Emma's Nursery Tour

We finally finished Emma's nursery yesterday. I am so excited for this room everyone! We both painstakingly selected each item and hung each piece in its proper place. I searched and searched for the perfect bedding and crib for her room. Something modern and pretty. I found it at Babies R Us and instantly fell in love with the grey and white look!

The artwork above her nursery were gifts from my baby shower and I made the yarn sachet for Emma's Valentine's Day Shoot. I wanted a feminine safari look without going overly babyish. I hated all the traditional nursery bedding that was at the baby stores. I found the bedding at Pottery Barn and got just the quilt and pillow sham. The rest of the set wasn't me at all!

The dresser matches the crib, and I love the chrome pulls and the grey changer on top. I found the chevron changing cover at BRU. Considering that greys are so hard to match, I was glad that everything coordinates so nicely.

In keeping with the safari look, I found the graphic metal giraffe, metal Emma letters and pinboard all from Pottery Barn. The pinboard was originally a table top piece, but I attached hangars to the back and voila....wall piece! It houses her pins from her trip to Disneyland, but I plan on attaching some photo's also.

I made a large hanging mobile that is in the corner between her crib and dresser that she can see from both locations. I didn't want anything traditional yet again, so I found something I liked and DIYed my own. Underneath is where I store her quilt that was a Christmas present, the white blanket that we take her monthly photos on and the horse that she got for Hannukah. This little chevron grey box was supposed to house her stuffed toys.....but lets just say that the cradle my uncle made me is now where it all gets stored now.

We thrift-ed a glider and it houses a throw pillow and baby quilt the my mom made her for my baby shower. Next to the glider is a little storage cabinet, and the chalkboard that we used for our bumpdates....yes it still has her birth stats...daddy wont let me change it until her birthday. If you recall from this post, her bookcase used to be black. We spray painted it grey, and it was the closest match to the crib that we could find, but I think its a pretty damn good match!

Her bookcase houses all her small toys in baskets, books, and various decor. I had a little bit of a book addiction!!! I have since stopped purchasing for a bit!

And lastly, one of my favorite things, besides all the other homemade items, is this piece. My mom made this for me and it hung in my room for many many years. She had it re-matted and gave it to Emma for her room.

There you have it. Our little one's room.....it's totally perfect for us and we spend lots of time snuggling, reading, and playing. We are blessed that she has such great place to call home!

Links:

Crib: Babies R Us

Quilt: PB Kids
Sheets: Walmart
Elephants: Etsy and PB Kids

Dream Letters: PB Kids (similar)
Elephant Canvas: Etsy
Dresser: Babies R Us

Changer Top: Babies R Us

Changing Pad Cover: Babies R Us

Giraffe: PB Kids

Emma Letters: PB Kids

Pin Board: PB Kids

Mobile: DIYed

Glider: Thrifted

Quilt: Gift
Chalkboard: DIYed

Bookcase: Thrifted
Elephant Bins: Home Goods

Emma Blocks: Gifted

DIY Custom Mobile and a Peek into Emma's Nursery

For as long as I have been wanting to plan a nursery I knew that I didn't want it to be a cookie cutter from the store bed in a bag look. I planned out Emma's nursery dreaming of when she would sleep and play in it. I wanted something that would grow with her but still be graphic, fun and have a sense of playfulness.

That being said I couldn't find a mobile that I liked at all. I knew that I would have to make one. But I couldn't figure out what style I liked. I thought that I may just buy some wooden animal shapes and paint them in the teal, pink and grey color scheme and hang them on a makeshift hangar. Or just settle for something that was purchased, because I honestly didn't think that I would have time with a baby to make something cool. I was saving tons of ideas to a nursery board on Pinterest but nothing was making me scream out "This is perfect!" So I dropped it from my mind for months. It wasn't until I was looking for things to make with the leftover felt that I had from Emma's Halloween costume that I found it. A ceiling mobile kit from Apostrophe-S. It was made with felt and cardstock, but you had to buy the whole kit and even though everything was ready and all I would have to do is assemble, I thought to myself...."Self, you can make that!"

The weekend we moved into our new apartment, my mom and I hit up Michael's with coupons to get the extra things I needed. Wooden planting rings (18", 12", 6"), craft paint, grey felt (I had the pink) and beads. I had plenty of embroidery floss on hand and my mom brought the other items needed to help make these.

I don't have a tutorial for exactly how I made this, but I can give you the steps. First off I scaled in Photoshop the shape for the hangars. Then we traced them onto freezer paper and cut them out. We needed 36 pink and 20 grey to make them doubled when completed.

We used an iron on adhesive to press the felt pieces together, but you can use any type of fabric glue to get them together. We used embroidery floss to string the rings together and to attach each shape to the wooden rings. We also hung two beads to the tops of each pink shape. Darin needed to drill extra holes into the rings, to make it evenly spaced (which he had to buy a new drill for, he was ecstatic) and then hot glued the strings in place on the top. It's not pretty from above, but who sees that anyways. Figuring out placement of each tier took some finagling but the end result was far better than I could have imagined.

It took far longer to accomplish than I thought and between feedings and napping and fussy baby wanting my attention I didn't take photos along the way to show the steps. My apologies. Hopefully you can use my haphazard directions to make your own mobile. If you have any questions shoot em my way!

And now a peek into the nursery!

What?! It's still not done! I have things to hang and some things to put away and then I will reveal it all to you....just thought you'd want a teaser!

Anniversary Subway Art

I have dabbled in wall art for a little while here. When I learned that Photoshop does more than edit photos I knew that I wanted to make Subway Art for our friends and families. It's really popular and its a great addition to your home. I have done Disney inspired art, music lyrics and of course anniversary art for my sister and brother in law.

When my dear cousin asked me to make one for her ten year anniversary, I took to Pinterest to get some inspiration and we talked wording and we came up with this:

The quotes "The art of married life is in the journey." and "It takes faith to go forward together without knowing what the future holds." are verses from their wedding vows. We used dates, various cities and other items that were important to their relationship and we included their little ones name also. I used vintage inspired fonts to keep with their retro theme that is in their home. I put it on a chalkboard background and sent it over to Costco for printing. Three days later and it was ready! It's so fun to make these and I hope to make one for my own family one of these days!

 

Happy Anniversary to my favorite cousin and her family!

Little Details Before Her Arrival

Since Miss Emma will be rooming with us and we wont be doing a nursery tour, I thought that I would share some details of how we incorporated her into our little space. We brought a bookcase into our room and dedicated that all to her. The hubby condensed a drawer of his and we brought in her co-sleeper. She's not going to take up much room and we did all we could do to have as much of her items accessible.

We brought in the blocks my mom made with her name on them and displayed them on top of the bookcase with a photo of my dad that my stepmom had brought.

One shelf is dedicated to her diapers, wipes and necessary grooming items. Her changing pad is on another dresser, out of sight until we need it.

Health items, small baby brushes and grooming supplies! So little and adorable. The larger bottles are in another cabinet until they are needed!

She has two shelves dedicated to all the books she got. For the baby shower we asked that people bring a book instead of a card and sign it so she knows who gave it to her. We were lucky to not get very many duplicates and lots of great books!

This shelf was just a staged shelf until we figure out what to do with it. One frame says "look what we made" and will house a photo of the hubby and I holding her. The other photo is her 18 week ultrasound. We did eventually hang this up. And I just love the little tiny board books.

All that needs to be said!

All of her newborn and 0-3 month clothing, plus washcloths, hats, socks and headbands fit nicely into one drawer. It's so cute to open that drawer and see all of the tiny items. Seriously can't wait to see her wear some of these!

Here is where she is going to rest her little head. The co-sleeper fits nicely on my side of the bed and will assist in nightly feedings. I love the pink polka dot sheets and of course all the elephants! Hopefully she doesn't get sick of them!

 

She has all the necessary items that she needs right in our room. It's crazy to think that the time is almost here and she will be in our arms soon! Not pictured.....the million handmade blankets and all the rest of her clothes and items store away in our closet! She will not be naked or cold ever! Hehe. I hope you enjoyed this mini tour of Emma's things.

Nursery Decor Inspiration

Being an interior designer gives my high expectations of what our baby girl's nursery should look like. I cannot stand buying things as a set or something that's a "bed in a bag." Add in all the amazing nursery inspiration on Pinterest and your brain just might explode with information overload. Since I was convinced I was having a boy, I planned on a grey and teal nursery from the start. Well mother nature threw a wrench into that plan and it had to be modified. Nothing at the big box stores sent shivers down my spine so I knew I would have to plan this out from scratch, but not without perusing ideas on my favorite website first:

1. Pink and Grey (cannot find original source) I love how soft this is. Soothing and girly. I of course love the high wainscot and neutral grey wall.
2. Bold Teal and Pink: I love the graphic nature of everything in these photos. From the graphic rug, to the painted pink dresser! Just super trendy and modern!
3. Framed out "Wallpaper": I love the idea of a graphic paint pattern, but I also love how this serves as a piece of art as well!

So after I had some ideas about what I was looking for I discovered my love for a simple "jungle theme" with pops of teal, pink, grey with a tiny bit of brown. I found a crib I love, but of course is not available to register for and some bedding that's semi bedding in a bag from Pottery Barn Kids. My original inspiration rooms all had white cribs, but I love the look of a grey walnut and when I found it, I died! I am loving the elephant trend right now and wanted a mobile that would suit my taste. Well that was proving to be difficult so I am taking inspiration from several train of thoughts and combining them all in one!

1. Mobile Inspiration
2. Crib
3. Stuffed Elephant
4. Graphic Giraffe Pillow
5. Die-Cut Wood Mobile
6. Paper Elephant Mobile
7. Brooklyn Bedding
8. Lacy Print Rug

I love the thought of big collage walls as well, especially with the complete alphabet. The simplistic nature of the framed alphabet above just makes me swoon. I love the idea of having the jungle animals be more silhouetted, and not too "themed" so that they would go with the girly bedding I selected. I love the graphic look of the wire giraffe and the cross-stitch wall decor also. Of course a room wouldn't be complete without cute toy storage bench in a graphic pattern!

1. Alphabet Collage
2. Glitter Animals on Canvas
3. Wire Giraffe
4. Elephant Wall Graphic Print
5. Hanging Wall Letters
6. Toy Storage
7. Graphic Prints
8. Cross Stitch Wall Hanging 

I think we are on our way to a cohesive theme and I can't wait for little Emma to have a room all her own. She's going to be blessed with a multitude of really cool items! I went with my mom to select some fabrics for some projects she is making her granddaughter to be. I am ridiculously excited to see what she comes up with! 

Day Thirteen - Festive

Every year at the office we make craft projects at our office. I put them up to make my cubicle feel a little more like Christmas. My favorite piece is the wooden Christmas tree!