Nursery for Little P

Description

This is my daughter's nursery and the first room project I've ever planned.

Design Inspiration

Someone gave me a wonderful gift from Mamma Mio while I was pregnant and I loved the Robin's Egg blue color of the packaging. I found a paint color to match for the walls and the rest came together from there! When I found out we were having a girl, I decided that yellow would be a fun accent color (it would have been orange if it were a boy). I wanted the room to feel cheerful, happy and fun because that's the life I want for my daughter.

Decorating Style

My decorating style is colorful, whimsical, and airy. I like mixing old and new things and handmade touches. I always like a room to have some sort of surprise for the eyes that adds a unique touch.

Project Details

The wall color is from Benjamin Moore and the shade is #618, Robin's Nest. The bedding is from Nursery Works: it's called "Macaroni" in the color canary; it has been discontinued, but there are lots of other great choices where I bought it at www.modernnursery.com. The cube shelving is from Ikea as is the Malm dresser. To give the dresser more kick, I covered a few of the fronts with a natural shade of seagrass wallpaper. It adds texture and interest without making it stand out too much. It also makes the dresser look more upscale (in my opinion). The "hooray" banner came from etsy by the seller Nice. Shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nice. We got the dachshund lamp, felt "ollie" owl, and mobile from www.modernnursery.com. The crib is by Oeuf. The elephant hamper came from Home Decorators...it's the lighter natural shade in size medium: http://www.homedecorators.com/search.php?search=elephant+hamper&x=0&y=0

The owl lamp came from Anthropologie as a Christmas gift from my husband...along with the owl collage (by Petite Collage http://www.petitcollage.com/). We also got the embroidered lampshades from Anthropologie. Petite Collage also made the bamboo bird mobile. We got the white shaggy rug from Crate and Barrel www.crateandbarrel.com. The yellow chair is a reupholstered $9 score from Salvation Army. I got the fabric for the fabric hoops on the wall from Purl Soho (www.purlsoho.com)

The art above the crib: The right image is a from a book cover (about children's book illustration). The left image of the elephant is my own drawing/design. The curtains were a find from www.walmart.com.

There are blackout shades in the windows, hidden by the curtains. We added Martha Steward decorative ribbon to the bottoms of the shades to add interest to the otherwise boring plain white surface. The ribbon comes with adhesive already applied, so it was an easy project. The shades are used every nap and every night!

Favorite Items

My favorite "item" in the room is my daughter! But I guess she isn't really an item per se. My favorite objects in the room are the hooray banner (it really conveys the excitement Little P brings to our life), the yellow dachshund lamp (we have a mini dachshund as a pet who we love), and the fabric hoops.

Advice

I would say choose a fun wall color and think about a design style you like and then spend some time researching furniture and accessories. I had an idea folder on my computer for months where I saved images of things I liked. Before long, I noticed a pattern of my favorite colors, styles of furniture, etc. began to emerge. Once I isolated the trends of what I liked most it came together easily. It's important to take your time and flush out your ideas rather than rush. Then, you are sure to be thrilled with the results because it's been thought through. The type-A side of me came through and I did a little scale diagram on my computer before purchasing the furniture just to make sure it all would fit how I wanted it. This saved money and time and stress! I also did a little idea board with all my favorite things and colors (on the computer) to make sure it all worked together. Again, this saved me from buying something that wouldn't work in the space and made putting the room together easy when the time came.