My oldest niece (Leah) is expecting in July and as my shower gift to her, I worked up a complete nursery design for her -- including all the accessories and bedding. Armed with a design board and lots of fabric, I flew up to Wisconsin (Wausau to be exact) to attend the shower, visit family and toast a high school graduate. Although I was not able to do the actual install myself (due to Leah just moving into her new digs), I left her with the confidence to follow the design board and written directions.
In an ideal world, I would have taken loads of pictures of all of my hard work for this blog but...that didn’t pan out so use your imagination with me to get a small glimpse of what her bouncing baby boy’s room will look like when completed. Think woodsy but not too kitsch with a bit of refinement thrown in -- definitely warm and cozy. Remember, they do live in an area of the country where it snows by the truckload most of the year.
Our journey begins with this adorable wooden duck that I found at a resale shop here in Frisco. At first, I wasn’t making the connection of Make Way for Ducklings being Leah’s favorite book. All I could think is how simple and graceful this piece of art appeared in the middle of all the resale chaos. Then it hit me --- her favorite childhood book and her mom’s favorite childhood book is all about ducks! My perfect start was launched. From there, the pieces fell together nicely.
Bedding...
Since I was having trouble finding ready made bedding to coordinate with Mr. Duck and I wasn’t about to let my new found friend go, I decided that a trip to Horchow Finale was in order. At Horchow, I found some incredibly discounted bedskirts for “big people” beds that were in a perfect pattern to be custom fitted into a crib skirt. The picture above shows the pattern (remember, think baby bed...) Since I was fairly convinced that the crib skirt was a sure thing, I decided to buy an additional “big people” bed skirt to craft into a valance for the window covering. Things were really falling into place for Baby’s room!
Of course, you remember that I am on an orange kick (flashback to my first install with the orange wall) so this bedding had it all --- including Leah’s favorite color of lime green. The lime and orange paired together really boosts the seriousness of the chocolate brown in the room for a spike of whimsy. Imagine all of this with white crib sheets and a chocolate bumper pad. Fun! Bonus: we have enough fabric left over from the crib bedding that my sister is making a keepsake quilt for Baby.
Paint Color
Without knowing the landlord's policy on painting, we weren't sure that Leah would be able to do much with the walls of her new place. That being the case, I decided to add some color in other areas of the room.
Benjamin Moore's Middlebury Brown (HC-68) will adorn the bookshelf and the entry as well as the closet doors. Baby's name will be painted in Benjamin Moore's Stem Green (2029-40) in crib letters similar to the ones show in the Pottery Barn picture below (remember to use your inner design eye to picture this):
One of my favorite pieces to be added to the room is a rockin’ orange hand-me-down dresser (similar to the one in the picture above) that we added some updated knobs to for interest. (and to drag it kicking and screaming into the current time period) It turned out fantastic and I hope to be able to show you a picture of the actual dresser soon.
My outstanding sister-in-law picked up three dark wood frames (similar to the picture above) for framing some of the actual pages from Make Way for Duckling to be hung on the nursery wall. Even though the frames she purchased have places to hang by nail, our pictures will hang on the wall behind the changing table using thick twine/rope for added texture and interest.
And then of course, I could not have made it through the initial installation process without Super Dad! As always, his help was critical to completing my latest home project. The two of us together created an elegant cornice board (perfectly measured don’t ya know...) and stapled the heck out of that fabric! Adam, if you’re reading this please don’t forget to go by and hang it as instructed to you several times over.
I hope to see pictures very soon as it all comes together. I hope it proves to be the perfect little nursery for the perfect first child! I hope that my family will enjoy the room for years to come and it provides the most wonderful start for a new life. Here’s to a happy baby and a happy room!
Bye, Bye -
Carla
SCHOOL UPDATE
My first school quarter has ended and it was a complete success. Yes, I did get all As, but more importantly, I just love it! I know I am in the right field and can’t wait to learn more. Next Quarter starts July 12th and I will be taking:
Drafting II
History of Furniture & Architecture II
2D drawing
I’m heading to see my best friend Lisa next week in Idaho. She has a super awesome vacation home, so I will share pictures when I return. Next week while I’m away, my friend Erin McCabe from Art Institute (all those in Quarter I give a shout out) will be a guest blogger. I can’t wait to see what she has to share about her first quarter of school. You will absolutely love her!
Bon voyage...cm
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