Alas! The long awaited nursery photos! Sorry these took me so long to post, but I FINALLY got around to editing them….3 months later! Rylee’s nursery was certainly a labor of love for Sam and I. This room used to be our “guest room” which consisted of only a full size bed and bare white walls. We never did get around to decorating it because we always knew it would one day be turned into this….our first nursery. We live in a humble, 3 bedroom town home just minutes from the ocean in Encinitas. We did not have a lot of square footage to work with when dreaming up Rylee’s room. Working with a small space posed it’s challenges, but it also made it easier for me to piece together and coordinate. We began by ripping out the carpet and installing wood floor, thanks to the handiwork of my husband! He pretty much let me do whatever I wanted, without breaking the bank that is. We painted the walls a very soft grey (Glidden’s “Smooth Stone”), removed the closet for more space, and installed white baseboard to match the ceiling. Those changes alone opened up and transformed the room and really allowed me to get a vision for what I wanted to create.
THE CRIB
When I first started thinking about the nursery, I thought the big portion of my budget would be spent on the crib and changer. I loved the look of the vintage inspired iron cribs but also liked the clean lines and simplicity of the more modern cribs like the Oeuf Sparrow. Problem was that I couldn’t afford the asking price on most of the styles I liked. I was pretty torn on what to buy, until I spotted THIS crib on craigslist for $25.00!! Yes, I wrote that correctly. It was love at first site! I called the guy immediately and picked it up that same day. Apparently it was one of those “storage wars” stories where the guy bought out a repossessed storage unit and re-sold all the things inside. This crib was last to go and he did not see the value in it (lucky for me!!) It was perfect!!! Sam reinforced the bolts, repainted it, and sanded the edges to still give it that vintage distressed look. It’s dimensions are a little smaller than your standard crib size, so I had to order a custom sized mattress to fit. A little price to pay in the grand scheme of things. With the money I saved on the crib, I was able to order my dream crib bedding, the Matteo Tat Crib Set in greige.
For Rylee’s Shower, my mom bought a few of these POM’S to add as decoration for the party. I loved them so much I wanted to re-use some of them somehow in her nursery. I decided to create a sort of paper cloud above her crib. I didn’t have all the colors I wanted, so I looked up a tutorial on how to create them (I watched THIS ONE) and made a few of my own using my colors of choice. It was easier than I thought…just a little time consuming. I tacked them to the ceiling using clear thread and pushpins. And although flag buntings are widely over used in baby rooms these days, I can’t help but still love them. I would put buntings all over my house if I could. I found the perfect quilt bunting at etsy shop Pieces of Olde. Above it I hung a custom made crocheted garland with Rylee’s name on it….which I got from Re Rae’s Shop. The large wooden letter “R” hanging above the small dresser is from Grace Graffiti. And that small dresser you see was on clearance at Home Goods! It was an awful pea green color that we just sanded down and refinished using the same paint that we used on the crib. It’s perfect to store Rylee’s hats and headbands, socks, tights and pajamas.
THE CHANGER
After the crib purchase I totally re-thought my plan for the room. Since my crib was vintage, I also wanted some sort of antique changing table (or dresser turned changing table that is). After scouring again on craigslist and finding nothing, we headed down to the Ocean Beach Antique District. It was a fun day of sifting through old garb, but it wasn’t until our last stop at Vignette’s Antiques that I found the piece I was looking for. It’s french styling, rounded legs, and scalloped bottom matched perfectly to other mini dresser I bought at Home Goods. I measured the height and to my surprise it was 40″, pretty standard to most changing tables on the market. And bonus, the price was right. Done deal. Again, we repainted the original soft pink color to the same ivory that we used on the crib and accent dresser, and swapped out the hardware. All my major furniture pieces were bought at under $250!! That never happens!
The peach cloud mobile I found at The Butter Flying. It’s one of my favorite pieces in the nursery.
The Sleep Sheep is from Pottery Barn. (what a life saver that thing is!)
The white floor lamp was another repainted steal from Home Goods.
And the “Mama Bear. Baby Bear ” painting is one of my own. Soon to be available as a print in my shop!
THE DECOR
I’ve been collecting these embroidery hoops over the last two years. I never was quite sure what I wanted to do with them….until Rylee’s room came to be. There is something child like and playful with all of them displayed in a cluster. After I delivered Rylee, I ordered a special mini one from a.e wilder with her birth date of August 19th stamped on. I added the little fawn clock from DECOYLAB to the mix too. I always knew I wanted to use one of their many animal clocks for her room….and when I saw they came out with the fawn…I was sold! Underneath the embroidery hoops I hung Rylee’s favorite jumper (sorry, MY favorite jumper from Janie & Jack!) on a padded baby hanger I got from Out of the Closet Hangers.
Other hoops were purchased from : pilli pilli / love, maude / you are with me / Lee Lee’s Closet
THE ROCKER
Ok….the splurge. This was it. I spotted this beauty on pinterest one day and tracked down the model: Nurseryworks Empire Rocker. It is aaaamazing, and probably my best investment. Many nights have been spent rocking baby (and mom) to sleep on this thing. The peach butterflies coming out from the window on the wall were from etsy shop Bug’s Loft. And the burlap foot stool was a local vintage find. I was convinced by a few people to buy blackout curtains versus regular (for obvious reasons). The grey blackout curtains I decided on were from Overstock. They matched pretty well with the doily rug I got from Anthro. Thank you Bam for so kindly displaying it for us below. Haha. I love that guy.
THE WARDROBE
Last but not least! A girl needs a space for clothes! Since we ripped out the closet (which now houses the crib) we needed to figure out how we were going to store and hang her clothes. I didn’t need a lot of space since her clothes are so tiny….but I did need SOMETHING. There was an awkward notch in the wall that served purpose when there once was a closet there….but now that that was gone, it just looked like a room divider that was not meant to be there. In comes smart husband with a brilliant idea. He took that nook and built a mini closet. Installing two bars for hanging, and three shelves for storage. It’s pretty hidden from the rest of the room, so I didn’t think it was necessary to have some sort of drape to hide it. In fact, I kind of liked the idea of leaving it open and hanging her cutest dresses and blouses there. (I had already started quite the collection!) The rest of the clothes I wanted “hidden”, I just put in her dresser. I bought some cute wicker baskets for the bottom shelves that I use to store miscellaneous baby stuff that accumulates. I realize now that there is a lot of that!
Ok…there you have it! Hopefully I haven’t missed any “where to buy” links. If I did, feel free to email me! I like to think that Rylee loves her room. But let’s be honest, it really was just more for me to love….right now at least. Maybe one day she will see it and appreciate it as I do. Sigh…one day! Right now, she really just loves her bunny, and that’s ok by me.
Nursery photos by Sarah Shreves
