Our baby's room is my favorite place these days. I'm so pleased with how it all came together and excited to share it with you!
If you've been reading along for awhile, then you may remember that
this room used to be my husband's office. He works from home and for the first three years we lived in LA, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment so his office was in our bedroom. When we moved to our current two-bedroom I was thrilled that he had his own space! Not only because that meant our bedroom was only a bedroom but also because he works with an east coast company, on east coast time, and work starts before the sun rises here. So in our old place, when his day started I'd head out to the couch to sleep a bit more. Well, now with baby on the way, his office is back in our bedroom. But it all works out because, 1. There is a daybed in the nursery where I now go instead of a couch and 2. Once baby gets here, sleeping in a little longer won't be an option anyway!
Ok! Enough of the backstory....onto the good stuff!
It all started with this picture. When I was in high school, I must have been going through a giraffe-phase where I couldn't get enough of cute giraffe pictures and prints. So my mom gave me this picture. And I remember thinking then that one day, when I had a child, I wanted that picture to go in their room. It's called "First Kiss" and it melts my heart. Now, half a lifetime later, it's hanging in my son's room and has inspired the entire motif for his nursery.
The nursery was set to have a "jungle theme" based on the giraffe picture but I was specific in how I wanted it to look. "Jungle theme" for nurseries is very hot right now and it seems to range from cartoonish to very sophisticated. I didn't want the room or its accents to be too cartoonish but I did want it to still be whimsical. The really sophisticated nurseries out there are beautiful but I wanted the room to reflect the fact that it's for a baby. I knew wall decals would be a great way to incorporate the jungle vision, especially since we live in an apartment and decals are removable. I scoured Pinterest and Etsy, looking for the perfect decals but ended up being totally surprised by these safari silhouettes I found at Target. For twenty bucks these decals had the right colors and the right balance of whimsy. Plus the decals are a great decoration to go above his crib since we live in earthquake country and a tremor could mean things falling off the walls. Didn't want anything heavy on the wall by his crib for that reason!
Love the lines of this crib, as well as the height of the bars. And, of course, the mattress can be lowered as he gets bigger. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a crib I liked. I wanted just simple and rectangular but there are a lot of curvy cribs out there. And even though I thought I wanted simple some were just...too boring. The details of the back of this crib, since it's higher and has the three panels, are what really sold me. (PS - if you like this crib too, it's on sale right now. Holla!)
I kind of dislike mobiles. I couldn't find any that weren't plastic and gaudy and obnoxious looking to me (I'm pregnant - things offend me easily). But then we saw this adorable elephant mobile on clearance at BuyBuy Baby. It's a stuffed animal! And it plays Brahm's Lullaby. And the colors were perfect. And there's a little mirror on the elephant's belly to keep Baby entertained. Plus, when he outgrows the mobile, we can take it off the hook and he has a new stuffed animal. Double duty! The mobile isn't available on BuyBuy Baby's site anymore but I found it on Amazon (link above).
Speaking of stuffed animals, this kid already has a little jungle accumulating. The monkey and elephant are from his Mimi (my mom), the lion is from my cousin and the giraffe is from my best friend. It's actually a sound machine with white noise and jungle songs that can be attached to his stroller, car seat, crib, etc. The little good morning pillow has the inverse colors on the back and it says "good night." Another clearance find, this time at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's Kate Spade though so I googled it but only found eBay listings. Sorry! The jungle pillowcase/bedding is from
Target.
My absolute favorite part of the room is the art gallery that is above the daybed. This is all original artwork done by Baby S.'s family so it is extra special. Our thirteen-year-old niece painted the monkey, Baby's daddy painted the elephants and I did the rest. There's still room for growth and we hope that family and friends get inspired to add to the gallery!
Closet space is at a premium in our little apartment so large functional dressers are a must. We found this one at Ikea. The front of the drawers are a frosted plexiglass but it isn't nearly as see-through in person as it looks in the picture (darn flashes!). I organized his clothes by size, so top drawer is 0-3 months, second is 3-6 months, and so on. Bottom two drawers are housing his towels and bedding and blankets. That's the system for now...we'll see how it evolves!
Close-up of the top of the dresser. Yes, we think we're going with the name Owen! Of course, that can change if he comes out looking like a different name, but we don't have a back up so an alternative name will have to be very obvious. Wanted to show you the elephant lamp closer. Saw it and loved the color. Didn't get it right away though because sometimes I'm slow to pull the trigger but the husband surprised me and brought it home one day. The wooden giraffe pull toy we found at an antique store. And the picture of us from the baby shower will most likely be replaced with an adorable picture of the baby once he arrives.
In love with this changing table. Again, space is not exactly something we have tons of, so finding a corner changing table with a hamper underneath it was ideal! The top drawer is full of newborn-sized diapers, ready to go. I'll figure out how to best use the shelves as we actually use the table. Also, you may have noticed in the first picture of this post that there is a yellow tissue ball hanging above the changing table. I like to think of it as the sun to the safari decal scene. Plus it gives Baby something to look at while I wipe his poo. I got my table from Overstock but they don't seem to have it anymore. But they
do have it on Amazon, which is where the link above goes to.
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Bookshelf is from Ikea, but they don't seem to have it online.
It was only $30 or so, so if you have a store near you, it's a good snag. |
The bookshelf took a minute to grow on me. At first I thought it was too tall but now I love it. I love how each little space is a vignette that I can use for books or storage boxes. I love how the storage boxes hide toys while adding color. And I love that the top of the shelf can have little knickknacks on it. Here are a few close-ups:
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| His first library |
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| The alphabet book my friends made at our baby shower. |
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Can't wait to add the picture of him on the end of this frame his
grandparents gave him! And the wooden taxi cab is from our
friend Chelsey, who helped throw our shower, and who we originally
met in NYC. And since Dan and I met in NYC, it's extra special! |
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His first shoes! The crocheted ones were made by his Aunt Jenny and
the Toms and mocassins are from our dear friends who are also
expecting their first child - due a month after us! |
And finally, the rug and curtains. I splurged a bit on this rug and I'm glad I did! It is very soft and doesn't feel as much like an area rug as it does plush carpeting. The colors are perfect and versatile enough that as Baby outgrows this look, I can use the rug in nearly any other room I want. For the curtains, I originally wanted to custom make my own. I looked up tutorials, went to the fabric store, picked some out and then thought, Nope, this isn't worth it. I don't know how much longer we'll be in this apartment and the savings making it myself weren't significant enough to justify the effort. So we snagged these from Bed, Bath and Beyond. They are green with light yellow woven into it. They remind me of grass, which goes along with the safari/jungle theme. Done!
I am a little worried about Baby peeing on the curtains but I'm pretty sure they're machine washable, so that's good. Plus, I can always move the curtain over a bit but I've heard these babies have impressive range.
Phew! That was a lot of pictures and this post has gotten quite long. If you're still reading, kudos to you! Go get yourself a snack...you deserve it. And yes, that last statement is a bit of me talking to myself as well. I mean, we both deserve a snack at this point.
