The room before we were pregnant. There are two rooms in the upstairs of our home, including the master bedroom. Since we didn't have a plan for the extra room (and we already had a guest bedroom and 'mother-in-law' apartment in the finished basement), we decided to use the space as a library/craft and sewing room/exercise area. We actually painted the room orange and taupe, however the orange we ended up with was a little too Home Depot-y and we planned on eventually painting over it.
My wonderful husband spent an entire weekend (while I was away with my girls in Martha's Vineyard) painting over the orange and taupe to give the whole room a soft yellow glow. The following weekend, we got out the levels, tape measures, and painters tape and marked off thick vertical stripes along one wall. We then divided up the colors and got to work. We chose bright, gender neutral colors that complimented some baby fabric that I had picked out long before becoming pregnant. Unfortunately, either due to the paint itself, or the saturation of the colors we chose, the stripes took multiple coats to get the finished look we desired. Once done, however, it was time to start furnishing the room.
We found our crib online at Target after reading lots of good reviews. In making our decision, we happened to stumble across a changing table on clearance at our local Target store and picked it up just in case we ended up choosing this particular crib. The lines of the changing table and crib seemed to be similar, and the finishes were both cherry, so I thought they may be a close match. Turns out, they look like a set, even thought they're from two completely different brands.
Next, we received an old wooden bookshelf from my parents that needed a new coat of paint. In keeping with our bright colors, we decided to use the same purple paint on the bookshelf that we used on the wall - even though it took multiple coats once again. We were lucky enough to find lime green cloth bins at Target that fit the shelves perfectly. We only have two on there now, but can (and may) buy more as necessary. We also happened across the lime green chenille loop rugs at Target (shown here in purple - got to love the price tag at only $20 each!).
Last, but not least, we purchased a rocking recliner from Hom Furniture. After quite a bit of drama, and a lot of phone calls between by hubby and the furniture store, we were able to pick it up after Thanksgiving (after purchasing it in October and being told it would be in early November, we were told multiple times that it was delayed - to the point where we thought Baby Uno would beat it to our house!). We then picked up a cheap shelf to use as a stand next to the rocker, which is currently holding our ipod speaker clock and the baby monitor, but will probably hold much more in the coming months.
After that, all we had to do was put on the finishing touches - including hanging our Story People print above the changing table, a painting made for us by our awesome friend, Gabe, and a set of animal prints that we picked up on clearance at Babies-R-Us (and they match the colors in our nursery perfectly!). The only things left to do are to find a sheet that fits the changing table pad (any ideas?) and to hang some orange Roman curtains on the windows (those are in the works, thanks to my mom). Oh, and where are all of the clothes, you may ask? In an old dresser in the closet - that way it doesn't take up extra space in the nursery. We'll see how long we can last with that setup...
