Nursery Update: Bin There Done That Book Bin

The countdown is on..... My due date is less than 30 days away, and we have been working hard completing our nursery projects.  All the baby clothes have been washed, and almost everything is organized and put away.  Our last remaining items are the decor.  For awhile, I have been debating how I wanted to display several of my old Dr. Seuss books from when I was a child on the wall by our changing table/dresser.  I wanted whatever I chose to serve a purpose, but also be attractive.  Enter the "Bin There Done That Book Bin" from The Land of Nod (see below).

In my opinion, it fit what I wanted and needed.  It would allow me to display several different Dr. Seuss books in an attractive way.  At $49 a piece, I thought they were reasonable enough to purchase two which would allow me to display twice as many books.  I figured they had great potential, and would grow with our future child with future room updates.

Before

This was my first purchase from Land of Nod, and I was a bit disappointed that the bins did not come with a wall template to hang the bins up with on the wall.  After a bit of measuring, and double checking, I was able to get the bins up with only putting two extra holes in the wall (a small success in my mind).  Of course, the final product was well worth the extra hassle in my opinion.

 Close up View

Slowly, but surely, the room is coming together.  As you can see, I chose to go with red blackout curtains from Pottery Barn.  More about that, and other decor updates coming later this week.  Stay tuned.....

Draping the Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom has been a work in progress.  What I mean by that, is that we really haven't spent much time or energy on this room.  Although I have spent a lot of time updating and decorating other rooms in our home, I have chosen to leave this room alone.  Part of the reason for this is due to the bonus room that is attached to this room.  Our master is more of a suite, and I just don't know what to do with the bonus room.  Which room should actually hold our bed?  Should I make the other room a sitting room?  Because the possibilities are endless, I just haven't had a lot of confidence to do any sort of painting or purchasing extra furniture until I am sure of what I want to do with the space.  I definitely want to purchase a headboard soon, but I am just not sure what I want..... So I have just sort of waited...

However, now that I am getting ready for baby number one, the one thing I needed to accomplish was creating more darkness during the day in this room and possibly have properties that eliminate noise.  Because I know that soon I will be trying to sleep whenever my little one is sleeping.  Therefore, I decided to hang black-out drapes.  Initially I had a hard time deciding what color to go with since I know that in the coming months, most likely I will start decorating this room.

Before #1

Before #2

Initially I had a hard time deciding what color to go with since I know that in the coming months, most likely I will start decorating this room.  I wanted to make an investment in something I could hopefully use in the room down the road.  Therefore, I went with an ivory/blushy blackout silk option from Bed Bath & Beyond.  It goes with our bedding as of today, and I think it will work with whatever we choose in the future.

 After

Overall, I am extremely happy with my additions.  I am most pleased that the room is extremely dark regardless of the time of the day.  I am hopeful this will help be get some extra sleep in the coming weeks.

Alarmed.....

Most of you are most likely aware that October is National Fire Prevention Month.  Many of the home improvement stores have fire alarms on sale to help homeowners better protect themselves.  One thing I did not know, is that most fire alarms need to be replaced after 10 years.  This fact was important to me as our home was built in 1997, and with it being 2010, that meant that most likely most of our fire alarms in our home were overdue for replacement.  Also, I am in my third trimester of pregnancy, and my nesting instincts have really kicked in.  Therefore, my husband and I checked all our fire alarms, and found that most of them did indeed need to be replaced. 

Before

Once we determined we needed to replace our smoke alarms, we decided to do a bit of research as to what type of alarm to install.  We quickly learned there are two type of alarms: photoelectric and ionization.  So what is the difference you may ask?  Ionization sensors may respond slightly faster to flaming fires, whereas photoelectric sensors may respond slightly faster to smouldering fires.  Both meet federal and state safety guidelines, and the verdict is still out as to which one is better (from my research).  Therefore, it is recommended to enhance your fire safety prevent, that you install both type of alarms as you can not predict what sort of fire you may have.  We decided to go one step further, and choose some dual purpose fire alarms that also have carbon monoxide detectors.  Therefore, we installed six new fire alarms.  Four are battery powered, and two are hard wired to the house electrical system.  We added additional fire alarms to each of our bedrooms in the interior of the room as none of our bedrooms had fire alarms inside of the room.  It is recommended that you have alarms in your hallway, and then in the inside of the bedroom if you sleep with your doors closed (which we do). 

After (Hallway)

 After (Nursery)

All and all, the replacement units and install of new alarms took a little over a hour.  It was easy work, and I am very pleased to have this knocked off our list.  It is reassuring to know that all the alarms are functional, and will alert us if the need arises. 

Falling for Fall.....

The Midwest has been experiencing temperatures that are more inline with summer than fall.  In Indiana, we haven't had rain in weeks.  Most people's grass is burnt, and most plants have given up, and are just dormant.  However, the fall foilage is starting to fall, and it brings about my favorite time of year: fall.  To get into the fall spirit, I planted some mums in pots for our porch.  I thought I took some pics as I completed the process, but that wasn't the case.  Therefore, all I have to share are a before and after.

Before

After

 Close-up of Mums... Yummy Yellow color

 Just beautiful Peachy Flowers

 Beautiful Tree in front of our Home

Hopefully the temps will start to drop in the coming days.  Today's high was 87 degrees which set another record.  I am looking forward to some 50 degree weather.... Cross your fingers we will get it.