Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Nursery





I remember how we felt when we first found out I was pregnant.  Our first natural emotion was elation.  We were so happy to know we were successful, after trying for what seemed to be a long time.  Then, reality set in and our house seemed so small.  It was even more difficult to visualize a space in our home when we found out we were having twins, not just one baby!


I had just redecorated our home office, and I loved the way my crafts room (which doubled as our guest room) was set up--but it was obvious that we were going to have to give up a room soon.  After much consideration, we decided to eliminate the 'guest room' and find temporary new homes for all the furniture in that room.


We moved the futon to the office, for future guest use, and the large drafting table and mini chest of drawers was moved to our bedroom.  The large entertainment center, along with a TV and DVD player, was moved out since we really could not find a place at home to accommodate it.  However, there were a few pieces we could keep still keep once we converted the room into a nursery.  We kept the white shelves, which were perfect for a nursery, and also kept a set of three white nesting tables, which also worked well in the new space.


My vision for the nursery was to create a room that was serene and peaceful and that our babies could grow into.  The sex of our babies was never relevant, since I knew I could always add pink or blue to any design I came up with.  Ultimately, we settled on a soft sage green for the main color of the room, with a soft ivory to complement it, to be used on the lower half.  The room would be divided by a soft white chair rail going around the entire room.  We decided to buy the cribs in a dark finish and balance the dark cribs with white accent furniture to avoid a look that was too heavy for a nursery.  We also had to move a large bookcase (from our office) into the nursery, since the futon would not fit into the office unless we did.  The bookcase complemented the dark finish on the cribs.


Here are more photos, along with the breakdown of what it took to create our lovely nursery.  I apologize for not posting prices, but it was a long process and I am afraid I did not keep very good track of all our expenses.


Room painted and chair rail installed by our friend Kylin {Thank you!}
Espresso finish convertible crib [Purchased new, Buy Buy Baby]
Dark finish ladder bookcase [Repurposed, from office]
Pink ruffled lamp shade [Purchased new, Pottery Barn]


White nesting tables [Repurposed, kept in room]
Green silk curtains [Purchased new, Restoration Hardware]



White shelves [Repurposed, kept in room]
IKEA Chair [Repurposed, from living room] {being replaced soon with new LaZBoy rocker}
White dresser [Repurposed, from our bedroom] {updated with new crystal knobs}


Original Pop Art, Artist Michael Albert
[Acquired on a trip to NYC]
{Professionally Framed, at Art of Framing, in Phoenix}

Pink ceiling light fixture [Purchased new, PB Teen]

Laundry Hamper [Purchased new, Land of Nod]
Fabric storage bins [Purchased new, Pottery Barn]
Large bookcase [Custom built] {Thanks Tony!}

Fabric storage bins [Purchased new, Pottery Barn]
Large bookcase [Custom built] {Thanks Tony!}

1 comment:

Marvin Mills said...

It could be a tough call to give up any of the rooms, especially if all of them have been useful or even sentimental. But nevertheless, you created the room for something bigger, more significant for your lives as a family. What you did here was impressive. The kids would surely love to grow up in this room. What was the biggest challenge that you encountered when you redecorated the room?