Kitchen counters leads to... cabinets leads to...

The search...

This was kind of fun at first, but then after three granite warehouses, not so much.

I narrowed it down to three slabs that I thought might work and my decorator, Lynley, said no to all three.

I wanted light colored granite, with browns or greys.  The island was easy I wanted absolute black.  The granite warehouse people said that everyone wants light colored granite now and it is hard to find. (translation "we can charge you more, if you really want it")  

See fun! Ooooh, awww, wow.  The below is considered "exotic".  (translation "you won the lottery and you don't care how much, you just want it")

Getting close.... 

Second warehouse, are you kidding me!  There were four more rows just like this one.

Third warehouse, getting closer, call in the second opinion.  Lynley help!

We have a winner!  Colonial Cream.  

OK - take a deep breath and get ready for demolition. 

My Pinterest Inspirations

Notice the black and light colored granite combinations. 

Colonial Cream example below. 

I also noticed that most kitchens had the square edge on the granite.  Guess what I ended up with? Do you have a great kitchen countertop story?

A stroll

While grand babysitting yesterday, we gave the twins their morning bottle, left them in their pj's and took them for a stroll.  The double stroller brought back a memory.  When we had our twins 28 years ago, we had a double stroller.  We used it for about three years before they outgrew it.  Their seats faced each other.  When we were selling it to another family with twins, Ann Marie and Melissa threw a fit.  Cried and cried.  I tried to explain that another family with babies needed it, but no way.  They were not happy about it all.  

Hadley obviously was still hungry.

Layton was very interested in inspecting the side impact sign on her car seat.

Or maybe Hadley is just at that stage where EVERYTHING ends up being tasted.   

Happy Mother's Day today too.  I am spending today with my three daughter's at The W spa and poolside for lunch.  Sweet!  The best part, all of them and just me! 

Baby Bumper Pads for Raylyn

Gorgeous fabrics, plus girly trim, plus Lala sewing  ~ equals lovely bedding for a grand-daughter.

Raylyn's Mom and Dad picked out the fabric.  I picked out the petal trim.  

I cut apart a bumper pad from Buy, Buy Baby to make four pieces. I also cut off the ties and saved them to use on the outside of the newly covered bumpers.  Two short ends and two long for the inside of the bed.  I used those as a template to cut the sections of fabric.  Below are the long side pieces. One full segment and three to piece together to make the other side.   

Here is all you will need for one long side.  Fabric for two sides, bumper padding to stuff and trim.  The long sides have one long print piece and three block grey pieces on the other side.  Melissa took one of the middle grey pieces to be monogrammed.  You will get to see that in the finished room.

Pin and sew your pieces to form the two long sides and two short sides.   Below are the short side pieces.  One side will be the print and the other will have just two grey blocks.  

Next, I added the trim.  Took forever, this was the hardest part.  I had to push each petal inside and pin them in place,  before I could sew anything together.  But, oh baby was it worth this tedious stage. 

I sewed three sides of one bumper case and left one short end open to stuff.  

Turn everything right side out and stuff.  This bumper was really thick, so I did not add any additional stuffing.  I then machine stitched the end closed.  

I had three out of the four sides finished and headed out to Mel and Sean's house for a test run.  We used velcro squares to attach the box pleated dust ruffle.  (Melissa had her nails ready for St. Patty's weekend.)  As Raylyn grows and they lower the mattress the dust ruffle will puddle underneath the bed.  

No mattress yet.  It is on their shopping list.  But, we had to see what the final results will look like.  

The bed is a white washed grey.  Collette, by Restoration Hardware Baby.  Yes, even Restoration Hardware has gotten into the Baby biz.   

Dreamy.  (yes, that is paint cans on the window sill)  It is coming together.  I told you the trim was worth it.

This is not my first rodeo.  Remember Layton and Hadley bedding.  I'm getting a little lot of experience at this grand-baby thing.

Source
Fabric - Cutting Corners - Dallas
Trim - Joanne's Fabric
Bumper - Buy, Buy Baby
(I used an IKEA insert on Hadley and Layton's, it was very thin so we added stuffing to puff. )

Since I totally forgot to hit publish and found this post in draft mode.  I can show you the finished bed now.  I think I was waiting for Melissa to put the bedding on the baby bed and I forgot about the tutorial.

Sharing with:
My Romantic Home
Coastal Charm
Savvy Southern Style

Raylyn's room is ready for her

Melissa and Sean and the rest of us are so ready for our little ray of sunshine to arrive.  Her room is ready.  Melissa finished up shopping for the last few things on her need for baby list. 

She and Sean have been working on the room.  I love this mirror over the changing table.

Little trinkets are on pretty white shelves.  The walls are the palest of pinks.

A onsie with a monogram and a tutu will make a perfect outfit for any little southern belle.  That pearl necklace in the above photo will finish off the ensemble.

The curtains were made from fabric that Melissa, Sean and I went shopping for.  Sean's Mom did the sewing.  

The bedding project that I took on turned out perfect.  You can see that sewing project here.

Melissa's baby things are shadow boxed above Sean's baby shoes. I think she found a dreamy lamp for Raylyn's room.  

The bed is extremely beautiful with tufted ends and a grey whitewash finish.  The little stool project is here and was so fun to complete.  

The pillow was a Pinterest inspiration that I copied.  See the steps to make one here.

Melissa found this demilune table at Homegoods and the lamp too, I think.  

And just maybe by the end of the month this nursery will be occupied by one cute grand-daughter.