Stairway And Upstairs Hallway Decor: My Favorite "Room" Of The House

It seems a little silly to say but our stairway is probably my favorite "room" of the house. While not really a room it is used often as we go up and down the stairs daily with our kids. It has really great big windows that stream in the most natural light than any other space in our house. And I love the black and white photos and frames telling the sweet story of our family.

It leads up to our upstairs hallway that includes two bedrooms - a nursery, shared room for our big kids, and a bathroom. The natural light continues to stream into this space. And with it's minimal room for decor, it simply features some of my favorite things - favorite photos of our family and a few pieces of furniture.

While the home was advertised as a three bedroom house, the room we use for a nursery had no closing wall or door. So after living here a few months my husband put up a wall to help keep our little girl sleeping without the flooding of noise from the rest of the house. The wall isn't finished but it at least is a sound barrier and we also now have a door to close!

We switched out the light fixtures with these lights from Ikea (that unfortunately don't seem to be available anymore). They are in both the upstairs and downstairs hallway and have just the right farmhouse touch.

Having a stairway has always felt like such a luxury since we lived in a single story house for more than half of our marriage. It is the perfect place for showcasing photos and I love that we have two stretches of stairs that I could fill with frames.

The chandelier is a thrifted and spray painted original from back in the day. I love taking these special pieces with us to each of our homes. I am not sure if chandeliers are still in but I think it brightens up this stairwell perfectly.

I found that the stairway was a great place to keep my plants alive during the winter. I loved it so much I have decided to keep one permanently here.

You can see the view of the stairs from our couch in the living room. I love that I can see when the sun shines through or for a great view of the trees on our property. 

My next project is to paint the front door white (and the skinny window next to it). I think it will make a huge difference in brightening up the space.

 And as you can see, we continued the same Ikea lights downstairs. I love the little bit of black contrast.

 

And here are the listing photos of the entry, the room that is now the nursery (and where we put up the wall and door), and the stairway. I think we have come a long way at brightening up this house! We bought this house sight unseen from Virginia and I remember our realtor warning us the house was very dark. I was a little nervous about this as we had grown so used to such great natural lighting in our homes. But I am proud to say that we are lightening up this home little by little with some white paint and furniture!

 

Our Baby Boy's Quilt: Navy, Mint, And Gold

I recently finished our son's baby quilt that I will use to take his weekly picture on for the first year. Finishing this project always feels like a huge load off as I don't love to sew and in the past it has been very time consuming and often frustrating. But I am happy to report, the third time around, this was my easiest baby quilt yet! I have learned so much, making one for each of my kiddos, that this one came together quickly and easily. What a relief!

You can see how I use the quilt in weekly photos here.

When we lived in Virginia, I started ordering the majority of my fabric online from Spoonflower. Living out in the country and having a baby in tow, it just became easier to shop online. It is a bit pricier but with a much wider selection. The ease of ordering online and getting exactly what I wanted made these special baby projects worth the extra investment. 

I also love the tools that Spoonflower offers in designing your quilt. I took these screenshots to show you how I was able to design my striped quilt online and know how I wanted everything laid out.

With Spoonflower you can split your yard with two fabric choices. I ordered four of the fabrics each a half yard. And the widest design, the triangles, I ordered in a yard. When it arrived I laid it out next to my daughter's quilt for size and measured and cut accordingly. The quilt ends up being just about 2 yards long.

For more details on the quilt, you can see my daughter's quilt here and my first son's here. Those will give more details on the sewing process if you are interested!

Now some pictures of the finished quilt!

I ordered and printed my fabric a different way this time which ended up making the stripes go the wrong direction! I tried to make it work but eventually settled that I really wanted this special quilt to be how I originally planned. So I had to reorder the fabric! So instead of buying just one fabric design for the back (which is usually a less expensive fabric from the store), I used the misprinted fabric instead which you can see below. I was so glad it worked out after all!

For now the quilt is laying in his crib waiting for our little guy's arrival!

 

Introducing Baby #3

Our sweet baby boy came into the world on Thursday and we are over the moon in love.

It started with a successful membrane sweep (a day before my scheduled induction). A few hours later I was in labor. The stars aligned and our prayers answered for a smooth and most peaceful delivery yet. I was able to get in an early covid test so that by the time I was admitted to labor and delivery we knew I tested negative. After two previous difficult labors, I decided on an earlier epidural this time. Pain free and chill, time flew by as we waited for him to be ready to be pushed out. What began as a practice push resulted in two pushes and he slid right out!

He had low body temperature shortly after birth that meant a concerning few hours. But everything resolved itself and he is now doing great.

We are now all settling in happily at home. Welcome to the world baby boy!