eclectic nursery inspiration board

I have a friend that is getting ready to have sweet baby #2 in a couple of short months! Her name is Hillary. Not only is she an amazing little mama of a little guy named Blue, but she's also a super talented photographer. You can find her over at the sparklette. She has lived in some interesting places...other than California. She's made her home in NY, Prague, and now- most recently, Portland...with her little family of four.

Her style is colorful, eclectic, and edgy. Her plan is to create a shared nursery space for her son Blue, and the up and coming, newborn bebe. Since baby #2 is a GIRL, Hillary wanted to utilize a fun splash of pinks in the space. We talked about other colors and simple patterns to get an idea of what she was going for. So I went off to work (or play) and put together a fun arrangement of electric colors and cheeky wall art and other fun goodies! 

Here is a sneak peak of some wild and crazy nursery fun. It's probably not your typical nursery design. But it's definitely unique and suits my friends' and her kiddos personalities. I put this palette of goodies together for her to give her some inspiration for her new space!

One of my favorite things, is the pink "There is a WHALE, There is a WAY" wall print. So silly!  

1. black cloud cushion

2. Ahoj art print

3. neon pink side table

4. raindrop pillows 

5. neon pink twinkle star pillow

6. retro giraffe ring toss

7. vintage counting frame

8. handpainted plates

9. mustache pillow and blue cloud pillow

10. neon pink screen printed pillows

11. whale pull toy

12. there is a whale there is a way print

13. when i grow up print

14. electric blue alarm clock

15. vintage stacking toy

16. b & w polka dot fabric

17. dot in blue fabric

18. b & w almonds rug

19. aqua ripple lamp

20. pendant lamp

21. love you night light

22. dark blue igor

23. pink LA skyline

24. neon blue dino

25. crochet bunting

a kiss and a hug,

Lisa

An old song

Today....

It's been a ROUGH one. As I rocked Coral to sleep tonight, I started HUMMING a song. She was having a rough day too apparently. She DIDN'T want to sleep. After a few verses of humming, I started to SING the song. I looked down and she was staring at me. I NEEDED to HEAR this song tonight. I needed to SING this song tonight. It was an OLD praise song from my youth. The good old days of singing SIMPLE praises, usually accompanied by a single acoustic GUITAR and the worship leader, leading.

This was MY song tonight...

FATHER, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you
JESUS, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you
SPIRIT, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you

Memories FLOODED tonight. Church bus rides, summer camp, youth group, choir tour, Mexico mission trips, and my bedroom...

...places where I HEARD this song and SANG this song. This song came BACK to me tonight. Appropriate time. I was HAPPY to sing it to my daughter tonight.


OH yes, I was actually somewhat CURIOUS to see who wrote this neat TUNE, back in the day.

His name is Matt Brouwer.  Check out his website HERE. I read his bio. Pretty COOL cat with a great story. I'll leave it to you, to READ it! He has an album out called "Till the sunrise". I totally want to LISTEN to some of his new tunes...but at the moment...this little girl finally went to SLEEP. Actually, everyone is currently asleep EXCEPT for "mama".

Who knows, I MIGHT have found some new music! And I'm happy to HAVE those sweet memories of my youth. And happy to WATCH my daughter grow up, someday singing these PRECIOUS songs to Jesus.

NIGHT-night!


a kiss and a hug,

Lisa


P.S. Does anyone else remember this song? What are some of your memories?

Graco: bans toxic flame retardants

One of my FAVORITE websites to find out information on healthy living for little ones is "Healthy Child Healthy World".  This week I read an article that was REALLY encouraging... 

Most of us mama's own BABY stuff from Graco or know moms that do.  Graco is the nations largest Children's products manufacture. The ugly TRUTH is that lots of Graco's products like strollers and car seats, contain "unlovely" CHEMICALS. 

We have LEARNED that Graco is committing to ban toxic flame retardants from children's products. This is super news! Yay for Graco! Here are a few of the chemicals that they plan to ELIMINATE:

• Tris phospate chemicals. These include TDCPP, TCEP, and TCPP. All three are either carcinogens or suspected carcinogens. 
• Firemaster 550. A toxic mixture of ingredients that are up for review by the EPA due to its potential health risk. 

In ADDITION, Graco is being asked to "disclose chemicals contained in their products and develop an alternative assessment system to ensure chemicals are inherently SAFER and lower hazard."

Orbit Baby and Britax have already been on the BANDWAGON to eliminate hazardous flame retardants. 

Read more about Orbit Baby's COMMITMENT to designing beautifully crafted products, along with keeping it safe and free of harmful and unnecessary chemicals HERE.

More on the article from Healthy Child Healthy World HERE.

I just might have to get an orbit NEXT time around :)

In the mean time....

Here are some pics of our family...with our Graco stroller :)

A TRIP to Redondo Beach, CA was all we needed to GET AWAY for a day!

a kiss and a hug,

Lisa

8 months

Here we are, honey! 8 months!

We had our own little photo shoot. Her favorite props were mama's multivitamins and a spatula. 

a kiss and a hug,

Lisa

to theme or not to theme : inspiration from a tea tin

Okay, let's get going on this again. Five months is way too long of a break, yikes!

Mommy-hood has been such a lovely, crazy, silly, fun-filled adventure. I have a LOVE for this little baby girl that is like no other in the WORLD. She is truly the best. And definitely keeps me on my toes. Like her dad, hehe!

Nurseries, nurseries. I have an obsession. Designing nurseries and kids' rooms is my passion. I believe there is a new movement. A movement that means, we do not have to succumb to the typical old-school nursery anymore. Gone, GONE are the days of going to a baby store, buying a matching set of baby furniture, selecting a cartoonish theme, and depending on the baby gender- decked out in purples, blues, and pinks. This really breaks my heart when I see this. We are much more creative than this now in the 21st century. Oh, it can be eclectic. It can be modern, but not cold. It can be simple. It can be colorful. It can be cozy and soft. And it can certainly be non-theme-y.

During my pregnancy, lots of people would ask me..."so what's the THEME of your nursery?" I was slightly embarrassed the first few times I was asked this question. Especially because I'm supposed to be an interior designer. HA. I must have a theme...right? Of course I had one...it was ever developing on a daily basis. Every night, during those last several minutes before I fell into DREAMLAND, I was designing my baby's nursery. What kind of designer am I without some kind of theme?

My first thoughts when people asked me this...hmmmm. maybe those vintage-y OWLS that are kind of popular? Then I totally decided against this. When things get too popular, it's no longer UNIQUE to me anymore. Changed my mind on that one quickly. I still love owls. But maybe just not the whole nursery.

Do not stress your SWEET little self, if a nursery theme is not coming to your mind right away.

As a designer, I believe it is essential to have something of "inspiration" to get you moving on your space. A book, a color, a flower, an antique chair, or a pattern on your favorite tin-box of TEA!

Look around and you'll be sure to find something that's LOVELY and that sparks a beautiful start to a "nursery theme".

Oh, and if your were wondering at all...

I finally came up with a "theme" to my daughter's nursery! And my daughter, CORAL, is now....7.5 months. hehee.

CALIFORNIA-vintage-sunshine baby

It's PERFECT!

And ever-evolving into a beautiful and sweet nursery

*wink*


More on nursery themes to come!!!

For more lovely, DOVELY nurseries, come over to my Pinterest page.



a kiss and a hug,

Lisa


PS - a few nurseries that I'm swooning over. I couldn't keep them from you. A little inspiration for you from Jute Interior Design.

shopping

Last week Coral and I went on a little adventure! We had our first trip to the mall all by ourselves. She was wide-eyed and taking in everything around her. We shopped around Macy's and visited all three floors. We strolled around in her baby bjorn and she was happy as a clam. The gift card that I got from my parents for my birthday finally came in handy.

She gave me the "yay" or "nay" smile to approve of the outfits that I tried on. It was quite the fun mommy and daughter time!

After three hours, we started to head back down to the car...then I almost forgot I needed to get some socks for Brad! At that point, Coral started to fuss and then broke out in a full on CRY. I debated whether or not to leave and make a made dash to the car OR run up to the second floor and get cozy in our favorite dressing room for a little nursing session. I decided on the second option!

We lost a purple sock on the way...hehehe.

It takes a little bit longer when you're lugging around a stroller, diaper bag, purse, shopping bags...and a little Coral :)

Anyway, we made it through! AND we even found the missing sock on our way back to the first floor, yay.

Admiring her outfit. She has an eye for detail already.

Her new dress that we picked out together.

Mahli wanted in on the girl fun too.

Pooped out. It was a long glamorous day at Macy's!

Coral Mae Gage

Coral Mae Gage

This is my sweet baby girl. She's changed my life forever! She's full of lots of smiles and giggles. Tomorrow marks 11 weeks already! 

Baby G at 20 weeks

                                                         Baby Gage at 20 weeks

What we know at his point : Baby bun is healthy! We went in for my 20 week fetal survey and thought we would find out the gender. Our little one was pretty comfortable and wouldn't get in a good enough position to "confirm". All we know is that it has a very healthy heart, brain, spine and other functioning organs. Brad and I were just overjoyed to see its little body moving all around. We could clearly see its hands and feet, the little one is quite flexible! It was sucking on its little fingers at one point and even turned to look at us :)

19 Weeks

                                                        "Little bun's" mommy and daddy

Today the babe is going on 19 weeks!  I have yet to feel a strong kick from the little one, but sometimes I feel some swirling around and just the tinniest of movements, especially when laying down at night. This coming Tuesday is the big day...ultrasound with the doctor and possibly get to find out if it's a boy or girl :D  It's very exciting! My mother-in-law and sis-in-law have been knitting a few things already and have a slight guess that it could be a girl. Most of my friends and family all say they just know it's a girl and sometimes slipping and calling it a "she". One friend said she can't imagine anything else but a "little Lisa" running around. It's pretty cute. I do have a girl name picked out, and the Hub and I are still working on a boy name idea. At first all I could think of was having a little girl like most new first time moms, but a lot of my girlfriends actually have boys and I think it would be totally fun with a boy too...a little scary--knowing how crazy my husband is and stories of his "little-boy" rambunctious ways--but great. It's really just a miracle and I'm just so thrilled to finally have our first baby and start our family. Having our "Mahli-woof" has been good practice for the last 9 years, but it's time for the real deal baby ;)

This morning, I'm hoping to make some homemade pancakes. I'm in love with my book "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook" I can tell how excited he is, to prepare food, just by reading his recipes. So far, I've been able to make nothing but AMAZING yummy food. I even made a "Beef Wellington" entre the other night, which I believe is an English dish...it was so fun and unique. So we'll see if they'll let me back in the kitchen this morning!! I've been kinda taking over a bit. Last night I had my mom and dad over for some fajita tacos. I LOVED hanging out with them more than anything. And the fajitas were also another hit...from Jamie's book.

                                                Showing off my mad tomato choppng skills

After breakfast, I'm heading off to a local farmer's market to see what I can get into!!! I really want my growing baby to experience tons of fresh, local, organic and just different varieties of fruits and veggies.  I've read how even now, their little taste buds are developing and enjoying whatever mommy is eating...so it has to be the best quality...as much as possible, especially after it's born. Oh yeah, this baby is going to love eating kale and spinach and all kinds of exotic fruits and veggies.  

It's 3am and I must be...

Pregnancy. I love it. I love when Brad talks to my tummy. I love waking up and admiring how much the little bun is growing. I love being able to eat watermelon all day. I love how I feel right now, especially after making it past the first trimester! I hate complaining about anything, but here is just one thing...it's stinky waking up at 2 or 3, having to go pee...making my mad dash to the bathroom and then stumble back into bed and...nothing. Laying there wide-eyed and completely awake, with no hope of falling back into dreamland. 2 hours will pass before I can get tired again. I'm finding though, that this seems to be when my mind is most creative! So that's cool. I can come up with cool names for my dream business, my babies middle name, floorplans for the baby room, and maternity clothing that I want to design someday. This morning, unlike the last few mornings, I never was able to go back to sleep. I felt a little mad honestly. I knew that I would be a "boob" today if I didn't get my sleep. I feel silly now though, because I should probably get used to this. As soon as baby is here, I won't get the beauty sleep that I'm used to. I need to get over it and use this time "wisely". Maybe I could do some baking! Or try to sew something...

 Here is Mahli before Brad and I walked out the door for church this morning

  The room was STACKED with sheet music. She found one little spot in the center and made it hers!