The Nursery

**FYI this is going to be a long post.**

So our nursery is FINALLY finished...well at least it's as finished as it will get before our little one arrives. There are still some things we'll add after he gets here and I'm sure we'll move stuff around as needed but this is about as good as it's gonna get for now.

Just a quick reminder of what the room looked like before when it was a guest room. I never had much desire to do much with it since I had hoped we'd be turning it into a nursery sooner rather than later. Pretty boring eh?

 

Check out the transformation:

When you first open the door you see this chalkboard sign we made. We just took a regular white picture frame and used chalkboard spray paint on the glass. I thought it would be fun to be able to write little notes or even reminders like "buy more diapers" and then when he gets older he can use it to draw on.

Here's the view looking in from the door.

 

We got this crib from Costco. It was a gift from Kristian's grandmother and is a convertible crib that turns into a daybed and then later a full size bed. The bedding is from Target. I wanted something that would be easy to mix and match with other items as opposed to just sticking with a cartoon or sports theme and having everything match exactly. I get tired of bedding easily so I didn't want our whole room centered around bedding I might want to change in a few months. The little bear in the crib was Kristian's as a child.

The plan is to keep the baby in our room in a bassinet at first and then eventually transition him into his crib. When we do that we'll take out the bumpers, stuffed animal and not use the larger blanket. It's all just decorative for now.

Here is the focal point of the room. The tree! I knew I wanted a tree in the room and assumed we would just buy one of the many decals out there but Kristian thought it would be more meaningful to do it ourselves himself. He drew the outline of the tree in blue chalk on the wall first and then his mother came over and painted the tree, leaves and birds. It took her 3 trips to get it done and I LOVE IT! I'm going to be so sad whenever we eventually move or he gets older and doesn't want a tree on his wall anymore and we need to paint over it.

Here's a better close up. She added various birds to the tree and the detail is amazing on these birds. I truly hope my son gets his artistic side from his fathers side because I can't even draw stick figures.  I also love how the tree carries into the closet space.

I love the little nest of eggs and falling leaves over the crib. I think the boy will have a lot of fun looking up at this when he's in his crib.

Here's the view from the closet side of the room. I got the curtains at Burlington Coat Factory. They did not come with the bedding but I think they coordinate really well. We plan to get shades or blinds eventually but since it's winter and it gets dark so early I think we'll be okay without them for now. the curtains help block out a lot of the light.

Here's the dresser/changing table. The top part comes off and can be used as just a dresser so that way it can grow with the child. We also got this at Costco and it matches the crib. This was a gift from my in-laws. In the basket we have diapers, wipes, butt cream, hand sanitizer and I'm sure more will be added. The rug in front of it is a hand me down from my mother. We got the diaper champ from a neightbor. I've read mixed reviews on them but figured it can't hurt to try it out. I suspect nothing will really keep the stink out so we'll probably just have to empty this multiple times a day. The glider is from Target and was bought with a bunch of gift cards I had. I'll be honest, it wasn't my first choice but unfortunately we can't afford the $400 one from Babies R Us that I really wanted.

I've already decorated some wooden letters to spell out his name which will be hung above the dresser. Since we're keeping the name a surprise we won't hang them until after he's born and I'll post a picture of it at a later time. Above the chair I plan on either hanging some floating shelves to put odds and ends on or do a collage of his newborn pictures. Not sure yet. 

Here is the top drawer with all his little socks, booties and hats. Yes we even have a little Santa hat in case he comes early. On the left are his newborn and 0-3 months onesies and sleepers.

In the second drawer we have more onesies and sleepers going up to 6 months. We don't have many clothes past 6 months, mainly for storage purposes and because I don't know how quickly he'll grow or what season he'll end up needing certain sizes in. I figure there's plenty of time to shop for larger sizes later on. No need to have every outfit he'll need for the first year right now.

The bottom drawer right now is sort of a miscellanous drawer, we have some swaddlers, sweaters and extra hangers in there for now. You can see the letters for his name peeking out a bit in the back. I painted the letters brown and then affixed them to square wooden backers that I decorated with scrapbook paper. Also, you can see my belly in the picture, just some proof I can no longer see my feet.

This is a little bookcase that Kristian built. Thanks to his job he has access to a lot of free wood so he used some cedar from work, built and stained it to match. He's quite handy! Right now it holds some maternity photos, a sonogram picture, the baby monitor and some books. My brother has our stash of the little Golden Books we had as children I just need to get them from him to add to the collection.

 Here is the view from the window side of the room into the closet. When we moved in there were some ugly sliding doors that I hated. We removed those and initially thought of adding some cute curtains but decided to leave it open because I think it makes the room feel bigger. And it forces us to keep the closet somewhat organized.

I decided to paint the wall of the closet a darker blue to add contrast. Also, the top two long shelves were already there but Kristian built, painted and installed the bottom shelves and wall divider. Told you he was handy :)

These are the prints that were done for me by Kristen who runs Little Laws Prints. I love them!

Here's a close up of the closet. I separated out all the tops and bottoms when hanging the clothes rather than keeping them together in the outfits they came in. This will help me mix and match his clothes easier. I also have them going in sizes from newborn up. 

In the top white baskets I have extra diapers and his pacifiers, rattles and other odds and ends. In the colored baskets I have all of his blankets, burp cloths and bibs separated out and organized.

On that middle shelf I have some shoes for him, aren't they cute! There is also a framed picture of Kristian when he was a little boy sleeping with some of the stuffed animals that are now in the nursery.

Whew! That was a lot!

We put a lot of time, energy and love into this room and it's by far my most favorite room in our house. I find it very calming and peaceful and I hope our little guy loves it as much as we do and has fun growing up in here.