LaLa's nursery

Sidenote: My dad has begun calling the baby "LaLa" since we aren't sharing the name. It has kind of stuck around these parts, but please do not worry, that will appear no where on her birth certificate.

Also, if you haven't noticed, there is a WATERMELON on the fruit-ticker up there!! And 18 days!! When did that happen? I got all my sub plans completed and ready to go for March 26 on, but I don't know if LaLa is going to be patient and wait it out that long. My doctor said she thinks the baby is about 7 pounds [how she can tell just by grabbing around on my belly, I have no idea]. If that is the case, she is welcome to come at any time. I'm anxious to meet her and hold her and begin getting to know her personality, but I'm also totally okay with whatever is God's timing at this point. March 19th, March 28th, April 5th…whatever! As long as she is healthy, I can be patient.

And now…to her nursery.

This is what the room looked like when we purchased the home. Duck border [Sorry, Kelly, it was a little outdated], green carpet, wood trim.

This was the room after we had lived here for the summer. Yep. It was bedroom #3 and became my storage room.

And then I got my tail in gear. I painted the room last summer, knowing it would soon be a nursery for either a boy or girl and I chose a dark gray color [which my mom did NOT approve of at first…but I think she has come around].

When you first walk in:

So here we go to today...There are still a few small things I need to get done in here, but for the most part here is a tour of her room:

To the left when you walk in:

I'm so proud of Kali, who got her crafting on and made the awesome pendant banner you see here. This crib was Kali's, and mine, and some of my cousins eventually. My Grandpa stripped it and refinished it and I love it. [Yes, it has drop sides!!! Don't worry, I think she'll be alright.] Above the crib to the left of the door will eventually be a canvas with her name on it, painted by the ever talented Micah [who has recently been busy doing other things like getting married].

Here are some close ups of the FABULOUS work my grandma did on the bedding. All I had to do was pick out fabric, give her a few "this-is-what-I'm-thinking" ideas, and viola! Out came this! She does awesome work, and I love the way the colors turned out together.

She had some extra fabric so she whipped up this cute pillow too, which will probably eventually migrate to the floor or chair area :). The bumper pad is also reversible.

One of my favorite things in the room are these paper lanterns. I think they add a lot of fun!

For those of you that don't know what "Pinterest" is, that's okay. I'm a little wishy-washy with my feelings about it; however, I did find this great idea on there. I modified it a little bit [the original ones I saw were made with scrap booking paper]. I took some of the extra fabric and modge-podged [Brent calls it "hodge-podge"] it onto the outlets in the room.

I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out and they actually add quite a bit to the room. I even covered the switch for the old baseboard heater in the room, which we thankfully don't have to use because we installed central heating now. But really, how cute?

Grandma also made these curtains, which are the reverse of the skirt on the crib. Super fun.

I love the polka dot cording detail at the top of them :)

I guess we can refer to this as the "play area" in the room? These shelves were originally black, which I thought would be okay, but then I got them into the space I just didn't like them. So Brent was a trooper and refinished them for me and now I like them…and Brent…so much better :)

These are vintage cards that my sister-in-law Beth gave me for Christmas. I just love the unique animals and drawings and wanted to do something with them. I strung them from twine and viola.

The final wall in the room. Again, Kali's creativity is displayed here with the pendant flags and I just love what they add to the room. Also there are a couple of fabric patterns she chose to incorporate that have a little pink in them, and I'm kind of glad there will be a little pink in this little lady's room. Brent and I put this dresser together which was quite the task, but I love how it turned out and it has a TON of drawer space [especially when the clothes I am filling it with are teeny tiny!] I will add the changing pad to the top soon. Grandma also is letting us use that super awesome, vintage lamp. Love it. Now moving on to a few of the other details...

This is the story of this chair: In college my roommate and I went garage sale-ing. We found two matching orange velvet chairs. We fell in love. They were super comfy and ten dollars a piece. They were also both in great shape. For the next three years the two orange chairs lived in harmony in our dorm, and later our apartment. And then we both go married and one chair went to Chicago, the other to Louisville. [Pictured in the far left is the orange chair in our sweet little one bedroom apartment in Louisville. Sigh. That was a good place].

We both knew we would never depart with the orange chair…seriously, best chair ever. Four years later, her chair is now in Wisconsin, mine is in Missouri. But the problem was, it was still orange. So my fabulous Aunt CeAnn who recovered a love seat for me also recovered my beloved orange chair [she too fell in love with it's comfort while working on it though and now says she misses having it around :)…I'm telling you…best chair ever]. And now it is like new, is washable, and I will get to rock my sweet baby girl here for years to come. [Fun fact: my roommate's chair is also rocking babies. And we have both sworn that if we ever are considering getting rid of the chair we will let the other know.]

I wanted something to fill the space above the chair, but didn't want anything too "nursery". So I had Brent go to the attic and find my bag of old mismatched frames I'd collected over the years. I painted them, hung up the flower hooks, and framed some pieces of fabric.

You may have noticed the giant space above the dresser/changing table. Don't worry. I made something to display her name that hangs there, but since we aren't revealing that until her debut, it is hidden for now.

I also painted these small canvases to go around where her name will be displayed. These are the FOUR TRAITS we have been praying for her. I used stickers and simply painted over the letters, then let the paint dry and peeled them off. I really like the way they turned out, and I'm glad I mismatched the upper and lower case together.

That is all for now. I think it will look much better in a few weeks when there is a baby in there. What do ya think?