{decorating with style} Nursery Reveal!

If you’ve been following along with my blog posts, then you know that our nursery has been in use for over a year now, but I have been reliving the design process through a series of posts about the design concept, the space plan and furniture, and how we painted the ombre wall stripes. And now, the moment I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for (*wink*wink*)... the big reveal of the finished room!

But first, a couple of reminders.  Here is the moodboard I created for the nursery - this is the concept we were working from:

Here is what the room looked like empty: 

And now the big reveal...

First of all, how great is that quilt above the crib?  My mom is a fantastic quilter (and even has her own quilt pattern company).  I knew that I wanted to have a special quilt in the nursery handmade by her, but I thought it would be fun to collaborate on the design.  So I came up with the idea of the white animals on the bright background fabrics and I hand drew all of the animal silhouettes. We worked together to get the layout and dimensions right, and then she worked her quilting magic to bring my idea to life.  I especially like the hand stitching around each animal!    

  

My mom also made the adorable elephants on the mobile, and used fabric to match the quilt for the elephants' ears.

I should point out that we changed out the light fixture for a ceiling fan.  We read that the air movement from a ceiling fan can help to prevent SIDs, and while I don't normally love the look of ceiling fans, that was reason enough to convince me!  And I actually really like this Allen + Roth fan that we found for a great price at Lowes.

The little nook by the closet is just the right size for our changing station, and the shelves above display some of my favorite items in the room.  While we were having the ceiling fan installed, we also had a can light installed above the chaning table to shed some light on these shelves.

I just adore the collection of all white animals.

 {sources: Polar Bear - Z Gallerie, no longer available; Lion - Zuny ,available from Amazon;
Rhinoceros - Z Gallerie, no longer available; Elephant - Pottery Barn Kids, no longer available}

I have always had a thing for fonts and typography, so when I found the Alphabeasties book, I knew I had to have it.  And while someday Beckett may enjoy looking at it, until then, I think it makes a great addition to the display shelves.  

We even found a book with Beckett's name in the title! “Beckett and the Pandamonium” is such a cute story, which we read to him often!

All of the framed photos make me smile...

...but none more so than the photos of Scott and I as babies, with pictures of our parents from around the time we were born.  My parents and I are on the top row, Scott and his parents on the bottom row, and then, of course, Beckett right in the middle with current pictures of Scott and I on either side.  It’s so much fun to see all three of our baby photos stacked up together, and to remember that we were each once our parents' babies as well.

I am very happy with our decision to forgo a standard changing table in favor of a simple Ikea three drawer chest with a temporary changing tray on top.  I love this changing tray made by Argington because it is super functional, and it doesn’t have to be screwed to the top of the dresser - so when the lucky day comes to rid our home of diapers, the changing tray can disappear and we’ll still have a functional chest of drawers.  The tray has a great non-slip gripper base, and hasn’t moved around once since we first put it in place.  

The cover on the changing pad is another item handmade by my mom.  The red, yellow and grey animal fabric at the top is actually cut from a crib sheet that I bought from Wild Dill.  My mom used that one sheet, combined with super soft red minky fabric, to make us four of these changing pads covers - so when one goes into the laundry I can always pull another one out of the drawer.

The canisters by the changing tray were the first items I bought for the nursery...no less than four years before I was ever pregnant.  When they went on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids, I knew I’d need them someday, so I bought them and tucked them away.  I just love the simple silver animals on top.

I also think that the red number drawers pulls make such a big impact on the dresser and really give it a custom look over the standard Ikea silver pulls.

Right next to the changing table are two very special elements of the room that I talked about in my first nursery blog post - the giraffe wallie and the Eames Elephant.  Originally I had intended to use a 6 foot tall giraffe from Potter Barn Kids for the wall, but once I realized that it had to be affixed to the wall like wallpaper I instead went shopping for a giraffe wall sticker on Etsy.  I was thrilled to find this great 7 foot tall giraffe from LookSugar, and best of all it's also a growth chart!  And the red Eames Elephant is so much fun because he's such an iconic design, but is made from a durable plastic that Beckett can play and climb on all he wants.

I also love this piece of furniture with the cutout in the middle!  It's called the Eiffel Bookcase, and it was the first furniture piece I selected for the room. The white and dark wood combo set the tone for all of the other furniture in the room.

The Eiffel provides great closed storage behind the doors, and a fun display space in the middle.  The quilt on the bottom was a handmade by my grandma, while the afghan on top was handmade by my mom.  And the stuffed shark from Pier 1 is one of Beckett’s favorites.  He is constantly toddling over to give that shark kisses!

The frames hanging above the Eiffel hold three close-up photos of Beckett as a newborn (he was seriously born with that cute little rat tail!).

The silver elephant is a bank I purchased at Target, and the brown leather hippo is made by Zuny and is available on Amazon.

Those silver photo frames are part of the same collection from PB Kids as the canisters by the changing tray (also purchased many years in advance on clearance).  To cut down on the visual clutter, I tucked our white noise machine behind the frames.  It sure helps Beckett sleep at night, but it doesn’t really need to be on display.

Every bit of this room gets used on a daily basis.  We spend a lot of time rocking Beckett in the comfy chair under the windows.  This is where I fed him when he was younger, and where we now read stories every night before bed.  We had originally considered a fabric upholstered rocker, but I am constantly reminded why this leather chair was such a good choice every time I wipe up spilled milk (among other things).  I am also so happy that we ended up getting the knitted pouf from CB2, because it is the perfect footstool when rocking in the chair, but also provides an extra seat when Scott and I are in the room together (it’s much sturdier than it might look, and doesn’t squish down at all when you sit on it). That pouf is also where Beckett learned to pull up to a standing position on his own because the knitted texture gave him something to grab ahold of.  Target is now selling a knitted ottoman almost identical to this one.

The red afghan on the back of the chair was - yup, you guessed it - handmade by my talented mom.  When we were first planning the space, I was considering a zebra striped pillow for the chair, but when I found this “You are My Sunshine” pillow, I couldn’t pass it up!

Beckett really loves books, which makes me SO happy!  He spends a lot of time standing at the bookshelf deciding what he wants us to read to him...or sometimes just emptying all books onto the floor (a favorite pastime of every child, I think).  And those cool lamps used to be in our living room in our downtown condo, but they are perfect for the nursery because they are on dimmers, so they can provide really low light when needed.

Beckett loves that green stuffed crocodile on top of the bookshelf almost as much as he loves the grey shark.  The crocodile and the zebra are also both from Pier 1.  The elephant picture frame is from Dwell Studio.

The framed poster above the bookshelf is Alphabet Zoo by Jen Ski, which I purchased at Z Gallerie.  This poster was the inspiration behind the color palette for the room, with all the various shades of teal, as well as the red, yellow and green accents.  

That monkey next to the bookshelf is actually a clothes hamper (from Target) - I love that he is both cute and functional. 

And next to the hamper, but hidden behind the door, is the Diaper Genie.  It’s one of those items I wouldn’t want to live without, but that I’d rather not see.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much we enjoy hanging out with our little boy in this fun space (yes, it’s hard to believe but he’s turning from a baby into a little boy before our very eyes).  It seems like just yesterday that he in his nursery for the first time, and now he can explore the room all on his own.

{Photos by Technicolor Vision}

What kind of a reveal blog post would this be without the side by side before and afters?

Best of all, Beckett seems to really love his room!  His favorite game these days is the “Look! That?” game, where he points and says “Look!”, and then when we take him to what he is pointing at, he stays “That?” and waits for us tell him what it is.  And nowhere do we play this game more than in his nursery.  First thing in the morning he stands up in his crib and points at his quilt or the Alphabet Zoo poster and says “Look! That?” at each animal one by one.  He also loves looking at the animals on the shelves above his changing table.  He always says “That?” to the white rhino first, and when I say “Rhinoceros” he giggles and giggles.

{Photo by Technicolor Vision}

Before long we'll be designing a big boy room for Beckett so that Baby Number 2 can move into the nursery.  I just hope that we can create a new room for him that he likes as much as this one!

Update: Check out these links for all of the posts about the nursery...

Linked up to the Be Bold Challenge at Designer Trapped In a Lawyer's Body; East Coast Creative Paint Project Link Pary