Running from the Law: May 2012

I've been waiting FOREVER to be able to share this post with you. Now that he's here, it's finally time to show you Mac's nursery! This is by far my very favorite room in the house. It has been a labor of love and I'm thrilled to be able to show you the final product.

First, let's start with my inspiration. I wanted a room that was bright, colorful, energetic and fun. No pastels or soothing colors here. I wanted something that would be able to grow with him as he got older and keep his attention. I started out with the colors green and orange. I thought a green wall would be fun, with bright orange accent pieces. I later added teal to the equation to brighten it up a bit more and make it more "boy." I already had a zebra striped black and white rug in the room, which I wanted to incorporate, and a few cube storage units from Target. I wanted a dark wood crib and dresser with neutral furniture that could be used in a completely different way later on.

I started gathering up my ideas on Pinterest and created this Pinboard for the nursery so I could see the colors in action. Finally, it was time to implement the ideas. I recruited my dad to build some bookcases for the corner of the room. I wanted them to be flush against the wall to display all the books, like this. That way the books themselves would be wall decoration. I started stalking Etsy for fun prints to hang over the crib. And I made a couple trips to the fabric store to make a few projects of my own (a mobile and a pennant name banner).

I also went to Benjamin Moore and picked out six different shades of green for the wall color. We had the hardest time deciding which color to go with. Do I pick a pure green or a teal-green? Bright green or woodsy green? Do I pick based on the name or based on the picture? Do I try to match the color in a photo I like or go with something else? It was such a hard choice!

I went back and forth between 2 colors for weeks. On the day Ryan was going to paint the nursery, I still hadn't made up my mind. We were lying in bed and I told him to just go to the store and pick the one he liked and surprise me. Needless to say, he wasn't real keen on that idea, probably not wanting to deal with the wrath of a pregnant wife when he brought home the wrong color. And then, as if on cue, our puppy Sage came bounding into bed with a paint sample from the nursery in her mouth. It was liked she'd made the decision for us and handed us her choice. So that's the one we went with! Sage to the rescue! She picked a beautiful color called Four Leaf Clover. And all of a sudden, it was perfect for our little Irish guy.

Ryan had the super fun job of painting the room.

He despises painting, but didn't protest once.

A true testament to how excited he is for this baby.

The color was bright and powerful (exactly what I wanted), so we decided to only paint above the chair rail in the room. We figured we'd start there and see how we liked it.

This is the corner where the bookcase will be.

Once that was done, we moved the zebra rug back in and began assembling the furniture.

The crib and dresser/hutch/changing table were all from JC Penney. We asked our parents for JC Penney gift certificates for Christmas and used them for the purchase of these items. I was really pleased with how fast they shipped (within a few weeks, not months) and loved that they felt very sturdy and reliable. We ordered the furniture in "Chocolate Mist" color, which turned out to be a perfect dark wood with just a hint of cherry (but not red).

Ryan also had the job of assembling everything. He said the crib was a piece of cake.

Which, of course, made me want cake, so I went to the store and got cake while he did all the work.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a bunch of "before" photos, so all you have are the "after" pictures, but trust me, it's a dramatic change! Are you ready?

Here's what you see when you enter the room from the hallway.

And entering the room.

Let's start the tour with the left side of the nursery.

As you walk in the room, immediately to your left is the crib and a storage unit.

The storage unit by the crib holds a ton of toys in baskets, with a little radio/CD player, lamp and baby monitor on top. I purchased this from Target a few years ago. It's not the sturdiest, but it serves its purpose and gets the job done.

The wall clock is a One King's Lane find.

I went with mix-matched bedding from Carousel Designs. This is the solid turquoise crib skirt with an orange gingham sheet. I also have a solid lime sheet and a lime houndstooth sheet as our spare sets, just to mix things up.

We've got a couple cute stuffed animals and a pillow in the crib (which will be removed when the baby's in there! I know, don't yell at me, they're only for looks right now). We've also got a sleep sheep on the outside of the crib to play soothing sounds and a Rockabye froggie rocker next to the crib, when he's old enough to want to rock.

My friend Alice's daughter Milly tested out the Fergie the Frog Rocker and I'm not sure if he was a hit or just plain terrifying to her - she alternated between squeals of laughs and looks of pure panic and horror. So Mac will either love it or it'll give him nightmares. Guess we'll just have to see how that pans out.

The prints on the wall are all from Etsy (see below for vendor info) and I put them in plain white frames.

Right: Crying is for Babies (Oher Babies)

Center: Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Left: Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys

I made the mobile from the leftover fabric scraps from the pennant name banner I made and hung them from ribbon on a sewing loop. I spray painted wooden beads orange for the top. This was a really easy project that I think adds a lot of texture, color and whimsy to the room. Tutorial coming soon.

The back wall of the nursery is a large window which let in a lot of great light. Like the windows in our bedroom, they have white wooden plantation shades, which I love. I went with a neutral curtain from West Elm on the window, in order to make the name banner pop. I thought about doing a funky orange patterned curtain, but decided that was probably overkill.

We also added a plain white ceiling fan to the room. I hate ceiling fans, but supposedly they can help reduce the risk of SIDS, so that's all the convincing I needed to have one installed. The room previously did not have a light source on the ceiling, so this does add some much needed light to the room, although I also feel like the made the room feel smaller (more boxed in). But maybe that's just me.

I made the pennant name banner out of various fabrics and felt letters from a local fabric store (Fabric Nosherie in Webster Groves) and some ball fringe from Hobby Lobby. I just love the way it turned out. If there's interest, I might do a tutorial blog post on how I made the banner, although it's pretty self-explanatory. I love how much color it adds to the room.

Moving over the right side of the room, I also bought this glider and ottoman from JC Penney. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of late nights in this glider, so I wanted something really comfy and it definitely is. Everyone that walks into the room automatically sits in the chair and starts rocking.

I was disappointed in the glider when it first arrived because it's a little bit lighter in color than I wanted it to be (more beige than khaki), but it's really grown on me. Now I like that it lightens up the room with a neutral color. Plus, it'll be very easy to incorporate into another space in our house when we're finished with it here.

The chair was not originally supposed to go here. It was supposed to be in front of the bookcase, but when the bookcase was put in, it was too awesome to cover up. So the chair was moved to this side of the room, which means we had to take off the door to the closet to be able to get into it.

Again, I wasn't thrilled with this solution at first, but now I really like it. I love being able to see all Mac's adorable tiny clothing and those itty bitty shoes! I considered painting the inside of the closet a fun color, but I like it plain, where the clothing stands out. I set up a small orange side table and a reading lamp next to the chair, so I can read while I rock.

Mac's closet is packed full of the cutest baby clothes on Earth. Whoever said shopping for a little boy isn't as much fun as shopping for a girl does not know where to shop. Baby boy clothes are SO cute.

I also bought one of those hanging shoes racks to put in the closet to give a little more room for things. Right now we don't really have many shoes, so it's being used more of a display for toys and blankets, shoes and hats.

The prints behind the chair are also from Etsy. There's an A to Z animal print and an alphabet print.

Moving on the right side of the room, we've got another cheap-o storage unit from Target and some baskets to house blankets, toys and other crap.

Above the cube is a cardboard mounted deer head from Urban Outfitters. I don't know why I had to have this in the baby's room, but I absolutely LOVE it! It cracks me up! I think it's the perfect blend of masculine and whimsy. Not too morbid for a nursery, but definitely "butches" the place up a bit. However, my hunter husband is personally offended by it and thinks I should replace it with a real deer head that he killed, but I don't think so. This deer is sticking around for a while.

Sitting on top of the cube is an Etsy print that says "Don't Bite Your Friends," some Jellycat stuffed animals and a colorful abacus I found at Home Goods for $3.

I think the deer might just be my favorite part of the room.

Moving on to the back wall of the room, we've got the bookshelf my dad built in the corner.

I take it back, the bookcase is my absolute favorite thing in the room. I love this SO much! I loved reading as a kid and I really want Mac to love reading just as much.

I thought by displaying his books, he'd grow up with a sense of pride in them.

Hopefully one day he'll be proud to have read every book on the shelf, like I did when I was little.

They're stocked full of some of my personal favorite children's books and lots of our friend's and family member's favorite books that we've received as gifts.

I think this adds so much color, pizzazz and fun to the room.

You definitely wouldn't get the same effect if you only saw the spines of the books.

I love the bookcase!

Thank you dad!

I did manage to take 1 before and after picture for you. What a difference, huh?!

I just love it. It really adds a lot to the room.

Now I just hope it doesn't turn into a ladder for the kid to climb up and launch himself off of!

Luckily my dad thought of that too and gave me some extra dowels just in case.

I also added a couple removable 3M hooks to the side of the bookcase, so I had a place to hang his Cardinals hats. Ryan insisted they be out and displayed. We're pretty proud of our Redbirds around these parts.

Moving on the back (and final) wall of the room, we've got the dresser/hutch. I love this piece because I know it'll grow with him. It may only display toys and diaper cream now, but soon he'll be able to put his trophies on display and pictures of his girlfriend. Oh, he's already growing up so fast in my mind! It's also got lights inside the hutch to use when you don't want to turn on the big overhead light. Love that.

There's currently a changing pad on the dresser, but I'm not sure that we'll be using that very much. I think that might get moved to another room, where we'll have a little more room to change diapers.

Above the dresser are three guitar prints that say "Rock," "And," "Roll." I figured this kid would probably grow up loving music as much as his dad does, so he's going to need a little rock and roll in his life. You might also notice the adorable animal covered diaper cake up there from my baby shower. That's not a permanent fixture, but it is SO cute I'm having a really hard time taking it apart. It just matches the room so well, I want to keep it!