Elegant Nursery for Baby A

This nursery has been such an amazing and also challenging project for me, but I loved every second of picking out all the decor pieces for our little girl's room.

When we first found out that we will be having a girl, we decided to keep her and Eli in the same room so that we can keep our office, but the more we talked about it the more we were convinced that it would be a really bad idea. Our toddler is a very sensitive sleeper and getting him to sleep was always a challenge. On that note (yay) we decided to keep the nursery and move Eli to the room across the hall. So, I started planning...

First, I looked on Pinterest for hours and hours and hours for ideas and inspirations. It was so overwhelming, so I finally sat down and wrote down what I wanted (style, colors, art, etc.) Then I remeasured the room (I knew the dimensions from when I was planning Eli's nursery) and I started sketching. I pretty much used a whole notebook on drawing different layouts, writing down notes and drawing different elevation views for her room. Even thou we were keeping our crib and changing table, I wanted to redo the floor plan and all the decor.



Style: I chose to go with the simple elegant style. I know all these tribal patterns are popular right now and all the pastel or black and white colors are trendy and did I mention pretty? But, I still wanted something elegant and timeless. (like her name: Hint) In my head, I picture her as my little princess so It was a no brainer to make her room sparkle! Another reason why I chose elegant was because when she will transition from her crib to bed, I want to keep the same theme, maybe switch out some decor pieces and add some new things like wallpaper!! I talked about it in one of my previous posts. I just love those floral wallpaper designs for girls room. So stinkin cute!! Oh and did I mention that I already have one in mind? Why, yes I do!


Colors: At first I was considering to do all white nursery but the more I looked at baby things the more pink I wanted to buy. So, I settled on a light/pale pink and white/cream colors and for a little princess touch, add just a hint of gold.


DIY: I am so thankful for spray paint!!! Did I say that I love spray paint? Because I think I've used like 10 bottles, kidding not 10 but maybe close to it. 

Project 1: Floral Art: I wanted to paint something personal for her. So, I painted and painted and nothing was good enough. When I finally painted something that I liked and I showed it to my husband, he said "thats it?" I was a little disappointed, but still went with them and after I hung them above the crib, and when he saw them then, he said that they actually look really good (oh man...) I also decided to go with some animal pieces that my sister in law made (did I mention she's an amazing artist? Well, she is!!!) And last but not least, I painted a few 4x6 watercolor art pieces that just added that final finished touch to the room.

Project 2: Mirror and Birdies: I love mirrors, those vintage gold mirrors... so dreamy, but so pricey. I picked out a mirror at hobby lobby (I love that store) and I waited for it to go on 50% off to buy it. I knew that it would be a little to small, but it was the best price I could find and I was not planning on paying a fortune for it. So, my plan I was to make diy candle sconces and hang on both sides to make the mirror look visually wider. As I was looking for materials, I  ditched the sconces idea because it was to much work for my pregnant self and went with plan B. I bought round wood pieces like I would off for the sconces but instead of sconces, I picked out these beautiful birdie hooks at Hobby Lobby and spray painted them off white color and added them to the wood, which I spray painted gold. Done!

Project 3: Sparkle Sign: I bought a wooden frame at Hobby Lobby and painted it gold and then whipped out my calligraphy skills (jk) and wrote a sweet little saying for our baby girl. 

Project 4: Wainscoting Wall: There is a whole post on it that I wrote previously.

Project 5: Hat boxes: I bought round gift boxes at Hobby Lobby and some really cute wrapping paper at Target and wrapped them in it to add that last elegant touch to the nursery. (Im not going to lie, it was a challenge to wrap paper on a round box because of all the cuts) maybe I'll do a tutorial on it if anyone is interested.

Project 6: Crib Skirt: I wanted a ruffled crib skirt and the one that I found was super expensive. So I  bought a way cheaper one at Target and added tulle to the bottom of it to make it a little longer and fluffy and thats it! 


Inspirational Board: With having too much media, it is so easy to start mixing styles or changing them and staying with one is always challenging so I honestly did not pin a lot and completely stopped looking for ideas. I knew what I wanted and I started looking for the right pieces to create an inspirational board. It is very important to always look back at what you chose because you chose it for a reason. I believe inspirational boards are a big key to start of any design project. It is a general view of what you want.


So here is the nursery for our baby girl, ENJOY!

Inspirational Board

Specifications:

1. Gold Arrow: Target

2. White Pillow: Home Goods

3. Venetian Chandelier: Overstock

4. Mirror: Hobby Lobby

5. Curtains: H&M

6. Glider: Delta Children: Wayfair

7. Pouf: Land of Nod

8. Storage Box: Target

9. Changing Table: Custom Made

10. Knobs: Hobby Lobby

11. Side Table: Joss & Main

12. Giraffe: RH baby & child

13. Knit Doll: Land of Nod

14. Wool Rug: Overstock

15. Crib: Custom Made

16. Fitted Crib Sheet & Changing Cover: Land of Nod

17. Quilt: Pottery Barn Kids

Not on the list:

Frames: Custom Made

Birdie Hooks: Hobby Lobby

Swaddle Blanket: Little Unicorn

Crib Skirt: Target

Vase: Michaels

Journals: H&M

Blanket: Pottery Barn Kids

Linen Basket: Home Goods

Shelves: Hobby Lobby

Gold Horse: Hobby Lobby

Animal Art: Jen Yakimenko

Saying Goodbye to our Office

This is the room that Eli will be moving into, currently known as our office. As you can see, I took photos to late and the only pictures I have, are of our furniture (for craigslist) because our office is just now waiting for this furniture to be sold and that we can start assembling Eli's bed here.

I really love our office furniture, I designed it myself when I was 18 or 19 years old and I still lived with my parents. I had an office (I know, I was spoiled) and I designed these bookshelves and this desk for my dad to build so I can do my college work. When I got married, this was actually the only furniture I took with me (since we both have so many books!!!!) It is contemporary style home office which fit our current home style. 

 This is a contemporary set with shaker style doors. The stain finish is actually not as dark as shown on pictures above, it is actually this pretty grayish brown stain color.

I think this is the closest finish to the original

Accent Wall in the Nursery

Hello friends... I know I've been talking a lot about this nursery, but things have been a little slow around here and we have some reasons for that. I promise that it'll be finished within the next few weeks so it is getting close.

This week has been so interesting, we have managed to get the wainscoted wall up and it will be painted tomorrow!

So, I honestly have never been a fan of just painted accent walls. I do however like to see different ways people do accent their walls (and not all walls look good accented, so don't do that in every room of your house)

This is a Board and Batten Wainscoting and here is why we chose to do it:
A. The nursery is actually a pretty decent size room, 12' x 12'  to be exact and it has a long wall with no doors or windows on it (a perfect "accent" wall)
B. The crib is placed where the 12 foot wall is and there is nothing else really going on besides that, so it needed something extra to not look so plain.
C. I've been really wanting to do wallpaper in her room, but I know that the husband will not approve of that because his logic is "you'll get bored with it in a year or two and I'll have to tear it down" and he is kind of right hehe. He's a wise man! But, with doing wainscoting, when we transition her to big girl bed I can maybe still add wallpaper just above the wainscoted wall and it'll only be like a tiny little piece of wallpaper and not the whole room and maybe husband will approve:) I love thinking ahead, I'm a BIG planner.




If you do want a DIY tutorial on how to do wainscoting, let me know!!!

Contemporary Style Living Room

Finally, this time it is actually our living room mood board I'm posting. We are actually mainly done with our room, just waiting on a good sale to get our second sofa and add either a bench or those super cute foot stools by our window. 

I will be posting our living room reveal as soon as we are done (this sofa needs to go on sale, like now!!!) 


Enjoy this inspiration for now:

Specifications:

Both Sofas are from World Market (if you wait for a good sale, you can get it for such a good price)

Coffee Table Trunk: We got ours at Home Goods a while back

Foot Stools: World Market

Basket: Target

Throw Blanket: This one is from Target (ours is from West Elm)

Book "The Art of the Handwritten Note": Anthropology (how cute is that?)

Candle: Anthropology

Pillow Covers: H&M Home

Barn Yard Bash Birthday Party

In honor of this week being Eli's birthday, I want to post a few pictures of his birthday party from last year. This year he will not be getting a party because we are just a little to busy with new baby coming within the next few weeks and with me being a perfectionist, my husband said that it would be better if we just spend a whole day together as a family and make it all about Eli and not about a party. So, we are thinking to take him to the Sea World aquarium and then go out as a family for dinner. I think he will enjoy his birthday with us this year and next year we will throw him a big party with all his friends. 


The party theme I chose for his 1st Birthday was "country" and I knew I wanted to make it outdoors so it would feel real with the wind blowing on your face while you're eating a BBQ sandwich. 

Here are some pictures from the Party:

photos are by Jen Yakimenko

Neutral Baby Boy Nursery

This is the last of Eli's nursery before it is all coming down. It is so bittersweet for me. I have been absolutely in love with his room not just because of the design, but because there were so many memories made there. I watched him grow for past two years in that room. Every morning, it was that cute little face that I got to see peeking out from the crib. All the time we spent playing in there, building "kubiki" and reading books, discovering new things, etc. It is just so bittersweet for me now that it is coming to an end. He will be TWO next week and he is already talking (only in words, no sentences yet), he is officially potty trained, he plays with his toys independently now (I'm no longer constantly needed) and he makes the cutest noises for animals as he sees them or with cars or trains as he plays with them. He is growing up so fast and I could not be more in love with him.


Here is the last picture of his room before it turns into a baby girl nursery and be filled with new memories!

photo by mira ryabyy

Rug: Pottery Barn Kids

Crib Bedding: Pottery Barn Kids

Pouf: Walmart

Basket: Home Goods

Curtains: Ikea

Art: Jen Yakimenko

Frames: Custom 

Crib: Custom

Master Bedroom Design

So our Master Bedroom was one of the first rooms that we "finished" before we got married. We got all new furniture and some decor and then for the next 3 years nothing was done. We had big plans to make a custom stainless steel mirror and have a gallery wall but it just got put on hold with a busy life. So hopefully this year (since we are not planning any big vacations) we might just get it done. 

Our Master Bedroom doesn't need much, we have all the main furniture pieces which we absolutely love, but we just need to finish it. We are also about to have baby #2, so all of our bedrooms will be occupied by little humans. This means, our office/music room has to go...sad, I know. We will actually move the office part to our room which is big enough to have a fairly large storage space and also a desk built in to our awkward corner space. It will be sad to part with our office furniture. It  was the first furniture piece I designed and that was actually built by my dad for my parents' home when they built it way before I got married.

Speaking of space, did I mention that our bedroom layout is extremely unpractical? Yes, our room doesn't have a single wall that doesn't have doors or windows or something else on it. By "design law" your bed must always face the bedroom entrance door, well guess what? We don't have a big enough wall to put our bed against to face the door, so if someone is coming to steal, they can attack us and we wont even know it.

The room is actually very spacious and has a great source of natural light which I love. It always feels fresh and light. 

Here is what we have pretty much: We still need a Chandelier, Mirror and a Chair for the Built-in Desk.

Here is a space layout or a floor plan of our room, as you can see our bed is on the wall where the main door is.

This is the design I submitted to my very talented dad who's an experienced designer and cabinet builder. He's like the wood whisperer:)

It will be all white and have 2 shaker style doors with all flush mount drawers, very simple! This will all go into that corner space of our room. I can't wait to see it finished.

I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for stopping by