Tanner Projects

More big news.  (It's shaping up to be a big year!)  And no, we're not pregnant, Mom.  We've started a new blog!  

Tanner Projects

We're still working on the blog layout (just like I'm still working on convincing Will that Desitin is not a food...) so it's a little arcane, but we're excited to start sharing our home renovations.  We've got a little house tour up as well as a few other gems, so check it out, follow our page, and DIY with us!

Will's clearly excited about it. Almost excited as he was when he found that tube of Desitin...

Back in the Game!

We've been busy.  I decided to give blogging a break and focus on more important things.  Like healing from cancer (what?!), perfecting egg-in-the-holes for Grantie:

Playing with my bubba: 

And finishing our first reupholstery job!!  (Nevermind that this project started in FEBRUARY...)

We went with the first fabric back from the ones we were looking at months ago, Bedazzle Silver Lining by Waverly.  We are stoked with how it turned out.  Just one more to go!

Living for Summer

Will is dying to get outside...

And who wouldn't be?!  The weather is nice and the garden is growing...

Oh... and I'm six weeks out from surgery.  I can finally pick up my little bubba.  Hooray!

Recent Doings

Trimming bushes

Building a self-watering garden

Using his new router

We've also been painting the loft as well as ordering fabric for the wingback chairs.  Of course, the fabric, which was supposed to arrive a few weeks ago, has been backordered and won't arrive until mid to late-May.  Boo.  

We settled on this one. Eventually, we'll get around to actually doing something about it.

But for now, I'm getting ready for mine and Will's trip to Utah!  Woohoo!

What's Happenin'

We've been busy projecting around the house lately.  I can't say we have much to show for it right now... except a messy house.   But here's what's in the works:

-Painting the loft
-Building a self-watering, raised garden bed in the backyard
-Spray-painted the candlesticks for the mantle
-Bought fabric to reupholster the wingback chairs

My brain is a little overwhelmed, but I'm excited about how everything will (hopefully) turn out.

The Springing of Spring

We've had a fun week in this beautiful spring weather!  We've been out on a few walks, checked out a few garage sales, and loved the light lasting a little longer in the evening.  

We have two BYU rugby players staying with us while they are in town for a few games and a camp. I love having people in the house.  It makes me excited to do all of the things I might normally begrudge doing: cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping etc.  We also love reminiscing about BYU and the amazing time we had there.  Tis a magical place. 

We've also been slowly progressing in the home projects department.  We painted the guest room, and I've been cleaning these candlesticks that Mumsie gave us.

The plan is to paint them white for the mantle.  But Bubba's plan is just to eat them.  Along with everything else that will fit in his mouth.

Yay for Spring!  And also... for the Hunger Games movie-- we're going tomorrow and Will is going to have his first non-family babysitter.  Schweet.

Beginning Home Projects

We love our new house.  We are certainly the definition of "house poor" right now.  Moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house left us quite a few decorative holes.  Luckily, those holes left room for decorative projects!

We spent a week or so ripping apart the first of our two wingback chairs.  We are planning to reupholster them both, but haven't decided on a fabric yet, but have a few choices: One, Two, or Three. Any thoughts?

But for now, our dining room/family room is a reupholstery-in-progress room.

Snow Day

It's been snowy lately.  And we've had a driveway to shovel.  On this day, we shoveled four times- hence the giant piles of snow.  We got 26 inches.  Holy shamolies.

Willister has been enjoying the cold weather. 

And so has Grant.  We're planning to head up to the mountains soon.  But the big question: skiing or snowshoeing?!

News

We live in a house.  

Yep. A house.

That we own.

When did I get so old?!

Willister loves his new home.

And the fact that he finally has room to circle his giant toy.  

Building Baby's Room: Part 7

Will loves his room.  (Well, he hasn't complained...).  The bedding turned out great.  I love how all of the fabrics look together & the colors work well.  The bumper turned out a little too big... and I've been too lazy to fix it, hence the overlapping corner.  But that corner allows Catan, Will's sock monkey, to look over him while he sleeps.

Preview of Will's Room

The room is done.  Mostly.  But it is also filled with unhung picture frames and a twin bed that threatens to become a permanent fixture.  (It's just a little too handy).  

So until things are a little tidier, enjoy this snippet of Will's room.  Everything is homemade. Except the crib... and the sticks.  Some tree made those.

Thrifted!

I have officially decided that Pinterest has saved my decorating life as we know it.

I rummage through other people's genius ideas.  I find new websites full of images of great design.  I don't know why they're great.  I don't really know why I like them.  But I keep track of them.  And I copy them.

Yesterday we found this sweet mirror at Goodwill.  Two bucks.  Yes, that's a 2... I saw it and immediately knew it would be great in our bathroom.  (This whole "immediately knowing" thing is new... thank you Pinterest).

I'm digging the girly-lacy feel around the edges.  I want to find some cool apothecary-like jars to put on here as well.  I also need to fill those vases with something... any ideas?

Yay for small successes!

Building Baby's Room: Part 6

The dressers are done!  Being our first true refinishing job, we learned a lot along the way.  But we are really pleased with how they turned out.

Building Baby's Room: Part 5

Today, in an attempt to not think about being 9 months pregnant, I began a little mobile for T's room.  I found pictures and even a free pattern (yes!) at Spoolsewing.com

So I chopped some fabric scraps into bird parts:

Building Baby's Room: Part 4

For the next major part of Baby T's room, he needed somewhere to put all his cute teeny clothes!  We wanted to find a medium-sized, counter-height dresser to turn into a changing table as well as a small dresser that can act as a sort of nightstand in the corner.  

After scouring Craigslist, Goodwill, and every antique/thrift store I could find for multiple weeks, we ended up with just what we were looking for.

Building Baby's Room: Part 3

My book finally came!  After figuring out which patterns I wanted where, I headed back to Snappy Quilts to buy the fabric.  If you recall, I originally picked out these fabrics for the baby's bedding.  But of course, as life goes, half the fabric I picked were out of stock and un-orderable... of course.

But I found some great substitutes that I actually like a bit better than my original choices!

Baby Walls

I went to Home Depot.  By myself. Woot for me.  Jumping off of a nursery blog post found here, I went to get a paint sample that would closely match Restoration Hardware's color Silver Sage.  I ended up leaving not only with a Glidden sample made up to match Silver Sage, but four other grey Glidden samples. 

Building Baby's Room: Part 2

Yesterday I bought all of the fabric & notions & such needed for the nursery's bedding.  As of five minutes ago, I have successfully finished part one of T's bedding: a fitted crib sheet!  Woohoo!  Instead of uploading pictures right now, I'm going to be responsible and take a shower :)  Yes, it's almost 5PM...  Just wanted to revel in the glory of success...  Pictures coming soon.

Building Baby's Room: Part 1

Believe it or not, Grant is really the decorator in the family.  He has been saving pictures on his computer of home design ideas since we got married.  Recently, I discovered Pinterest where we've both started collecting fun ideas we find here & there on the net.

But now that we've got "T" to get ready for, I've had to take the reins a bit.  I'm usually hesitant to do anything drastic in our home because it's not my "thing" and Grant usually has stronger opinions than me.  But this time, I've said, "I'm doing it myself.  If you can be around to help, then I want your opinion.  If not, I've gotta man up and do it!"  Take that universe.

So, I did lots of research online picking out nurseries I liked and deciding which elements were most important.  After deciding that most of the bedding offered in sets didn't appeal to me, I'm venturing out and making my own!!  I ordered Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones, and headed out to Snappy Quilts, a local quilt shop that carries designer fabrics.

I picked out about five fabrics and got little samples of each.  The main nursery colors will be grey and white with green and orange accents.  The actual orange is a bit lighter than this picture shows- more of a creamsicle.  When my book gets here (finally), then I'll decide which fabrics to put where and I'll get started on the sewing!!

Also on the agenda for T's room: dresser, curtains, crib, walls... everything... hah.  This kid will have a killer nursery... eventually. Luckily (sort of) this kid won't let me sleep, so I'll have lots of extra work time between 1 and 5AM.  Excellent :)

Home Sweet (almost) Home

Welcome to the new Tanner storage unit!...err.. home!

I took these pictures Monday so luckily things are looking much better now.  We're still not completely unpacked but we're getting closer.  When things are all cleaned up I'll take a few more pictures.  

The kitchen is great with a bit more storage than our last place.  Woot.

The dining room just opposite of the kitchen.  The lighting was terrible...

The living room.  All the floors are wood except for in the bedrooms.  Not fancy hardwood or anything, but it looks pretty good :)  Plus, Grant is excited to finally get an area rug for the living room.

Baby T's room.  Right now it's an office/storage room.  I'm in the crazy process of washing all of Baby's clothes... that's a whole nother post.  And yes, nother is a word now.

The master bedroom.  We love all the light the apartment gets.  At least, we love that light until about 6 in the morning when it comes pouring in the windows... we need to get some blackout curtains.

The master closet.  Yay for lots of hanger space. 

And hello Baby T.  He's a bit limiting in terms of moving...  I suppose that's why I was wandering around taking pictures while Grant and his parents carried everything in from the truck... Thanks Ron & Leslie!!

Stay tuned for apartment updates.  On the (never ending) agenda is to get a couch, reupholster two awesome chairs, find an area rug, all of Baby's furniture/hardware, etc.  Whew!