Vivian's Room

We are pretty well done with getting Vivian's room ready, so I thought I would post some pictures of how it turned out. All of these pictures are diaper pictures, but lately that is her attire of choice in the evenings (and I can't say that I blame her). As you can see, Tibbs is also trying the room out (I have a feeling she will also want to move once the baby comes).

As a bit of background (and for those folks who have been to our house), Vivian's room is in half of the log part of the house. Two of her walls are exposed log and the other two walls are board. Rick had to build a wall to separate her room (the lady who had the house before us believed in a really open floorplan and tore out walls whether they were weight bearing or not - from what we know about the house, a wall used to be where this one is now).

One of the things Vivian seems to like is the pocket door in the wall. She cannot slide it herself yet, but she really likes having us open and close it for her. Vivian's room has a closet and 1/2 bath (unfortunately it is the half of the bath that she does not use yet, but eventually it will be handy).

We did not put a lot of furniture in her room primarily because the kid is a climber so less is really best. She has a dresser that her Grandma RaRu gave her (and painted for her to match her purple wall) and a bed that we ordered online from Little Colorado (a great kids furniture company). I got it unfinished and Mom stained it to match Vivian's toy box that she got for Christmas (eventually both pieces may be in the room together).

I made the curtains and the quilt. I had never made a quilt before so I taught myself as I went and I think it turned out okay. I made the quilt bigger than her toddler bed so that it would be more useful later so the picture only shows part of the whole thing. Making the quilt was an adventure and involved the following:

• Several trips to the fabric store. I went, I sent my Mom, and the last trip Rick was along and made fun of me most of the time - telling me at one point that we should look at the fabric on the front rack again because we had only seen it twice as opposed to four or five times with the other fabric. Just a note for anyone who may want to quilt - buy extra because the fabric place will not have more of a certain color/pattern when you need it.



• One trip to the doctor. Okay, I think I told some of you this, but if not here it goes - while piecing together the top of the quilt, I got my left thumb a bit too close to the needle (you have to keep the pieces even and you only have 1/4 of an inch allowance on each piece). I do not know how I got it in the space between the presser foot and to needle but I ended up running the needle through the top of my thumb nail where it thankfully bent, broke, and exited through the tip of my thumb. Luckily Vivian was in bed and Rick was working close to town because I was in some pain - not to mention that I do not do blood really well (especially mine). To make matters worse, I was pretty sure I was pregnant at the time so that meant that I could not take anything to make my thumb feel better (I was right, sometimes I hate being right). Trust me it was a long night of icepacks for me. When I went to the doctor, I had to explain how it happened so many times that the story was soon old. Good news was that it was a clean puncture and no infection. Just a note for anyone who would like to use a sewing machine - keep your fingers clear of the needle (glad I could help you on that one:)

All and all, I am very pleased with the outcome and glad I could make it for her. I think it is good to challenge yourself sometimes and hopefully I will have a better go of it when I make the next quilt. The curtains on the other hand wore me out. I really hate lining curtains but it was the only way to make it look right. I am just glad they are finished. I want to add some throw pillows and such for the bed but right now I have to move on to getting the baby's room ready (When did they move October so close to the middle of August? Time is running short in the getting ready department).

Anyway, all that is left to do to Vivian's room is hang some decorations and get her to start sleeping in it of a night (see, not much at all:) So far she has taken a couple of naps on her bed and seems to enjoy it. As soon as we get another baby monitor for her room we will try to get her to sleep there of a night.

Vivian, I hope you like your room. Mommy and Daddy worked hard to make it nice for you. A big thank you to Grandma and Pop for their help in getting things ready. Enjoy it little girl. Love you lots.