Nursery Planning #3 - The Crib!

I'll be the first to admit - I'm indecisive. When it comes to planning just about anything I have a terribly difficult time making a decision! The crib was a little bit of an exception. I did lots of research, but I had a good idea of what I wanted it to look like before I started searching. (I say I because Matt could care less).

I wanted a white, low profile crib with clean lines. Pretty modern but nothing clear or futuristic looking. I wanted all four rails to be the same height. No particular reason - just like the look. I wanted it to be made of solid wood and have a nontoxic finish. I didn't want the white to look plasticky like a lot I saw when I started browsing around local stores here.

This crib by Oeuf fit all my criteria. Except that it costs $730. Sadly I just don't want to spend over $700 for a crib considering all the other things we need to buy. Out it went.

After many google searches, I landed on this post on none other than one of my favorite blogs Young House Love! They pretty much described down to the last detail what I wanted out of a crib. It was perfect - they did all the research for me!

Check out the crib in their daughter's room. Cute right?

I looked online and couldn't believe it when I saw that it came from Walmart. AND it cost $269. Too good to be true! I read many of the reviews and about 99% were positive. I bought it - they delivered it for free to our local store and Matt and I picked it up about a week later!

It sat in the future nursery like this for about a month until I finally asked Matt to put it together with me.

Ah. The joy of assembling furniture. No wonder Matt wanted to put it off.

Luckily, there were good directions and none of the pieces arrived scratched or dented.

Of course the future big sister was quite curious :)

Matt did most of the heavy lifting while I read the directions....

And positioned myself so that I could watch the ACC tournament.

It wasn't as difficult as we thought :)

Until we got to the drawer. I lost patience so Matt took over and it all turned out fine. Good thing it was a team effort.

I sat with Will and watched the last part come together. Excuse the pyjama pants but noodle was too cute not to share.

I was super pumped to get a JumpOnIt deal through my email (the local radio station hosts them) for 50% off to our local mattress store. I called and asked if they carried organic mattresses and they did. I ended up going with a mattress by Natura - it's not completely organic but made of all the same ingredients (latex, coconut fibers, etc.) and not certified. I'm not sure I buy that it's as good but figured it was good enough.

Complete!

I'm not sure if we'll keep the drawer in there as I want my crib skirt to touch the ground, but hopefully it will just go right over top of it. Another project completed!

xo!

Nursery Planning #2

25 weeks today! Wow - every week I realize how much more I have to do and how few weeks are left to get things done!

I have made some nursery progress so I'm feeling a little more prepared than I was a few weeks ago. I decided on a color and the painter is coming soon, my mom helped me do some space planning, a few etsy purchases have come in, we bought and assembled the crib (more on that in another post), and I bought a dresser (it's not home yet so more on that later too). Whew!

Color

I knew I wanted to go with a gray. I thought it'd be easy to find one I like but should have known better. I scoured Pinterest and my favorite blogs (Project Nursery, HelloBee, and Spearmint Baby) as well as some non baby blogs (For the Love of a House, etc.) for good gray recommendations. I started off with about 4 samples (from Lowes, Sherwin Williams, and Benjamin Moore). I asked Matt/cousin to paint them up. We will use low/no VOC paint in the room and samples aren't available in low/no VOC so I wanted to avoid the fumes :) Plus I don't think you're supposed to be around fumes while pregnant regardless.

Anyway - I quickly realized all my original samples were either too blue or too dark. Here are all my samples currently on the wall. You'll see there are more than 4. See the bottom row - 4 from the left for the first batch. I apologize for the poor picture - the lighting in the room isn't great right now and it was impossible to capture the true colors so I've put the two best attempts.

I returned for more samples. See the top row - 2 from the left.

They were both too dark. I received a recommendation from my friend Maegan so returned one more time to Sherwin Williams to pick up samples of Sedate Gray and Modern White. Sedate Gray is on the top row second from the right. Modern white is the lightest sample on the bottom right. I loved Sedate Gray but was afraid it would be too dark once the room was painted so I went back yet again and asked them to custom mix it at 65%. I ended up with the sample on the top right corner. I like it - right now it's the one! It's lighter than it looks in this pic...I hope I still like it when it's all over :) I'll keep you posted.

Collage

I love the idea of placing a collage on one wall either over a bookshelf or dresser. Something like this found via Pinterest. I love this dresser as well - a friend used it in her nursery and it looks great. I will have a white crib and bookshelf though and wanted a mix of furniture finishes in there so I was hunting for something old and more rustic looking. I plan to use the dresser as a changing table like is pictured here.

My sister gave me an amazing colorful print for my birthday this year and I was saving it trying to find the perfect spot. I decided to use it as the basis for the wall collage...I've ordered a few things off etsy, Meg gave me some cute elephant things from her travels to Thailand, and I had some fabric that I think I will frame and include in a frame as well. Here is what I have so far! I've ordered one more etsy print of a yellow lab that hasn't come in yet and plan to keep adding as I find things :)

Space Planning

Our nursery room is a large space. We're so lucky! There is plenty of room in there for everything but it is a bit challenging to think about filling it up, finding a rug to fit, etc. I have a really hard time knowing where to start. While I was home in VA, my mom helped me draw out a space plan of the room.

We then were able to make true to size pieces that I wanted to put in the room so I could see how much space each would actually take up.

It really helped to see them in there!

Fabric

My cousin and I went to Joanne fabric to look a few weeks ago and came out with these 3 choices.

My mom sent me a link to a super cute buffalo check that I fell in love with. I plan to use the green check fabric for the crib skirt and some roman shades and will fill in with the other ones I already picked.

The pic above is probably more true to the actual colors than the first one....

Big to-dos left for the room:
- Pick up the dresser and finish it (it's currently partially finished and needs just a bit more work)
- Choose a rug
- Find a chair (my mother in law is helping me look!)
- Work on other art/pictures
- Decide on the bookshelf (I'm currently thinking IKEA expedit)

Hooray - the weekend is here! Hope the sun is supposed to shine where you are. They are forecasting 70 degrees here Sunday! Not bad for Vermont in March...

xo

Nursery Planning

I started following baby blogs long before I was pregnant (I'm sure I'm not the only one...). I figured once I officially knew I would need a nursery I'd be way ahead on things and know exactly what I wanted. Yeah right. I should have known myself better than that!

Anyway - Pinterest has helped quite a bit and I've found some great inspiration nurseries that have helped in my decision making :) Here are a few (of many) examples.

Love this one - a new one from Apartment Therapy....

So serene. From Project Nursery.

So cute for a small space. I need to go a bit more gender neutral with not so much pink but love it still. From Ohdeedoh.

Simple, clean lines. From Ohdeedoh. I have considered buying this crib too....it's from WalMart - can you believe it?

Great one. From Ohdeedoh.

Some things I noticed when I was pinning...

- Most of the walls were gray (or another light color)
- All cribs were white and had simple clean lines
- Most had a fairly neutral rug
- Color was brought in through accents like fabric and art

I decided to paint the walls gray - picking a shade of gray will take another post. I'm still trying to make a final decision. I have also done hours of research on white cribs that aren't outrageously expensive...again another post!

Now I do realize the baby isn't going to appreciate this nursery and could care less what its room looks like. This is all for me (and Matt and other visitors who might appreciate it). I can't help but want it to look perfect...maybe that's a negative aspect to baby blog reading and Pinterest. At any rate - it's getting closer!

xo!