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Saturday, June 8, 2013

Nursery...2 Years Later (Finally)

I never did a final nursery reveal or post when Carys was born, partly because I STILL don't consider it completely done. There's one wall that is crying for more art or decorations at the very least and it kind of drives me nuts. I have artwork I want to hang, but haven't figured out exactly how I want to do so.

It's an absolutely TINY room, like 9x9 or 10x10.  There's barely enough room for a dresser and crib and rocking chair.  And there are no unique architectural details to make the room fun - no vaulted ceiling, no bay window, no window seat, no alcoves, no nooks It wasn't in the budget to build anything out or change anything structurally (nor do I have the talent to DIY). It's literally a square box of a room with one tiny window.

When I see nurseries on websites and I'm pinning them and wishing I had the talent to replicate them, they're almost always rooms with a much higher budget and they almost always have one (or more) of those cute architectural details and are almost always much larger, so my personal challenge was to create an age-appropriate, fun, cute, bright, peaceful room in a tiny, boring square of a room.

Overall, I absolutely love her room (although let's be clear: I'd definitely love it more with a bay window or if it was larger).

I knew I wanted an aqua accent wall, and I knew I wanted birch trees on it. Totally THE trend of the 2010s, I know.  Put a bird on it, amiright?  The theme, if you could call it that, would be "bright woodland birds."  It's pretty loosely interpreted, other than the "bright." I think I nailed that part. The birch trees were hand-drawn and painted by me, my aunt, mom, sister, and grandma.  My grandma drew the trees on a standard piece of paper and I free-handed copied them onto the wall with chalk, then we painted the chalkoutlines.


The "white" walls are actually a super light gray, but they turned out WAY lighter than I wanted. I should have gone a shade or two darker.




All of her clothes are either hanging in the closet (shirts, dresses, rompers, sweaters) or in the white dresser in her closet (top to bottom: PJs, pants/skirts/shorts, and BabyLegs/accessories), which was like FIVE DOLLARS or some ridiculous awesome price on Craigslist.  Her shoes are in a bin under the white dresser. We also use under-bed storage containers under her crib to store next season's clothes.  The crib was a hand-me-down from an AMAZING friend.


I took off the closet sliding doors and replaced them with curtains from Target (I can't tell if the linked curtains are the exact same but they are similar). It makes the room feel much larger, and it's so much easier to access (plus it looks WAY better than two light wood sliding doors ever did).  The black shelf is from Target, but they don't make them anymore (or at least I can't find it). The sheepskin rug is from Ikea (we did lots of tummy time on it when she was tiny), and the activity cube by the crib is by B. Toys and I got it from Target and I love it.


The bunting over the bed is from Etsy; the yellow crocheted blanket on the crib was handmade by my aunt.  It's hard to tell, since they are lined with blackout curtains, but the window curtains are the same as the ones at the closet.  The black table is from Target and the bouncy bull (Benny the Jumping Bull) was on one of those "steal" websites but he's on Amazon too (for a bit more).  We added the ceiling fan, since it can reduce the risk of SIDS (something to do with moving the air around in the room?).  You can hardly see it, but behind the bull is a tub full of toys and stuffed animals.  One thing I would change is I'd hang the curtains up much higher, almost against the ceiling, and a bit wider, to fake the appearance of a larger window by a bit. I'd also love crown molding and a million dollars. The wool ball garland over the window was another DIY project.



I painted the back of her door with chalkboard paint, and we do her monthly pictures using it as a background each month.  The flower painting was painted by my grandma and given to Carys; the red bin and bins under the dresser are all Target; owl backpack is Skip Hop.  The over-the-door bird silhouette hook is from Urban Outfitters.



The dresser was another Craigslist find. Already painted yellow - SCORE. It has all of her cloth diapers and accessories and extra blankets and carriers.   The green chair is a Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair that she got for her first birthday, and replaced the rocking chair that was there when she was still nursing (see next pic).  The green "grass" tray on the dresser is by Boon and is actually a drying rack.




The number, LOVE, and color pictures were made by me. The "Live" painting and bird print are from Etsy.  The super cute little white tree with the teal pot is from Target's dollar aisle.  I can't remember where the orange bird vase is from, but how cute is it?!? The stuffed and wooden birds were decorations at my baby shower.


The bunting over the mirror was made by me for her birthday, the mirror is from Target, and the bird and birdhouse are more shower decorations. Hand-painted by friends!  The squirrel was a gift. Doesn't it make you smile? (He comes down when she goes to bed.)


The bird print is from Etsy, and I made the little hand-felted owl. I wish the little bird bowl was angled better so you could see how it's a bird perched on a nest - it was from TJ Maxx and I spray-painted it white.  The terrarium is from Etsy...although the original glass one broke so I ordered a replacement acrylic one from Amazon. The lamp is from...you guessed it...Target.


Since taking this picture, the "Love" sign has been spray-painted yellow. And I LOVE it. Ha. See what I did there?  The small owls were in Target's dollar aisle and spray painted white; the large owl is a piggy bank and I think it was from Urban Outfitters.  The stacker toy is by Sprig, and the rainbow toy is from Etsy.



Since there's very little closet space, we use baskets under the dresser to store extra stuff. The blocks she's playing with here are also by Sprig.


If I ever "finish" her room....or retake the pics with actual staging and shit, I'll do an updated post. But I know me, so I know that's not bloody likely!

3 comments:

  1. Love this. So bright and happy, perfect for her.

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  2. Great write up and photos, thanks Lara! Love this. So bright and happy, perfect for her.
    Rubi

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