Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Mia's Nursery

[This post is dedicated to the employee at Home Depot who, when I asked him where the wallpaper glue was he replied, "Oh, are you wallpapering your grandma's house?"  I told you - wallpaper is back!]

Alright.  As many of you probably know, we did not know the sex of our baby until she came out.  This of course poses all sorts of planning issues (which I think are totally worth the surprise!), one of which being the decorating of the nursery.

And since the room looked like THIS:




Do you notice the Baby Blue?
On the Ceiling?
On the baseboards?
In the closet?
On the doors?
On the Trim????

Dear baby Jesus.

I scoured Google images and Pinterest for the best gender neutral nursery ideas I could find, but ultimately only found the same ol' greens and yellows.

Since I was looking for something a little more "cool," I kept looking.  I ended up watching countless episodes of Ask Genevieve on HGTV on my laptop, and stumbled upon a playroom / guestroom combo episode that totally inspired me.  I remember her describing the room as "childlike, but not baby" and that hit the nail the head...the exact description I was intending for our nursery.

After all, the baby is only a "baby" for what..2 years?  I am not about to re-do this room so soon after all this work.

I also started thinking about the idea of a black-and-white theme and adding in pops of color, instead of choosing a color for the walls and having to live with it indefinitely.  With black and white, I could add in any colors I wanted.  

Lastly - because of that Ask Genevieve episode, I had my heart set on wallpaper with letters and numbers on it.  Which, was by far the most intense internet search I've done since buying wedding dresses over the internet days.

But I finally found the perfect wallpaper...from a company in the UK that cannot be found anywhere else. Paying for something over the internet in another currency- Check.

Next it was time to paint and wallpaper!  I was just papering one wall (thank goodness), but I have never wallpapered before and I knew nobody who had except my parents (way back from 1993 of course), but they live in South Dakota (of course).

So I rounded up my good friend Kim, a generous soul, and we learned how to wallpaper by watching this handy video 10 times, and then just doing it.  (Nike if you'd like to sponsor me, my contact info is here.)

Plus, I couldn't have covered up the rest of all that hideous food-splattered baby blue without my friends Ashley and Liz.  Thanks guys!

As far as furniture goes, I went with the mix-matched look because I like to mix-match, and I like to save some moolah.

[I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos!]


Crib: Baby Mod, Walmart
Drawers / changing table: Maggie's Thrift


Hanging wall shelf: IKEA
Bookshelf: IKEA, found at a yard sale
Baskets: IKEA
Metal Truck: Gift



Mounted hooks: IKEA
Picture Frames and frame shelf: IKEA
Fabric in the top frames: Etsy
(Immediate family from SD and GA in smaller frames)
Rocking Chair: Walmart
Lamp: Cost Plus World Market



And there you have it.  I have added in some pinks and other girly things little by little now that Mia is here, and am glad I have the flexibility to easily change the room colors to whatever and whenever I want. 

If you have any other creative gender neutral baby ideas I'd love to hear about them!

3 comments:

  1. I love the room! I am so impressed that you wallpapered one of the walls. So cool. I have been wanting to try it out but have been too scared!

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  2. So cute Kristin!!! I too am sooo impressed you wallpapered! That and staining furniture scare me!

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  3. Thanks Lauren and Sheena! Believe me, if I can do it- you guys definitely could! My one piece of advice: Start in a section that will be seen the least, like behind a door or something. Seems obvious but I definitely did not think of this in time!

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