THOUGHTFUL DESIGN SERIES - HENRY'S NURSERY

I am thrilled to have another guest posting for our Thoughtful Design Series! I contacted Mandy after I saw her nursery on Pinterest and was super impressed. I like to call her a triple-threat since her day job is being a photographer and mother, not an interior designer. What?! This girl is talented! Check out her website to see her beautiful photography and enjoy her thoughtfully designed nursery!
  I love creative projects, and designing Henry's nursery was one of my favorites. There are so many little stories behind the items in his room. My overall vision was to create a beautiful nurturing space for our little boy to grow in, but for us to enjoy as well. We spend a lot of time in there and I wanted it to be an great environment for Joel and I too. This room was carefully crafted. I'll share some of the thought behind the design.

1. I bought Rules for My Unborn Son by Walker Lamond for Joel when we found out Henry was a boy. We had fun reading this to him while he was in the belly. The vibe and feel of this book kickstarted the inspiration! We wanted something vintage, but a real and authentic kind of vintage.

 2. My mom and I made the bedding (material and fabric from Hawthorne Threads and Sew Sheri Designs). After searching, I couldn't find anything that quite matched the vision in my head. So, we decide to make it! Same things goes for the blanket on the glider. Knit that myself. The tedious work really helped me prepare for our little boy's arrival. I could knit and while doing so, envision our new life. Creating things by hand is a big deal in my life. So I wanted hand-made stuff in his room.

3. There are lots of finds from antique/thrift store/family members' basements. There were several reasons for this.
a) The room has a vintage feel. I wanted to select items in that vein. I wanted items with timeless, rather than cutesy, baby-ish, feel. I wanted things that he could continue to enjoy as he gets older. Items that he could grow to love. We didn't want to have to re-do his room when he's no longer a baby.
b) I wanted items in the room that would help pull together the story of our family.
c) I'm really practical. These things were really cheap, or free!
 * The cubby/shelf behind the glider was in my in-laws' basement. It had come from an iron factory/plant in Birmingham, AL. Because it was so dirty and greasy, the plan was to throw it away. However, a can of Clorox wipes later, we had a beautiful shelf. We're slowly filling these shelves with books! Stories/books/learning mean so much to our little family.
* The old baseball glove was from my husbands' great grandmother's basement. Joel played with that glove as a kid and dreamed of being an old-timey baseball player. It's fun for him to remember those moments and pass that on to Henry.
* Found the crib on Craigslist for free.
* The antique letter blocks were from Ebay.
* The armoir came from a thrift store and the changing table from a junk/antique store.
* The Noah's Ark came from the same place as the changing table. The quest to find all these things was a lot of fun and helped us build anticipation for the arrival of our little guy. This is how I pieced together the rest of our home as well. Slowly, but surely find interesting and storied items!  

4. The glider was one thing that I didn't mind spending more money on. I figured this chair will get us through many nights and mulitiple children (hopefully). I wanted a good, durable, comfortable chair.  

5. Again, I'm a really practical girl. The changing table was all practical. I wanted easy access to diapers. But I wanted this easy, practical access to diapers to be aesthetically appealing. The vintage gym lockers above the cubby was about achieving storage in a hidden way.  

6. My husband, Joel, wanted me to mention the deer antlers. He went hunting in Texas once. He says its manly. We think it adds a unique touch. The basket behind the antlers came from Haiti. We spend a lot of time in Haiti and this basket was purchased from a man who was using it to carry jewelry for sale in the market. We said that we actually wanted the basket, and not the jewelry and he was both confused, and thrilled.

If I can help you pull something like this together, let me know!