It's a Circus Life

These 2 bums have been inseparable lately, even in their sleep. 

Yep, we have made the transition from separate sleeping quarters to the chaos closeness of a single shared dormitory. Last night was the 4th night sharing their new combined space and it's been...well, interesting. I'm sure for many reasons, including cutting new teeth, new surroundings, new bedtime routine for Spicy, etc. they have both been waking a bit lot more than usual. Sometimes, the one off in dreamland can sleep right through the noises and sometimes, she just can't, which comes, the interesting part. Two babes vying for mommy's assistance to get back into a deep sleep, in the middle of the night, as my 3rd baby does somersaults of his own making my tummy feel like an erupting volcano. Good times! 

Good thing for daddy's!

But enough about that thing they call sleep (what's that, anyway?), I'm sure it will just take some time to adjust and soon they won't remember anything differently.

The real reason I was so excited to post this was to document the changes, the little (& not so little) decorating projects that have been completed to make this room possibly my new favorite little spot in the house. 

The dresser. 

Ah, the dresser. The focal point of the room. This dresser was my little sister's up until about the age of 11 or 12 when she got a new bedroom set. She's now 28 so I think it's officially an antique. Anyway, my mom moved it from room to room definitely getting her money's worth until she finally got sick of it convinced my dad to buy some new furniture for their sun room. She offered it to us and I graciously accepted, keeping in the back of my mind all those impressive DIY refurbishing projects I had seen (but never attempted) and thought I could  partake in to transform it into something of my liking. I wish so badly I had a before picture (I know I took one but after searching & searching through hundreds of my unorganized pictures, I gave up) but just imagine an off-white color, stained by the sun with paint chipping and wood warping (due to daddy and my negligence keeping it outside, uncovered, in days of harsh rain, woops!) with hideous, obnoxiously large wooden knobs. 

And here it is today...

Isn't it a beaut? I was supposed to do all the sanding and priming and painting myself (under a certain contractor's mentor-ship) but of course, SuperDad came to the rescue, completely undertaking the entire project himself and doing an amazing job as always & a whole heck of a lot better than I would have done! I absolutely looooove the way it turned out! So often, projects I undertake don't come out anything near what I had in my mind but this one surpassed my expectation and vision (probably because I didn't touch it, ha!)  I seriously get so excited when I walk in to greet my baby blue friend.
And the knobs.

 I get all giddy when my hands touch those knobs. After searching all the hardware stores and several online sites, I finally found what I was looking for and in my price range. It took about 5 days to receive them and when my UPS friend arrived yesterday, apparently I couldn't contain my excitement because without hesitation, I shouted "My dresser knobs!!!!" throwing my arms straight up to the sky as my neighbor who was standing next to me looked at me very perplexed and couldn't help but laugh at with me!  I even made the bearer of such a wonderful gift chuckle as I embarrassingly explained, "Hey this is serious stuff for a SAH-internet-shopper Mom."

Anyway, I think the glass knobs give it a vintage twist and showcase the awesome-ness of my dad's handy work!

The pendant name sign was done to coordinate with big sister's that I made over a year ago. 

Before:

After:

Another fun project was dressing up this family of hand carved elephants that traveled all the way from Ghana, Africa from my Missions Trip in 2001. I hesitated to taint their original beauty but the crafty part within me just couldn't contain itself. Once I found the coordinating crib bedding for Sweets (courtesy of IKEA) and saw the decked out elephants here (& on the back side),

 the idea immediately popped in my head and I knew I just had to tackle it!

So here goes, the Before:

 And the After:

And this bad boy has been with Spicy & I through many an adventure. 

I picked him up from Z Gallerie on sale (the only time I have ever walked past that store) when daddy was oversees and I was filling much of my down time missing him, trying to accessorize her jungle-themed nursery. It's been lugged to baby showers & photo shoots & I was so glad he still worked in this room because as annoying as it is when the girls knock him over time and time again & want to be lifted onto his back for pretend rides, I wasn't ready to part with him just yet. 

Other little touches to the circus inspired room come from Grandma Emde's labor of love.

 I absolutely treasure that these things she left behind are in my girls room, not just for looks but apart of their play and enjoyment. Seeing them take pleasure in her crafty and talented creations just warms my heart and connects all of us to her (even though they never had the chance to meet her). Every time I see them flipping through the pages of the cloth book she sewed or asking to take Mr. Clown down from the shelf, I think of her, I am flooded with memories of her, I pray for her, converse with her in my thoughts and smile, knowing she is with us in our circus party every time we play together in here.

And because the girls spend a lot of time in here, I tried to preserve the little work stations/play areas that previously existed since they still desperately need their own space/time for independent play. Although many times, I am tempted to plead with SuperDad to build an iron wall divider with a deadbolt that only I control, I think these little 'nooks' work to keep them from killing each other. ;) 

The art/drawing/coloring/homework table:

The dollhouse that they both seem to enjoy together (& yes that would be a blue-headed martian bobble-head guy invading the party on the top floor):

 The reading corner:

And the dress-up corner where Spicy spends a lot of time trying on various dresses and accessories pretending to be a ballerina princess:

Some more details:

Anyway, it's been a fun, fun undertaking that has kept me quite busy, mainly trying to purge, consolidate and organize toys and clothes that used to have twice the space.

And now, onto finishing the little guy's nursery...