The Nursery Plan

Call us crazy, but the only thing we have bought for the baby of any financial significance, is the stroller, and we can’t even really write about that because we have’t used it yet. Sure, I have bought tiny pants and tiny onsies and tiny socks, but I have been so busy planning our laundry room renovation (!), making sure all my work is done, helping out a little more because Joey was on a movie for six weeks, and finding an architect, etc, etc. We are all crazy busy and it’s nuts how some things just get lost in the day to day!

My mother-in-law was kind of freaked out (in a very sweet way) I didn’t even put together a registry, so I finally sat down and did some proper planning. I started with boxing up basic clothing in three month increments (socks, onsies, pajamas, hats, etc) to make sure I had the minimum before any more gifts started coming our way. We have quickly learned EVERYONE loves buying baby clothes, so I didn’t register for any. What’s the fun in that? Friends and family want to pick out tiny little cute clothes, and I am totally cool with that. So my focus now? The nursery decor.

Dressers/Changing Tables:

If you recall, we snagged up two campaign dressers (for $200) that match from craigslist not that long ago. After testing them for lead and sanding them down, we are ready to pick a finish and get these beauties in place. The struggle is between pure white (which will work for a nursery and when our little guy becomes a little bigger) or to paint the face o the drawers yellow and keep the top and sides and trim white. Decisions, decisions….

Walls: 

That insane tree is actually hand painted by the multi-talented Duane Hoisen and was one of the first things we did over a year ago. We didn’t want wallpaper on the walls, we just wanted this guy, which is life size by the way. The little door is “real” and leads to the plumbing for the master bath. Totally old school.

Lighting:

Both the lamps above are from West Elm. The white one is a huge chunky floor lamp which I totally love, but when we went to go look in person, it was a little flimsy  We may risk and buy it and see if we can assemble it super sturdy, and return it if not. It was $350 for the floor lamp and the shade, and $250 without the shade. This guys belongs next to the chair and a half we got from Mitchell Gold. The little yellow guy will live on the dresser that’s not a changing table and is $69 and happens to be the perfect yellow.

The big debate is: fan vs. chandelier. I want a chandy and Joey wants a fan. Let’s see who wins. We happen to be super lucky to have central air in our 1930 tutor, so I think a fan is redundant when a totally amazing chandy can go there and live in harmony with the bird and cloud wallpapered ceiling.

Art:

We are sold on everything at the Animal Print Shop, and have been for years. We have literally been discussing the animals we would buy one day for the kid room forever because we like everything. Right now we think the porcupine and the happy monkey would be the best fit. If you can use your imagination, walk with me….

Restoration Hardware knows how to work with symmetry too well. Everything is just so comfortable to look at. I was super inspired by the photo above, but it was just a little too neutral for what we agreed on, so we picked apart what we liked. Crib in the middle with art flanking it. Instead of two huge framed pieces (that seem a bit stuffy) on each side of the crib, we will do one, and where the ram and camel are is where our matching dressers will go.

And we can’t forget this little “A” I made a few weeks back. Don’t know where it’s going yet, but it will have a home in the nursery.

Crib:

Thanks so much for everyone’s advice! We landed between two we like a lot, which makes me super happy to not have to shell out $1300 for a good-lookin’ crib! We are deciding between these guys (so if you have any more advice, we are all ears!). From what we can see is that drawer may be useful for extra sheets for the one on the left, though, I like the lines on the one a little bit more.

This is about as far as we have gotten with finals. We have so much to do, but I think there is plenty of time. I hear the last three weeks are the most hectic! For those of you who have been asking, I hope this fills the void a little! Now that the ceiling has been batched up from a little water damage we got a few weeks ago, I think we can get started!  Have you recently finished up a nursery or are in the middle of one now? Shoot us a line, we want to talk!