Mommy Corner: Nursery Tour

Well it has been a crazy busy week; I had to stay home two days this week with a feverish baby.  Man this two jobs thing is nothing like it was in college, must have had more energy back then.  None the less I did get some quality snuggle time with the youngest, most of which was in his nursery.  So after staring at the walls while I rocked for hours on end, I decided now is the time to give you all a tour. 

Let me start by saying how in awe I am of all the amazing bloggers out there who are incredibly talented when it comes to design.  I don’t think I’ll ever have the nerve to give you guys a full on tour of our entire house, because it is just not ready for its close up.  I have a very eclectic style, and many of the rooms are a mish mash of all the things that make me happy while making our home feel cozy.  I borrow so many wonderful ideas from all the talented blogger/designers out there.  I also love color, lots of different colors.  I wouldn’t say crazy or saturated color, but I am not a fan of white walls decorating.  My boys' rooms are very old fashioned in the sense that I carried out a central theme to the N^th degree in soothing colors that I thought were conducive to happy, well-adjusted children. 

I’m the kind of person who likes to open Christmas presents at Thanksgiving so of course we knew we were having a boy well in advance of the nursery plans.  I didn’t know I was going to be a blogger back then, although I did make a mood board just to show family before they threw me a lovely baby shower. 

 

Because this was my second child traditionally there shouldn’t have been a shower, but because it had been nearly 7 years since I laid a hand on baby gear, they felt a shower was an absolute must.  Everyone was so generous and the shower was beautiful. Look at us, doesn’t this look like a wonderful bunch of hostesses.  I am very blessed when it comes to these ladies.

Let me say this, babies are expensive.  Those boogers cost money and all the baby gear can really put a strain on the wallet.  We have an amazing baby store here called Cullen’s Playland right around the corner from my office and I stopped in frequently to peruse the clearance section. That is where the nursery inspiration began.  Carter’s Bumble there on the shelf, the entire collection 50% off.  And I mean every piece of the collection.  My family purchased the bedding set, bumper, and lamp. I was able to go online at Amazon and picked up the diaper stacker, valence and decals.  That was pretty much the jumping off place.

We had a bed offered to us and I was planning on piecing together a stylish nursery with furniture we had, and maybe look for a changing table, but good fortune smiled on us once again in the form of a sale at Cullen’s.  This Munire Rockport furniture set came with a convertible crib, side rails, 6 drawer chest with hutch, and 5 drawer high boy for the bargain price of $999.99. 

I tell you if we hadn’t been filling out our baby registry the day before I’m not sure my husband would have gotten a full grasp on what a deal that was.  So home with us that went. I should mention here that we split the pieces and put the 6 drawer dresser and hutch in the older boy’s room to give him more storage space and a place to put his TV. Also, I was able to find a few things on Craigslist. The glider was $100, again purchased after we shopped the ridiculous prices of the new glider at the Big Baby Mart, and the changing table $50. I didn't mind mixing the wood tones in this room, however I did mean to paint a couple of the tables in here white. Guess I should have done that before he was born, there would have been more time for it.

This room was a guest room and I had just painted the popcorn ceiling and the walls the year before. So there was virtually no wall prep to change the paint color.  But the floor, that was a different story. This room was in dire need of new flooring.  I was leaning away from carpet, as most people are these days.  I wanted something easy to maintain, and not have to worry about allergens with a new baby.  We decided on laminate and after considering all the options we chose this Hampton Bay Tuscan Red Cherry laminate from Home Depot.   We cut the old carpet into manageable strips and hauled it to the curb through the front door. Then began the arduous task of removing the pad and scraping tons of old glue off the slab.  I was pretty big by then, but don't think I didn't get down on the floor and help do some scraping.

It was affordable, had rich beautiful color and I really loved the texture on this floor. It has a very natural texture without looking man made. We are very pleased with it and we plan to use it elsewhere in the house. 

The paint colors were chosen by the very talented young man at the Home Depot paint counter. 
I told him my plans for two colors.  He told me he couldn’t color match the bed sheets because they were to transparent in the machine. But I kid you not he walked over to the samples and pulled out the two that matched perfectly.  It was like he was some kind of color picking savant.  He chose Behr Misty Surf and Rich Cream, I was thoroughly impressed. I got the idea for the two colors and the stripe from a picture and decided I needed two colors and something cheerful to break up the two, so that is where the decals came in. 

So here you go, our baby boy’s nursery.  It really is one of my favorite places to sit and relax. Have a look, I welcome any thoughts or suggestions.  Thanks for stopping by and come back for this week’s kid friendly recipe.