Advice for New Moms: Pewter + Sage

I'm pleased to welcome Sarah of the blog Pewter + Sage as this week's guest blogger in the Advice for New Moms guest post series. Sarah is a new mom herself, having just had her sweet baby girl Maura just three short months ago. In addition to her new role as mommy, Sarah is also the owner of her own business, where she makes beautiful custom stationery for weddings and just about anything else

Nursery: Quick Midweek Update

I came home today to find a completely painted nursery; what a wonderful midweek pick-me-up! I'm loving how bright and clear the pale aqua is. Now all that's left is to starting loading in the room. Stay tuned!{I should note that I didn't have a surprise visit from the painting fairies. Dave and I decided to bring in the professionals for this paint job given the fact that I'm 32 weeks pregnant

Nursery: Progress Report

Over the course of the holidays, despite plenty of company and my growing fatigue (and belly!), I did manage to get a good bit done in the nursery. When we last left off, the spare bedroom was essentially our storage room, which meant the first task was clearing it out. After several trips to Goodwill, we managed to empty the room and get cracking. Dave's big task was to remove the light and

I love Ruby Love's Modern Baby Books

I'll admit that I'm a big fan of documenting everything (I'm a lawyer, after all!) and I cherish the baby books my mother and grandmother made for me. But a lot of the books on the market today just strike me as a bit too cheesy, a bit too...well, babyish. Cue a random (but most welcome email) from my blogging buddy Laura over at JourneyChic a few weeks ago recommending Etsy seller Ruby Love's

Advice for New Moms: Haven & Home

Today marks the final installment of the Advice for New Moms guest post series and I'd like to thank all the wonderful bloggers who contributed to the series and made it so informative (not to mention entertaining). We're finishing up strong today with Marianne Strong (sorry for the bad pun!) from Haven & Home and Marianne Strong Interiors. While Marianne is not yet a mother herself, she's had

Advice for New Moms: JourneyChic

Back again with yet another fantastic guest post in the Advice for New Moms series. Today I'm thrilled to have Laura of JourneyChic, who welcomed her first son into the world back in June...wow, I can't believe how time flies! I feel like I was just reading about her being pregnant! In any case, Laura has (unsurprisingly) some incredibly smart thoughts on decking out the nursery, delivery and

Advice for New Moms: Green Street

Dave and I are back from Florida and this week we've got not one but two guest posts coming in my Advice for New Moms series. Today, I'd like to welcome Fran from Green Street. Fran is a fabulous mom with an equally fabulous sense of style and I'm sure you'll find her advice as helpful as I have. Take it away, Fran!* * *Congratulations Averill - I am very happy for you and your husband for your

Nursery Design: The Beginning

So I'm over 24 weeks into my pregnancy, which gives me less than 16 weeks (or 3.5 months for those unaccustomed to measuring time in weeks) to decorate Baby Boy Conn's nursery. To give you an idea of what we're starting with, above is a shot of the soon-to-be nursery. I had considered cleaning the room out first before taking a photo, but I thought I'd best be totally honest with you guys. As you

Advice for New Moms: (Chef)uality

Today I'm thrilled to welcome my dear sister-in-law Dani , the blogger behind the fantastic food video blog (Chef)uality and mother of two of my all-time favorite kiddos (yes, they also happen to be my nephew and niece, but I'd still argue they're unequivocally awesome and I give Dani tons of credit for how they're turning out). And so, it's little wonder that I've asked for her advice and sage

Advice for New Moms: Emily A. Clark

Today's sage advice on motherhood comes from Emily of Emily A. Clark, interior decorator, mommy of three, and DIY-genius. I'm particularly grateful for all the "what not to waste your time/money on" advice that's been featured in so many of these guest posts (including this one!). In fact, I'm off to delete some more items from my registry now. * * *I'm so happy for Averill and her husband on

What's in a name?

To borrow a line from Shakespeare, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But what about a little boy? While I'm normally the type of person who makes quick, confident decisions, I find myself almost completely immobilized when it comes to naming my future son. I'm afraid of making the wrong decision, of saddling my son with an overly popular or trendy name, of having the other parents

Advice for New Moms: Pink Wallpaper

Today I'm thrilled to welcome back Shannon Darby, designer, mom and blogger behind Pink Wallpaper and The Designer's Attic. I've been a huge fan of Shannon's killer sense of style for a few years now, so it's little wonder that I'm completely in love with all the products she recommends here. It's great to know that there are plenty of functional -- yet still stylish -- baby products available

Decorating with Quentin Blake

As a child, my primary passion was drawing; in fact, I spent the first ten to twelve years of my life convinced I was going to be a children's book illustrator or Disney animator. Little wonder then that two of my leading role models were Walt Disney and Quentin Blake, an English illustrator and author who is probably most famous for illustrating the works of Roald Dahl. Dahl's fantastical,

Advice for New Moms: Home to Three Duncan Boys

Hi guys, I’m Lakeitha from Home to three Duncan Boys and I’m here today sharing my baby must haves with Averill for her little “munchkin”! Munchkin products are my absolute favorite. They make a wide variety of baby accessories that I think are perfect for new moms! Plus the color combinations are just too darn cool to pass up! Here are a few of my favorites…For Feeding:Breastfeeding may be ideal

Advice for New Moms: My Little Happy Place

This week's advice comes courtesy of Alison G. at My Little Happy Place. Alison is the mother of two darling little girls, Avery and Isla -- and the designer of both of their darling nurseries. I'm particularly loving Alison's advice on what I don't need as a major goal of mine is to not overcrowd my house with unnecessary baby items!* * *I'd like to think I have something to offer a new mom, as

Little Boys' Rooms

Amanda NisbetI thought in many ways it would be more difficult to do a roundup of little boys' rooms that I love as opposed to little girls' (see HERE for last week's installment), but once I got going, I found a ton of wonderfully inspiring spaces that tow the line perfectly between a mother's desire to decorate and a boy's desire to be, well, a boy. As with the girls' rooms, trends did tend to

Little Girls' Bedrooms

Natasha BaradaranOf course the past few weeks I've been busy collecting inspiration photos of children's rooms. So I thought I might go ahead and post a round-up of some of my favorite rooms: first girls' and then boys' (which, I'll admit, where a lot harder to find!). [Aside: And no, I still don't know what I'm having, but I should when I go to the doctor next on the 20th!] This first room from

Advice for New Moms: What We Eat

I'm excited today to announce the start of Odi et Amo's new fall guest blogger weekly series. This time around, I'm looking for some great advice for new moms (selfish of me, no?). Topics will range from product reviews and suggestions, setting up the nursery, and that sort of indispensable advice that you often only learn by experience. My first guest blogger is Christy, blogger of the food blog

Orange & Aqua Nursery Inspiration

Here are a few images inspiring me today. Clockwise from left: (1) Blueprint's modern baby shower; (2) Amy Atlas's orange & aqua dessert bar; (3) orange staircase from Canadian House & Home; (4) Binth Alphabet poster; (5) Leslie Klotz's serene coastal bedroom (and that awesome quilt); (6) fabrics: Serena & Lily's orange seersucker, Thomas Paul's zinnia in turquoise and Thomas Paul's Aviary in

Cutest. Gliders. Ever.

Windward Wingback Glider (from $3250)Until very recently (like maybe yesterday) I really hadn't given much thought as to how I'll decorate the nursery. Chalk it up to exhaustion, preoccupation with work or perhaps just procrastination, but the likely truth is that I really couldn't bear the idea of launching into yet another home improvement project right now. But fortunately that's all changed