Hiding our TV - Again

We originally bought the Expedit because I hated the idea of having a TV in the living room, but there were just no other options in our new house.  I figured I could hide the TV somehow.

Using the fabric wall hanging that used to be over our bed, we cut out the frame and hemmed it to size.

First we used tension rods to hang the "screen."

When that started sagging, we changed it up and  just used double sided velcro to stick the screen up there.

Anyway - I hated that the fabric was in two pieces (we did it that way for the tension rod idea to work).  But I loved the fabric.  It didn't compete with the crazy blue and white curtains and it was neutral enough to go with the rest of the room.



It was looking a little shabby though.  And there was NOTHING cute about it.

I headed to Cost Plus (it is so weird to me that some people call it World Market) and bought out their curtain supply.  The one we used to hide the TV is actually supposed to be  a shower curtain.  I also bought curtains for T's room (he needed them since it was getting light much earlier).

I cut, ironed on some hem tape, and added the velcro (using the same iron on hem tape).



I like it okay.

It still isn't ideal - but I'm sort of re-thinking the whole piece of furniture (don't tell bubbs - I had to fight to get it in the first place only a year ago).

It is actually kind of cool the way the fabric plays off the curtains.

Oh - but I cut it sideways - oops!  Can you see the people in the middle? 

Montessori style floor bed

I've gotten a few questions about T's floor bed, so I thought I'd show pictures to show how easy it is to build.



We moved T to a big boy bed when he was 8 months old. We were (well I was) super frustrated that I couldn't do the transfer without waking him. I would nurse him to sleep in our bed then try to move him to his crib. He would always wake up when we moved him.

We didn't want to have him sleep the whole night in our bed so we needed a solution.

I had read about Montessori rooms that used twin beds or even crib mattresses on the floor. We had a cotton organic futon in the house, so we started by using that. It was amazing. I would nurse him to sleep, he would fall asleep, then I could sneak away for grown-up time and not worry about him crawling off our high bed.

We baby-proofed his entire room so it would be totally safe if he were left alone in there or woke up while we were sleeping. In the beginning we put a baby gate up in the doorway when we left and we just left the door open.

A few months into this set up we all got bad allergies and I remembered that I had read that floor beds could grow mold. They say that if they aren't raised up, the air doesn't circulate and the moisture that our bodies naturally produce while we sleep (plus the daily fog moisture) can create mold under the bed. I didn't pay too much attention to it since I had done it for a year in an apartment while I was single and it wasn't a problem.

We lifted the mattress to check and the bottom was covered in mold.

Talk about feeling like bad parents.

We headed out the same day to buy him a fancy pants organic hippy mattress. We went with Organic Rubber Latex with a wool cover.

The store we went to "A Happy Planet" was great working with us and not trying to sell us the same insanely expensive mattress we bought for ourselves like 6 months before. Since we always end up spending at least half the night with him we decided to go with a queen for our comfort. Plus, the mattress has a 30 year warranty, so someday it could be our guest bed as well. He also told us that they could build us the "frame" for the floor bed and they do it all the time.



It is essentially three 2x4's that are cut to the length of the bed (in our case, the same length as our queen bed).

Then you roll the pre-made slats over them and screw the corners in (so they don't move around). You can get the slats from ikea (or craigslist). Ours were provided by our mattress store.



We wanted ours raised bit more, so he put little pieces of wood under the 2x4s (one in the middle - see how it raises up a bit?, and one on each corner).



We live in a funky house with sloping floors, so we had to add another piece of wood under one corner to even it out (so it didn't make noise when we snuck off after he fell asleep).


For full disclosure, there are a few things that aren't great about this frame.
It is a little squeaky when we (meaning big people) get on and off.
We should have put felt under the boards because when we have to move it, I'm always afraid it is going to scratch the floors.
It isn't really good looking. I know this shouldn't be too important, but you just can't make T's bed and have it look great since the bed is all scrunched up against the wall.

But, we have total piece of mind.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have other floor bed frames that work for you!

Updates in Parenting

22 months rocks big time.

Our little guy cleans up his toys when he leaves a room. Like every time. Even at his cousin's house. I know I'm supposed to love him unconditionally, but I love him more when he does this.

He come RUNNING through the house yelling "HELP DISHES" if he hears someone running the water. And he actually DOES help.

And the biggest miracle of all? He's sleeping. Like all night. For two weeks now (minus one night where he hadn't pooped the day before and the groaned in pain all night long).

He's putting together 2-3 word sentences - and sometimes even more.

T's been singing the last word in a phrase in songs for awhile, but he's just started singing the whole thing - and singing to himself as he plays...ALONE.

We had an amazing weekend out of the house at the beach and the river. T spent a lot of time in the car though. At one point he was singing Happy Birthday, but rather than using "rolo" as the name (his aunt) he sang, "Happy To You, Pinecone" and cracked himself up. My little guy is telling jokes.

His naps are going later and later 1:30-2ish and his bedtime is horribly close to 9:30 (it's been consistently 8pm since he was like 2 months old).

Anyway, life just got a little easier in every way.

Life back 2012.

Mid-Century Inspiration

So, um, we're a little behind on Mad Men.

Tim and I jumped up in the middle of Season 5, Episode 1 (last night) when we saw this:

Source: houzz.com via Mama on Pinterest

Because we had just done this:

Bubbs brought that gold metallic "sculpture?" home a few years ago from a junk store. I was seriously against it. SERIOUSLY.

He would have our entire house look like it was out of my aunt's house if he could. I won't tell you which Aunt, and since I have like 20, she'd never know. Her amazing house hasn't changed since 1968.

I like a little mix of modern and mid-century.

This gold thing was way too much for me.

My plan was to spray it white, but I thought I'd check it in the room first.

I loved it. The gold on the blue rocked.

A few nails and it was in for good.

It only took three years for me to like it and get a room that it would work for.

Makes me fearful to toss other things that are stacked up as "maybe" in the garage...