A Room of Her Own

After months and months of planning and working and creating, Baby A's room is finally finished...er, finished for now anyway.  This room we planned to be one that would easily change and grow with the baby, allowing small shifts and adjustments to reflect what she's interested in at any given moment.  So though I had a "finished" product in my mind when I started, at some point I realized that I wouldn't get there for a very long time.  Instead I think of the room as ready. It will be perfect for her to come home to.  So without further ado:

While I love the entire room, it's the details that I love the most, from the mobile I made to the details on the wall:

The frame wall above the cedar chest was inspired by Design Mom's "Room to Grow" feature in the September 2009 issue of Parents magazine. Like the article suggests, this will probably be the aspect of the room to change most frequently.  All of the frames are from Ikea and I have plenty of extras to add and change at will.  Eventually there will be pictures and crayon drawings and artwork that I find along the way. Hopefully it will always reflect Baby A.

Clockwise from top left:

"Love Patterns" by jenniferramos on Etsy

Embroidery Fabric Hoop #1 a la Little P's Nursery

Antique baby shoes passed down from my Grandmother

crafted monogram

Embroidery Fabric Hoop #2

"The Three Bears Revisited - Girls Chairs" by sarahjanestudioes on Etsy

"M" from Daily Drop Cap

"Storytime" by sarahjanestudies

I had a hard time figuring out what to put behind the crib.  Because it sits against the longest wall in the room, it definitely needed something, but I wanted to avoid hanging anything behind the crib for safety reasons.  I would have loved to paint something directly on the wall, but I am horrible at painting, drawing, etc.  Even my stick figures are laughable.  So when I realized that the room had unintentionally taken on a bit of a "spring" theme, I started looking around for butterflies.  I initially considered using something like these from Spin Collective, but I wanted something more reusable since we live in an apartment. So I started looking on Etsy and found a reusable 3D version from PinkPerch. I told her the colors of the nursery and that I didn't want the butterflies to be "matchy matchy" and she sent me a set of 15 beautiful butterflies.  They attach to the wall with sticky tack, which can be used again and again. I love that they're 3D and, therefore, more visually stimulating from the crib.  There's a good chance that eventually these butterflies will switch positions with the mobile, but either place, they're fantastic.

No idea why the wall looks pink in this one by the way, but this beautiful painting hangs above the bookshelf.  It was painted and given to me by a good friend in Kentucky right before I got married.  I love how whimsical it is and that it fits in perfectly with the room.

And while the room is definitely ready for whenever baby decides to show up, I've left a lot of the organizing unfinished until after she's here.  Not to say that things are cluttered, but they've just not been given designated places yet; for instance, the baskets above the changing table/dresser are still empty.  I decided it was best to see what I would need where before I gave everything a place to be.  But I have tried to plan ahead so that there will be places to put things, an essential task because of our apartment's limited storage abilities.  So, last but not least, the closet:

Okay, I know this doesn't look terribly organized.  But it's because it's not.  Things are kind of sort of put into categories that work together, but they have no permanent place.  Instead, there are opportunities for organization, particularly the black yaffa blocks and the shoe organizer hanging on the door.  As it becomes apparent what I'll need most, I'll organize more. Until then, at least I know there's room for storage and organization, which will keep me from going crazy during the days of sleep deprivation.

So that's it. Her nursery.  It turned out more "girly" than I had originally intended, but it turns out I'm fine with that.  The room is almost perfect.  It will be fully perfect when she's actually in it.

I can't wait.