Saturday, April 2, 2011

Creativity at work

When Mati was born, we had just moved and were living in a rental. Subsequently, I never really had the opportunity to decorate a nursery. I finally get my chance with baby #2! We live in a 2 bedroom house, so kidos will be sharing a room. Trying to keep everything "neutral" with a bit of pink and blue flare.

My inspiration came from this picture from a pottery barn kids add. That magazine is amazing, by the way! Pretty expensive, but they have lots of great decorating ideas. This was a room set up for twins, but my kidos will be close enough in age that it still works.


WALLS:
Painted the room grey... well, Blake, his dad and Jay painted it. Thanks Guys! I am way too fat to do that kind of work anymore! I love, love, love the stencil on the wall in this picture! Searched around online to find something similar and came up with this. Added the background, similar to the wall color we chose, to get an image in my head of what it will actually look like. I have to have visuals, or the idea wont stick.


STENCIL:
My plan is to blow up the image to about a square foot and print it out. I bought a flimsy plastic dinner place mat that I will trace the image onto and cut out with an exacto knife. To keep the image straight across the entire wall, I will have to poke holes in the four corners of the stencil and line them up each time I move the stencil. (Blake's tip, my hubby is much smarter than me!) I am not sure yet what color to use for the image, but will probably end up with a very light blue, lighter grey, or off white.

AREA RUG:
The hardwood floors in the nursery are a light oak. We have one of those cheap college dorm rugs in a cream color right now. I'd like to get a better one, but want to stay away from any elaborate patterns because of the wall stencil. Dont want it to look like somebody threw up patterns all over the room (although it might anyway, by the time I am finished). I like the idea of a low-pile shag rug, keeping with the same color. Something soft enough for the baby to lay on, but still vaccuumable (I know its not a word).


BEDS:
Mati is still in the crib, so this one should be interesting. The "plan" is to move Mati to a toddler bed and move the baby into the crib. We have a bassinet in our room that he will sleep in for the first few weeks, but that wont last forever. (I'll let you know later how the new arrangement goes.) I found this bed at walmart on sale for $49. The color matches Mati's crib (which looks almost exactly like the cribs in the pottery barn photo above).


Mati's bedding:


Baby boy's bedding:
I have not purchased the fitted sheets yet, so still debating on color/pattern. All we have is white sheets right now. Again, afraid that adding more patterns might be too much. Especially since Mati's and Baby Boy's blankets dont even come close to matching. Either going to purchase a dark brown pillow to match the color on the boy blanket or make a polka dot one using the color/pattern below. He wont need a pillow for quite a while, so no rush on this one. I wanted to get 2 of the crib skirts shown above, but found out that the I cant put one on the toddler bed. :( So, only the crib gets this one. Its very simple, so hopefully wont be too noticeable.



WINDOWS:
There are five windows in the nursery. Three are standard sized and we will be using these drapes that we already have from our previous home.


The other two are very small custom windows. I am planning to make the drapes out of a brown and blue damask fabric to match the baby boy blanket.

WALL DECOR:
To offset the "boy" window treatments, I have this mirror that I bought from ikea for Mati's room a long time ago. It will go above the changing table, once the room is all set up.


Another "creative" project I have in mind for the room is two shadow boxes with small white onsies in them. I will have my friend Chelsie embroider the onsies with the names (Mati and tbd on baby boy). They will go above their beds, similar to the frames in the pottery barn picture.

Also, have a diaper stacker from my friends back at AT&T that matches Mati's bedding. Not necessarily wall decor, but it will hang on the closet door by the changing table.



ROCKING CHAIR:
Saved the best for last. I am SOOOO excited about this purchase... and I better be because it was definitely the splurge item of the room. I have been looking for a rocking chair since before Mati was born, but we A. didnt have the money, and B. couldnt find one I wanted. This one comes from pottery barn kids and wasnt cheap! I went into STL to check out the chair at one of their stores and immediately fell in love with it. So comfortable, and versatile, so it will hopefully last beyond the nursery. Unfortunately, it takes a really long time to ship and I waited too long, so wont get it until after the baby is born. Worth the wait, though. I cant wait to get it! I want to put a pillow on the chair to give it a little more "pizzaz." Will either go with the pillow Mati already has or make one out of the same fabric as the curtains.


3 comments:

  1. I love it, Ames! It's so "you". I can't wait to see it in person!

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  2. You are so not my daughter. I'm exhausted just reading through the plans. :)

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