in late December and cannot believe how quickly it is all going by. I am so anxious to get going on the progress of Rorys new room that we are going to transition him too as well as the minor tweaks I am going to make to the nursery (paint color that I want to change and a few other tweaks).

Lots more to come but I am so happy to share this exciting new season and journey with you all

xx

Jordan

Rory started moving early on and I quickly realized “okay Jordan you are going to have pivot the way you are decorating and styling your spaces inside and outside in order for this to be more practical for all of us”. With that in mind this year and last summer I figured out how to make it fun for Rory while still making it a space and place I want to retreat to. I went ahead and added a few of my favorite outdoor toys for babies and toddlers along with my favorite outdoor essentials for us adults to enjoy as well. I think the main thing to keep in mind is that it is still your home and space but you are just making it one in which works for everyone in your home. I know how hard it can be with kids especially when it comes to all of the “things” that seem to accumulate BUT even though that is bound to happen you can still find a way to make your home one that suits you and your families style.

I added a few pictures below for you to reference how our deck has looked over the years. All of our furniture including the rug is from Target. Over the years this has evolved as our lives have changed and we have figured out what layout works best:)

Here is what our outdoor deck looks like today for reference:

To help inspire you I went ahead and rounded up some of my favorite outdoor essentials:

Pouf| Kid’s Water Table| Faux plant| Driftwood| Construction Trucks|Circular Table| Beach Toys| Stacking Toys

Flooring

For those of you who are just following along on our project up here Andy started working on this right when Rory was born so to give you an idea of how far we have come Rory is almost 2 and he has done ALL of the work up here himself other than the flooring and electrical.

Here is some of the furniture that I ordered last weekend during the memorial day sale. Because our doorframe to get to the third floor is the only way to get anything up we had limited options with furniture. The only way I knew having a sectional would work is if it came in different pieces and sections to put together so I did some digging online and Wayfair seemed to have the most options. Here is the couch we ended up getting and yes this is my first time buying a couch online so I was a bit hesitant and also not sure what the outcome would turn out to be. I did a lot of digging through the reviews so I am confident it should be ok. I will let you know when it comes in what we all think.

Sectional

Four Door Cabinet

What is left to do?

• HVAC (Heating and cooling system needs to be installed)
• Triming out certain parts of the ceiling
• Painting the trim & the walls
• Furnishing the space which will take some time and I want to keep it as open and airy as possible
• Putting doors on the storage openings in the walls.

Below is a round up of everything in which we have for our bedroom that I love. Another thing to mention is that yes bedding can be very pricey but nice bedding does last forever and we have had this comforter for over four years. This Serena and Lily staple has withstood washes, dry’s, dog hair, and even toddler food spills.

We do have duvet bedding and I recommend you double up on the insert that goes inside so that it looks very full and cozy. I just ordered a second Amazon insert for our bed to put inside our duvet and I cannot wait to get it inside.

Here is an updated resource guide for you to reference:

Serena & Lily Comforter|White Comforter|Pink Tassle Blanket|Quilt|Green Throw Pillow|Cotton Blend Throw Pillow|Blue Throw Pillow|

I hope this helps you narrow down some decisions for you when it comes to what you should splurge vs save some money on when it comes to your bedroom.

One thing I want to mention is that you don’t have to get new items each season to make your home feel like it got a refresh. You can simply buy an inexpensive house plant and it can have just as powerful of an effect or even swapping out a pillow for your couch from another room. My go to places for any interior refresh if I do feel I need a new item to add are Amazon and Target. They always seem to have the best options. All of these items are reasonable and I think they are so pretty to add to any space.

I feel like every time we come back from a vacation I am more and more inspired to add in some elements of where we go to our home. In this case we were just in the Alexandria, VA and North Carolina area and I noticed the simplicity of small touches such as a magnolia wreath on a front door as I walked by, and then I loved the dinner bells I saw in some of the restaurants that we ate at. Often times little touches like this go a long way. I love this round up because everything is quite reasonable as well:)

Some of these I have already purchased and some are on my Wishlist:

Faux Olive Tree|Cloud Canvas Art|Cherry Blossom Branches|Dinner Bell|Olive Wreaths|Crochet Textured Pillow| Upholstered Cube|Linen Accent Chair|Grass Basket|Go For It Art|Green Throw Blanket|Plaid Pillow|