Leona Lane

BEDSIDE NEWBORN BASKET

I'm in the last month of my pregnancy and I've gotten the crazy nesting bug! I don't remember feeling quite this way when I was pregnant with Lucy. Maybe it was the all day nausea for nine months, I'm not sure. But this time around I have had the constant urge to clean, purge and organize!

We live in a small two bedroom condo in Seattle. I never intended to live here once I had a child, let alone two children! But it seems we wont be moving any time soon. Right now there is a real struggle to make space for another person who will be joining our home in the next few weeks. 

One of the first projects I worked on was getting a newborn basket ready for my son. Eventually he will share a room with his sister Lucy, but we will wait a few months until he is sleeping (at least mostly) through the night. One of the will be having enough newborn essentials outside the nursery so I don't have to interrupt a sleeping toddler. That's where the idea for the newborn basket came about.

I used a white storage basket (re-purposed from this project) and filled it with some of my favorite newborn supplies: 

• Several size newborn onesies
• a few newborn diapers
• Avent soothie pacifiers
• Earth Mama and Angel Baby bottom balm and lotion
• Nose suction and tiny clippers
• Aden & Anais swaddling blankets
• Several burp cloths
• Motherlove nursing cream
• Lamb Wubbanub
• Pocket Nanny

 We have a nice little set up for baby boy in our bedroom right now. I feel much more prepared now that I have this cradle set up and the newborn basket ready to use. I'm almost 37 weeks, so he could technically be here any time! 

If you have a baby on the way (especially a second baby!) I would definitely recommend putting together some of these essentials in a central location. Hopefully it will make our lives a bit easier once we have a tiny newborn to take care of. 

PANTRY | BEFORE & AFTER

Sometimes things need a little refresh... was our pantry a mess or what? And a scrap of chalkboard contact paper was just what I needed to get me motivated.

Little backstory, when we moved into our rental, we were pretty excited to find such a spacious pantry. It's very similar to the one we had in our last house. I was all excited to organize it and fill it with yummy ingredients. I envisioned covering the door with chalkboard paint for writing out grocery lists, and making the inside all neat and tidy. However, once we moved in and found that the drawers kept falling off the rails and dumping their contents everywhere, the motivation turned south.

We ended up just stashing things in there haphazardly, stopped pulling out the drawers all together, and low and behold, it turned into a hot mess. (surprise, surprise.) That mess certainly did not inspire anything good. However, it did result in awkward over-buying, hello three jars of dill weed. 

So despite my vision of a well organized pantry covered in chalkboard paint, none of that happened. 

Until one afternoon, when I found myself with an awkward sized piece of leftover chalkboard contact paper. I wondered if it would be enough to cover the drawer fronts, so I measured, remeasured and then just started cutting. Cause when inspiration strikes, I say just go with it.

After getting the pieces cut to size, I carefully applied them to the drawer fronts, making sure to line it up straight at the beginning and smooth out the surface as I peeled of the backing to keep those stupid bubbles at bay. I started by peeling back an inch or two of the backing, positioned it on one edge of the drawer - then checked to see if it was lined up well and then pulled the rest of the backing off slowly. Patience my friend, patience.

Then take a chalkboard pen and label the drawers accordingly. I've found that chalkboard pen is actually a bit difficult to wipe off. So for a project like this that is going to get touched, it is perfect because it won't get all smudged.

As for the wonky drawers... I very gently took the curved end of the hammer and bent the rails back in just a bit. Worked like a charm! Sure wish I would have figured that out sooner. 

I'm pretty happy I got this all cleaned up and organized, just in time for all the holiday cooking too. What about you guys? How do you keep your kitchen organized?

Supplies Used: chalkboard contact paper, chalkboard pen

ORGANIZE IT // MAGAZINES

Last time I was at home, my mom and I were talking about seasonal cooking. I mentioned out loud how nice it would be to have recipes organized by season. I feel like I always have a mental list of things I want to make before the season is over but before I know it the season has flown by and none of it happened. Case in point - I made a sum total of zero popsicles last summer despite about one hundred popsicles pins and very good intentions.

Which got me thinking about why that is... First off, I need to stop thinking and actually start making things. And maybe make a list of things at the beginning of the season and then figure out how to check them off. (Lists and I tend to like each other.)

And it also got me thinking about the stacks of Bon Appetit magazines I have with all these seasonal recipes just begging to be cooked! I have the best intentions of weeding through them and dog-earing all the best pages but have just never taken the time. It's a bit of an overwhelming pile. (...in the very best way of course.)

After pulling them all out, I realized we have almost four full magazine holders full of past issues. And it just made natural sense to organize them by season. The fall issues are now out in the living room for easy browsing, while the other three are tucked away in the office. So now I can easily rotate through the seasons. 

A little organizing and mindfulness goes a long ways. I've already cranked out an apple pie and my favorite squash dish this fall, as well as few pot roasts, complete with mashed potatoes and homemade gravy! Some carrot soup, a big pot of posole and some spiced wine. Which for me is a lot of cooking... Joe has historically been the cook at our house, because he's majorly talented that way! But I need to step up and help out if we are actually going to cut back on eating out and save some money.

So here's to some organized magazines and good home cooked food! <clink> That's a win-win all around in my book! 

WORKSPACE TOUR

It's about time I shared a little workspace tour on the blog! Sometimes you just need a kick in pants to get going and that's exactly what Sarah from WeWork did for me. She emailed me asking if I would share some pictures of my current workspace and describe what I love about it. And to dream up what my perfect office environment would be like! So I guess you can thank her for today's post!

When Joe and I moved into our new place about a year ago we decided to turn the tiny third bedroom into a shared office (I'm talking 60 square feet). When we left Spokane, we weren't entirely sure where we would end up. I had been using a hand-me-down table as a desk but decided to donate that because it was huge and I figured we would no longer have space for it. So I got to start all over with a blank slate! Exciting!!

Then I set about translating as much of that as possible into my current space. Luckily the walls were already white. I discovered that my favorite desk was about the cheapest option out there - just two Lerberg Trestles and a Limmon Table Top from Ikea. It's low profile helps the room feel bigger. I also got a small expedit and wicker baskets to help with some concealed storage. For lighting, I grabbed a clamp light from Target and put an Edison bulb in it to get an industrial vibe. And hung up some clipboards on the side of my expedit.

My desk faces the window, which is great for all the natural light that comes in - I called dibs on that side of the room as soon as we moved in. Underneath the window I taped up some favorite photos, a small watercolor painting, a favorite quote that I typed up with my typewriter and an Elise Joy Project Life Card. All things that either inspire me or remind me to be happy and grateful. 

For me having a clean desk is essential to get my creativity flowing. So I've tried really hard to keep the surface of my desk clear - definitely a challenge. But an uncluttered desk equals an uncluttered brain, so it's worth the effort! I'm pretty happy with how I'm keep it organized right now. The old metal inbox corals incoming stuff. The flower frog keeps my pens and scissors in one spot. A ceramic egg carton corals all the little bits and bobs that are bound to end up on a desk. I found an old kitchen storage system at a thrift store that houses my washi tape, ribbons and other miscallaneous crafty treasures. And the divided teal bin is perfect for holding Project Life stuff.  

The typewriter and candles are the only "clutter" that gets to stay! ...whew, with all that said, here's the rest of the pictures. Some day when I have a wider lens, I'll get a picture of the whole room <insert winky face>

I'm still hoping to add a plant into the mix somewhere and maybe put up some string lights this fall. And I have my eyes open for a fun calendar, since it's almost that time of year. But otherwise I'm really happy with how everything came together!

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of my workspace. What would your dream office look like?

PS. You can read more about WeWork on their site, they are a co-working company that offers shared office spaces, it honestly sounds pretty cool as an alternate idea from working from home. This post is not sponsored, it just sounded like a fun thing to collaborate on! The Amazon links are affiliate links though. 

CHECKLIST FOR CAMPING

I'm so stoked that it's almost camping season you guys! I absolutely love camping!! It's up there on my Top 10 list! Right now, we're getting ready for our Memorial Day camping trip. Every year since Joe and I have been married, we have gone camping on Memorial Day weekend with friends. It's become a fun tradition! This year will be quite the adventure because Jenn is bringing baby Lucy. So it will be the first one with a mini-me along for the ride. And the first Memorial Day camping trip with the Scamp. And after Memorial Day, Joe and I are going to be road tripping through Oregon for almost a week! So lots of firsts to be excited about!

I've always been meaning to make up a camping checklist... because it seems like every trip we forget something. Last summer, we managed to forget everything to make coffee, except the grinder and the beans - that was an epic fail. No bueno. I mean it's car camping, you're not going to die. But it's more fun if you're not scrambling and searching for things just to come up empty handed. For our last trip up to Larabee State Park I wrote down a pretty comprehensive list and added things throughout the trip as we thought of other things it would be nice to have. Now that I've got it all typed up, I thought I'd share it with you guys. I figured I'm not the only one who would find it helpful. And hey, everyone loves a free printable!

I've made two versions - one is for tent camping and the other is for camping with a trailer. Click here to download the Camping with a Tent version.  Click here to download the Camping Checklist with a Trailer.

What about you guys? Anyone else have fun plans for Memorial Day weekend? Or camping trips lined up for this summer?