With this little one on the way, we have lots of changes to make around the house...freeing up the crib being one of them. We wanted to do this early so that Ben has lots of time to adjust to the new bed (he's good with this kind of change anyway, but still) so we grabbed one yesterday and set it all up!
This bed wasnt the one I'd planned on getting actually. I wanted the Malm twin in white, but they ran out of them and they told me that they aren't making them anymore! Drat! But, this one is awesome, and it has the added bonus of two nice big storage drawers. Plus, no dust bunnies under the bed, YAY!
Ben LOVES it, he was so excited as we set it up, and jumped up on it the second he could. Adorable.
Now, I am concerned of course with him falling out. I've seen various rails and wasn't thrilled with them. Then I saw this one, and I had an idea. I took a large heavy duty cardboard tube (not the flimsy kind, you can't bend it), then wrapped it with a thin blanket. I tucked the whole thing under his sheet, and this thing stays put!
It's quite thick, which is hard to see in the picture, and I don't think he will ever be able to push it out. If we have any trouble with it I will go ahead and get the inflatable one, but for now this seems ok! And I have his crib mattress and pillows/blankets on the ground just in case.
So that's one thing done! Only 7368765 more to work on....
Ben's room is forever changing, I'm sure that will always be the case (much like the rest of our house). But, lately the layout has been really bothering me. If you haven't seen how it used to look, here's a good post. And here are the changes.
I love having the changing table over by the window, and at night I can sit in the chair with Ben and there is less distraction for him without the door facing us.
The side table and lamp have gone for now, it was just a little crowded.
We changed out some of the textiles, incorporating more prints which I think are fun, and replaced the art with my own. I LOVED the prints that were there before, of course, but I though it would be nice for Ben to have something from his Mom :)
The chair and ottoman will come of there eventually, but for now they are still very much needed. And after all the time, I'm still loving them, so comfy to snuggle up with him in and put my feet up.
The bassinet really should come right out of there, it's just taking up space, but our basement is a bit of a nightmare and I don't want to add to the pile. So, it's toy and blanket storage for now.
I would like to make several more changes, including paint the walls white and replace the carpet (which, although I thought it was great when we first bought it, is looking rather dingy). But, those changes can wait. For now it's much better!
One of my very favourite websites, Chic & Cheap Nursery, has posted our nursery today! So excited about all of the websites that have recently shared his room, we're so flattered!!
We've also been getting emails from people with questions about where to buy things and general design questions, keep them coming!!!
So exciting! Lovely blogger Ana of Bluebird Kisses has featured Ben's nursery today! I feel so honoured to be included in her BEAUTIFUL website.
Thank you so much Ana! And to everyone else, make sure you check out her amazing blog!
Thanks to the suggestion from my amazing friend Rach, we recently submitted Benjamin's nursery to be considered for the blog Ohdeedoh, and they featured us today! I'm beyond excited!!!
I've been a fan of Ohdeedoh for some time, and it's so cool to see Ben's room on their front page!!!!
I was recently contacted by a fellow blogger to feature Ben's nursery (yay!!) and as a result I forced myself to break out the old camera manual and take some decent pictures for her.
Strangely, I have spent all this time thinking 'Auto' had to just be the best possible option! Well, low and behold, the difference is insane. Click to enlarge this to really see the difference.
The left side is the auto function, and the right is with several adjustments using the manual option.
Kind of feel like re-taking every picture I've ever taken...ahh.
Anyway, the moral of the story is, that little manual comes in handy. I still have a LOT to learn, I'm not even close to being an expert, but here are a few tips that got me started:
- No flash. EVER! (Seriously, does anyone use flash anymore?)
- Use the manual option
- Ensure the ISO is as low as possible
- Use a tripod (always!)
- Use the 2 minute timer option just to make sure there is no blurring at all (Billy taught me this trick and it's amazing how much better they turn out)
- Take pictures a little lower than you would normally think (don't stand and point downwards, try to take them straight on)
- When shooting groups of people, you don't need to see feet! Step closer, have everyone's faces just above the centre, and get a great focus.
- Don't rely solely on your iPhone for pictures (this is more of a reminder for me than anyone else, ha ha)
I am going to continue to play around with things like white balance and custom colour options, and I'll be sure to share any tips I uncover.
And for those of you who are curious, I'll share the link to the blog who is featuring us as soon as it goes live!
Now back to my photo editing...
