The Nursery

We (I) had a bit of a phobia when it came to decorating the nursery.  Following our losses, I was nervous about anything representing the pregnancy to be so permanent in our house.  We also have only 2 bedrooms, and we host a lot of guests, so the room had to also serve as a guest room.  Therefore we (I) didn't want anything too "babyish" or "girly".  The room we ended up with is (I think) none of those things, and I'm pretty pleased with it overall.

BEFORE

This is the before picture.  Bry finding out the baby's gender.  The bed was arranged in the middle with the cedar chest at foot of the bed.  The bedding is from Ikea - can't find the name of the pattern for the duvet anymore.

Because we live in an apartment we weren't able to paint at all, which I think made us be a little more creative in including colors.

AFTER

This is the after photo when I finally got around to taking a few photos.  Now I'll go into some details about the items in the room.  Note that the only NEW furniture is the CRIB and the CHAIR. (The bookshelf and table just weren't visible in the before photo.)

1. CRIB

Made by our Brother-in-Law, Brandon Filzen of  

Filzen Custom Hardwoods, LLC.

The beautiful craftsmanship is evident in every part of this lovely crib.  At some point I hope to do a post on the crib building process - Brandon has given me all the photos.  He did such a lovely job - basically I found a crib that I liked, gave him a photo and he did the rest.  I will point out that the crib is solid Black Walnut and my favorite feature is the drawer storage underneath the crib.  It is a convertible crib as well to grow with Hannah.

The giraffe is a Susan B. Anderson pattern that I knitted (and finished!) before Hannah was born.

Amazing crib.  Special Uncle.

2. GUEST BED

-Again, the bedding is from Ikea.  

-The throw pillows are covers that I bought in Philippines.  

-The right side lamp is from Target, I spray painted it the teal color.  The shade is also from Target. 

 -The Globe I bought at Goodwill - it too, got the spray painting treatment.  The fun part is that it still shows the USSR and the colors on the map part match the teal perfectly.  

-The left side lamp is also purchased from Goodwill but was originally teal so no painting required.

-Guest book is from Germany and not enough people write in it when they stay here!

-Elephant picture - bought from Etsy.com Zeppi Prints. Found the frames at JoAnn Fabrics. Thought about mounting it to canvases but opted not to potentially wreck the prints.

3. Bookshelf

 This bookshelf has a TON of stuff on it which I had been accumulating before Hannah was born.  The books were largely gifts.  I will talk about a few items:

OWL - purchased from Burlington Coat Factory for $12

TRUCK BANK - Bry's from when he was a little boy - I LOVE that this is in Hannah's room.  The "belly" is see through so you can see the money, but have to undo screws in order to get it out.  Just love this piece.

ELEPHANT BANK - purchased from Urban Outfitters for $12.  Loved the color, loved the shape.  There is an elephant theme in Hannah's room (loosely).

4. CHANGING TABLE

-Table was bought off of Craigslist for <$10.  Originally it is from Ikea.  The changing pad was bought at a store that went out of business.  

-Rug: another Urban Outfitters purchase.  I saw another nursery with the same rug on Pinterest and went straight to Urban Outfitters to buy it.  It is a canvas like rug, not soft and squishy but that's ok because the carpet in her room is in pretty good condition.

 

-Elephant Wall Hooks: purchased from Etsy.com The Shabby Shak.  I see now that she has some huge mounted elephant heads - now I need the will power to not buy them........

-I also have a lot of needle point in the room.  Some of it is very special- made by my mother.  The wall hanging over the crib was made by Bry's Grandma Swenson and was in his room as a baby.  LOVE that too.  This piece was a sampler I found at a thrift store for < $1.  I like the vintage stitching in the modern frame.

5. Chair

This was my dream chair from when I started nannying.  A sort of "push present" to myself.  We ended up buying it in Dallas, TX so we could actually sit in the chairs before buying them.  It is actually a light grey color and we really like it.

There's the nursery!  We are liking it a lot, and it has worked well hosting many guests after Hannah was born (she sleeps in a bassinet in our room - a post will follow on that too!).