Nesting: The Little Babe's Nursery

Nesting.  It's real.

One weekend I had an urgent desire to re-do every room on the second floor of our house.  I had ideas and plans and the motivation to do whatever it took to get it complete.  Turns out my big ideas would take more than one weekend, more money that I imagined and more time than we had in one weekend, or even one month.  Ben urged that I do a little at a time and provide a more focused effort, rather than the ENTIRE house all at once. I realized he did have a small point when I was frazzled with lists and overwhelmed with thoughts.  I was taking trips to the store and completely forgetting why I was there.  So, I agreed, and we tackled our most important project first and foremost.  

Our little man's room.

I wanted this room to be a space we could all appreciate.  I wanted a nursery that could grow with a boy or easily transitioned into something else should we need to do some rearranging.  I wanted it to be a nod to Ben, to his experience, creativity and life.  I mean, after all he is going to be a dad of his very first babe, who is going to be a boy!  At the same time, I didn't want it to be like every room we saw, I wanted personal pieces that meant something to us. We wanted to balance the baby vs. adult, we wanted it to be practical, functional and most of all, I wanted it to be beautiful.  

With this list in my mind, my sweet husband let me draw, create and bounce ideas off of him.  If you know him you know he sat silently while I did so and waited for instruction on what ACTUALLY was going to happen.  Finally, we and started with white stripes on the wall and let the rest build from there.  

Before any decor could be decided I spent hours mulling over bedding.  What was needed, what was practical, what did I want??  I decided I wanted something homemade and unique for him.  I had a quilt made with colors we would incorporate. Ben thought I was a little crazy for putting pillows in the crib - probably so, but he patterns and colors... AH!  Eventually I imagine them being moved to the reading nook.

Ben has traveled to Africa twice.  He loves Africa and brought home with him amazing keepsakes and took incredible photos of the animals he has seen.  I wanted to use them so we picked a few of our favorites.  I edited his photos and changed the colors to make them a little more fit for a child's room.  We printed and hung them.  They mean so much more to me knowing they were taken by Ben and that he can tell stories about each photo. 

The chair (glider/recliner) is incredibly comfortable and I expect we'll spend a lot of time hanging out there.  I also has a matching ottoman that currently is in the office.  I prop my feet up on it every day so my feet don't swell.  The glamorous parts of being pregnant.

The Rhino head is one of my personal favorites.  Part of me would like an animal head in every room of the house.

 On the opposite side of the room we have a dresser, which we will use as a changing table.  Changing pad to come and be placed under the mirror.  Above the changing table we hung a mirror for the little babe to check himself out, a pegboard to organize our baby needs and a shelf for all the keepsakes I cherish.  The dresser was in my room growing up.  It used to be a mahogany wood.  Somehow we chose the best blue paint I have ever seen and Ben painted the dresser for a pop of color.

The African tree painting Ben brought back from Africa, purchased from a street vendor.  The little wood animals and wood bowl are also from Africa.  The leaf painting was painted by cousin Linny for Ben (with an eyeliner brush!!), the globe we bought at an antique store on my 28th birthday.  The creel basket is Ben's - did you know he is a fisherman.  Also, he had to teach me the name of the basket.  I love it and have wanted to use it somewhere for so long.  The boomerang is something I brought back from my trip to Australia.

To the left of the dresser we hung book shelves kid-height where the little guy can choose books to read.  The elephant is comfy enough to lay on and perfect for a reading nook.

The "Be Brave" print I found on Pinterest.  I think it speaks to all of us, no matter what age.  Most definitely words I want this little babe to always remember.

I love this little space. I know it will change, and get messy, and it won't always be perfectly put together, but right now I enjoy sitting there and taking in the change that is about to rock our lives.

Also, I would feel ungrateful without giving serious props to my rockstar husband who deserves all credit for measuring, painting and hanging everything securely.  I have lots of fun ideas in my head, but he makes sure they are executed properly!  What a team we are.