Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Mothering In The Cut

Earlier today, I was at the doctor's office with my son. Nothing serious, but he will be out of school a couple of days. I'm having a moment.

When my five year old son is not feeling well and climbs into my lap and hugs his cheek into his favorite spot on my bosom--right in between the cushy parts so his ear rests flat on my chest--I feel my power as a mom. He asks me to rock him and I do. Just like I did when he was new. And I feel an energy pass between us. I cannot explain exactly what it feels like. Moms know it. In that place, I feel the most capable. Nobody can touch my skills when I'm mothering in the cut--that place you can't map a route to, but when you're there with your child you both know it. As my chin rests on his head and as we rock, I know that the sound of my heartbeat, my warmth and the way my chest rises and falls with every breath is like a balm on his every physical, mental and emotional boo-boo. It is sacred. Mother and child, in a sacred space reminiscent of our beginning. He will never know the comfort of my womb again and I will never be as sure that I can protect him from anything that could possibly bring him harm. But we get as close as we can to that place, in the cut, as we rock. It's like a balm. It doesn't fix anything. Not really. Still, we stay like that until we both feel like it's safe enough to let go.

Inspiration for my next decorating project!

I'm in a peacock kinda way right now. My next tattoo will be a peacock. And my living room, the biggest room in my house, is going peacock blue, baby! If you've read my blog over the years you know I LOVE color and I'm not afraid to tackle big painting jobs. Remember my dining room and nursery projects? That was only the beginning. I'm going on a painting spree! By the time I'm finished my whole house is going to be one big awesome expression of ME! I'm really glad my husband goes along with my bold decorating choices. Otherwise, we'd have some more issues. Many people choose painting projects based on resale--appealing to potential future buyers. But it's just paint, which means it can be painted over. So I'm enjoying filling every room in my house with awesome, lively COLOR! It's going to be so cute. You'll see. The peacock blue will complement my kitchen and dining room perfectly.

 

Finishing touches and his nursery will be ready!

 

It's all coming together!

 

Nursery Design Redo

I thought I was so sure I wanted a moody, purple nursery. I'm glad I chose that color early, because it has SO changed. I got the idea from this pillow. The feel is still very modern, but the new color scheme is chocolate brown and powder blue. I'm pretty sure this won't change. Billy helped me pick the paint samples this time, so I'm more sure that this will be a better fit. It matches the rest of the house more. Three things that haven't changed and I'm 100% will not change are the crib, book shelf and changing table/dresser...unless they sell out or are discontinued or something. The room is small, and these pieces fit perfectly. I have an old chest of drawers that I'll paint red. The chair I chose is of bright orange fabric.

The choice was easy.

A few strokes in on the lighter color and I put the top back on the pot. Definitely the darker one. At first I thought it was a bit dark for a baby's room, but he'll only be in there to sleep, so darker does the trick. Plus the furniture will be mostly white, which should brighten things up. It's not as dark as it looks here though. I took this pic at night and without a flash, so it doesn't actually do the color justice, but it gives you an idea. Actual painting won't start for another couple of weeks.

Time to Decorate!

I want to get it all done before moving around in general becomes more challenging. We're starting slow, but of course I have every color, every piece of art, every shelf, every piece of furniture picked out already. I had a general idea of what the nursery would look like before we knew our "it" was a "he", so as soon as it was official, I made some final tweaks to the plans and mama's ready to roll! My mom and sister will be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas to help and the room should be baby-ready by mid-January.

I went to Lowe's yesterday to pick up samples of the paint color for the room--an ultra modern smokey grayish lavender. Those go on the wall this week and may the best can win. Purple is my favorite color and I've always wanted a purple room. My kitchen is red and my dining room is gold and the other rooms in the house are too big to paint purple, so I figure, I'll spend more time awake in the room than the baby, so I might as well make it as comfortable as possible for me. So I chose a shade of purple that really looks grayish brown, but is just purple enough for a little man.

The furniture I picked out is two-toned white and espresso wood and the fabric and art accents will be cream, orange and chocolate brown with splashes of green, yellow and cobalt blue. I absolutely had to incorporate blue, because a very sweet friend of mine, Sally, gave me my very first ever baby gift--a plushy blue elephant--for my very first ever baby, so Mr. Elephant gets a tiny, special wall shelf all to himself. :) Also, my coworkers all signed a dark blue kid-sized bicycle helmet for me and my little one on my 30th b-day, so I'll find a spot for that in the nursery too.

There's no real theme, but I'm feeling 70's mod owls and frogs for the fabrics and wall art, which I intend to create myself (I haven't flexed my artistic skills for a good minute, but this is a good time to dust them off and see what's left).  Actually, owls and frogs sound very Harry Potterish, but I swear it won't look witchy...whimsical, yes, but not witchy.   

I ran across the inspiration for my final design on www.modernnursery.com It was love at first sight. I can't wait to see how close the feeling of the final room will be to the inspiration. All those hours of HGTV worship are about to pay off! Of course I'll keep y'all posted on the progress with before, during and after pics. To start things off, I'll share the picture that inspired my final design: