Almost two years ago now, my husband and I were exploring a Georgia flea market and came across a beautiful Jenny Lind style crib for $20.00. We were far from feeling ready to start our family, but we immediately fell in love with the design of this crib, and for such a good price, it was a deal we couldn’t pass up. We knew that one day, we would be ready for kids, and decided to buy the crib, and store it away, until the time was right. Ever since bringing that crib home, the thought of starting our family became a bit more real and tangible for me. Now I could envision, if only just a bit, what our child’s room would look like.
My husband and I were not as lucky as some couples, and it took us a while to finally get pregnant with our little boy. There were several rollercoaster months of waiting, and there were several hard days where I’d open up our storage closet, and see this crib, reminding me of the baby we wanted, and weren’t able to have yet. During those long months, it was mixture of patient waiting, hoping and praying that we could have a child, and eventually, our prayers were answered – we were pregnant! That very same week, we privately celebrated the news by dusting off the crib and assembling it in the designated “baby’s room”. The process of designing and putting together a nursery had officially begun!
I’ll be the first to admit that I am no expert when it comes to taking care of a newborn, let alone designing a nursery that caters to doing that very thing! There were so many questions I had both as a first-time-mom, and as a designer. Where should the crib be placed in the room? Does the lighting in the room affect the baby’s sleeping patterns during the day? Do I actually need a changing table, or a nursing rocker, for that matter? How often will we really be using this room? How will it be used differently as the baby grows?
Some of these questions were easier to answer than others, and some are still a mystery to me. All this being said, I feel that the nursery I’ve landed on came from several days and weeks and research, experimentation, room changes, and then more experimentation. It’s far from perfect, but with regards to budget, space, and time restrictions, I’m feeling very excited for my little boy to use this nursery.
Several people have asked me if my nursery would have a theme... the simplest answer was no. Outside of a general color palate, I wanted this nursery to feel like an integral part of the rest of our home, and allow for the baby to grow up, and use most, if not all of this same décor for several years. We kept things fairly neutral color wise and let the art and the rug do most of the work. The art pieces are a mixture of homemade, and gifted, and discovered finds from estate sales, while the rug is the same rug used in my husband’s nursery when he was a baby. I wanted the crib to be the focal point of the room, and we anchored all other components off of the crib, and its placement.
While I’ve never been a fan of crowded nurseries with too many pieces of furniture, my mommy brain won out over my designer brain for the “changing desk”. We’ve got it
stocked full of diapers, baby powder, and all the other changing materials I’ve heard I need. I also came to a bit of a compromise between my mommy brain and designer brain regarding the nursing chair. It may not be a surprise, but we didn’t originally intend for a Wassily to live in the nursery. I would have taken anything that wasn't visually heavy, rocked, and was comfortable. However, due to limited funds, we had to use what we already had, and the Wassily with its generous arm support, and fairly comfortable seat won out over an expensive upholstered rocker.
I can’t lie and say that I don’t like the way the chair looks in the space either… I know, I know, I may live to regret that decision, but only time will tell.
This nursery was so much fun to design and imagine the sweet moments that our family will have in this room, once our baby boy arrives. I love the stories and memories that are already attached to each piece, and I love the idea of surrounding our baby with those stories, and with our love in a very symbolic way. Here’s hoping that baby boy likes it as much as we do!
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