Behold, I give you....

The kids' room!

I am proud to say that the children's room is finished. Well, at least I am finished with the sewing projects. FINALLY. It only took me 2 years, give or take a few months here and there. But it's DONE. DONE. I don't know why it took so long to finish James' quilt. It wasn't hard and went really fast. I guess I just fell out of the sewing mood. You know what I'm talking about.

So here is Madison's quilt. I finished it at or around the time she was born I think. I made a matching baby bumper, bed skirt, and boppy pi-wow (Jame's word for pillow) cover.

Look at the difference between the top photo and the one below. What a difference a few washes make. I swear the quilt shrunk. Is that normal? Anyone? I've never made a quilt before. So what do I know? Madison doesn't need the bumper anymore so I took it off. Too bad. It was really cute... can't find pictures of it anywhere and it's pretty trashed now so better to not post pix.

The flower is actually a night light. Frames are cheap ikea ones and I framed the fabric from her bedding. The lion was just too cute to not frame. See the little sweet heart over it's head? Just like baby Madison *sigh* who's not even a baby anymore. And yes, the wall is pink. Despite hating pink, it was the best alternative to red and the pink went well with the blue already on the wall.

James' Bed! He actually doesn't sleep in it. But it just shows you how cute their room is! I searched high and wide for bright colors to update their room. I wanted something fun for James since he was a toddler and something cute for Madison. I vowed to NEVER make a full children's bedding set ever again because it was so much work. But alas, after searching high and wide I found nothing and fell in love with some fabric and ideas from Ikea (of all places it used to be my least favorite place). I ended up making almost everything. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it was the first time.

I dare to call it the Ikea room. Everything is pretty much from Ikea; rugs, leaves, storage systems, etc.

Up close you can see that both quilts have the exact same pattern. If you look even closer you can see there are blocks of 4x4 squares. I cut each square 2 1/2" leaving 1/4" for seam allowance. So the finished square is 2" give or a take a smidgen due to the quilting. There are 4 squares of green hippo, two plain white squares, two of the big animal print squares (see boppy pi-wow cover), two solid blue squares, three polka dot squares, and three striped squares. I arranged them in a pattern I liked with the hippos running straight lines across(t) the blanket. I wished the quilt thread was blue instead of white. But I'll live. The quilt pattern is bubbles.

Madison's quilt is exactly the same. Just red and pink instead of blue and green. Her quilt pattern is flowers. In about 5 washes, James' quilt will look as worn and faded as Madison's. Ikea fabric didn't hold it's color - but what do you get for cheap? It's still cute to me!

Christmas of 2010 was ridiculous. Toys everywhere. So I had to add this new storage system to the mix. Of course Ikea. It was exactly what these kids needed. Inexpensive and if they trash it I don't care. How can you go wrong with plastic buckets?

Like I said before, James and Madison don't physically sleep in the same room but it's nice to have that option. We took James out and put him in the movie room because they are both light sleepers and would wake each other up at night. They share the same dresser, closet, hamper, etc. They even share the same changing table. I KNOW! When will James be ready for potty training? He's THREE! Boys just don't get it.

One of my favorite things about their room are the stars. James LOVES hats. And the ones he normally wears can be hung up on these hooks. I got this idea from Joanne's. I sanded the stars, painted, then sealed it with with a polyurethane clear coat. I put 3M heavy duty velco tape to the back and that's how they stick so flat to the wall. It's awesome. I also love that it can hold James' backpack now that he goes to preschool!

With two in diapers, I'm less than thrilled to show you this picture. But I made the little pad here from extra fabric that came with a bed sheet from ikea.

Here I give you the inside of the closet. I have to give a shout out to Breanne who helped design (I correct myself, who did design) the layout years ago when we re-did it to give us more practically storage/space. It's an awkward closet but we made it work. I'm so lucky to have such a handy husband who was able to build this for me. The center shelf unit has adjustable shelves. Now it serves as the bottom two shelves are a bookcase, third shelf is for James' shoes, fourth shelf is for misc. buckets of kids' stuff, fifth shelf is for Madison's shelf, sixth shelf.... well you get the point. It's very practical. Here's our reading pi-wow. She is yet to be named because both my kids can't talk. I'm thinking Madison will give her a name first, she is spouting off words right and left.

Last but not least, I dare show you a picture of the gizzards - if you will - of the kids' closet. I got this idea from Shannon - she is the uber organized Queen with a capital q. On the left of the closet I was able to find some storage bins that fit almost perfectly. I mean, perfectly. It stores everything from diapers to swimming supplies to winter hats, to art supplies.... it's awesome. I'm going to miss this closet...

(p.s. Shannon where did you get this idea anyway of putting bins on shelves? It's genius. Genius!)

Just when you think you are done with a room it's time to change things up. We are expecting our third and final installment this year... July 29th to be exact! Which means big changes for us. The movie room is being split into two bedrooms - not to worry, the movie room is a 23ft x 14ft living space that will give birth to two 10ft x 10ft rooms and a hallway (haha, get it? Get it? I made a funny.) We will be making our three bedroom house a FOUR bedroom house! Which means that James' and Madison's room as it exists now will be completely redone to accomodate Mike's new, smaller movie room. And yes, there has been lots of complaining and whining and worrying, etc. BUT it must be done!

The nice thing is both will mostly likely keep their furniture and bedding. But who will be sharing rooms with who? That will be a GREAT question becuase I don't think we will find out the sex of the baby until it arrives! Mike says, "there are few real surprises in life and I would just like to be surprised." And I'm totally ok with it. I guess the new quilt will be orange!