Nurspiration Revisted

I shared my original inspiration for the baby's room a little while back here, but that was put together month's ago, and of course reality hit and the plan has well, evolved since then.

Behold nurspiration, revisted:

Crab Themed Nursery and Guest Room by tarheelcharm on Polyvore

And why:

Reality #1:  We live in a 2-bedroom rowhouse.  The baby is going to get a lesson in sharing early, starting with its room.  

Hey, both the hubs and I shared rooms growing up, our kid can learn to do it, too.

The second bedroom has been serving as a guest room up until now, and it didn't seem right to just scrap the extra bed and sleeping space just so a little thing who won't know the difference anyway could have its own room.  So the nursery idea soon became guest room slash nursery.  We figure when we do have overnight guests, the baby can just rough it in the pack and play in our room with us.

Reality #2:  Too much of a theme was too much for me.

So I could have gone crab-crazy on this room, with every little crab knickknack I could find in a 50-mile radius (and in Maryland, that would be a lot), I just didn't really want to go there.  Less is more.  So the inspiration board became more of a color scheme for the room than anything. The crib bedding was set, and I went from there.  Plus there were so many other fabulous little nursery features I had seen out there that I wanted to incorporate.

Reality #3:  I wanted make sure I was bringing some North Carolina up in there.

This Tar Heel couldn't go completely straight Maryland after all.  And while it didn't make it to the board above, I definitely have some NC touches in the room that I hope that this child can learn to appreciate as much (or more, that's fine too) as his or her mother does.

So I might not have stuck to the original plan, but now as I am continuing to learn, being a week past my due date after all, that everything isn't going to go to plan and you can't plan everything out.  

But it all will work out the way its supposed to.

Can't wait to share how it's all worked out for us.

One Down...

Approximately 2,739,466 to go.  Projects that is.

First I put my first planned project of the year out there, the matchbook art I hoped to create, and I can thankfully say that the mission has been accomplished.  But before I could take too long basking in the glory, the hubs asked me what's the next project.  Good question, not because there's a lack of projects, but which one to pick first?  I took a look at my Pinterest to-do list, and it ain't short.

Can I get a witness?  I have to believe anyone else who has spent more than a minute pinning feels my pain.

So let's see for starters, in the guest room I'd like to do this:

Just a Girl

And this:

Centsational Girl

This for above the bed:

The Ginger Penny Pincher

And the dresser definitely needs this:

Centsational Girl

Ugh and that's just the guest room.

We have some VIG's (give it a second, you'll get it) coming to the house in the not too distant future, so I really need to light a fire under my backside, too.  Which could be difficult now that all of my matches have been disposed of.  Darn it, I knew I was keeping those around for a reason.

Well as I'm sure Confucius once said, a journey of a thousand projects begins with a single visit to Michael's.  Better get to it.

Come on Baby, Light My Fire

Ah Jim Morrison, or Uncle Jim as I like to call him since we once shared the same last name.  I would even sometimes convince classmates that he was my actual uncle, mainly because I could mourn his loss as if we were truly flesh and blood.  "Poor, poor Uncle Jim" I would say with tears welling up...  but I digress, as I often do.

This isn't about (Uncle) Jim, it's about fire.  Well, it's not really even about fire.   What is this about?  Well, okay, maybe fire a little.  Because I am fascinated it by it.  Not as in I am going to torch this place any second, more like, "wow, fire is cool."  Let's be honest, it's really neat to just watch a fire burn in the fireplace, right?  Well, for me it is, and always has been, don't judge.  I think it is this interest in fire that, ahem, sparked my desire to collect matches.  I swear I must have still been in middle school when I started my collection.  And it probably didn't hurt that it was around that time I had Beavis and Butthead on MTV every week reminding me how cool fire is (but only when I babysat or we went on vacation, since we didn't have cable growing up).  There I go digressing again.

The point is, I have been collecting matches for quite some time.  At just about every restaurant (or hotel or gas station) I'd go to from age 13 until now, I make sure to look for or even ask if they have matches, and if so could I have a book of them.  As my collection grew, I realized what a neat way it was to document all of my travels, experiences, and gas fill-ups.  But not so much lately, why is that?  Well in 2007, I had just moved to Baltimore when smoking was banned in bars and restaurants.  A funny thing happens when there's no more smoking at a restaurant, there's no more need for matches.  I've since noticed that hardly any place has branded matches these days, except for the occasional steak house, and the most recent matchbook I picked up was in Vegas last summer (where you can still smoke in a bar, go figure). 

So it has been for some time now that my collection really hasn't grow too much, and I have had more time to think about what would best way to actually put it on display (each and every day, every day, every day.) Darn you Melissa Gorga for haunting my thoughts!

Most of my matches are currently placed in an Ikea vase like this

which looks okay but not quite as chic as I had imagined. 

There has to be something more I could do with such a fabulous collection.  Plus our dining room is hurting for some wall decoration so I wouldn't mind if I could do something about that at the same time.  It was with idea in mind "matches + display x wall art = happy Tar Heel"  that I went on a search of the interwebs. And what did my little googling self find?  Inspiration!  <Cue the background choir of angels>


Man, I sure wouldn't mind having that banquet table as well.  Unfortunately I don't think I can make one of those out of matchbooks.  I don't even know if the wall art is actually matchbooks, but darn it, that's what it shall be in my house.  So I believe that will be my first project for 2012.  Wish me luck!

UPDATE:  You can see my finished product here!