One of my favorite hobbies is decorating. I love spending weeks (or sometimes months) looking for that perfect piece of furniture or accessory.
Creating my daughter’s nursery was one of the most fun and challenging projects that I’ve tackled thus far. Obviously the fun part was shopping for the little girl that I was very surprised to be having. The challenge, which turned out to be much more challenging that I imagined, was taking a masculine boys nursery and turning it a girly nursery. Thankfully everything turned out perfectly and I absolutely adore the outcome!
I knew I wanted a nursery that flowed with the rest of our home—no pink for me. I love red and green and have those colors all over my home so my color choices were a given. I also knew I didn’t want to buy new furniture. I should rephrase that—I knew my husband wasn’t going to let me buy new furniture. My darling son rarely slept in his crib other than at nap times so it was really unreasonable to purchase another crib. All of the other furniture I already loved so shuffling things around just made sense.
So here it is – Mary Claire’s little piece of the world.
I knew I wanted something that had a homey, vintage appeal so I started with that as a loose theme. The glider was leftover from my son’s nursery and the quilt draped over the back is from Etsy. The quilt is made up of reds, greens, and yellows and was one of the first purchases I made for the room.
One of my favorite things in the room is the little kitchen area which is really more for my son than my daughter, but she’ll quickly grown into it. I knew I wanted things in the room that would keep my son occupied while I nursed or cared for Mary Claire. The kitchen is from Magic Cabin and is a great distraction for Charlie. There was the problem of the empty wall above the kitchen which I filled with Vintage Wall Cards from Ebay and a mini fabric bunting that I made myself using this super-easy tutorial by Christie Chase.
We had a lot of other projects going on in our home this summer so we decided not to repaint the walls. They stayed a pale beige.
I love red and already owned this fun red Hemnes dresser from Ikea. It made the move from another room and the existing changing table found it’s way into the closet, which I believe will work perfectly as it doubled our drawer storage for the space.
On top of the dresser is my childhood dollhouse loaded with small picture books and a few toys. I’ve actually had this idea in mind since I was about 10 years old and am so glad that it worked beautifully! I also added a soft yellow diaper caddy by Sarabear that was in my son’s nursery. It is perfect for storing saline solution, lotion, nail clippers, and other baby essentials.
I knew I wanted something to hang above the dresser, but struggled to find anything large enough that I really loved. However, early on in the design process I stumbled across some amazing fabric that I knew I wanted to use somewhere in the space, Punctuation by American Jane. It has all of my favorite colors and so much vintage appeal. I still love it every time I look at it. I followed this easy tutorial at paws & re-thread to turn it into inexpensive wall art that I am crazy about!
On the other side of the room, next to the closet is another piece of furniture that I purchased several years ago. This Painted Cottage Bookcase is a soft yellow (currently discontinued), that works well with the rest of the space. It is the perfect place for me to store lots of distracting toys for Charlie.
I added a few vintage pieces and this unique milk glass lamp to the top of the shelf, just out of Charlie’s reach. The area is finished off by another favorite of mine, Knit Shop, by Oopsy Daisy artist Mari Takabayashi. I struggled with finding a piece of art for this area, but when I saw Knit Shop I absolutely fell in love. It has so much girly appeal and really pulls the space together.
We used Charlie’s existing crib, which we purchased from BabiesRUs, but is no longer available. I also opted to use the same bedding we used for Charlie. I believe I looked at every single piece of baby bedding on the web, but at the end of the day still really loved this Gingham bedding by Pottery Barn Kids. The sheets and curtains are both a crisp green and the dust ruffle (not pictured) is a rich red. I paired them with an avocado Cozy Wedge, a safe bumper alternative, which blends beautifully.
I was planning to paint a paper name bunting to hang above the crib, but when I went online to look for ideas I found this absolutely amazing printable bunting by Hedgehog Studio on Etsy. I fell in love immediately and it was the biggest bargain of the space at only $6. I had it printed on heavy card stock at Staples, cut it out, and tied it together with thin red ribbon. So easy and I love the results.
I added a few fabric wall decals in the earthy Forest Critters design by mae. I believe they give it that little something extra and will be an interesting addition for Miss Mary Claire to look at.
I am so excited about this space—it is exactly the look I was going for. I love that it blends with the rest my home and is a space that will transition well to a toddler room, that is unless I catch the dreaded decorating bug!
Ed. note:Mary Claire was born on Monday, July 25! She weighed 6 pounds and 6 ounces and was 19 inches long. Mom and baby are happy and healthy!
