s&j inventory is up!

The last of our frames (at least for a little while) are in the shop for sale!  If you are local you are welcome to come see the frames in person to choose otherwise please contact us at hello @ stewartandjames.com with item numbers for purchase (so you aren't charged for shipping).  Have a wonderful weekend!

we love fall

Mark's Melon Patch

 

a fun trip with cousin Jack to Mark's Melon Patch this year.

check out 2 years ago here

frames

When Arre and I get together for our meetings we try to pack in as much as we can.  We almost always say the same thing as we are locking up the shop to leave.."we forgot to take pictures!"   I guess to prove to you blog readers that we are doing something :)  Last week I remembered though..just for you.

If you see something you like let us know (helloatstewartandjamesdotcom)  While we are truly going on hiatus, we will be selling our remaining inventory so check back often :)

sweet happy giggly girls

harper, molly, mills, hadley

My girls have some sweet friends that (i believe) have made an appearance on the blog a time or two before.  This family has two girls (harper & hadley) that are two of my girls' age (molly & mills) and go to the same schools, have the same dance classes, and can't get enough of each other!  Their sweet mom wanted me to do a frame for her mom of the girls and I just love how it turned out.

Isn't this the sweetest?
Ashley's photo of Harper & Hadley by The Mondays Photography

Nursery Notebook :: 3 :: The Gallery Wall (maybe?)

I feel like I've done a pretty good job thus far with keeping the nursery neutral and ... dare I saw... sophisticated? Okay, maybe not sophisticated, but whatever it is now I'm thinking it's perhaps a little too much so.

The first time I showed my husband the nursery concept his response was "shouldn't there be monkeys hanging on the wall or something?" His desire for something a little more whimsical hasn't waned and I'm starting to get a on board with the idea. Since wall decor is the only thing we lack, it's definitely the place to get creative - if I'm going to.

My first instinct for a gallery wall looks something like this:

But that isn't really veering too far off course for me in this space.

Then I, of course, adore Joni's entire play space she has recently created for her precious daughter. And her gallery wall is such fun:

I've always loved that Elizabeth Taylor photo she was inspired by.

And how clever is she to recreate it in such a personal way?

But I'm not sure this isn't too wild for my currently oh so neutral space... Not to mention a baby girl is going to actually have to enter our family before I could get my husband on board with a humongous pink photograph, anyway.

Joni's wall, however, is very in style right now. It's what we're seeing a lot of on blogs. What makes it okay is that everyone can do the "same thing" without doing the same thing. Everyone's gallery wall is their own.

For instance, Joy's gallery wall is identical in concept but does not look at all the same:

In both cases, it's collected and totally cute. I like that.

If I were to do a version of this style of gallery wall in our nursery it would be a good place for the many small scale prints and things I've seen on Etsy, etc. that I would like to use in some capacity.

This is what my "etsy-based gallery wall" would be comprised of:

Don't worry, this one come in a blue 'him' version, too

But do I really need that many versions of how much I already love this child plastered to the wall?

Probably.

Then there's this - most nursery like - wall of beautifully framed and matted Shel Silverstein book pages. Genius. Amy Meier does not wrong.

This is probably the best compromise of the look I've gone for throughout the planning process and a touch of whimsy that will confirm this room is in fact for a baby.

But I really loooove all of those random etsy, etc. items... hmmm.




image source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 all of the images for an "etsy-based" gallery wall can be sourced on my pinterest boards: nursery and oh baby

Going on hiatus

Yep you heard it right.  s&j is going to take a little break.  We will still update you on the blog from time to time but for now we are trying to prioritize our lives a little better.  With Arre's bundle of joy set to arrive THIS month and my kids growing up much faster than I expected (I will admit, I was warned) s&j has taken a bit of a backseat for us.  We have always had so much fun with this venture that started out as a simple need for a few frames and turned into a business that has led us to get to know so many people that would have otherwise never entered our lives.  We are grateful for all of you s&j supporters and friends so don't leave us just yet!

If you already have an order placed with us do not worry - we are on it!  We plan to wrap up all orders before the end of the month.  We are just no longer taking new orders for the time being.  We will have some extra frames for a little early Christmas shopping so don't be a stranger.  Besides..aren't you dying to know what Arre is having?!  Me too so stick around.

Nursery Notebook :: 2

Hello Again!

If I haven't waited so long between posts that I've lost your interest, here's an update:

The nursery is  s l o w l y  but surely progressing. We've gotten a lot done but it is not nearly ready for a baby (neither am I, truth be told, but ready or not, he or she is coming in the next few weeks)!

For starters, here's a instagram dump of what we have done:

Lighting in the bath - real important stuff 

The chair and the crib came in! Can you spot them in this mess ? (We also had a couple of showers, thus so. much. stuff.)

I became a bit obsessed with mattress shopping and went to Atlanta to find the best one 

I got a little distracted while away! Baby Shopping Spree!

For the most part, what we lack is in the works: a daybed is under construction, our draperies and the crib bedding are at the work room - hopefully both will look similar to what's below once completed.

I have a few things on the way for the walls... but I'm not sure I'm going to love them, so I'll wait to post about what actually works ... I want something large over the crib (canvas) and something large over the changing table (mirror), so I'm thinking maybe a gallery wall over the daybed. I might do a post on what that could be composed of alone! 

Let's see... what else...

I ordered crib sheets today - yay! 

Now, if I could just find a jute rug that isn't backordered until the end of the year... grrr

Nursery Notebook :: 1

Thankfully you guys are as eager to see my nursery as I am, so I am going to borrow the blog to use as an organizational tool plus an accountability journal of sorts.

The baby should be here within the next eight weeks and as you will see in the photos to follow - I've got a lot to do, so here we go!

We have a few options for a nursery space, so narrowing it down to this one (pictured above) was a feat in and of itself! I ended up selecting it because it is the closest to our room and I like the views. It helped that it wasn't truly serving another purpose ;) It has been a verifiable junk room for two years, so when we had the floors refinished a month ago, I made the decision in time for nothing to be put back in here. It doesn't look like much but this alone is major progress!

A little more time passed until I was ready to make any purchases. Measuring for the big stuff was the obvious next step. Big stuff includes:

• crib
• glider
• changing table
• rug(s)
• draperies
• daybed(?)
• bookcase/armoire?
• art

Along the way, I've, of course, looked at some small stuff too ;) We debated about whether or not to wait to do the nursery (because we aren't finding out if our baby is a boy or a girl!) but in the end my much more practical than me husband won and a very neutral scheme is in the works. I would like to think that we may have more children and that this room will remain the nursery for the duration, so that makes me like it being neutral better. Plus, once this baby outgrows the nursery, it will be way more fun to do a colorful room specific to his or her gender and likes! 

So far, I only have check marks by three of the aforementioned 'big items' ... but sending in that first order sure was fun! Funnily enough they are the top three things on the list I just typed up there - which I didn't mean to type in order of importance but did! I'm expecting two of the piece to arrive in the next couple of weeks, so maybe I'll share a progress picture once they're in...

Now, I just (really, like am running out of time have to) need to make decision on a rug (or two?!) and draperies...