March! I still can't believe the month that we've been anxiously anticipating since July is here! Londyn Grace was so excited this morning when I told her that her littlest sibling's birth month had finally arrived! I will be 37 weeks along on Friday which is when both she and Liam were born so we are curious to see if the third member of our trio will follow suit. Either way, the nursery is finally finished and ready to be a place for us to snuggle this a sweet babe whenever the Lord sees fit!
I think one of the biggest reasons I was reluctant to agree to waiting until birth to be surprised with this baby's gender was because of the challenge of a gender neutral nursery, but I couldn't be happier with how this space turned out.
Daniel put a ton of hours into making my vision come alive on top of so many other responsibilities he has at church right now. Before we could begin making it into a nursery, the existing kitchen had to be removed. Our home belongs to our church and had once been made into two apartments rather than one single family house as it was originally intended. When we first moved to Jersey in 2011, we lived only on the top floor and used the tiny kitchen that had been installed in what was once a small bedroom. Soon after finding out that Londyn Grace was on the way, the missionary family who was staying on the first floor moved on to a new work so we have since been able to live in the entire house. Since the little kitchen hasn't been used in five years, it made sense for us to make it into the new baby's room, but meant a lot of extra labor including carrying appliances down a flight of stairs and tearing out cabinets and such!
After all of that was done, Daniel painted the walls with the paint I picked out. It's a creamy color called Writer's Parchment. I wanted to stay with a lighter color since it is a pretty small room. Then, he installed a gorgeous yet really inexpensive rustic "wood" flooring that I'd now love to install in the whole house! Finally, he had to cut, paint and install new baseboards and molding. I am blessed with an incredibly hardworking hubby!
When all of that was completed, I couldn't wait to get everything decorated!
We are using the same crib that Liam used since he's sleeping on the bottom bunk of their new bunk bed (another post is needed in regards to that!) now. The rocking horse was from my childhood, and it makes my heart so happy to have it in here for my babies to enjoy.
I wanted a focal point above the crib, but struggled a little with the direction I wanted to go to keep it neutral. I chose to frame an enlarged hymnal page of "Jesus Loves Me" since the words will fit for either a boy or a girl. I scanned the hymnal page into photoshop and then scaled it to the size I wanted. Printing it at Staples using their engineering print option cost me less than $2! Mimi and Pop Pop bought the frame for it along with the rug and curtains for the room!
The chair was a Craigslist score that I happened upon back in September and ended up being my inspiration for the entire room. I love the wood accents and subtle floral mustard fabric and the fact that such a pretty chair actually rocks making it perfect for nursing! I decided to go with gray curtains and a small cream rug for warmth (I didn't want to cover up too much of that pretty floor!) and add in other wooden and metal tones to compliment it. If the baby is a girl, I will add lace and things to make it a bit more feminine.
The only problem with the chair was that it didn't come with an ottoman, and I knew I would want a place to rest my feet during late night nursing sessions. Not wanting to spend more than I paid for the chair for any of the ones I was finding in my search, I took matters into my own hands and created this piece out of a vintage suitcase. Between fabric, stuffing and the wooden legs, it cost me about $25 when it was all said and done since I already had the suitcase in my stash!
I also made crib pillows with the gray polka dot fabric and a yellow fabric that almost matched the chair exactly! Yay for Hobby Lobby!
To add more wooden accents, I asked my Daddy if he had any old barn boards he could spare and Daniel made these gorgeous shelves for me! I love their simplicity yet how pretty they look with the various decor on them. I added the milk glass vase, wooden rattle, my old baby shoes and the mustard frame I found at Michaels with my most recent belly picture inside (which I need to have printed professionally since my printer is running out of ink and the black and white photo printed in a nice shade of purple!) to bring some more interest to the room. The ceramic white rocking horse which was a gift from my grandmother plays music and has both a girl and a boy on it so it was fitting for the space. I purchased the basket for storage in Londyn Grace's nursery five years ago!
In both Goosey and Bubby's nurseries I've used the top of a dresser as a changing table, but space is limited in this room, and I didn't think a dresser that was long enough to hold the changing pad would fit well. Craigslist came through again with this $15 purchase. There is a hall closet just outside of this room which I plan to use for the baby's clothing storage.
I found various baskets to hold newborn essentials and filled them with tiny sleepers, hats and blankets. Sissy loves to sort through them several times a day and ooooh and ahhh over each piece so they don't always stay neat and organized! She also requested that I not hang the diaper holder because she wants to be able to reach it for diaper changes! :)
This little gallery wall was so fun to put together! We are about 90% sure that we are going to stick with another L for either our boy or girl name so I felt confident enough to include the L's!
My Peter Rabbit stuffed animal from my second Easter (nearly 30 years ago!) was perfect for this little rocking chair I picked up on the curb a few months ago.
I am so thrilled with how this tiny nook came together for our tiniest blessing!
We can't wait to meet this baby and spend lots of time snuggling him/her in this space! It could be any day now!
