Twins' Nursery Sneak Peek

I won't be sharing the full nursery until the twins' are here. First and foremost, there are zero in-progress shots. And second, one wall is not complete until it contains their initials - which we are keeping a secret until their "birth"day. This thrills my mother to no end (insert sarcasm here) - she doesn't understand why I won't just tell her. Some things need to be a surprise, right?!

Until then, here are two pictures - one is my view from our room, and the other is their dresser & view into our room. Their nursery is so calming and sweet to me - maybe because it's (most likely) the last nursery I'll ever design, but also because it's super cozy. 10'x9' is a small space, but we made it work!

The dresser was a Craigslist purchase, and originally looked like this (photo taken by seller).

It was purchased when she was pregnant with her daughter, 18 years ago, and also used as her changing table. She was thrilled when I told her it would be finding a home in another nursery.

A little sanding, rub'n'buff and some new $2 handles from Lowes, and we had exactly what I had been looking for!


Hopefully only a few more days until our boys are here...  fingers crossed!

{Home Tour Friday} - Toddler Room

Way back in June, I promised to share pictures of A's nursery-turned-toddler-room. The pictures included in his nursery post were taken before we went to the hospital... meaning we didn't know if we would be coming home with a little baby boy or baby girl!

Over the last year and a half, we've added some small touches to make it a room for a little boy, and I really love how it's turned out!

view from the hallway

view from doorway

mr. monkey & C's childhood rocking chair

view from the chair

Here are some more detail shots that our wonderful photographer, Bryan Avigne, took back in April.

favorite quote

Zoey the Zebra & A's first baseball glove

meaningful photos & leftover birthday party decorations

itty bitty baby shoes

books in vintage herb crate

knit hockey skates used in A's newborn pictures

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up with
Savvy Southern Style
Live Laugh Rowe 
A Bowl Full of Lemons

The Nursery - Before & After

When we moved into our home, we were 6 months out from our wedding. My philosophy was to put everything where I thought I could find it, and I would deal with it later! The nursery was previously our guest room, so it housed a bed, a dresser, and all the random stuff from my old apartments that hadn't found a permanent home. It goes without saying that cleaning out this room was my first priority in planning the nursery.

We decided early on that we wanted to replace all of our hardwoods in the house before the baby was born (along with many other cosmetic changes, but this was the biggest). In October, my husband replaced the hardwoods in every single room over the course of 2 weekends, and it changed the whole look of our house. The nursery also needed new trim and a new closet interior (one long rod wouldn't cut it for baby clothes!). Those changes all happened over the winter, and it wasn't until January that I could really start decorating!

Designing a gender-neutral nursery was harder than I thought. The intention was that we would do all the basics upfront, and then layer in some gender-specific items after the baby arrived: a rug, pillows and wall art seemed to be the quickest updates, but they could also have a big effect on the room.

Interestingly enough, the very first purchase we made for the nursery was the dresser. I knew I wanted white, and that I didn't want to buy a set of nursery furniture. I wanted an eclectic, acquired-over-time look to the nursery; and in being honest with myself, I knew I would probably tire of the furniture sooner rather than later. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that I would want to change out in 2 years. So, I scoured Craigslist for a few weeks before finding an old Pottery Barn dresser looking for a new home. We went to check it out, and it was in great shape with a few paint chips and scuffs, and only $150... exactly what we were looking for!


After the dresser was purchased, I moved onto fabric, and I quickly fell in love with a swatch of the Slate Seersucker from Serena & Lily. Using that as my starting point, I tried to find corresponding fabrics that would complement the seersucker, but still be strong enough to stand on their own. Erika's nursery was my inspiration for the bedding; I thought it was a great combination of color and pattern, and that I could make it work for a boy or a girl. As I was shopping for bedding, I was also trying out paint swatches on the wall - trying to find that perfect grey/blue. At the last minute, I decided to get a sample of Calming Grey from Sherwin Williams. As soon as that went up on the wall, I knew it was the one!

The nursery slowly fell into place over the next 4 months. I collected things I loved, and the room came together just how I had envisioned. During those last few weeks before the baby was born, I would sit in here and just dream about this little person we were about to meet. The nursery quickly became my favorite room in the house! Of course, it wasn't complete until we met our little baby boy.

Here are some picture of the room in-progress:

Here is the nursery before we left for the hospital!

I will share some new pictures of the nursery soon. When we brought our little boy home from the hospital, we made some quick updates to make the room a little more masculine. And now, 15 months later, we've made even more changes to accommodate our on-the-move toddler!

Nursery Sources
Paint: Comfort Grey by Sherwin Williams (color matched to Olympic's no-VOC paint)
Trim Color: Woodlawn Whitwash by Behr (color matched to Olympic's no-VOC paint)
Dresser: Pottery Barn (via Craigslist)
Dresser Knobs: Hobby Lobby
Crib: Kendall Fixed Gate Crib from Pottery Barn, gifted from my parents
Bedding: Tiptoe Studio via Etsy
Changing Pad: Graham Changing Pad from Serena & Lily
Curtains: Tiptoe Studio via Etsy
Blinds: JCPenney
Antique Herb Crates: Farmhouse Wares
Lamps: HomeGoods
Elephant Planter: family antique
Chair: IKEA
Throw: HomeGoods
Floating Shelves: Pottery Barn (via Craigslist)
Frames on Shelves: HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby
Elephant on Shelves: family antique
Table: IKEA (spray painted white)
Frame on table: Kate Spade
Elephant Artwork & Frame: Sunday Afternoon by Shari Beaubien (via AllPosters.com)
Chocolate Lab Print (on shelves):  Otis Sewn Print by TastesOrangey via Etsy
'Whole Heart' Artwork: DIY

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life (SUYL - Nurseries)!

The Nursery - Inspiration Boards

The moment I saw that my pregnancy test was positive, I was overcome with emotion. Shock, mostly. Then fear. Then joy. That very moment, I knew I was a mom, with a little miracle growing inside me.

There are so many things I was looking forward to: our first doctors appointment, hearing the baby's heartbeat and talking about names with my husband. I was also so SO excited to design a nursery, and went to work on inspiration boards not long after we were in the 'safe' zone. I had saved my favorites over the last year, hoping sometime in the near future I would need to reference them again. I poured through picture after picture, trying to find what I loved, but also what fit in our budget.

Much to our family & friends dismay, we decided to keep the baby's gender a surprise until delivery. For us, this was an easy decision. I thought it would be fun to wait and hear "it's a boy!" or "it's a girl" in the delivery room, but it did make the nursery decisions a little harder than I anticipated. I knew that I wanted our nursery furniture to last throughout all of our children, and that I would want to reuse anything that we invested in (bedding, window treatments, etc).

I'm not a girlie girl - I was raised a tomboy, playing ice hockey with the boys from the time I was 7. I was never really into pink or anything frilly, and almost always wore my hair in a ponytail. Blue is my favorite color, and I knew regardless of gender, I wanted a blue nursery. I decided to go with a blue/grey base, knowing I could add navy & green if our baby was a boy, and add coral or yellow for a girl.

Here are the 2 inspiration boards that I designed as a starting point for the nursery. Looking back at these, I can't help but smile. I remember the anticipation when I made them - knowing that I was making decisions for this little baby of mine. I also knew that this was a space my husband and I would be spending a lot of time in, too, and wanted it to be a peaceful, relaxing space we could all enjoy.

Baby Boy Nursery

Baby Girl Nursery

I'll be back next week sharing how we turned these inspiration boards into a reality!

Happy Weekend!