Before Ivy was born, P and I decided to revamp a chest of drawers for the baby room. I took pictures of the process to share, and recently realised that I never posted about it! So here we go.
Pre-baby being born, we didn't know whether 'it' was going to be a lad or a lady. And even if we did, I wanted the drawers to work for other babies we may have which may or may not follow the trend. So neutral colours it was! In fact, most of the baby room is white with a bit of a 'rainbow' theme I guess. Some pink has entered proceedings, but they are mainly from gifts. I have come to appreciate a bit of pink these days anyway!
To start, I found a second-hand chest of drawers on Gumtree for $80. We drove out one night to St Ives to pick it up. It had dark, brass handles on it and was lightly varnished. Here's the pic from Gumtree.
So we took off the handles (we still have them I think if anyone wants 'em!) and filled the holes. I had already bought some new knobs on Etsy.
Then we used my dad's sander to take off the varnish. This was all in my folks' back garden!
After taping up the bit we didn't want painted, we then painted the whole lot white. Two coats. In fact, I think we did three coats on the frame so that the finish was shiny and durable. White was a big theme for me in the room. I know it's very 'now' and will probably be 'so last year' but I like the plainness of it, so that colours really pop out when you add them in. Plus, it lightens the room (I'm not into dark baby rooms) and works for a boy or a girl baby. Not to mention it's soooo easy to match your furniture.
Next came the colours! I had previously gone to Bunnings, picked out a colour swatch in green then took it to the paint-man to make me up 5 sample pots. They were about $10 each. There was plenty in there for 2-3 coats on the drawers! You can see them on the side of each drawer. We did that so we didn't mix them up... as the paint is going on wet and the colours are so close, it's easy to make a mistake.
Here's me with a big belly (probably about a month off) doing my fair share of painting!
And here it is!! We are soooo happy with it. It feels so nice to have done something ourselves. Something the kids can put stickers on and hide things in. Something that isn't too baby-ish so might last them a while! The cost for the whole project (drawers, sandpaper, paint etc) was about $150.
This was in our old place, sans knobs at that point... (special mention to Liv who got us these awesome prints! For some reason Ivy thinks the bear is hilarious and just stares at him, grinning. Weirdo baby.)
And now in the new room! Found those fish at the St Kilda markets when we were in Melbs recently.
I promise to do a whole Ivy room tour soon. I love it in there, and people have been kind enough to comment how nice it is. I agree! *She says modestly*
Es ♥
 |
A close up of the knobs!
There are lots of different animals all mixed up.
Etsy is a fun place to shop... get on it! |
"Life is complex and busy and crazy and overwhelming. Baking strips away all that bullshit and allows you to just focus on the simple pleasure of making something. It’s simple, meditative even. There is no room for compromise or interpretation; it requires you to follow the instructions for a result. Generally, that result is pretty great – it makes people happy and makes the house smell like a home. That’s why I love it. The world is a noisy place. More people should just shut up and bake a cake."
.JPG)
.JPG)
Yup, it's the big 3-OH tomorrow. Yikes! Which means this is my last day in my 20's and probably a good time to take stock. I guess a lot has happened. Travelled to lots of places. Lots of study. Lots of yummy friends. Started career in Natural Health. Bought a house (that we don't actually live in). Oh yeah, and made a baby. I guess what I'm saying is that I feel blessed. Over the last few years, I really feel like I am happy in my own skin. I have stopped looking at others to try and emulate them; I now find I have brought back a lot of the 'Estherisms' that I had as a child. More silliness, more dreaming, more creativity and more confidence. Turing 30 brings a new feeling of authenticity that I certainly didn't have in my early 20's. I was too busy trying out bits of others' qualities on for size. They never really fit, so here I am, back in my own outfit. And it feels pretty damn good ♥
The wonderful Talia makes up bags of fresh, seasonal produce in lots of 1-person and 2-person bags. We opted for the 2-person option, and the amount of stuff in there was amazing. We're talking beans, kale, apples, blueberries, rhubarb, sweet potato, lettuce, eggplant, herbs, onions, mushrooms... and more! Each week it changes, and she always includes a bunch of flowers and occasional other goodies. This week we were lucky enough to get some of her home-made muesli and her partner's own coffee blend. Considering Ed works for Single Origin, you can safely assume his own blends are just as fantastic (and it is, we had some yesterday).
I can't rave about this enough. It was a good price, and by the time we bought meat yesterday, we ended up about the same as what we normally spend per week. Perhaps a bit cheaper. We love shopping at the farmer's markets (Marrickville on Sunday is a firm favourite), but with a 4-month old, sometimes it's just a bit hard. By the time she's had her first good nap for the day, it's way too busy at the market. And a pram is out of the question! So you end up carrying the bub and arms full of heavy veggies. Not something you want to do all the time, let me tell you.
Check out this article...
