The Nursery!

The (finally finished) nursery! 

I'm not a fan of all-blue-and-boyish or all-pink-and-girly nurseries (or nurseries that look too babyish, since the room is technically for the parents for a while!), but I actually surprised myself by being afraid that I would accidentally make this room too girlish somehow. After all, I'm a girl and these are all things that I like, and I suppose there's some sort of strange expectation to make a room look kind of "tough" when it's for a little boy-- even on Apartment Therapy I saw lots of examples of nurseries that had a distinct masculine vibe, and I was definitely veering in another direction. It's a silly thing to have worried about because I ended up creating a gender neutral space that's just plain happy, with a mix of yes-kind-of-girly-colors contrasted with the strong chevron rug and horse/airplane/robots/Wild Things poster. 

It's a room that makes us seriously happy to step into, and I'm looking forward to playing in there in a few months and reading to him at night in the comfy chair..

The rug is from Urban Outfitters (loooove).

I made the curtains, and the wooden crate is from a thrift shop (originally from Red Schoolhouse Records in Raleigh). The bookshelf is (obviously!) from Ikea and the storage bins are 3 Sprouts. I love those things! They fit the Expedit perfectly and hold tons of stuff.

Elefante made by me, handmade wooden dinosaur from the City Market in Charleston, the blocks are XYZ (AND THEY ARE AWESOME). I still need to get a more traditional set (because I'm kind of obsessed with wooden blocks) but these are just fantastic.

Elephants knit by me, random toys and Aden + Anais blankies.

Vintage storybooks and old thrifted toys-- the giraffe, day of the dead dog, and bunny are from a shop in Santa Fe, NM (the dog and bunny were from a local artist). The music box used to live in Jeremy's grandma's house, and the nesting shelves were $2 at a yard sale.

The Wonder Pony! Found at an antique shop earlier this spring.

We, um, accidentally collected a lot of clothes (for the first six months, anyway). I'm pretty excited by my storage/organization system-- empty baskets at the bottom for outgrown clothes, and random bins and baskets at the top for hats/socks, bibs, nursing and feeding supplies, etc.

I made size dividers out of cardboard and scrapbook paper-- it was a really quick and easy way for me to feel less OVERWHELMED by the clothes and their ridiculous, arbitrary sizes (baby clothes really need to have standardized sizing, what the hell?)

The crib with my DIY robot sheets! Superhero Bird and Alphabet prints are from Etsy. The Bird print actually has his name on top, but since we're being all silly and secretive I 'shopped it out for now.  Block quilt made by me.

The Alphabet print is held up by an old wooden pants hanger, but will obviously be moved to a safer location once he can actually stand up and grab at things!

I still need to make lots more toys for crib-friends! The Exploding TARDIS poster is probably one of my favorite things in the entire house because it's gorgeous and the frame is perfect and I had to have something in there representing the Doctor.

The vintage (I think?) lion lamp was from a consignment sale, side table from a vintage shop, and the glider was a lucky craigslist find. The magazine rack by the chair is going to hold current favorite books. OpArt blankie knit by me!

We're cloth diapering, so the trash can with washable pail liner is going to serve as our diaper pail. The dresser was definitely the biggest project in the room (and of course I forgot to get a "before" picture), but it was originally a very beat up '20s dresser with a round mirror that we used at our old apartment. Jeremy sanded, primed, and painted it a gorgeous coral color. Yay!

Wall stuff! Owl print from Etsy, creepy weirdo vintage lion found at an antique shop (I love him). The smurf puzzle was put together by my dad and used to live in my room as a kid. The stenciled DIY lyrics were a surprisingly quick project (the chorus of Bowie's "Kooks").

A dog bed is necessary when your dogs insist on following you to every room of the house. (Although I need to find a larger one for this room, because of course they refuse to share small beds these days.)

And finally, the Ikea repurposed shelves with lots of pretty books.

So phew, yes. That's it! Now I just need a baby to go there (and I'll have one in a MONTH, whaaaat!)