Our Daughter's Nursery

Where did the last month go? Hopefully you were spared the late winter cold that ravaged our house and prevented me from doing almost anything except laundry and the occasional spring project planning--that is when my hands weren't cuddling a sick little baby!

Speaking of baby, the time has come to finally reveal Astrid's nursery. It's a room that makes me happy and I hope that, when she's able to articulate it, it does the same for our daughter.

When we discovered we were expecting, I got to work brainstorming a nursery that combined new purchases and existing furniture for our little one. I've long been a fan of purchasing pieces that could serve several purposes, moving from room to room and proving to be worthy investments. This room was no exception to that principle: the antique pine dresser, a bamboo etagere, a delicate footstool and a mid-century modern Saarinen tulip side table all found their way into Astrid's room from other spaces elsewhere in our home.

(don't worry: all stuffed animals are taken out of the crib when our girl is sleeping!)

Astrid's room itself has a naturally cozy feel thanks to its dormer window and slanted walls. I wanted the walls to envelop her during sleep and play, so I opted for Benjamin Moore's "Levingston Green" (Adam loved this choice as well). It played off my choice fabric for the window shades, Parlor Textiles' "Confetti Floral Stripe" in red. After splurging a bit on the fabric, I saved money by sewing the roman shades with my mom during an early-fall visit. The red and spring green color combo felt fresh and clean.

A simple crib skirt, made from Robert Allen's "Plaid Ikat," paired nicely with the Parlor Textiles print as well as a beautiful handmade gingham-print knit blanket that my mom made for the baby (pattern from this book, if you want to make one yourself!).

Books have always been an important part of my life as well as my husband's life, so we were sure to carve out a corner of the room for reading as well as nursing.

Children's books are so vibrant and interesting like little pieces of artwork and, because of this, I didn't want to hide them in a bookcase. Instead, I transformed a vintage carved wooden pelmet (originally used for a window) into a book ledge that prominently displays each.

Opposite the book ledge is a matte green metal leaf mobile from a talented artist on Etsy, Comometalworks. Astrid's just started noticing the mobile and I love how it captures her ever-fleeting attention.

Finally, in the dormer window niche, Adam precisely and carefully hung 26 vintage-inspired animal alphabet cards from Martha Stewart's craft line with easy-to-find bulldog clips. Funny story about these cards: I bought these way back in 2008 while Mom and I were awaiting the news that my niece had been born. I squirreled them away ever since!

(all photos via Meet Me in Philadelphia)

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Astrid's room is a blend of new and old, pattern and solids, present and future.

If you're curious, some sources for items in Astrid's nursery are:
Wall color: "Levington Green" by Benjamin Moore
Trim color: "White Dove" by Benjamin Moore
Rug: Jute Natural Area Rug from Wayfair
Shade fabric: "Confetti Floral Stripe" in red from Parlor Textiles
Crib skirt fabric:
Crib: Union 3-to-1 convertible crib in white
Antique pine dresser: Craigslist
Linen slipcovered glider: Crescent glider in linen from Overstock
Metal floral mobile: Jungalow mobile in green from Comometalworks on Etsy
White Saarinen tulip side table: Design within Reach
Tote bags (used to hold blankets and as a diaper bag): Boat and Tote bag from LL Bean
Coat rack: vintage French hat rack from Etsy
Wall plaque (above crib): Bestmade Co.
Bunny lamp (on pine dresser): Heico rabbit lamp from Fawn Shoppe

Our Master Bedroom in Progress

Hello again, friends. In the last week, our little family of three trekked to Maine with my mom to celebrate the impending arrival of my cousin's baby girl while spending time with my extended family there. That said, I lost track of the time and simultaneously lost momentum on my house tour update here!

Today, though, I'm back to offer a glimpse into our "in-progress" master bedroom. As incomplete as it is, I'm happy with the direction it has taken since this post from 2013.

Our Dining Room Revealed

Today is one I've looked forward to: showing off our dining room! In the midst of nesting, this room received a tremendous amount of attention, energy and effort, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Our Living Room, Revisited

The last post before my blogging hiatus focused exclusively on our living room and, in the ten months since that write-up, the primary pieces remained while I've continued to refine the room with a few final additions. Let me show you around.

Gathering Ideas for the Half Bathroom

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my photo on Monday:

That day, I received a sample of Trustworth Studios' "Apothocary's Garden" wallpaper I had ordered. I decided immediately it will be used and couldn't wait to share it with my Instagram friends. Thankfully, you all agreed that the paper was as fantastic as I had thought (Adam did too! Yippee!).

The arrival of the paper got my mental wheels turning, so now I'm scheming some changes in the half bathroom. Let me tell you about them...

"What I'm Workin' With" Week: The Upstairs Bedrooms

As we head into the end of "What I'm Workin' With" Week, the tour is winding down and today we'll stop by the bedrooms upstairs!

"What I'm Workin' With" Week: The Bathrooms

In the ongoing saga known as "What I'm Workin' With" we are going to talk bathrooms today, friends. Brace yourselves because it might be a bumpy ride. We have 3 1/2 bathrooms in this house (with a possibility for another bathroom in the finished basement), so while they are not in a short supply the bathrooms each need some tweaking. Come see what I'm talking about.

"What I'm Workin' With" Week: The Dining Room & Laundry Room

Yesterday, we surveyed the foyer, stairway and the adjacent hallway upstairs but before we leave the first floor, we'll visit the dining room and laundry room.

"What I'm Workin' With" Week: The Foyer & Hallway

This week I'm taking you readers on a house tour full of "befores" in a series I'm calling "What I'm Workin' With". To fully appreciate the eventual "afters," you have to be subjected to the not-ready-for-primetime "befores", right? Most bloggers would cringe seeing these current photos without immediately sharing a jaw-dropping "after" but I'm keeping it real.

You've seen the kitchen, the living room, the den and the master bedroom; but today we're talking about the all-important first impression: the foyer. Foyers and entryways are the perfect place to introduce friends and family to the style of your home and, right now, our foyer doesn't offer much about us so why not start here?

Nothing Says "Yum" Like a Brown & Yellow Kitchen

*Hi, everyone! Move-in went well last week, and my husband and I have been busy settling into our new home ever since. Thanks for all of the well-wishes--they meant so much!*

When we first visited the house in late December, Adam and I knew we found our forever home due, in part, to all of the character and charm in each room. Built in 1955, the house was lovingly maintained by the original owners and retained many of the ear-marks of mid-century design. The most conspicuous *cough* dated *cough* of those designs is the brown and yellow kitchen. Take a look at what we're working with:

New, Never-Before-Seen Pics of My Place!

Yesterday, I shared the exciting news that my apartment here in Philadelphia appears in the latest issue of Ivy & Piper. Thank you, all, for your sweet comments! I worked with the fantastic photographer Courtney Apple, who took so many beautiful pictures that I had lots of shots of my apartment to choose from for the magazine feature. They are too pretty to keep to myself. 

Without further ado, new and never-before-seen photos of my home!

(all images via Meet Me in Philadelphia)

It's amazing how seeing these photos made me fall back in love with our apartment again!

Hope you enjoy the images.

Meet Me in...Ivy & Piper Magazine!

Remember waaaaaay back in July, I teased that there was big news in the works? I'm finally ready to share: our home is featured in a 5-page spread in the September-October 2012 issue of Ivy & Piper magazine!

(all images via Ivy & Piper)

I am thrilled with the photos, which were shot by the incredibly talented Courtney Apple, who you may remember has worked with Naomi Stein (on her Design*Sponge home tour) and Caitlin Wilson (on her Matchbook Magazine home tour). What a treat she was to work with!

I was so flattered to be approached by the ladies of Ivy & Piper, who have a bright and cheery magazine. I hope you like the feature!

I have even more wonderful images taken by Courtney to share tomorrow!

Master Bedroom Tour

I've realize that I haven't shown you all much of my home, dear readers.

So, slowly but surely, I'll be adding an apartment tour for you to peruse. Today I present to you our bedroom, which you've sampled in the header of this blog. The room itself isn't too large, but it does have high ceilings. We capitalized on the height with the simple lines of Ikea's Edland four poster bed in white.

Our apartment is on the first floor and, because of that, the natural light there isn't abundant throughout the day. I took this into account when I selected the blue, white, and red color scheme. Back when I lived in Manhattan, I discovered Roberta Roller Rabbit one day and knew that I wanted to incorporate some of Roberta Freymann's prints somewhere in my apartment.

The curtains in the photo above were made from a pair of Roberta Roller Rabbit rectangular tablecloths in the "Gwen" print in indigo. The tablecloths were 106" long, and seemed the ideal length for our window height. My mom hemmed the tablecloths to the right length and cut them down the center, making 4 panels total from the original 66" width of each tablecloth. You'll also see the chair recovered in Rubie Green's "East Village" fabric, done by Chairloom. The Saarinen side table was a real deal--purchased at the Design Within Reach outlet in Secaucus, New Jersey for $100!


We have one red Campaign-style side table/small dresser in our bedroom, a Craigslist purchase ($50 for this and a matching 2-drawer dresser that is elsewhere in our apartment). This piece was red when we purchased it and it inspired me to paint my large Campaign dresser in a matching red. Atop this nightstand sits a $1 mid-century wooden tray, a vintage python-skin picture frame, and a glass urn lamp. The mirror above the nightstand was a shaving mirror that I bought on Ebay for $12.

To the right of the bed, sits the red Campaign dresser I humorously shared with you in September (read about it here). This dresser was only $20 when I purchased it from Craigslist about a year and half ago and, man, was it in bad shape. The dresser holds what clothes don't fit in our closets and it also holds the t.v. that I'd like to trash (but I can't because Adam loves watching "Futurama" in bed).

This vintage Danish printed circular tray holds some books, as well as another small glass urn lamp. The tray was a $10 Black-Friday-in-Maine purchase last year. Miraculously it fit in our suitcase--it's a good thing, too. I wasn't prepared to leave the state of Maine without it.

What I didn't show you was the wall opposite our bed. Really, there's nothing to show. Just a wall of simple white closet doors with no wall space for pictures or anything else.

Well, friends, I hope you've enjoyed our bedroom tour. I would like to add more artwork and perhaps this striped Dash and Albert rug. That will come in time. Until then, I'm still pretty happy to wake up to this space each day.

House Tour, Part 1: The Living Room

For your consideration, readers, please peruse photos of our living room, which I've finally gotten around to snapping. While I am the type of person to hold off on sharing such pictures until everything is just perfect and all projects are done, that just isn't the way to live so, please, be gentle.



I love our living room. It feels comfortable and cozy, and combines a variety of prints (which I love!).

Our couch, an NYC Craigslist find, is by Mitchell-Gold and sits atop a rusty wool rug from Overstock.com. It is flanked by a $30 Ebay end table and a $65 coffee table (a bit tall, but we love it) that we bought at Philly's own Hello Home. The lamp on our end table is from Home Goods.

The framed piece above the couch was purchased on Ebay for about $100. When I picked it up from the seller on the Upper West Side, I was told it once hung in the Kate Spade store in Soho. The zig-zag piece to the right of the couch is a remnant from Madeline Weinrib.



The matching directors chairs are another NYC Craigslist find. We purchased them from a couple on the Upper West Side who definitely had a bit of a hoarding problem. Adam and I walked out of their building, folded chairs in hand, and said to each other, "Let's never get that way." Agreed.



The last picture, below, is the view from our entry way, which I've partitioned off with help from the old stand-by, the Ikea Expedit. It works well to create a sense of a foyer; plus, it also helps me hold on to all those books I accumulated during college and a decade-long obsession with thrift store book selections.

You'll also see Adam's baby, his HDTV, which sits atop a CB2 slim profile coffee table that works as our media center. I wanted something unobtrusive; Adam just wanted storage to hide all of his X-box games. Despite our differing priorities, this piece serves both our needs.

More rooms to come!