Delaney’s nursery. Where to begin. How about a title. “The only room in our house really decorated nicely” or “My husband let out many a curse word on the woodwork in the nursery” or “It really IS fun decorating a girls room” and probably the most accurate “The pinterest inspired nursery”. MOST of the things in this nursery were DIY. And I love it. And all of it’s imperfections (and there are MANY). I can’t wait to share it with you! I knew I wanted a few things. I wanted it PRETTY. Just soft, feminine, and pretty. I wanted it pretty timeless too. My plan is to not change anything but the bed when this room transforms to a big girl room. Also, because the space was so small, I wanted color for the walls, but it get so little natural light that it can feel small and dark so easily in there. Enter beadboard. Cue me BEGGING my husband to do it. And boy was it a pain for him. Truth be told, the bead board, rail, and painting wasn’t done until I was 34 weeks pregnant.
I’m going to do a bit of descriptions of the elements in this room (kind of as a journal and just because I’m in a storytelling mood, so if you don’t want to read, don’t feel obligated… just look at the pictures).
Let’s start with the bumper and quilt! I fell in LOVE with this quilt at Pottery Barn Kids. So much so, that no matter what other girls bedding I looked at, it just didn’t compare to this one. I loved the ruffles, the different textures, the pin tucks, this quilt just had it all. And as I mentioned in my laundry post I come from a long line of frugal women who are FANTASTIC seamstresses. So, I enlisted the help of my Aunt Peggy and Mema. And boy did they come through. They took a twin sized quilt and made it into a beautiful bumper and toddler quilt. And I couldn’t love it more.
You can see the toddler quilt in the below photo. Also in this pic is my yellow glider that I ADORE. It’s a Storytime Series Best Chair. The “Braxton” chair. It is seriously the most comfortable chair you will ever put your rear end in. I have another one just like it in my studio for moms to sit in during newborn sessions. My mom’s email screen name was “Songbyrd” so I love little birds, so the bird pillow from Land of Nod was a perfect fit there.
My grandmother made me the ruffled crib skirt. According to her it was a labor of love.
More about the shelves now! I was inspired by something I saw on pinterest from, of all things, how a mom decorated for her daughters birthday party. But the balance of color was just what I wanted for this space. I assembled these shelves from leftover wood from the closets we redid. The shelf brackets are from Hobby Lobby. My dear friend Becky went and got them and mailed them to me. I spray painted them, assembled them with a bit of trim from Home Depot and enlisted my cousin’s help to hang them.
Now, onto the shelf contents.
In the upper right, I used a frame from goodwill that I spray painted, and hung in it a tulle rosette wreath that I made. In front of it I put silk flowers in tinted mason jars that I did. These were a little tricky, but they look fine from far away…haha. On the right of the upper shelf I spray painted a plate holder to hold a cute frame and a pic of Delaney.
On the lower shelf I (again) spray painted 2 more plate hangers to display images. The center floral arrangement was a clearance box from Michael’s that I painted and put flowers in. I love that this shelf is full of pretty flowers, and adorable pictures from her newborn session. Just adds a bit of whimsy!
Let’s not forget the cute little ruffle nightlight from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child. So pretty.
On the opposite wall was something else I first spied on pinterest. I am a former ballet dancer, so this really struck a chord with me. And I had this little bit of wall space that I wanted something on. So, again with a frame from Goodwill, I hung a pair of my old pointe shoes in it. My grandmother was a bit concerned and said “But those are dirty! Do you want me to buy you a new pair?!” To which I told her that I loved it a little more because they were mine. Under that pointe shoe in a frame is a cute peg wrack from Pottery Barn Kids. I had purchased pulls to make my own and saw this and just decided to forgo the project this time and buy it. And that little hanger is one from when I was a baby.
Above the closet are mounted prints of macro images from Laney’s newborn session. (and I even included a peak at the closet redo my husband did).
Now. This wall. Oh my gosh, it couldn’t have turned out better. In fact, this is one case where it’s even better than I had hoped for. I saw this on pinterest and LOVED it. As a child I did a lot of cross stitching with my mom, aunts, and grandmothers. So this embroidery hoop wall was PERFECT. And my brilliant (and oh so talented) aunt decided to quilt ALL of the hoops. And while it was challenging to photograph, it gives an added texture to the wall that I love even more. My hope for this was to pull in a bit more color. As the room was evolving it was very clear there was a LOT of lavender and white. And I needed to be able to use the yellow chair, and have a few more colors too. This wall does that PERFECTLY. And it’s opposite the wall with the colorful frames, so they balance so nicely.
Underneath the embroidery hoop display is a great find. I searched and searched for basket liners I loved and couldn’t find just the right ones. Then when I went to PBK to buy the quilt I saw easter basket liners on clearance! And thanks to my Mema’s extraordinary sewing skills she made them work for these baskets! Just to the left of the changing table is my bookshelf with more baskets and a floral arrangement on the top that my Aunt Ellen put together for me. Talented women I’m related to, I tell ya!
On the door to her room, is another pinterest find. The link is to an etsy shop that sells these, but I decided to try it myself. First I dyed a bunch of plain white buttons from Joann’s with rit dye, I glued them to scrap material left from her quilt/bumper project and then sewed them down and hung it! I love it!
I asked a few weeks ago on my business facebook page for votes on what image for over Laney’s crib. I had so many images I loved from her session. Originally, I wanted this image above her crib, but I second guessed myself when I originally edited the image. The original edit I did was her not smiling. Not that a newborn has to smile, it’s just “gas” smiles. And then, one day, I went through the images again, and there was a SMILING version of this set up that I originally missed. GAAH!! I quickly edited and ordered it. I love it. It’s everything I wanted in there. I wanted the black and white so that it was as uncluttered and timeless as possible. I go in her nursery just to look at it. I smile at her on that image daily. It brings me such joy.
Now. I want you to guess what size it is? I frequently tell people that going BIG on a wall is a real statement.
Look again.
It’s a 30×40 gallery wrapped canvas. Yes, that’s big. No, it’s not TOO big at all. And her room isn’t large either. We just have 8 foot ceilings and her room is about 11’x11′.
Tomorrow, I’m coming back to announce a big canvas GIVEAWAY. I adore this so much, I’m sharing the love with you.
Come back tomorrow!
I tried to link to as many things as I could. If you have any questions, ask in the comments!
