The second bedroom circa February 2010

Our life was up in the air when this photo was taken; it was actually taken for a craigslist ad! We were trying to rent our apartment in order to find something more affordable. We had an unfortunate timing of unexpected unemployment, and it seemed at times that there was little hope. As luck would have it, the hubs found a job (and even more lucky – a job he loves!), and we were able to work something out with our landlord to adjust our rent, as rental rates in the area have suffered from the recession. The day after all of this was settled, we set out to paint!

The same wall, turned into a space for baby!

The color is a Valspar color called Sea Lily, but we had them mix it with Olympic’s zero VOC paint at Lowe’s. I wanted something that worked for a nursery and a creative office space. I think it’s pretty safe to say that aqua has been my go-to color for a few years now! I’m instantly drawn to it! Also, we know we are having a little girl. We know we will be inundated with pink stuff. And while I like pink stuff, I like it oh-so much better when it’s paired with aqua’s and robin’s egg blues and golds and fuchias and, well… you get the picture. Painting the walls a blue/green saves us from the overload of pink we might have to endure. We set up our DwellStudio crib, which was a gracious gift from my aunts and my grandmother, and bought wooden blinds and some closet shelves from IKEA. The blinds made all the difference in the world! It seemed no matter what I did before, I couldn’t make curtains work in this room. Also, seriously people; if you are having closet issues in your house, install a second closet bar for your shirts. It almost doubles your closet space and it is very affordable! In the office/nursery closet we installed a second bar, in addition to two shelves. The top bar is for baby clothes (which are SO CUTE all hung up and ready), the bottom bar houses some of my shirts and skirts I won’t be fitting into until baby weight is lost, and on the shelves occupy various baby items; diapers, hats, shoes, etc. The left side of the closet is for my long dresses. I can never seem to fit all my dresses in one closet >.

We went with the LACK wall shelves from IKEA in the room for display and to hold her books, things I designed from babystyle and the ridiculously cute owl bank (thanks Katie!). I figured 18 screws in one shelf and a lot of museum putty to keep things in place would be good, but the darn things still worries us, so we decided they call for brackets to go underneath them for extra support. It kinda kills the look, but we’ll see. If it doesn’t support well enough, we think we’ll move the shelves and get a small shallow book case to go on the left. We eventually bought the matching DwellStudio changing table, and I changed the knobs to the beautiful mint colored glass knobs from Anthropologie that are already in use with our office furniture. I also changed out the knobs on the little wall unit above the changing table to tie it all together.

Blabla’s handknit bird mobile, & the plush & nesting blocks I designed at babystyle

I am lucky enough to have retained a few things from my days as a designer at babystyle. I was gifted the blabla hand knit bird mobile from a buyer for inspiration, and it hung above my head in the office for about 2 years (I also had a knit centaur hanging from the middle of it… it was quite humorous…). I designed the stuffed bunny, cat and deer you see on the shelves, and the nesting blocks. They are all pieces from my portfolio, but they will probably end up in grimy baby hands… and that is where they belong! The aqua triangular goat was designed by my predecessor at babystyle and best friend since high school, Beth Albrecht of paired hearts and one of the founders of the WonderCraft.

A poster I designed for the nursery.

I have been an ELO fan since I was a kid. Call it parent-inflicted fandom, but I was hooked, and usually begged for Livin’ Thing (and occasionally George Harrison’s Got My Mind Set on You). I have always teared up during the line “Hey you with the pretty face, welcome to the human race” from Mr. Blue Sky; it makes me think of new babies. This wonderfully simple and beautiful statement sums up a sentiment I think belongs in a nursery, and thus I decided it’s a mantra that deserves to go on the wall ^_^. I made the vector art, and sent it off to Beth, who printed it for me on some great high gloss paper. The frame is from IKEA, and I had custom matting cut. People have had a pretty great reaction to it, so I’m planning on offering it through my Etsy shop. The fuchsia peony is an original water color I painted in January.  I wasn’t thinking of it for the nursery at first, but I thought it was just the right touch of bright pink the room needed, so I had it framed and my brother hung it for me while hubby was at work (my belly just kept getting in the way of everything…). Framing my own artwork is somewhat new to me. I enjoy it, it makes me feel like an all-growed-up artist.

Fuchia Peony – Water color, 9″ x 9″

Lastly, I made the quilt which has been previously documented and posted about. :) I took the large squares from the Square Dance panel, and put them under the crib mattress as a quick and easy coordinating crib skirt. I bought some pink sheets, and the minky dot bumper and changing table pad. The crib looks sooooo cozy, I wish there was one in my size!

While I’m pretty much done with the nursery side of the nursery/office, I still have a few things I’d like for the office side, which I’ll post about later. :)