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allisondyoung

I'm a Canadian DIY enthusiast who loves her family, dogs, and is currently battling an addiction to jalapeño Cheetos. I love making our house a home and my aesthetic can be best described as modern-boho-eclectic.

A Calm and Neutral Room for Two

A big difference I found from doing the twins’ room and from my singleton’s room was my own personal motivation. I had so many plans and couldn’t wait to start…but I also just couldn’t start. This pregnancy was a lot tougher than my first, and I also had much less free time than I did during those child free days before my son was born!
Because I was so tired and uncomfortable, this room has a lot less “personal” touches in terms of DIY projects. (Thank you, IKEA.) I am ok with this. I am still happy with how everything turned out and although it meant our budget was a little (a LOT) more than my first baby’s room (which was mostly thrifted or DIY’d), we spread things out and it was completely manageable.
I had been swooning after this rocker for a few months, and my husband surprised me with it for Christmas. What a guy. It  is was Ita huge splurge for sous but totally worth it for me. It is so comfortable and high enough in the back to rest your head, which was a must for me. It’s also very wide, and I can already envision snuggling in with my three little guys for storytime.
The sheep ottoman is kind of “whimsical” and not something I would normally gravitate towards, but I think it’s a cute touch for a baby’s room. It is also very sturdy and a decent size. 
For cribs we went super simple with the IKEA SNIGLAR crib. At $99 each, the price was right (especially because we needed two) and they are also very suited to my personal style. I was initially worried about the quality and sturdiness, but the reviews were great and after we’d  put them together, they really are very solid. We hung the white LACK shelf (also from IKEA) on the wall above the crib, and for safety purposes, it is holding less than half the recommended weight in bric-a-brac and Matt went overkill with the anchors attaching it to the wall. It’s not going anywhere.
IKEA strikes again! We went with the KOPPANG dresser to use as our change table. This thing is a beast and has a ton of storage. It was fairly easy to assemble and it fits the space we have on this wall perfectly with enough room on either side for a laundry hamper and diaper genie.
One of my favorite things in the room is this watercolor rainbow elephant print from Society 6. It was one of the first things I picked out for the room, and I made all my other choices around it (which is why everything else is so neutral)! I am not crazy about color but I do love me a good rainbow in a nursery. I kept the cost down framing this guy by thrifting one for $30 from Value Village that I repainted a nice fresh white.
All of the other smaller decorative items are either from HomeGoods or Value Village. I love plants in a nursery (and any room, really) so I added a few to warm up the room, and last but not least, laid this super pretty/affordable rug from Wayfair.
I am so happy with the final result. Its bright, spacious, and calm which is exactly the vibe I was going for. We can’t wait to bring our new little guys home and for everyone to get settled in to our new “normal”.

A Bright and Modern Boho Nursery

This is our first baby, and I was really, really excited to get started on the nursery! Since we opted not to find out the sex, it was a little challenging for me to make choices that were neutral without being boring. I did a lot of looking around on Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration, and found myself gravitating away from the quintessential gender-neutral grey. This was an opportunity to do some stuff that I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) necessarily get away with in an “adult” room, so I definitely wanted to take advantage of that without going too bananas. My inner-self battled between a space that was perfectly serene and simple, and one that had a lot of visual interest, textures and pattern. I normally hate anything that screams BABY LIVES HERE (the word “whimsical” makes my teeth hurt) but at the same time…a baby will live here.
The lunar cycle accent wall was my jumping-off point for the whole room. I DIY’d my own “wallpaper” to hack this removable version from Chasing Paper (which is g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s but also $$$).
I found the giraffe print on Etsy and knew it would be perfect. I purchased the downloadable file from JuniquePrints and had it printed as a poster at Walmart, so it was very cost-effective.
The dresser-turned-change-table was thrifted, and just needed a little bit of TLC by way of a nice coat of white paint. The mobile hanging above the changing pad is a DIY ( I will be posting the tutorial soon) but it was really, really easy, and I love how modern it is. I debated painting the wooden balls, but keeping it natural really helped to warm up the rest of this wall, which is heavy on the white.
Another of my favorite elements is the beautiful alphabet watercolor from belliesartboutique.
The round mirror on the wall and black blanket ladder are both DIYs as well — I will hopefully have the tutorials for both up on my blog soon. I would have loved to have left the ladder natural, but there were a lot of wood tones competing in that area so in the end I opted to paint it with Rust-Oleum matte black spray paint.
You can visit my nursery blog post here for more details.