Week 35: The nursery

Blake and I have been slowly putting our baby girl’s nursery together for months now, but it’s been a side project for the most part due to a busy summer full of bachelorette and bachelor parties, bridal showers, weddings and other festivities. The important pieces, like the crib and the changing table, were assembled with hasty excitement the same afternoon they arrived at our front door back in June. And after our baby shower, we sort of just threw the plethora of new baby gear in there and shut the door. Every time I walked in there, I felt the overwhelming urge to get organized and put everything away, but we simply didn’t have the time.
With just five weeks left until my due date, we wrapped our last big obligation of the summer this past weekend as maid of honor and groomsman in our best friends’ wedding. The following day we were tired and sluggish from the weekend’s various wedding festivities, but I was determined to finally finish up my daughter’s bedroom. I set to work on getting organized, while my handy husband tackled the tasks that required tools. Clothes and bedding were washed with Dreft, and the changing table was stocked with diapers and wipes. My husband hung the book shelves, and I loaded them up with the dozens of books we received at the baby shower, all inscribed with sweet messages for our baby girl from family and friends.
Despite being exhausted from the long weekend, seeing the room finally coming together gave me the burst of energy I needed to get it done. The crib was dressed in the gorgeous handmade bedding I registered for on Etsy. I threw a matching blanket over the pink glider, and covered the changing pad in its matching cover. I assembled some pretty prints, also purchased off Etsy, in matching frames and directed as my husband hung them over the changing table. With just a few more pieces of wall decor to be hung we were almost done.
During the months of plotting and planning how we were going to style our daughter’s room, I struggled with what to do above the crib. Originally, I had wanted to do a gallery wall, but paranoia kept me shying away from that concept. What if a frame randomly came loose and fell off—or worse, what if an earthquake shakes all of the frames off the wall? Frames above the crib just made me too nervous. After some research on Pinterest, I finally settled on the idea of a mosquito net canopy to hang from the ceiling and delicately frame the crib. To add our own special touch, I used a hot glue gun to attach fake flowers to the outer rim of the canopy. I am certainly no Martha Stewart, but I really impressed myself with this one. I watched with pure happiness as Blake carefully hung my masterpiece over the crib, and with that finishing touch, the nursery was done.
For some people, I’m sure nursery decor isn’t a big deal; it’s having the proper necessities to care for baby that is important. I understand and respect that, but this is my first baby and having a pretty nursery that we can be proud of is important to me. I want to bring my baby girl home to a space that was made out of love especially for her. I know it won’t stay clean and picture perfect, and that I’ll eventually have to rethink the beautiful crib canopy when she’s old enough to grab at it, but I couldn’t imagine a more perfect space to welcome our baby into and that makes me feel like I might just be able to rock this whole mom thing.