When my husband and I found out we were pregnant and began thinking about a nursery, we knew that we would need a space functional as a guest room and nursery combo in one.  Our home is a three bedroom home; we have a toddler in one room, and couldn’t afford to lose our guest room space.  We wanted to style this space with to be inviting, warm and cozy, so that both baby and future guests feel right at home.  So began our Farmhouse styled nursery/guest room combo.

The room concept initiated with the handpainted picture that hangs above the dresser.  This picture is of my grandparents’ house, where my dad lived when he was 11, and it was hand painted by my uncle and framed using salvaged wood from this house when it was torn down.   With most Farmhouse styled homes, it is likely you will come across a windmill incorporated somewhere in the design. I located this beautiful, affordable windmill from my local Hobby Lobby.  From there, I knew I needed to find the perfect baby quilt to finish my style board and know the exact direction/color pallet that I would be following.  After a lengthy online search, I found a little shop on Etsy, Bantam Quilt Co. Her handcrafted quilts quickly caught my eye as they were stylish, beautiful, and affordable.  The owner, Carrie, was so easy to work with and quickly grasped my vision of the room when I shared with her the hand-painted photo.

Once I had these three elements and a more concrete direction of where I was going to take this space, I began working on the room’s layout.  I already had the beautiful Jenny Lind crib, as it was daughter’s crib that I painted when I was pregnant with her (painted in Annie Sloan Paris Gray and sealed with Annie Sloan Soft Wax).  We originally had a queen size bed in our guest room, but I decided to switch to a full size bed for a better fit without losing too much “bed space”.  My aunt and uncle had this beautiful, antique metal bed in their guest room.  When they heard I was looking for a full size bed, they offered me theirs so that they could upgrade to a queen for their grandchildren.  DEAL!  When I received the bed, it had some rust in places and was also painted white and gold; I knew I needed to bring it back to life.  My husband and father sandblasted the bedframe, my husband primed it afterwards to prevent any rusting, and I painted it using Valspar Chalky Paint Finish in Trousseau Blue.

I arranged the furniture (with some help from my husband and wonderful neighbors) and began picking up random pieces to decorate from stores in my area, as well as online.  I am a firm believer in baskets and storage and knew that I wanted as much storage as possible for this space.  I began with the closet, purchased a beautiful bookshelf from Target, chicken wire baskets for the bookshelves shelving along with galvanized bins for the top of the closet from my local Walmart.  Next to the bed, I placed two stackable, storage baskets that will double as a space for guests to use as a bedside table.  They are amazing and have a TON of storage space inside; I was lucky to have stumbled across them at my local TJ Maxx.  I am able to store family blankets as well as sheets and bedding without taking up the closet space.   With this space also being a nursery, I needed ample amount of diaper and accessories storage. The cute metal stand next to the baby crib was purchased from Kirklands and holds my diaper overflow that will not fit into the diaper baskets I have sitting on the dresser next to the changing pad.  It is stocked with all of my burp cloths, bibs and blankets for easy access. The beautiful, wood and wire crates were purchased from Michaels and sit next to the changing pad on the dresser to hold my diapers and baby necessities (powder, cream, lotions, etc.)

Aside from loving the look of this room now, I love the memories and meaning behind everything even more. We can’t wait to bring our little Jensen Hayes home!