putting down roots and decorating the place…come on inside

i know that i have been living in australia for nearly two years, but on boxing day i felt like i was finally putting down roots.

i organized gemma’s room and moved clover to the nursery.
for all 17 months of her life, our baby girl has been sleeping in temporary accommodations. we have tried our bed, our room, our walk in closet and finally a quiet corner of the guest room. it did not feel right putting kieran and gemma to bed in proper rooms while clover just had a crib like a visitor’s child we were babysitting. but i did. for a year and a half so that we could all sleep.

i am taking back control of my house from the fears i had that this country would not feel like home.

we are not going anywhere. i love this house. it is time to really start showing it. hang up a picture or two.

we were not being mean, there was a good reason to keep clover in dark spots. she is a bit distractable by things such as windows.
(as evidenced by my view of her when she should have been napping…)

since she was not napping anyway, i had to go catch the scene in her new room…

oh and she screams. clover is loud. if you have been following this blog for a bit, you already know that though.
while her protests kept kieran up for a bit, he eventually went to sleep when he was done redecorating his crib. and so did she.

i am so happy to finally have the rooms coming together. i am even going to build a toy box for their legions of stuffed friends. since i have weeded through all their clothes, there are free shelves in the closet to fit all their toys. they have a floor! i know because i actually walked on it!

that declutters the playroom so we can actually use that space for…playing!

now to get to the decorating.. i have so many ideas, but the only things i have bought so far are these 3 prints. i even had them framed. (no really, i did. you can see one in the background of the photos there.)
i am always looking for design ideas, so please leave links to your favorite inspirational sites in the comments! the more homemade and crafty, the better. i have a sewing machine and an empty room to use it in!

i have been nominated for the apartment therapy homies awards (click here and vote by adding my blog to your favorites) and have been going through the other nominees for gems. my blog reader is bursting at the seams now. i am very excited that i found this blog there and am taking notes. so many great ideas for children’s spaces…go and check them all out.

the twins’ room has always been for both of them. the letters were hung on the door when i was still pregnant and the beautiful handmade sunsuits have been waiting there for this summer when they are finally big enough to wear them.

we have a reading spot so that our family love of books gets passed down to the twins.

it is all good. well it will be. now they just have to get over the novelty of having a playmate at bedtime and GO. TO. SLEEP.

gemma is loving her newly arranged room. it just makes sense the way we have it set up now and the plan is to fill the white wall by the side of her bed with her art and framed photos of all her friends and family. she will fall asleep with lovely images. the opposite wall is her favorite shade of purple and only has one fabulous piece of art by shari elf. i love shari elf’s work and have been collecting little pieces for years. she makes art from things she finds…seeing beauty everywhere.

gemma being five years old has lots of microscopic plastic toys. the twins being one year old are drawn to these choking hazards like little moths to the plastic flame.

to let gemma have the freedom to play in her own space we have installed a toddler resistant force field creating a twin free zone…as you can see, clover is devastated.

i am excited for the twins to be in one room. they really are becoming a tight pair. true buddies. and to hear them laughing behind the closed door of their room is just awesome. except for when they should be sleeping. that is not so awesome.

they are totally going to figure out how to get that door open. and like little foreign exchange students, they speak their own language right in front of us so we never really have any clue what they are plotting.

all photos shot on the D3 with my new 50mm f/1.8 edit: f/1.4 *smacks head and once again decided blogging at midnight is a bad idea* lens that i love. a lot.
settings were all over the place and since this has to be my most photo filled single post to date, i am too lazy to go back and try to list them all.
i am happy to answer your questions.