So, there is a ton going on over here. That's been the case for a while now...maybe always?...but it does feel like there are so many projects in the works, all competing with my very fierce desires to A)CLEAN - I'm convinced this place is filthy; B) to get a mani/pedi - I'm convinced this is my last chance ever and I really want nice toes, and C) to go into labor. Though I feel so much better now that my sister is here, I am generally pretty stressed about going into labor. We expect it to be fast, which is awesome in lots of ways - except for calculating room for error when getting to the hospital. When I'm stressed about doing something, I tend to want to just DO it, and that's where I am right now, mentally. Also 9 months pregnant, so labor tends to sound good to many in my position. On the other hand, I'm trying to embrace every day the baby hangs in there as time to get things done. It is critical to me that the baby not enter a home in shambles.

"Shambles" is the word I'd reach for to describe things currently, but to be fair that could just be because there are a lot of crumbs under the table. It drives Bret crazy when I (in his opinion) exaggerate the state of chaos in the house, so here's hoping he's not reading. But I have a fear of coming back from the hospital and feeling overwhelmed by all the crumbs, when what I'll want to do is focus on el bebe. So, you know, there's a lot going on in my head, I guess.

And probably, in terms of priority, mani/pedi will win out.

Okay, anyway, let's look at the projects in the works, because I don't think you guys need to see a step by step of floor cleaning or nails. First, the bar cart. I mentioned it on Monday when I showed the new kitchen island, and I'm excited to figure out a way to maximize its usefulness. Right now, I'm thinking a baking cart! I'd love to stock it with all my pretty containers of flour, etc., and hopefully facilitate more baking, which has waned around here in recent weeks.

Then, there's this:

This unfinished wooden cabinet is the final piece of Lou's bed, made by my dad. I didn't want to put it in here - here being the nursery - but I both needed a place for it, and for all the bigger baby toys, so here it is. It was unfinished, obviously, so I decided I'd stain it gray. That failed, in a big way: it turns out that the wood isn't really stain-grade, even if I could have gotten that stamp off, and the stain I was using was so very fume-y that I didn't feel comfortable using it in my current state (even if this baby is fully cooked) or exposing Lou to it. So, we went with my go-to no VOC white paint from Benjamin Moore. This stuff is so fume-free I was able to enlist help in painting.

We had exactly matching paint streaks on our bodies after this. Teamwork is fun. So we painted that, slapping on a second coat this morning, and I'll put it back in the nursery...after I get around to stenciling the wall. Which really is a bit of a priority for me, and it makes sense to do it before moving more furniture back in. What shall be the stencil? Well, I pondered my expansive arse off on the topic and kept ending up at stars. Big, graphic stars in neat, orderly rows, like this.

I also considered a scattering of different-sized stars, a painting of constellations, a riff on the au currant arrow motifs popping everywhere, and leaving the wall plain. Obviously the last wasn't going to happen! I kept coming back to the nice rows of stars. So today, I made my "stencil," which is actually a star I'll trace and color in.

Tracing a star for a homemade wall "stencil."

I'm thinking a very pale gray, which I plan to mix up myself, because I have black and white paint and don't feel the need to spend money. As always though, stay tuned - you never know where all this will end up. Once it's done though, it'll be nursery reveal time. I hope you're as excited as I am for that.

So, I'm off to start tracing stars onto the wall, then to the doctor (please, please let this be my last appointment!) then to the salon...or back here to vacuum. I will see you Friday!