House Tour: The Girls' Room

We are just a handful of days away from my c-section (how did that happen??!?), and Rhett and I have been working steadily for the past month+ to get our house in an almost settled state before the baby arrives.  We weren't going for perfection, but we've gotten through a bunch of projects and made a good number of purchases to help fill in our new home.  The projects have been suuuuch a nice distraction to get me away from my crazy pregnancy anxiety and they've made us really love this house.

Since we can't have all of our friends and family over to see the house, I figured I'd do a few posts on some rooms that we've completed (for now).  

The first room we finished was the girls' room.  Rhett and I really, really wanted them to feel settled and excited about their new digs.  I'm a terrible decorator, and we couldn't do a ton with their room in Northern VA anyway because we were just renting.  So, we hadn't purchased too many things to make their old room nice.  Here, I couldn't afford to go out and buy all new stuff, so I did what pretty much everyone else in America has to do and I used what we had to furnish the room plus some family hand-me-downs.  Rhett did give me a little house decorating budget though, so I was able to make a few purchases.  I utilized fancy retailers such as Target and Home Goods to make it all work.

Here is the room:

Walking in...

...and even further in 

Toys/books

Beds

The color on the walls is Sherwin Williams White Dogwood.  It is a pale pink, and it ended up working surprisingly well in the room (and I say surprising because I solely relied on Pinterest--I didn't even test a paint sample on the wall).  It's enough color without being overpowering, which was my fear in painting an entire room pink.  We used the girls old drapes and curtain rod from Pottery Barn Kids (sorry, I didn't get a good picture of those).  Their window is super low and small, and the drapes are massive, so we hung them high and wide and thankfully it makes the window look much bigger.

I got new crystal lamps from Home Goods for the dresser and Cate and Charlotte love them.  Thankfully they can turn them on themselves which I never really thought about, but is a HUGE help.

We also put an old Pottery Barn Kids shelving unit and a book rack from One Step Ahead in to tame some of the clutter.  Rhett proudly hung a Carolina pennant near the toys so the girls don't get too disillusioned seeing all of the Texas A&M gear here.  It's EVERYWHERE.

The beds were my grandparents' and they are old and perfect.  It makes me smile that we have them.  I ordered new white on white monogrammed duvets and shams from Pottery Barn when they had a big sale a few months ago.  I also used some pillows and storage benches from their old room.  My mom stitched needlepoints for both girls, and those appear over their beds.  They also have a hand-me-down nightstand with an old white lamp, the greatest clock in existence, and Cate's Russian dolls on it.

The room has been great so far and the girls are so happy to share.  When one has to go to bed before the other, they are sooooo sad to be by themselves.  I'm sure there are many hours of lost sleep from sharing, but the girls love being with each other so much, I could never split them up.

Hope you like the room--I think the girls do!

Texas

Yee haw--we are here in Texas and loving it!  Everyone is still adjusting, and we are still organizing the house, but so far, so good.  Here is a quick recap of the past few weeks:

The girls and I bid farewell to the boys--Rhett, Homer, and Major--a few weekends ago as they trekked from VA to TX in my Suburban.  Our vet made it clear that Homer was not to fly and if we did put him on a plane, he would likely have a heart attack (!!!).  So the plan was made for Rhett to drive the three days to Texas with the dogs.  Rhett kept threatening to make a "Free Westie" t-shirt and let Major out somewhere before the Texas border, but somehow my little buddy made it--phew!  They stopped in Roanoke and Nashville before making a 12-hour drive to Texas, and they all seemed a little keyed up when they got to the house.  But, everyone made it.

The girls and I had it a little easier--we flew.  The plan was to stop in Charlotte, NC and have a nice layover so we could get lunch and meander over to our gate.  That was before the Charlotte airport SHUT DOWN for an hour in the middle of our flight, so we circled forever before finally landing.  I then had to haul my girls and everyone's suitcases and backpacks--they wouldn't carry them for more than five minutes and I had no time to argue--we had to get to the complete opposite side of the airport before our second flight took off.  But again, everyone made it.

Everyone's favorite in-flight activity--movies!

Our stuff arrived off the moving van a couple of days after we got to TX and we began the great unpacking.  Cate started school the day after that.  She was definitely overwhelmed at the size and volume of her new school since she was used to being at her little Kindergarten program with nine kids and two teachers.  Her new school has 20 kids and 1 teacher with a "humongous" (her word) cafeteria and gym.  But, Cate made a new friend quickly who also happens to live in our neighborhood, and it's been pretty smooth since then.  Her new friend is named Devon and he is apparently "so cute" and Cate "loves him."  I also witnessed them holding hands in school--poor Rhett is not thrilled about that.  Regardless, the girls LOVE the fact we can walk to school and they take every opportunity to do that.

First day!

Charlotte and I have found a little playground one neighborhood over, and we usually stop by on the way home from school.

Charlotte in her happy place :)

We very much like our house, even though, to us, it is pretty "Texas."  Rhett kindly gave me a decorating budget, which allowed me to paint a good chunk of the house ahead of time, and take away some of the Texas elements that I didn't necessarily love.

Giddy up--we're home!

The girls' room was the first thing to be settled.

Part of MY decorating budget was a new TV--funny how that happened?!?!  Not sure I wanted to account for that.  Rhett and Cate hooked it up for me, so that did help on installation costs though.

We've found the Target, Home Goods, a church, and a good pizza place, as well as a decent grocery store (RIP my visits to Wegmans--sooooo upsetting they don't have them here).  I also visited my new OBGYN who was refreshingly well versed in Lovenox.  Below is a picture of what I looked like last week.  At this point, I'm scheduled for a c-section on June 5 which is less than four weeks away.

It's so surreal to type "less than four weeks" when I'm talking about a new baby, and it also makes me realize how much I have left to do!  But I am pausing to enjoy our new (for now) normal, with wide, tree-lined streets and nice neighbors :)

Ahhhh...