Nursery Design Board

What a great way to spend a Saturday!  Woke up early, just a little after my normal "get up for work" time, had some cereal, kicked back for a few, then got ready and did some errands.  Fun errands.  Like, scoring $130 worth of Old Navy clothes for $79, and getting a new purse, and some baby clothes at Target, and just doing fun running around for a few hours.  Amazingly, the 4ish hours I was out wiped me out, and I've spent a good chunk of time this afternoon sitting playing in Photoshop.  Oh yes, sitting in the glider, which is in a prominent spot in the living room right now.  :)

I wanted to attempt to get my ideas from my head to a concept, since I haven't really been able to work on the nursery yet.  Although the carpet should be laid within 2 weeks, the wedding is pushing up against that time, so I figure I won't get to really get going on it until after July 24th.

So, armed with stocked up photos, the internet, and photoshop, I sat, and created this finalized, first pass at the nursery design.  I know I shared a few of these ideas with you on a past nursery post.  While this board is actually finished, it's bound to change by the time we actually get moving, and I'll more likely incorporate a few things that aren't pictured.

But, without further ado... (don't mind my rambling..) here it is:

And, here are the details:

• The bedding is "Baby Boats" by Pottery Barn Kids
• Crib is "Kendall fixed gate" by Pottery Barn Kids 
• Dresser is the "Hemnes" by IKEA (will be used as the change table too)
• Glider is purchased, but will be recovered in the red dot fabric
• Walls will be the green color at the top of the page, and I'm hoping for adding wainscoting to the lower portion of the room (otherwise I'll just paint the lower portion white, and add chair rail)
• Curtains will be the hounds tooth with blue striped fabric at the bottom
• Mobile is a whole bunch of different color and size circles, which I'll make (scrapbook paper and fish line!)
• I want to do the multi colored tin stars above the dresser, and there are 6 shown because they pull the colors from the bedding and there are 6 numbered boats in the bedding!  (educational, no?)
• The artwork is the "C" for Connor (which we think is our name of choice)
• I purchased the small side pedestal table for $10 at a garage sale and just need to refinish it still.  I'm thinking blue?

Interesting little factoid I just found about tin barn stars online- apparantly the colors all have significance:

Significance of the Colors:

       Black:       Protection, also used to blend or bind elements together

       Blue:         Protection, peace, calmness and spirituality

       Brown:      Mother earth, also can mean friendship and strength

       Green:      Growth, fertility, success in things and ideas that grow

       Orange:    Abundance in career, projects and matters needing an added push

       Red:         Emotions, passion, charisma, lust and also creativity

       Violet:       Things that are sacred

       White:       Purity, power of the moon, allows energy to flow freely

       Yellow:      Health in body and mind, love of man and the sun, connection to the God

Anywho.  I hope you enjoyed this little tour.  As I get some of the projects under way, I'll surely post them here.

Oh, and by the way, I purchased a rug from this post, but had to take it back because the pile was too high to fit under the front door when opened.  Sigh.  Onward and upward, and more shopping!  :)

Enjoy your saturday-

Rugs Needed!

Now that the flooring is in, I am dying to get some new rugs!  Plus, one of my best friends just bought a new place, and I'm vicariously living through her entire interior decorating project... She's having fun, and it's fun to watch it all come together.

So I was browsing for a smaller version of a rug she purchased, to go right in our entryway, and stumbled across quite a few at Target that I L-O-V-E!  Here's a sample of the great rugs I found:

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The very last one is the one my friend purchased, and this photo looks totally different than how awesome it looks in person!

I love the bold patterns, and colors... the brown backgrounds and accents will match the floors, while the other colors add pop to the entryway.  Can't wait to do some rug shopping!  (Did you know that Target has 3200 rugs on their site?!  Holy Moly!)

Oh, and final pictures of the new flooring coming soon!

Flooring Project(s) Part 2

Day one is done!  I showed you earlier the less than stellar flooring we were replacing...

I was told there were about a million staples holding the carpet pad down... and it took 3 hours with 3 guys to remove it!

Here are some brief sneak peak photos of the progress:

The dining room is for tomorrow- you can see the dark flooring from the front, some of the underlayment (green), and the subfloor.

Ah, I can't wait to see the crisp white baseboards against this dark floor!

That's it for now, I'm squealing with delight already, even though it's super dirty and dusty in here.  :)

Flooring Project(s) Part 1

It's here, it's here!

Tomorrow morning our floor installers arrive to strip out our Fun-kay carpet, and replace with the awesome flooring we purchased last November.  :)

This project has been on my list of House To-Do's since I started this blog, if you can believe it.  So, that's why I'm beside myself to see it get going.

To recap, we're having around 600 sq ft of Armstrong Rustics Premium, Homestead Plank flooring in Prairie Brown installed in the common areas of the house.  Here's a color sample:

It's dark brown, with grey undertones.  We're also having the baseboards replaced too, so the crisp white boards constrasting the dark wood is going to be awesome!

Just so that I remember how BAD the carpet was, I went through the house after the first round of furniture was moved the other day and took these horrific photos:

Front room had a rug down, but with the dogs, you can see how dir-tay it got.  Gross!

Another front room shot, with our nursery glider to be re-covered (that I mentioned in this post the other day)

The small bit of laminate flooring at the entry way is also being ripped out.  We'll have our dark flooring flow right from the door to the back of the house, and everywhere in between!

Hallway will also have the new flooring, and WHITE baseboards!

This shot is looking away from the dining room back to the hall.

Another benefit of this project is getting to reorganize, and re-decorate the place once we see what the new flooring looks like!  So, we'll get to put the house back together (ok, Z will get to put the furniture back since I can't lift it when I'm pregnant) and refresh the place!  Then, we'll get to do the nursery.  This is so exciting!

Prepping for the Nursery: Ideas!

So, we found out last Friday that our baby is a boy!  We were shocked, and are super excited!

I've been directing my attention to the potential nursery ideas that fit the bill for a cheery and stimulating space.

I can't fully commit to starting the planning because we're in the process of replacing basically the entire house worth of flooring, which includes the soon to be nursery!  The bedrooms will be carpeted, and the main living spaces will be a thick Armstrong laminate in a dark brown color.

So, as those projects start, and hopefully end quickly, I'll be able to draw back on my idea boards, and photo collections.

Here are some of the images that are really striking to me, that I hope to incorporate in our little one's space:

Bedding,
From Pottery Barn Kids, the "Madras Plaid" nursery line:

I love, love, love all the great colors in this bedding.  So many decor options!

No turtle sheets here, just a nice solid color...

Love the crisp white crib skirt with the plaid detail at the bottom!

"Baby Boats" from Pottery Barn Kids:

Look at the detail in this set!

The colors are the same as the plaid, and this one has a pattern that I L-O-V-E too!

Art, Accessories

I want to hang a mirror with a red frame on the walls.  I'm thinking about re-doing the one I painted white, from this post...

I love this alphabet wall!  I'd do one in a smaller scale, maybe over the changing table, but the colors, patterns, and textures are so great.  Plus, it's the alphabet- how much better could it get?

Pinwheel mobiles!  I purchased the supplies today to make one of these (or maybe two?)  Maybe above the crib, but maybe as a nice item above the changing table!

Another pinwheel mobile idea

Furniture:

This is the Kendall Crib from Pottery Barn Kids, and I'm hoping to get a crib like this one

This Hemnes dresser from IKEA is a great sturdy piece, and will grow with baby.  We'll make this the changing table, and have room on the sides for a lamp, organization, and a fan...

I picked a glider & ottoman like this one up last weekend for $80... I'm going to recover the cushions in a red and white polka dot fabric!

Glider & ottoman fabric!

I purchased a small side table like this one above for $10 (a Bombay Co. table!) and plan to paint it, but I haven't decided what color yet!  Any suggestions, based on the color scheme you've seen so far?

Wall Paint Designs:

At a minimum, I'd like to put chair rail up in the room, but would love to do beadboard/wainscotting like the above photo.  The wall color is even a contendor!

More beadboard...

Wall Colors:

Both colors are from  Bejamin Moore, by PBK kids.  The blue is called Blue Marguerite, and the green is called Stem Green.

Closet organization:

I love baskets in the closet.  While ours won't look quite like that above, I love the organization!

I've got two of these PBK Sabrina Baskets with those blue liners so far, and would like a few more to add to the closet organization!  I love how sturdy they are, and how good lookin they are!

So that's what I'm working with!  I'll show you some of the fabrics I picked up yesterday for the glider, and the curtains!  So fun!

What do you think?  What was the most favorite part of your little one's nursery?  Was there something you wished you'd done differently?