New Year's Goals

• get more organized
• work out regularly
• start a book club
• potty train Sara
• teach Drewby to read
• magnify church callings
• date hubby more
• go on vacation
• start new projects... and FINISH the ones I have already started
• regularly update the family blog!

Sara's Bedroom

Source of Inspiration: Sara's baby blanket. This was my source of inspiration when decorating Sara's room. It is a banket my mom gave her last Christmas, and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. It is a handmade quilt, made by my cousin who sells them. I took my two favorite materials from the blanket, ordered them online (designer fabrics and very pricey), and sewed curtains and a crib set. I have never done anything like it, I was very much out of my element. Somehow I made it work!

Dilemma: There were two tall dressers that were unable to fit in the master bedroom, so they had to go in Sara's room. I just couldn't come up with a good space plan for all the furniture, which really only consisted of the two dressers and Sara's crib.

Solution: The solution came to me as I was browsing the HGTV website. I placed the crib between the two dressers along the wall. Even though the crib wasn't smack dab in the middle, I created the illusion by hanging sheers on either side of the crib by way of a long shower rod. It had to be tweaked a bit to keep from sagging in the middle, so it's a good thing my husband is first and foremost an enigineer. I ad-libbed on the curtain design, but it turned out so cute, I couldn't refrain from patting myself on the back! For the crib bedding, I just made a huge sleeve and inserted my old crib bedding. I did that for three reasons: 1) I can't sew very well. I wasn't sure if I could make quality bumper pads. 2) After spending a small fortune on several yards of designer fabric, I just couldn't afford to make bedding by scratch. 3) I didn't want to destroy the Noah's Ark bedding that all my boys had when they were babies, it was just too sentimental.

Here is how it turned out!

I picked up this little shelving unit at the Salvation Army for $20. Its DIY brand sold at Target for about $80! I was so excited, what a great buy!

I took some "curtain jewelry" that I bought at walmart for $4 a strand and cut it apart to create a border of butterflies above the closet doors.

I bought the larger butterflies at Target for $12. It was a kids craft project!

ARTWORK

I bought these picture frames for really cheap, $4 each, at The Christmas Tree Shops in Boston when we were there. The butterfly picture and the initials I just printed off my computer. I also added the buttons, ribbon, and scrapbook fibers, they turned out so cute!

I am so excited that I finished my first design project since school! It was a great design on a small budget, in total I think I spent about $220 for paint, furniture, art, and fabric, and sewing supplies. It was so much fun and I can't wait to be able to do it again!