Saturday, October 31, 2009

Baby M's Room

I had three goals when designing this nursery space:

1. Use as many second-hand, vintage, and handmade items as possible.
2. Play with pattern and color (or don't get bogged down in trying to match everything)
3. Showcase the artwork of my many creative family and friends.

After many months of preparing this nest, here is the finished product:

I wanted the room to feel light and airy so I painted the walls a soft blue (Watering Hole by Miller Paint). But I also wanted the room to have a masculine feel for our little boy so the furniture got painted black. This what you see when you first walk in the door.
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My friend Katy made these with fabric glued over plastic blocks. She made a larger fabric picture, too, but I accidentally messed it up and it needs some repairs before I show it off here.
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I found the shelf at a thrift store and painted it black.
Everything displayed on it is handmade or from a thrift store, too.
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This little owl used to be pea green with red-orange details. I found it at our local thrift store for just 15 cents. A little white spray paint and now I have a sweet treasure for our little guy.
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Vintage Fisher-Price Little People. Noah and Toby love playing with these. I hope Baby M will, too.
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These blocks were handmade by my friend Crystal. Crystal is a cake decorator and these blocks were used in a display with a cake she made for our church baby shower.
I really like the colors and patterns she chose.
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One of the few new items in the room.
My mom gave me this baby calendar for Mothers Day.
It's completely adorable--I just hope I will actually fill it out!
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Not sure what's going on with the greenish lighting in this shot. Sorry, about that. I reused the quilt from the queen bed that was in this room when it was a guest room. My sewing table got a coat of black paint and is doubling as a nightstand. And the white blanket on the end of the bed is our wedding afghan made by Geary's Aunt Mary.
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The art above the bed was painted by my friend Katy. We did a trade a long time ago--my jewelry for her artwork. I think I got the better end of the deal.
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This little bear was mine when I was a baby. His name is Cocoa and he has been loved well. Fur is rubbed off in many places, he is missing one eye. In the words of the Velveteen Rabbit he is "almost real." Cocoa also has a music box inside and plays Rock A-Bye Baby.
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I made this pillow cover with some scrap fabric from the closet curtain and bed skirt. I used a big wooden button that came in a bag of beads from a friend at church who had found them at a garage sale last summer. Everything has a story...
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A couple weeks ago my friends Katy, Jayme, and Misty came over for what we called "Thai Up Loose Ends." We had a delicious Thai food dinner and then my friends helped me with this tree mural (inspired by this one). We painted the tree on the wall with white paint and used scrapbook paper for the leaves and birds. I love the little owl--Jayme's idea!
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I might stencil the baby's name in the space between the top two branches. Of course, I couldn't do that now--it would ruin the surprise!
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The birds and leaves were simply attached with Mod Podge.
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Another new item--the lamp. I fell in love with it's simple design and lamp shade color at Target. When it went on sale one week I snapped it up with a gift card I had been given at a baby shower.
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Our little mini-crib. We bought this when I was pregnant with Toby and he fit nicely inside until he turned two. It's really difficult to find crib bedding for this size crib so I made the crib skirt out of an old table-cloth. I also made the mattress from foam and some some waterproof fabric sewn into a mattress cover. The birds on the mobile were made by my friend, Misty.
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Misty came over and we assembled the mobile yesterday. I love how it turned out! The sticks came from my jewelry display at The Old Fashioned Festival. We hot-glued the birds in place and then hung the whole thing with fishing line.
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Misty also made this adorable little owl. It has lots of taggies for the baby to play with and something inside that makes a crinkly noise when you squeeze it. I am so enamored with this owl I actually prayed that it would become the baby's special lovey.
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The quilt was made by my friend Becky who is an amazing crafter. This quilt won an honorable mention at the Ventura County Fair in California--I have the ribbon to prove it! Becky recently won first place for this "Junk Quilt" made out of advertising circulars. She's also one of the geniuses behind Mock Orange--a favorite Etsy store of mine.

The baby sleeping bag was made by Aunt Mary. It is the softest, most adorable baby bedding I've ever seen. I love the little ears on the hood and I'm imagining lots of pictures of our little one all snuggied up in this thing.
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And with that our tour is complete! Let me know what you think in the comments. Now that this space is ready I feel 100% ready for the baby to come. Just three weeks until my due date!

Also a huge THANK YOU to all my friends and family who helped me get this room together. I love that I get to have little pieces of your creativity and service in here. You are dear to me and I am once again found rejoicing over the beautiful, loving community we have found here in Newberg and beyond.

10 comments:

  1. Little M is so lucky to have such a wonderful and creative mama! The nursery looks GREAT Jeana. Well done! Here's to a healthy and speedy delivery :-)

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  2. I love it! And you're almost to your due date! Wow.

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  3. I love everything! You have amazing taste, Jeanna. :)

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  4. absolutely beautiful! every piece has a story and baby M is sure to be surrounded with love and history as he begins his journey.

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  5. lovely! it's absolutely lovely!

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  6. I LOVE the tree..that's my favorite! Can't wait to see pics of your little guy in his new room!

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  7. Such sweet details! I love the colors you picked and how each little item has a special story with it! Baby M will love the birdies too:) Maybe the real birds outside his window will wake him up in the mornings!

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  8. Everything turned out so beautifully. You have a great eye for treasures and ideas. I just love the handmade and reused/repurposed items. Now we just need little baby M to make his appearance :)

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  9. It looks great! Wonderful, wonderful job (and story). And now I can see that I must have had a psychic moment, picking the colors that I did for your baby quilt!

    Hooray, the nest is feathered for Baby M!

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  10. What a special room. Thanks for sharing it with us. My favorite part is the tree mural. Very nice job. Praying for a safe and healthy delivery for you.

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