This room has by far been the MOST FUN and definitely my favorite room to conceptualize and plan. I’m a little sad because in a few short months, I plan on redecorating Dannica’s playroom into her “big girl” bedroom (since baby brother will be taking over her current nursery). I put so much love and attention into this room, and we made so many wonderful memories here, that it is a bit bittersweet to let it go. This post is in one part to “scrapbook” Dannica’s very first playroom, and in second part to *finally* field all the questions that so many of you have asked me in the past few months with regards to seeing photos of her playroom, tips on keeping it clean, and where I sourced all the furnishings and decorative accents.
Here are five things that I thought were helpful to keep in mind when conceptualizing a fun and functional playroom that you AND your kids will love!
1. As you would for a nursery, build off a theme when designing a playroom. Whether it be based off colors, textures, or something more activity based like camping. It will give the room a more cohesive and “cleaner” look.
2. Keep everything in the background BRIGHT! That means all textiles (rugs, throw pillows, etc), lighting, drapes, wall color, and large furniture. It will make the room appear larger, brighter, cleaner, and easier to redecorate when you want to switch things up. I also think that kids play better in a bright and airy room.
3. Don’t put everything out. Rotate toys and books. This is a win-win for all. Your kiddos will love the fresh rotation of toys once they’re brought out and the room will look tidier and will be easier to clean up!
4. Mix high and low priced pieces to achieve a beautiful playroom without breaking the bank. Purchase affordable items that will get a lot of wear and tear, and then thread in nicer accent pieces to bring your room to life. Dannica’s play table, kitchenette, seating and all textiles are from IKEA. All textiles are machine washable and were less than 15 dollars!
5. Last but not least, DIY and make it your own. It doesn’t have to be an elaborate week long project. It can be a simple and creative use of a can of spray paint or a roll of washi tape. Some simple things I did was to spray paint Dannica’s shopping cart rose gold (it was originally hot pink) and replace the seat’s fabric. I also used washi tape on her play table and chairs where I knew would get dirty easily. So now, not only does it look more unique, it is much easier to wipe off markers and food stains off the tape than it would have been with the original wood. I also used washi tape to create the silhouette of a home and chimney. I love how it turned out and it was a simple by product of me being too scared to put up wallpaper and too cheap to purchase wall decals (aren’t they just large stickers??). A bigger DIY project that I did and would highly recommend is her IKEA play kitchen. I posted a step by step account on that DIY here in a previous post.
A ton of you have asked for a walking tour of her playroom, so I have included here a little video of her playroom with all of our Halloween decorations!
I can’t believe that I’m already halfway through my pregnancy! Everything has been so different this time around. So many of my friends told me that the second pregnancy will be harder yet still go by faster, but it didn’t really sink in until I was actually going through it myself.
My pregnancy with D was such a dream pregnancy. It was smooth sailing from the very beginning. No morning sickness, no taste or smell aversions, no complications, no crazy exhaustion, and no difficulties sleeping until the very very end. I was slammed hard with everything under the sun with this pregnancy. Six weeks in, I was ordered to be on strict bedrest for a week due to heavy bleeding. Each day was agony and torture…not knowing whether or not my baby was still okay. After another ultrasound where they found that the source of my bleeding had started to clot and that our baby was still going strong, all the other pregnancy symptoms just came one after another. Especially the morning (AND evening sickness). Up until 16 weeks or so, I literally felt like death. And the exhaustion was something I was not prepared for. I felt like even after 20 hours of sleeping, I was still tired?!?! This did not bode well for being a stay at home mom with a very demanding and hands on toddler…
If people ask me what my most valuable possession is, I will not hesitate to say that they are my family photos and albums. From all the big events like my wedding day or Dannica’s first step to all the tiny yet equally important events like the face Dannica made when she had her first broccoli, I want to document them all and make sure that I never forget them. It’s such a paradox because as much as I love photos and taking them, I have a hard time being in photos. A part of it is because I am painfully awkward when someone takes a photo of me (who isn’t right?! Am I smiling too much? What do I do with my hands?! Where am I looking?), but a larger part of it is because I am such a control freak about how I want each photo to be taken that I don’t trust anyone but myself to do it!
When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have Dannica’s newborn photos as well as our family photos taken professionally. I thank my lucky stars that I met D’Ann from Smitten & Swoon. We first exchanged emails when I was about 6 months pregnant and then we went back and forth, tossing around ideas on what we wanted to accomplish for Dannica’s newborn session. She always creates a shared Pinterest board to fully grasp your vision and is so hands on and collaborative from the beginning. When we met for the first time (a week after I gave birth), I just knew that she was going to be in my life forever. She is a lifestyle photographer, but she is really so much more than that.
She lives on the most beautiful piece of land with rolling hills, luscious green trees, and crested mountains. She tends to the most beautiful garden you can possibly dream of in her backyard. Her photo studio is a cottage straight out of a fairy tale. She and her husband also have two beautiful children, two adorable dogs, two of the most stunning horses you can imagine—one black and one white stallion, and so many other barn animals. (By the way, her husband BUILT their barn!) With so many resources at her fingertips, a photo session with her is only limited by your imagination.
Our newborn session was a daylong affair but the time just flew by. She is an animal and baby whisperer and I could not believe how easily she would coax a smile out of Dannica. I could not believe how patiently she would wait for that perfect little baby yawn and stretch that we mothers melt a million times over for. She captured all the yummy newborn baby details—I was in near tears when I reviewed the gallery because by then, Dannica already lost all of her fresh newborn look. It only solidified in my mind how glad I was to have documented every bit of it. It is heart breaking how short that stage is.
She also did Dannica’s 3, 6, 9 month and 1 year session and each session was just so much fun. She always creates a fresh Pinterest board for the perfect session. For example we did a tea party themed session for Dannica’s 9 month session because we were throwing an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party for her one year. And then for her one-year session, we did an UP!/balloon themed session, which I loved too!
I am so excited that Dannica’s 2 year old session is coming up. I always catch myself daydreaming about what we will do, and what D’Ann has planned. We decided to go for a Secret Garden theme for this session. So far we are thinking lots of blooms, wildflowers, and green, green meadows. I cannot WAIT for our session and I cannot WAIT to share with you the final photos!!! If you want to see photos that will just take your breath away and transport you to a fairy tale that you have dreamed of growing up, you have to check out her portfolio and her instagram.
Smitten & Swoon | www.smittenandswoon.com | @smittenandswoon
When my parents-in-laws bought Dannica a playhouse for her Christmas present, I was blown away by their generosity and also secretly wanted to play in it myself! Many of you who follow me on instagram have asked me about her playhouse.
The original playhouse is the Aspen All Cedar Wood Playhouse by Backyard Discovery. You can find it here. We absolutely love this playhouse–it has a small built in kitchenette, working mailbox, a mini fence, dining cafe bench, and other cooking accessories. Here it is before we made it over:
I loved the house, but I really had this vision of it being a summer cottage by the beach rather than it being a wooden log cabin in the mountains 🙂 With that in mind, I poured over the colors because I definitely wanted to go with purple accents, bluish grays for the exterior and simple white for the interior. The key to gray is to pay close attention to the undertones. Do not pay any attention to paint swatches because those rarely if ever convey the true colors in real life. Gray is such a subtle color that any undertone will completely overtake it. So if it is a gray with a slightly blue undertone, you will end up with a wall that looks pastel blue. A color more suitable for your firstborn son rather than a summer cottage.
The first step is to dismantle the house so that you can easily paint it with minimal taping. Another tip is to sand the house down if you want a smooth finish. I personally didn’t sand the house down because I wanted a rougher finish. If you like the paint colors I chose, the roof is Kendall Charcoal, exterior walls are Stonington Gray, all trims, fence and interior walls are Simply White, and the bench and front door is Chelsea Gray (all paint colors are by Benjamin Moore’s exterior paint). By the way, my favorite all time accent gray is Chelsea Gray and I use this color a LOT.
Next was just sprucing up the inside and adding textures and textiles to make it feel more homey and warm. The floral garland is by Fancy Free Finery, the drapes and small end table (which I spray painted white) are from Ikea and you can purchase the kiddie sized Adirondack chair here. The “Oh Joy! Rainbow” and “Home Sweet Home” welcome mats are both from Target. I later added a small rug inside that isn’t pictured here, but it is the perfect size and the perfect little outdoor rug for only $6.99 from Ikea (you can purchase it here). All other accessories are from Michael’s.
This playhouse has already provided hundreds of hours of fun for Dannica. I hope you enjoyed this little playhouse makeover! And of course, please feel free to ask me any questions!!
I was so touched by the overwhelming response to my post about photo tips on lighting. So many of you have then followed up with me and asked specifically how I manage to work with an uncooperative toddler! This is such a great question because it took me a lot of trial and error in figuring out how best to take photos of someone who absolutely refuses to take directions 🙂
Dannica is almost 21 months old right now and for all the many months before that, she absolutely refused to take directions and could care less about photos. When I told her to sit, she would stand up and walk away. When I told her to walk around, she would sit down and sulk. When I told her to smile, she would cry. You get the idea. Things were going nowhere. The first and most obvious tip is that they really are in control. That being said, you can set yourself up for success!
The second tip is that your toddler will always be your x factor. So make sure that every single little detail outside of your toddler is ready and set to go for your photo. For me that is usually figuring out what angle I want to take the photo and where to position Dannica and Bella with respect to the lighting (see previous post on lighting). So once you have all the details figured out, then all you have to do is have your toddler come over and then you can just take the photo–you have zero time for fiddling and adjusting.
The third tip is to keep it fresh and new for your toddler. Put him or her in a new environment, or interact with new people, or reach for new things. You will be amazed by how easy they can be when they are simply exploring their new surroundings.
The fourth tip is that distraction will be your best friend. For me that usually means Bella (our Cavalier King Charles dog), but it can also be his or her favorite toy, or snacks, or flowers, or anything for them to hold, eat or interact with! Sometimes I use all those distractions to my advantage at the same time! You can go through all my Instagram photos and see that Dannica is always holding something, or eating something, or just sleeping.
And finally, be an observer. Let your toddler just be a toddler. I realized that the popular and most favored photos are always the more candid and natural photos where the picture tells a story. It’s more fun to capture a moment than to create one. Once you have your spot picked out, and your lighting just right, and brought your babe’s favorite snack and toy, all you can do is just let them be. And more often than not, it will be just perfect.
Many of you have asked me about Dannica’s play kitchen in the past few months. Honestly, if you’ve ever wanted to start on a small and simple DIY project, this is the perfect one for any DIY beginners to dip their toes in! It really is fool proof and the result is so worth the extra hour or two in constructing it.
The base of the kitchen is IKEA’s Duktig play kitchen which you can purchase online or at their shop. The kitchen built as is looks like the photo below:
The first step is to lay out all the parts and spray paint all the wooden parts (front and back) white. You can purchase affordable white matte spray paints at your local Home Depot. Make sure that they are completely dry before you flip them over and paint the other side. **If you love the look of a farmer’s sink, then you can purchase a can of glossy white and spray paint the sink.** The second step is to spray paint all the fixtures rose gold (my choice of color was rose gold, but you can choose bronze, copper, anything that suits your fancy!). Don’t forget to spray paint the small tiny hooks as well as the faucet and burner rims. If you keep the plastic covering of the burners on, then you can quickly spray paint the rims without taping anything.
While everything is drying, you can start on the faux marble countertop. I bought mine from Amazon and was so happy with how it looked and turned out. You can cut out the portion where the sink and burners go in and all the other nail holes, I simply nailed through the contact paper and that worked out perfectly well. The final touch is to add the stove and oven knobs to the front. I bought the knobs from Amazon and simply Krazy glued them on after marking a placeholder with a pencil.
I’ve seen so many people do fun back splashes (I am trying to do a subway tile back splash and still on the hunt for the perfect tiles) and paint the insides of the cubby holes as well. If you search IKEA Duktig makeovers on Pinterest, there are hundreds of different hacks that people have done. I personally settled on this one because it was my dream kitchen colors and aesthetics growing up!
It really only took around 1-2 extra hours on top of the time it takes to actually assemble the kitchen. I hope this inspires you to do one as well! You can see below for sources and of course, please feel free to ask me any questions below!
Ikea Duktig Kitchen // Faux Marble Contact Paper // Apron // Kitchen Appliances // Potted Plants // Stove Top Knobs
Washcloth is from Joann’s fabric, all other accessories are from Target, and misshapen cupcakes were baked by yours truly.
Many of you have asked me for tips on how to take photos and more specifically, how I take my photos. This is such a broad question that it is impossible to cover in one post. There are so many aspects to consider when taking a photo–lighting, styling, location scouting, flattering positioning of the subject(s), editing, story telling, and so so soooooo much more. When taking photos of a toddler or a dog (or even BOTH, like I do!!) there are even more factors to consider and little tricks you can pull out of your hat to make things go (somewhat) more smoothly. I promise to eventually go over all of them (you can comment here if you would like to read about a particular topic more so than others).
I am by no means a photographer and I do not pretend to even be one! I have far too much respect for professional photographers and their knowledge of their craft to call myself one. What I can do, is just speak from personal experience on what worked and what didn’t. I also take all of my photos on my iPhone, so everything I am going over here is iPhone specific. And what I learned is that lighting is EVERYTHING.
Natural light is your best friend. I believe that everyone and everything look their best in natural light. With that being said, you want the right kind of sunlight depending on whether you’re inside or outside. When you’re inside, you want maximum sunlight. So if your home is always flooded with light, you’re golden. It’s also nice to know which part of your house gets the most sunlight throughout the day and take photos when you know that area will be at its brightest.
When taking photos outside, it is ironically the reverse! I realized that on those bright, sunny and perfectly blue sky days, taking a good photo is nearly impossible. People are always squinting, their skin looks too shiny, there are sharp and distracting shadows everywhere, and anything in white or subtle colors are completely lost or destroyed. So I found that my favorite days to take photos outside is on a warm, overcast or cloudy day, or even better, right before the sun settles for the day. They call this the “golden hour” for very good reason. The sun casts that perfectly soft golden hue everywhere and all photos just turn out magical and enchanting. It really is the best, best, best time to take photos outside.
I never thought I would ever get here. It’s been a little scary, but also exciting at the thought of taking the blogging leap. At the end of the day, I felt it was the perfect way to document our everyday lives and at the same time to create a space where I can connect with other like-minded moms.
Ideally my goal here is to inspire and to see the whimsical and fun side to the everyday and mundane mom life. I personally love to see something that makes my heart skip a beat or makes me forget the 513 things that went wrong that day. I love when I see women realizing their dreams and potential. I love when I see these women teaching their children to do the same. And I hope I can do the same.
If you already follow me on Instagram, that’s really where all this started from. I wanted a better way to address comments and messages that people were leaving behind. These feedback ranged from how I got my two girls to nap together to how I edit my photos to where I get all of Dannica’s outfits and inspirations from (speaking of, does anyone else envy their daughter’s closet?!) With that being said, please leave a comment if you’d like me to post about a particular topic! If not, I’ll just continue onward with more baby spam 😉