Calm, Cheerful & Creative | Nursery Inspiration

Once I decided on the three words that would describe Denning Beta’s nursery, I set to work finding the items that would fill the space and help create a calm, cheerful and creative space. Of course, this room has got to work for us as well, meaning it needs storage for all of the baby things we have already started accumulating, a place for the baby to sleep and be changed, a place for us to sit and yes, a place to throw those dirty diapers.

I think we are off to a good start and I am increasingly confident that designing a room from scratch won’t break the bank. For all of the big furniture pieces (dresser, crib and rocking chair), we are using items that have been in the family. Thanks to some paint and handyman skills, they will be updated to suit our style and will be perfect for the nursery. For most of the decorations in the room, those will be hand-made to go along with the “creative” feeling of the room. My mom (Denning Beta’s Oma) is sewing a beautiful quilt for the crib that I cannot wait to share with you and I am hoping to knit the stuffed animals for the shelves, create the mobile and DIY some of the artwork. And for everything else there is Ikea, Target and the Land of Nod!

My goal is to have the room mostly put together in the next few weeks so that I can enjoy (or at least relax) those last few weeks of pregnancy before our life is turned upside down. And if that doesn’t happen, well, I doubt Denning Beta will hold it against me!

Product Sources: Cart // Baskets // Honeycomb Shelves // Caterpillar Art // Zebra Art // Pouf // Sheepskin

Baby Blanket | My Very Own

I have knit quite a few baby blankets over the years. They make such sweet, yet useful gifts for expecting moms that I don’t ever mind the extra time that they take as compared to something smaller like a baby hat or booties. But this time, this time I am knitting for me! I will finally get to experience one of my own baby creations.

I chose the pinwheel pattern because I just loved how it turned out the one other time I made it. And as I did before, I chose bright and cheery colors instead of your typical baby pastels. It took me much longer than I planned (started this in Costa Rica in February), but that’s to be expected with everything we have going on. I think it will be perfect as a floor play blanket and can’t wait to test it out on my very own bebe.

 

A Nursery in 3 Words

We are now less than 9 weeks away from bringing a baby into our home and I’m feeling the time crunch. I’ve been focusing a lot of time and energy on our house lately. It could be the “nesting” part of pregnancy or it could just be that I want our house to feel inviting so that we can welcome friends and family after the birth to visit with us. Regardless, looking at every room and thinking through all of the options and lists of projects is overwhelming. It is time to focus. So I hope you don’t mind that over the next few weeks I’m going to be using the blog as an outlet for all of my ideas and I welcome your thoughts, feedback or just plain old encouragement! First up, the nursery.

This is really the first room, maybe ever, where I will be starting from scratch in terms of furniture, decor, the whole lot. On one hand it seems lot a lot to tackle, but on the other it’s kind of nice to be starting fresh rather than always trying to fit what you already have into a space regardless of whether or not it actually works. I could spend months looking for inspiration and browsing nursery pinterest boards, but see above… I have 9 weeks or less so it is decision time.

I found this great article a couple of months ago that I saved to come back to when I was ready to do some serious decorating in the house. I love the idea that a room should ultimately be about you and how you want to feel when in that room. It makes perfect sense! (Also, Emily Henderson follows the same rules with clients and herself. What more do you need?) So I’m going to give it a try with the nursery and if the formula works here, I’ll apply it to every room that I want to re-decorate.

The three things I would like to feel when I walk into Denning Beta’s nursery are:

Calm, Cheerful, Creative

Now that I have my 3 words to guide me, I next moved to gathering images of nurseries that embody one or more of my words in hopes that I could identify some themes to use in my own mood board (coming soon).

I definitely want the room to be a place where we can relax with the baby and not feel anxious or stressed about everything else. I want to enjoy the time I get to spend with him or her and I want time to pass without me being aware of it.

On the flip-side, I want it to bring out the kid in me. I want to be able to laugh and smile and play with our kid and I want the room to be a cheerful place in which we can do that.

And lastly, I hope that the room will inspire creativity. I want to DIY and craft a lot of the decor to encourage an environment where my son or daughter can create, be imaginative and appreciate ideas.

Now I just need to find the actual pieces that will help me create a calm, cheerful and creative nursery. Wish me luck!