If you're here, you're probably like me and get a weird satisfaction in reading birth stories. Let me preface this by saying, I absolutely hate childbirth, but love reading about other peoples (the outside perspective does not provide me pain!)Even though she's close to 2 months old now, I wanted to get this down in black & white on my little space of the internet before I forget all the details that I want her to know about someday.

Everyone has their own timelines/priorities when it comes to preparing for baby. Obviously, I love decorating and making my house a home, so the nursery is by far my favorite part of 'nesting'. As soon as we found out she was a girl, however, I struggled HARD with the design of this room and actually did a 180 degree shift from what I originally planned.

My son is officially sleeping in a 'big boy bed' and has been evicted from his crib pending his baby sisters arrival in a couple short months.

In true Ashley fashion, this 'big boy room' could have easily just been a new bed. But of course, any excuse to redecorate and update a space, you know I'm all in!

To be fair, this transition from nursery to a big boy room was pretty swift with minimal things we needed to purchase, however, even with the small changes, it made a BIG impact.

So here is the step by step guide on how I hacked out the Ikea Kitchen of my dreams! Jude officially has a nicer kitchen than I do.

What if I told you that I bought, sold, and renovated a home with a 6 week old baby and lived to tell the tale? What if I told you that if given the chance, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Why? Because home is important to me and my family. It’s where we’re at our best, our worst, and everything in between. To me, living somewhere that makes me feel creative, comfortable, and vulnerable is on the priority list and I will leave 'survival' mode for it.

The construction part of the attic only took about two weeks from start to finish (and that includes days in between while waiting for carpet to be installed and our electrician to make it back over for finishing touches) but the time it's taken to actually get it decorated and in order, well, that's another story. So, here we are, well over a month later, with the final reveal!

When we found out I was pregnant, we struggled to conceptualize where the nursery would go. The layout in our house was very awkward. We had three bedrooms on the first floor, both directly off of the kitchen and living room. Our master bedroom was on the second floor. We decided to take the 2 smallest rooms, that were directly across the hall from one another, and turn them into the nursery and the playroom.