In order to show you what I’ve done to Nico’s old nursery and later big-boy room, I searched my hard drive for old pictures from 2006. These are pre-blogging, pre-pinterest, pre-Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The concept of social media didn’t exist and most people had no idea what Etsy was. To take pictures you walked into a room, pointed your camera, and clicked a button. That was it. Oh, and to decorate a nursery you went to Babies R Us. At least I did. There were some moms who were having custom bedding done, but I think we can all guess where I sat on the issue.
Behold: 2006.
No. 1: That blue skirted table was a placeholder. I was supposed to get something else, but I never got around to it. In fact, that blue table is now full of plants. I swear, one of these days I’m going to get rid of that ugly thing.
No. 2: You see that Dutalier glider? That was top of the line in 2006. You were damn thrilled to have that glider. For Mikey I had an ektorp chair because I vowed I would never buy a glider. Hah.
A warning about what we now call the Homework/Guest room. I vowed to spend no money except new desks for the boys. That didn’t quite happen, but I was close. I spent $30 on bedding from Walmart (found when I struck gold with this magic pillow) and I made sure it was bedding that would work with the paint already up on the walls. I will not repaint the walls until we are ready to redo the entire room. I don’t care if paint is the cheapest fix. Not painting is an even cheaper fix.
Ask me how hard it was to find bedding that goes with green and yellow walls and red, green, brown and powder blue striped valances.
Country Living fake quilt for the win! Mikey’s old crib converted into a full size bed. Two desks from IKEA used as night stands…and desks. My desk lamp from law school on Mikey’s desk, Nico’s nursery lamp on his desk. Nico’s old teddy bear on the bed (we also use this room when one of the boys is sick) and behind him is a toss pillow from the Mister’s bachelor days. It was my first “serious girlfriend” purchase for him.
A rainbow Nico painted in Kindergarten framed because I loved it immediately. In the blue frames are prints from Mikey’s nursery, but those I’m replacing with pictures of the boys in Lake Tahoe. Do you like Nico’s hand holding the pencil? He thought it would be funny if the pencil was in every picture.
More funny pencil. Also, Nico’s old dresser from the nursery now filled with extra blankets. An old shelf and mirror from Mikey’s room. That hanging blue hand print in the background is the Mister’s from kindergarten. I haven’t bothered hanging it properly yet. More artwork from Nico tucked behind one of the frames because I’m thinking about hanging it on that side of the room.
Mikey’s side of the room.
A beagle print from Mikey’s nursery, a photo of Mikey and Nico from Nico’s big-boy room, a cuckoo clock from Mikey’s room, a picture of the Mister when he was Nico’s age. Plenty of room for more pictures.
Mikey made this at school last week. It went into a frame and above his desk for obvious reasons. The cross is from his nursery.
Last, but not least, a paper airplane stuck in the window because this is a homework room in theory only.
Ah, I had a glider, too. It was ugly. I didn’t care, not one tiny bit. I was suddenly put on bedrest at 4.5 months, so there was no nursery decorating. There was no nursery at first–just a crib crammed into our master bedroom (in which two tiny babies fit just fine for quite a few months). Sometimes, when I see all the cute nurseries online now, I kinda wish I could have had babies later, so I could have the fun of creating such a cute space. Then I wake up and remember the reality of early parenthood (at least how it was for me), and I’m glad I was pregnant in 1997–when many people my age had maybe kinda sorta heard of this internet thing (but lots hadn’t). I’m glad I had a glider and hadn’t seen a ton of hipster nurseries with those plastic molded chairs on rockers that look like bent wooden skis. (See? I’m so terminally uncool I can’t bring up the name of those chairs–but I’m guessing you know which ones I mean!)
Eames rockers. I know this because I had an entire paragraph devoted to that trend in this post but I took it out because I thought it sounded too snarky. :)
Ah, leave it to me to have a bunged-up snark sensor. Or censor. As the young moms might say, “Whatevs!” Oh, wait. Was that being snarky, too? ;-)
I coveted that glider when I was pregnant with Troy. I hawked Craigslist for six months and ended up buying a glider at Wal-Mart two days before he was born. The room looks great.
Shoot, our glider is now in our living room! It’s in the “reading corner”, though, and the kids do use it a lot�.
That’s where ours is right now! It doesn’t fit, and I need to sell it. It’s a shame because the boys love it and it’s the perfect reading chair. If I had room I’d keep it for myself.
I know you’ve already bought the bedding but you could take the valance down? It’s not providing privacy and is purely decorative, so I don’t think you need to be beholden to it in terms of it dictating a colour scheme.
Nope! It stays. The holes left behind by the rods would require spackle, which would require paint over that. This room needs to function, not tear up pinterest. :)
I was too cheap for such a nice glider, and instead had a $100 one (also from Babies R Us). I sat down on the gliding footrest while hugely pregnant, and snapped the cushion base in two. We never did fix it. The glider itself got a ton of use for rocking and reading, until we finally sold it for $20 on Craigslist.
I love the rainbow-y color palette going on in there. It’s happy. Do the boys actually use their desks for homework? Probably because we have a 2-story house with the bedrooms upstairs, but my kids rarely use the desks in their rooms for homework. My 5th-grader can finally be persuaded to go to his room once in a while when things are getting too noisy in the kitchen, but I usually find him doing homework in bed. My daughter prefers my desk in the kitchen–her desk seems to be a permanent manicure station.
Ah, I lucked into a Dutelier glider from a friend who gave me hers. It was a very tasteful nubby beige. When my Lily was born in early 2002, I was obsessed with creating a “vintage/retro” nursery. There was NOTHING to be bought by way of bedding & accesories back then at retail stores. A friend of my aunt’s made me a quilt & bumper out of adorable fabric I found online. Thanks to that & scouring Ebay, it turned out pretty darn cute.
Also: you bought your (then) boyfriend a throw pillow? Ha! :)
We have that crib that converts. I think it’s the same wood finish. We had it in the corner of our bedroom for my oldests’ first year and now it is a “toddler bed”- a term I use loosely because we just took the front off of it.
I’ve never decorated a nursey. I’m too cheap and practical, I think. Instead I just throw things haphazardly into the kids’ rooms and call it good enough.
Awww, I love that nursery, don’t knock it just because styles have changed so drastically in the last 6-7 years. I made a Beatrix Potter nursery for our daughter, born 2007, and while it wouldn’t win any awards now, I loved it and many hours of work and effort went into making it “just right”, as I am sure the case is for you.