Pepper Design Blog

Project Nursery: Vintage Alphabet Wall Art

Alas, no baby news. I am officially nine days overdue and I’ve tried reflexology, acupuncture, spicy foods, plenty of exercise and a decent amount of driving over large pot holes that just happen to get in my way on the road.

Yesterday afternoon we visited San Diego snow (yes, it sort of snows here – crazy but true) in the nearby mountain towns of Mt. Laguna and Julian, our favorite get-out-of-dodge locations for a quick distraction.

Wow it was beautiful! We took advantage of the clear skies and enjoyed an hour induction hike with Bodie, who just loves the snow.

Meanwhile, the nursery received a new addition. I’ve had my eyes out for a vintage alphabet poster since my first trimester and when I came across this one on a family trip to Sedona back in July, I scooped it up knowing it would be part of the inspiration for the space.

Fast forward six months later and an Ikea frame + the print (found the same one on Amazon) + a little spray paint (same red oxide primer we used for the changing table) = one new piece of very wallet-friendly art.

This particular Ikea frame has a plastic (instead of glass) insert, which makes it even more ideal for a nursery space.

I don’t know where it will finally end up (waiting on baby photos and additional wall art before hammering any nails into the wall) but it turned out just as I had hoped.

If you’re playing catch up, here’s a quick Project Nursery run down of posts: painting the wall animals, finding a great Craigslist changing table, adding stripes to one accent wall, the initial inspiration board and the really crazy before pictures of the room.

Today’s the last day to enter the Lowe’s giveaway for a new air purifier! Check it out here.

And do share, all you mommies out there, what natural induction secrets do you know?

Office Makeover: Laying Out A Few Ideas

The new office/guestroom space is humming along and it’s about time to consider how we’ll organize this somewhat looong and narrow space. Since I hope to have it fulfill two very different functions (that of an organized and well-designed office as well as a comfy space for our guests to hang their hats) the narrow-ness (is that a word?) of the room might be a bonus in disguise.

But just to lay a little context to the gray & white diagrams below… here’s the spa-like color palette I’m mulling over at the moment:

We love dark, warm furniture (as you can tell from the rest of the house) but we’re playing with the idea of keeping everything white in this room… maybe.

Here’s the layout that has been floating around the back of my mind since day 1:

The day bed end of the room would be the bedroom and the desk end the office space. The off center french doors actually line up with the doors to our kitchen and the island, but it looks a bit odd in the diagram.

Of course a day bed isn’t exactly the comfiest option for couples spending the night – and we regularly have more than one guest (such as our parents, grandparents, friends with children) so here are two potential designs that would include a full bed.

Or:

The office space portion might change as we hunt down thrift store and Craigslist finds to fit the area, but this at least gives us a list to start exploring. Ideally we could track down a set of bookshelves and even create a ‘built-in’ look with molding for around the new desk.

The thought of creating a more natural partition between the two spaces has crossed my mind as well – perhaps an open bookshelf or fabric screen divider will find its way into the space, as long as it doesn’t compromise the little room we’re working with!

Oh the decisions… back to the drawing board we go.

Office Makeover: More Demo and a Neat Find

First, thank you to everyone for your kind comments about our growing family! It’s been so neat and encouraging to read your supportive words and suggestions from the past week.

Besides a restful and wonderful Christmas break, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind between our most recent house projects, family in town and that anxious when-will-we-meet-baby feeling!

And to keep busy (above and beyond my actual work), I’ve had too much fun planning the new spaces and pulling together inspiration boards for what these rooms might be… but before any designing can get underway, the rooms have to be, well, rebuilt.

I last left you with this lovely image of our soon-to-be guestroom/office (here’s the lovely 70s wood paneled before post):

Oh boy. We bit off a big chunk of home makeover.

Just to be sure that this room was well partitioned off from the rest of the house (aka dust, debris and the like could stay contained) in anticipation for Baby Spenla’s arrival, we blocked off the space just before Christmas. And then the rest of the house received a thorough cleaning to welcome in incoming family from out of town.

PS Do you see those great doors? More to come… but we found this pair in a local San Diego neighborhood full of beautiful Spanish homes, and the original owner was throwing them away! So of course we scooped up this set as well as a larger pair to refinish for our little Spanish bungalow. You can’t beat the craftmanship of original doors and we saved ourselves a bundle with this find.

But first a peak inside the room…

Yes! Are you noticing that wallpaper too? We revealed a real gem under the paneling when it was torn off. This must be original to the 1930s interior decor of the home and I seriously wish I had the power to scrape it off the wall and save it.

It’s covered in little medicine jars, mixing bowls, weighing scales – even pineapples! It’s the neatest find – but don’t worry, it’s not staying.

And as the baby gives us more time to finish this makeover, we’ll continue to work on it. How wonderful would it be to have a completed office/guestroom before more family arrives later this month?

Meanwhile, I’m a week over due and I’ve received the official baby-must-be-out orders from the midwife by January 11, or it’s induction time. Kevin potentially has t-minus 7 days to drywall, plaster and add flooring to the new space, but knowing him it’s definitely doable (and even if Baby S graces us with his/her arrival sooner – which we would LOVE! – the room will most definitely be finished in its due time, no pun intended).