We’re back with another laundry room update! During the fall/winter, the laundry room is normally the coldest room in the house. This isn’t good when you’ve got stain on the floors that’s trying to dry. Unfortunately, with it being so cold outside over the past few days, this delayed the process a bit. So we cranked up the heat and played the waiting game. Finally, yesterday the first coat of polyurethane was able to be put down. As of this morning, it was pretty dry so the stain guy installed the shoe molding. Even with the current mess in the room, it’s already looking so much better…

The dust on the floors is because they just finished the shoe molding… literally 5 seconds ago. Later today, after the “construction dust” is cleaned up, the second coat of polly will be put down, followed by some more waiting time, and then the third and final coat (we asked for three coats – just as in the rest of the house – to make the floors more durable).

The suspense is killing me! I can’t wait to start planning the shelving for the closet. But before we even think about getting to that, there’s a few more things on short yet relatively hefty to-do list:

• Paint the half bathroom
• Re-install the toilet
• Touchup walls and trim in laundry room
• Hang new closet doors
• Install the new trim around the closet doors
• Paint the new trim and closet doors

Whew! 

As for the rest of the house… Remember a few weeks ago when we pulled out the fall decorations? Well, we managed to join the rest of our neighborhood and decorate the front door with a wreath, a few pumpkins, and some yellow mums. Then came the not-so-spur-of-the-moment urge to get the kitchen done in time for Christmas. Is that crazy? Then, if that wasn’t enough on our plate, we set out to do the laundry room too. Forget two front teeth, all we want for Christmas is a big ‘ole plate of satisfaction. With all of the hustle and bustle, the fall decorations went unnoticed and are already back in the attic. Bentley will miss Mr. & Mrs. Pilgrim…

But that doesn’t mean we’re not in the decorating mood. While in the attic, we decided to bring down the Christmas tree and all of the Christmas decoration boxes. Cue the Christmas music! 

It may seem a little early to be decking the halls, but we’re keeping our eyes on the prize. The prize = our first Christmas Eve in the house with the smell of cookies baking in the oven in our brand new kitchen. Pure bliss! With everything going on around here, we’re going to pace ourselves and our goal is to be completely decked out by Thanksgiving. Fingers crossed!

How about you guys? When do you start decorating for Christmas? And how early is too early?

It’s staining day! As I type, Frank (our staining guy) and his crew are busy sanding away in the laundry room. I’m so excited to see what it’s going to look like when they’re done!

And thank goodness for plastic and tape! I can only imagine the mess we would have on our hands with all of the dust going through the air.

While they’re doing their thing, I’ll be stocking up on inspiration photos via Pinterest. Sometimes I forget what decorating was like before Pinterest! 

A while ago, I ordered a baby shower gift from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child. Ever since, I’ve been on their mailing list. Since we don’t have kids, and aren’t planning to anytime soon, I normally just thumb through it then toss it. However, the most recent edition caught my eye and I found myself wishing I was six years old again so I could have a playroom like one of the spaces in the magazine. Specifically this one…

What little girl wouldn’t want to have a tea party in this room? I mean, seriously. Even though this room would cost you well over $6,000 (the bookshelves are $1,149 each), you could still learn a thing or two from the rooms featured in the catalog. For example, the groupings of the silhouette art pack a big punch and the industrial bookshelves and mix matched play chairs give the room a great eclectic storybook vibe.

Even if you don’t have kids, or a bazillion dollars to spend, these rooms have some great decorating trends to take note of. Here are a few of my favorites…

The first thing I noticed about this room was the miniature, estate-looking, leather sofa. I have to admit, even though it’s $1,700 and I would constantly be worried about my kids scratching it, I love it. It’s one of those “statement pieces” you could build an entire room around. The oversized wall art above the sofa, the metal pendant light and the vintage cafeteria table are other definite show-stoppers in this room. So cute!

I think I could get some homework done in this room, couldn’t you? Again, I love the oversized wall art and the vintage schoolhouse chairs remind me of my kindergarten class and Mrs. Mondee.

The miniature wingback chairs are simply adorable. I also like the framed synonym flash cards and the numbered coffee table (both which would be really great DIY projects to get the look for less).

The catalog also has some pretty awesome nurseries too! The floor to ceiling mirrors behind the cribs along with the chandeliers make a big statement. Though I’m sure once the babies were old enough, they would love getting fingerprints all over the mirrors! And yet again, I’m loving the framed vintage nursery rhymes. Genius.

First of all, that’s some chandelier, right?! This nursery looks like it came straight out of a storybook. The decorating tips I noticed from this room is how they made the crib the focal point of the room with layering the chandelier, crib and a huge mirror. They also brought more attention to the crib by flanking it with matching dressers.

Now this is one snazzy looking safari-themed nursery! It all works… the huge art, the netting, the trunk for the side tables, light curtains, the giant pendant light. I also noticed two decorating choices made here I wouldn’t ordinarily think about doing: the art lighting is only on the top pieces and they put a rug on a rug.

This room uses the same furniture as the nursery above but instead of a safari theme, they’ve transformed it into a little more grown up varsity theme. The two hanging pendants over the desk are a great alternative to an ordinary desk lamp. I also like the vintage flags in the shadowbox over the bed.

The layers of bedding makes you want to hop right in. Again with the wall art… they framed pages from a French storybook. I’ve seen book pages framed before but I particularly liked how they hung them so close together. It gives the illusion of one big art instillation.

Last but not least… if I was six, I would SO be asking for one of these tents for Christmas. And the sheepskin sleeping bag to match.

There’s more rooms to be gawked over on their website including ridiculously fabulous play rooms, nurseries, and bedrooms. The room gallery is full of decorating ideas not just for kid’s rooms, but for “big kid’s” rooms too, don’t you think?

Images courtesy of Restoration Hardware Baby & Child.