sage's diy nursery

Finally, I present to you Sage's nursery! Remember way back in January when I featured my old office and how it was to be transformed into a baby nursery? And then in March when I was trying to decide if I should paint the walls pink or taupe? Well the nursery has been done for a while but this busy, sleepy mommy just hadn't gotten around to taking some good photos. But now I'm excited to share it with you! Since we were on a pretty tight budget, many of the elements were DIY - which actually made it a really fun and satisfying project.

As you may have noticed, the walls are neither pink or taupe! We decided to go with a really pale yellowy-beige colour that looks like filtered sunlight - Benjamin Moore's Almond Bisque (CC-280) which is really warm and lovely. And just as I was going to add the Dwell Studio bedding into the crib, I spied the cutest little turquoise dresser on Craigslist {scroll down to see it below}. And that cute little dresser, my friends, changed my entire design plan! I said bye bye to the pink accents, and instead went with a turquoise and yellow colour scheme! Or 'goldenrod and robin's egg' if you want to be all Martha and fancy!

In deciding not to use the bedding I originally bought, I instead made my own crib skirt with this fabric from Tonic Living that inspired me at the beginning of the design process here! I didn't actually make the blanket and crib sheet though - they are from Pongo Baby. But I did paint the owl and framed it with an IKEA Ribba frame.

Last year we babysat at a friend's house and they had the most comfortable, cushy glider ever! I swore that I would get the same one, and so we did! That was our only splurge in this room and it was a good one. Many an hour have been spent in that chair already, rocking and nursing the babe.

I created the 'You Are My Sunshine' print to add some colour to the shelf, and it's now available in my Etsy shop. The doll was sewn by my great grandmother! And the little dress is something I made a few years ago - I just mounted it onto a canvas.


The chandelier was on sale from Canadian Tire for $50 - down from $80. Woohoo! But it was gray with pink crystals, so I spray painted it yellow and found these clear crystals on clearance from Rona {don't use Valspar spray paint by the way...they have nice colours but the paint itself is sucky...doesn't stick well and is slow to dry}.

Another detail in the room that I love is this little owl light switch cover from Anthropologie. I have a little bit of an owl theme going on, and thought this was an adorable touch.

The lamp and side table were cheapy cheapies from HomeSense, and the flower pot was an old one that I spray painted blue to match the decor. By the way - HomeSense has THE BEST lamp selections lately! Lots of funky shapes and colours. The plant is, believe it or not, a cutting from a plant that was in my own baby nursery - yes, the plant is still alive and kicking. And I decided to give the side table a bit of a sprucing, and so painted a chevron pattern on top for fun using this tutorial.

For artwork in the room, my sister bought me this awesome wooden laser cut alphabet from my former One of a Kind Show neighbours, Arounna and John of Bookhou. It's gorgeous! But the colour of the wood blended so perfectly into the wall colour that you literally couldn't see it. I decided to cover a canvas with burlap, and mount the alphabet on top to make it stand out. And my favourite piece in the room is a collage from my friend Céleste Gagnon, a children's book illustrator. It is so delicate and beautiful and so perfect for the nursery - I love to stare at it!

Here she is - the little turquoise dresser from Craigslist that changed the original plan for the room! We use it as a change table too. Above I 'framed' fabric scraps using embroidery hoops - cheap and easy. Sage loves to stare at the colours and patterns when I change her!

BEFORE

AFTER

Voila - the nursery! It's hard to believe it was once my office. But we love it and I hope you like it too :)

modern nurseries

Guess you know where our minds are lately! I've been searching for inspiration for our future nursery and found these nifty modern designs. Glad people are straying away from typical pastels and frills.

I'm really loving all the furniture in these pics. And kind of taken with the red, blue and white nautical room. I would be tempted to add some pale yellow accents in there to make it a version of primary colours and not necessarily nautical. But it looks so fresh and crisp! All of these pics found via Bell Blog

I've actually had this picture in my back pocket for awhile now. I found it when I was researching the red and yellow for my living room and thought it would make a good nursery one day - didn't realize that day was so soon! This is why I thought of adding the pale yellow into the nautical room above. I love how it isn't quite primary colours but a muted version of them. I can't remember where I found this picture but I sure do love it and so far it is number one on my inspiration list now followed closely by the newly found nautical pic!

I'm not usually a fan of red, black and white but there is something about this that I could see working. I might be tempted to throw in some yellow since I have a new obsession with red and yellow. I guess it's safe to say some form of yellow will be in the nursery! Found via Dutch Boy

I really like the top picture although it is way more elaborate than I plan to get! But I like the colour scheme and the hanging lamp that we have in our Bloomer inventory already! And I like the stripey circle rug in the bottom pic. Both found via Better Homes and Gardens

baby bloomer bump update: 7 months

Here we are again! Another Baby Bloomer Bump update. Holy smokers, 7 months! All continues to go well with the pregnancy though and I'm getting very excited to meet the little Bloom who is squirming, kicking, rolling in my tummy.

The nursery has been painted, and now it's time to decorate - my favourite part. I will give you a photo update on the nursery as soon as we organize and tidy and find a place for all of our wonderful baby things. Right now the room looks a tad like an episode of Hoarders!

the baby nursery...part deux

A few weeks ago I was reading the blog of a fellow designer who also happens to be having a baby about a month before me. And she seemed to be spazzing out about decorating her nursery, unable to choose fabrics and patterns, colours and furniture. I remember thinking that she really needed to chill out! It's a baby's nursery...this should be fun!

Well, guess who is the spaz now?! I find myself in a similar boat suddenly, for some reason unable to make any decisions as to what colour or style my little pixie's nursery should be. It's gotta be the hormones, right? Or else the perfectionism of first-time parents who actually have the time to mull over hundreds of paint chips and to pour over nursery inspiration pics for hours.

I had the chance to buy the above beautiful Dwell Studio crib bedding at a VERY discounted rate, so at least it is something to start with! And as much as I was trying to avoid pink on the walls, it does look pretty darn good in these photos. I think yellow for the walls will be too much, but I could change my mind tomorrow. And the other option might be a light taupey-gray on the walls, which would provide a more neutral backdrop and also pick up some of the browns in the fabric. So here is my question...is pink for a baby girl's room too cliche? Or is it so avoided now that it is original? I would use a soft, light pink, rather than a harsh, bright one. Is light taupey-gray too drab for a baby's room, or would it be relaxing? Ahhhh! Too many options...would love your opinion!

Here are some other inspiration pics that make use of both colours. Thanks Bloomies!

option one: pink walls with yellow and brown accents

option two: taupey-gray walls with pink {and in my case, some yellow} accents

nursery inspiration

I promise not to turn this blog into a baby blog - really I do. But with a growing belly, stroller decisions {with or without a carseat?}, crib purchasing, a growing pile of lovely gifts and generous hand-me-downs, and of course name discussions, babies are definitely on the brain! And I have to admit that I am pretty excited about being able to decorate another room in our house.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my office will be transformed into a nursery! I actually originally chose the colour scheme based on a Martha Stewart nursery {below} for inspiration - soft blues and oranges - anticipating a baby in here one day. I haven't decided 100% but am playing with the idea of changing it altogether! I've always liked soft natural colours for babies, but bright and dramatic is kind of cool too. And I wouldn't mind repainting the room with low-VOC paint.

I found some of these lovely fabric swatches on Tonic Living which are inspiring me!

And here are some nursery inspiration pics I have collected along the way. I'm keeping my eyes open for more...

As you can see, I'm a bit all over the place with my ideas here. Hopefully our decisions will be made easier next week when we find out if it's a boy or girl! Very excited! Happy weekend and stay tuned...