STORY OF MY NURSERY...THUS FAR

It's funny how much my home changes from year to year. I don't feel like I'm always working on a project or buying new furniture, but as I look back on pictures from past years, each year almost every room in my home has changed quite a bit. I guess that's what happens when your family grows and changes so much during the years when your kids are small.

Once we found out we were having our third girl, we moved my daughter out of her room to share with her sister to make room for our new baby. It was time to redecorate it as our nursery.

I started out with an eclectic, organic nursery like this in mind...

(you can see links to these products and more ideas I had for the nursery on my Pinterest board)

But then my sweet and stylish grandma passed away and I inherited this chair. I wanted to use it in the new nursery, and thought about recovering it, but the fabric is retro and girly and I liked the uniqueness of it.

This chair changed my plan quite drastically. Nothing in my original plan really worked anymore, except the Jenny Lind crib and gold wreath. I also needed to find the bedding I wanted for her crib.

I found this crib sheet at Bohem at their Designer's open house and loved the block-print and soft blue color. It's created an eclectic vibe, which is what I really wanted in her nursery.

For the walls I loved the striped Farrow & Ball wallpaper and really wanted to use it, but the cost was more than I wanted to spend at the time, and I didn't feel like it worked as well now that I had the new chair and crib sheet.

So now I needed to decide whether to leave my blush pink walls or paint them. I took the decision to Instagram and my nice followers chimed in, helping me make the decision to paint the walls navy blue. I chose Farrow & Ball's Hague Blue, which I was more than happy with. My new go-to navy blue.

This gold medallion replaced the wreath from my board because I also inherited it from my grandma. The medallion was even better than the wreath because it hung in my grandma's home and reminds me of her every time I look at. A more thoughtful decoration.

I would have loved to get a new dresser for the changing table and storage, but with all of the expenses of a new baby, Christmas, and other things, we decided to wait and just use what we had. I have had our changing table since my first daughter, and it was too shabby chic for me. I needed to update it and saw these knobs at Anthropologie that were gorgeous and perfect.

And then I got bored one afternoon and bought some gold paint and glamed up the changing table because everything looks better with gold on it, right?

I kept my sisal rug (that I've had in this room from the beginning) from Ikea, but I plan on eventually changing that out as well. My rug has a navy blue border and is no longer available, but they sell a similar one.

I am currently working on more art for the walls, curtains, and finishing touches. As soon as I feel like it's where I want it, I will share the pictures of it for a more complete view of the room. Until then...

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!