So lately I’ve had nurseries on the brain.
We won’t be doing anything special with our current nursery before our next baby arrives – for starters because the 2-year-old is still in it, and secondly because we could well be looking at moving house before the arrival of our latest little surprise package.
But I have some photos of the nursery we did up for our first baby (at our previous house) and thought I would share them. I was quite possibly THE most excited pregnant woman on the planet and I had so, so much fun decorating Jaxon’s room.
It all began with this one piece of furniture…
I knew I wanted a “shabby chic” style room for my baby – soft and muted colours, distressed white furniture, white wicker and blue gingham. I found this buffet on sale at Everyday Living and HAD to have it! I knew it would be the perfect height for a change table, and I needed the extra storage underneath. Perfect!
The room was previously a blah off-white, so our next task was to paint the walls soft baby blue above the tongue-and-groove panelling. Instant transformation! I then looked around online to find the perfect wallpaper frieze. It was hard to find anything that wasn’t brightly coloured or cartoony-looking. Then I stumbled across this lovely vintage-inspired teddy-bear motif in pale taupe with hints of the softest baby blue (shown above). It was EXACTLY right. The wicker basket was a steal from Target, and I used it to hold white burp-cloths. We had professional baby photos taken after Jaxon was born, and had them framed to hang above the change table.
Okay, more furniture…
The cot (crib) was a gift from my parents, and that gorgeous bookcase and toybox came from local store “Sweet & Shabby” (which sadly is no more) – on a HALF PRICE SALE! Total score. As you can see I was already working hard at collecting storybooks before my first baby was born. 🙂 That bookshelf is now jam-packed on every shelf.
In the picture above you can also see the canvas I painted for the nursery before Jaxon was born. It’s mixed media – paint, fabric, stitching, buttons and ric-rac.
Here’s a closer look:
And some details:
I was happy with how it turned out. I actually finished it while in the early stages of labour. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute, hey?
Next priority…. a comfortable feeding chair that wouldn’t break the bank. Picked up this slip-covered armchair from Ikea. Then it was time to add some polka-dot details (I am SO in love with polka-dots for kids rooms!) Initially I wanted blue and white polka-dot wallpaper, but couldn’t source it for the life of me. So I decided to get my fix of dots by adding them into the soft furnishings. Shoulda been easy, right?
Well… I hunted EVERYWHERE for blue and white polka-dot fabric to make curtains. And COULDN’T. FIND. ANY. (Unbelievable, right?) I tried all the usual places – Spotlight, local haberdashery stores, even dedicated curtain and blind stores. NADA. (Of course, there’s heaps around now – just not back then when I wanted it!) So I started digging around online, and finally stumbled across a site that stocked this lovely fabric. If I was a sewer I would have proceeded to make everything myself in the matching cloth, but unfortunately I am not. And never will be. So I was happy to find a cushion that tied in pretty well and leave it at that. 🙂
Some final shots of how it all tied together…
So that’s it… our first nursery-decorating experiment. Hope you enjoyed the photos!
Question for Mums: did you decorate a nursery when you were expecting? If so, what theme did you use? If you have any ideas to share, I’d love to hear them!
Almost makes me want to have another baby. . . Nah, just kidding. š But what a gorgeous nursery!
Ha ha ha, DO IT! LOL. Thank you my sweet! š
Almost makes me want to have another baby. . . Nah, just kidding. š But what a gorgeous nursery!
Ha ha ha, DO IT! LOL. Thank you my sweet! š
Hello! What brand and model is your crib? After extensive research on white cribs, I don't recognize it, and it's along the lines of what I'm looking for!
Hi! It's a Bertini Renaissance. I live in Australia, so depending what part of the world you're visiting from, you may or may not be able to source the same brand. Good luck!
Hello! What brand and model is your crib? After extensive research on white cribs, I don't recognize it, and it's along the lines of what I'm looking for!
Hi! It's a Bertini Renaissance. I live in Australia, so depending what part of the world you're visiting from, you may or may not be able to source the same brand. Good luck!