I know it’s cruel to keep you waiting. The nursery has been done for a quite a while now, but I’ve still been collecting the last little accesory pieces for the room. Plus our little man Tucker Cullen Smyth arrived in October. It’s hard to sit down and write with a newborn. Anyway, in our bedroom we set up a little changing station and nursing station, flipped a few things around, and added a fabulous new piece of furniture, so I’ve included those photos as well.
With out further adue I give you our little man’s “vintage nautical” closet nursery. To bad he doesn’t sleep in there yet.
Just in case you missed it here’s the post referencing the items in the room. I added a few extras like the fabuous target lamp that I recovered the shade in vintage ticking fabric, and the antique wooden animals on wheels, oh and of course the anchor (that thing is heavy).
And here’s the one time he actually slept in there.
There’s nothing I love more than having a mood board in hand and ready to shop from. But, before I could get shopping I had to clear out the walk in closet. dum dum dum. No easy feat when you are 7 months pregnant (and truth be told you want things done on your time). Then comes the paint and placing the furniture in the room. At this point all I really want to do is fold the little baby clothes and put them away. I feel like I go through life always in a state of “nesting” so you can image how strong that sensation is now that I’m pregnant.
So my husband and I made a Saturday painting date and got to work on the nursery. I decided since it was such a small space with trim in odd places that all the walls, shelves, and trim would be the same color.
Once the paint was dry we began to move everything back in and my husband started to put the crib together. Let me preface the next part with this…Yes I measured the crib and yes I knew it was a tight fit and there was a pretty good chance it would not fit and no I did not tell himthat. OK that being said, as he is attempting to put the crib together and bring it into the nursery/closet, it of course does not fit anyway we finagle it. It was just 3 inches shy. He was not very happy but we brainstormed with each other and friends and came up with a solution. You see I was willing to make it work no matter what we had to do. Remove trim, knock out a wall, whatever it takes. Luckely on the other side of the wall are the built in shelves in the living room. I’m not a fan of these shelves because they are too small for books and just right to collect crap I don’t want in my living room (it’s not always easy living with a man who holds on to everything). The solution was to bump out the wall causing the living room shelves to disappear (hooray!) and replace them with a piece of sheet-rock. That would give us an additional 4 1/2 inches in the nursery. Just enough to get the crib in with room to spare. Long story short, my father in law showed up to help us with our mini construction project and it is done. We had to fix some trim and prime and paint but finally the crib is in where is should be. Clearly I’m a firm believer in making things work.
So there you have it. That is how we took care of the dirty work. Stay tuned for the good stuff.
Whoa, I’m emerging from the crazy world of client work that I slipped into (there’s a lot to finish up before the baby gets here). As I’m checking things off my design list, I figured it was time to check back into my blog. I was reading an interesting article in Real Simple Magazine dedicated to my favorite color…yup, gray. I thought I would expand a bit on my knowledge of gray… As you know I’m still a huge advocate for the color. I mean, to me it’s the perfect neutral.
The great thing about the color gray is that is can be used in a modern space to enhance the simplicity and freshness of the room. But in the same sense, gray is stunning in an older home to show off the intricate molding and more traditional style . Or in my case, it’s the perfect backdrop for an eclectic room. Keeping it from being too crazy, yet showing off the colorful artwork and accessories.
Gray can go in so many directions. First off there are cool grays and warm grays. The cooler shades have a hint of blue in them and tend to appear a bit more crisp. Warm Gray has a hint of yellow in it and does just what is says, brings the room a sense of warmth and coziness. Personally I prefer the cooler grays, but that’s just me. We’ve established that there are warm and cool shades of gray, but beyond that there are endless paint colors that have a hint of gray in them. When is comes to picking colors for clients I tend to choose those colors. Remember my nursery color? Well that was was light blue, with a bit of gray.
I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…one of my all time favorite, no fail, always perfect shade of gray is Benjamin Moore’s Gray Owl. Really you can’t go wrong. I’ve used it in numerous homes and at this point I think everyone I know has it in at least one room of their home. Benjamin Moore’s White Dove is the best trim color with the color gray. It’s white with just the right amount of creaminess to it. Anything “whiter” is a bit too stark.
Here’re some inspiring gray rooms….
I you haven’t already done so, I hope you are inspired to introduce some gray into your home.
So I switched things up a bit, skipped mood board monday (was still on beach vacation mode), decided to combine my Monday post with my Friday journey of a nursery post and give it to you on a Wednesday. Well, here it is…
As I mentioned before the “theme” for our nursery is vintage nautical.
Remember how my initial inspiration was the vintage ship artwork?. Well, the jumping off point for the rest of the room started with the colorful Anthropologie pillow and fantastic vintage linen Matteo baby bedding. The bedding was the hardest thing for me to find, there’s some really cheesy stuff out there. I contemplated making it, but really who has time for that. The goal for the room was to incorporate texture in as many places as possible. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the decorative pillow for the crib has rope and twine woven throughout the front of it, and the colorful embroidered coral brings in another layer of texture. The crocheted storage baskets from ikea are perfect for the open shelving unit in the room. With such a neutral palette I wanted to bring in some pops of color. A bright green color will be brought in with the green bird cage I already have on hand. I also picked up a vintage tin trash can in the same color green that I plan on using as a laundry basket. With the Bunny Gray walls and and white crib, I decided to pepper in some antique oak pieces like the letters and mirror to keep it from being too light. Plus it brings in nice nautical touch.
*crib pillow*block letter*curtains*throw*crib bedding*storage*bird cage*mobile*pillow*personal artwork*antique oval mirror*vintage life preserver* blocks*artwork*rug*knobs*
So there you have it, my nautical theme (but not to themed) nursery mood board.
Now that I have a plan set in place, I can allow myself to dream and search for inspiration. It’s always harder designing for yourself. There are just too many things that I like but I needed a place to start. So, I decided I to collect photos of rooms that I love. Seriously you can feel like you are drowning in the endless amounts of inspiration there is to find out there. Where to start?
1. Make a list of the things that you know you like and dislike.
As far as like goes…I knew that I wanted the walls in some version of gray (I really can’t get enough of the color). Well that, and it’s the perfect neutral backdrop for a baby’s room without being pastel. Pastel colors are on the dislike list. They’re just not us.
2. Begin searching for pictures, objects, anything that inspires you.
I began pulling images from the internet. Things I liked whether it was fabric, a chair, a room, anything really. After a while I began to see a consistent color palette that I was drawn to. Can you see it from these photos? Yup. Blue/gray, orange, navy, and some neutrals mixed in.
3. Find an inspiration piece.
Typically when I am designing a room I work off of an inspiration piece. My living room for example, is designed off of my favorite Anthropologie pillow and my love for gray. Well, a while ago I picked up a 1960’s needlepoint of a ship from a thrift store in PA. After bringing it from the living room into the baby’s room I realized this is it, this is my inspiration piece. It has all of the same colors incorporated into it that the photos I pulled from the internet do. Plus it brings in some amazing textures.
From here a theme (and I hesitate to use the term) was born, “vintage nautical”. Themes are great but in places like say, a babies room for instance they can get way out if hand.
Stay tuned next week to see how I carefully carried the theme into a moodboard for baby Smyth.
This weeks mood board is all about texture. Really, what would a room be without it? Texture brings variation to an all neutral room, adds interest to already colorful room and is just plain ol’ visually appealing when thoughtfully layered throughout a space. Without further adieu I bring you texture…
wall paper*rug*lamp*bedding*art
