The Story of the Nursery

Well....you may know by now that I really love all things sweet and baby....

After working in several baby stores I have come across some adorable inexpensive items, some gorgeous high end items and some high end items that I wouldn't give to my worst enemy. There is really no other requirement to pass my baby test besides being sweet and baby.....I don't care where it came from....

So when I set out to choose things for William's nursery I knew I wanted to it be sweet and baby....a little bit of elegance....nothing hokey....and I knew I would need to do it for the best price possible (this is my version of a budget....budgets are too restrictive....but doing something for the best price possible is just plain smart!)

I'll let you in some of my finds....splurges...and random items....and you can fill in the gaps with some of the F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S pictures AST took on Sunday!

Warning - Picture Overload and Baby Overload.....while I did promise to keep this an adventure blog and not become a mommy blog....this nursery was an adventure and I am sure William will prove to be an adventure very quickly:)

It started with two mirrored pieces of furniture from Tuesday Morning.....I saw them in their mailer and knew I had to have them for the nursery. I rallied my troops to check out their Tuesday Mornings and we were all set to wake up and be at our Tuesday Mornings at 8:00 on this particular Tuesday morning. Well, on that Monday, Dallas was preparing for another major snow/ice/whatever storm. So with priorities in check (keep in mind I don't think we had milk, eggs, peanut butter, toilet paper, canned goods, waters, etc. anywhere in our house in preparation), I called my Tuesday Morning to make sure they would still open the next morning with these pieces on the floor.....she let me know that they were ALREADY on the floor in anticipation of closing for the storm. I booked it to my neighborhood Tuesday Morning and scooped up my two coveted pieces just as two other women were coming in to buy them as well.....wow I was lucky.....! I am sure Mom was thrilled she did not have to go to her Tuesday Morning with all the other crazies the next morning!

a console table...turned changing table....4 deep drawers

a chest....one cabinet below....two drawers up top.....really just for pretty....it holds some of his toys and stuff to play with.....

After these pieces came home to live with us...I think I knew the general direction I wanted things to go....I called it traditional meets Hollywood chic....and I am pretty sure my entire family and friends laughed at me! It's precisely what it is though...!

I have known for a long time which particular crib I wanted.....I even turned down the lovely potential offer of having Ethan and Cooper's GORGEOUS crib because it just wasn't what I was imagining in this room.....I did snag their precious cradle though:)

So...on to find the crib....or on to find out if I could even afford the crib. I discovered this children's furniture line - AFK (Art for Kids) while working in a very high end store so things were not looking good for me to bring this home. After searching for a knock off....something similar....something that would maybe work....the furniture company decided to have a winter sale on 3 white finishes.....and guess what.....I wanted a white finish that was on sale!!!!!! I was so excited.....again....I am sure people thought I was crazy ordering a crib before we knew boy or girl! I also think I annoyed the three DIFFERENT locations I called to make sure I got the best price possible when factoring in tax/no tax - shipping/no shipping, etc. Finally though....the crib was ordered from Pippen Lane in New Orleans from the sweet boy Michael....who I am sure will remember the crazy woman from Dallas who ordered the Madison crib!

i love the curves of the head board and foot board...

the spindles are my FAVORITE part....

I think Grace likes it too....

I think after I had the crib and furniture in place...and the idea of using lots of whites and creams.... I was starting to bring Mom on board with this traditional meets Hollywood chic idea....so she suggested an oriental rug with pops of color for the floor.....i thought it sounded excellent....so she was off to our favorite rug store Caboose Antiques to find the perfect choice. A couple of shipments later it was found and Roy let her bring it to Dallas to test out in the room....we knew it was perfect right away and this little beauty stayed to live with us in Dallas....!

it has some navy....rose...cream....Grace LOVES to sleep on it too!

Now things were really coming along.....

Bedding was not really an issue for me....again.....I knew what I wanted but just had to figure out a way to afford it. Of course it was a line I discovered while working at a high end store so I wasn't sure it could come home and live with us....I was 95% sure I wanted whites and creams so I searched and searched for something that would take its place. There was NOTHING out there and the idea of choosing fabrics to make something completely overwhelms me....ask my mother and sisters....I just can't go there....way too much for this brain!

So I called the company and got a list of stores that sold their bedding (hoping for a store that sold it at a reasonable price....no luck)....the company then told me that I could get it from market in one of their showrooms....I was so excited....this was it....I was going to have the bedding....I just needed to secure my way into market. Well, with the help of friends and family I was off to market to BUY MY BEDDING.......at COST!!!!! I was on top of the world....that is how Flower Garden from Kristaben in white and ecru came home to live with us!

Mom was now on to thinking about artwork for the room.....I kind of knew something I wanted in the room.....Several years ago on a blog that was doing Show Us Where You Live Master Bedroom...I saw a beautiful monogram done on someones wall above their headboard....It was gorgeous and I have always loved it. Our new house didn't allow for that above our bed so I wasn't able to use the idea in our master bedroom. I was starting to think though that it could be very cool in William's room above his changing table. Mom agreed and she began creating the masterpiece. It was gorgeous....but when it came home to live in William's room...it didn't quite work over the changing table. You're wondering if we measured right....well we did....but we didn't take into account the light switches....the new painting would cover up the switches and that would just be annoying. I was devastated....I think mom was secretly thrilled because now it could go above the crib and be a focal point in the room!

So Kat and Mom came over and hung the canvas above William's crib....have no fear...it is of sound engineering and very secure....and I think it looks AMAZING....I am so glad it worked out to be above his crib....the perfect spot for it! So...that is how William's monogram canvas from my professional artist mom Tess came to live with us.....

Now we had to have something above the changing table....mom's wheels were rolling and she came over and picked my brain about Le Petit Prince (my all time favorite book....thanks to my Aunt Kay Kay for opening the door to his world with my very first copy of the book and a fabulous French teacher who taught us how to read it .....) She took all of my copies of the book, my figurine that lives in the kitchen, several porcelain items we picked up in Paris and all three of the plush toys we got in Paris as well.....she was definitely going somewhere with this. Wanna see the result....because it's absolutely perfect....and I love everything about it....gosh I hope William learns the story of the Little Prince.....

For an unexpected surprise for William's room...a sweet friend made this custom door decoration for William....isn't it gorgeous? I hung it on his nursery door with some satin ribbon to match the bow.....when William arrives I will add his birth date, weight and height....I am so excited to fill it in!

Lighting....I wasn't really that opinionated on lighting....I liked the idea of a chandelier but I didn't really want to buy one....I knew I needed lamps but again....I didn't want to pay a fortune for them. So.....here is the lighting story. For my two table lamps (one on the changer...one on the chest)....I went shopping in mom's closet! Yes....we are those people who buy great things at great prices in hopes of putting them somewhere....these were supposed to go to the beach for their master bedroom but it wasn't a finished project so she graciously let me buy them....and a steal too....they were a T.J. Maxx find! For the floor lamp....it was a fantastic Target find.....and for the chandelier....well....let's just say it was free...but don't ask my dad if it was hassle free.....! The chandelier came from the original dining room in our house that is now our office.....it wasn't originally planned for William's room but now that it is hung in there I can't imagine the room without it....it's PERFECTION!

my Target find....I did have to assemble the shad which was a little strange!

the chandelier.....

T.J. Maxx lamps...I have a pair....

Now for my least favorite part of the room assembly....the window treatments....Yuck....again....the idea of choosing fabrics and imagining lengths, widths, the math that goes with it....blah blah blah....I was not happy. I also didn't like spending that much money on window treatments....it just wasn't a priority for me! Thank goodness for moms....she measured and kept me straight....she even scoped out the fabric stores in Shreveport and found exactly what we needed. So when I came in town...I approved...bought...and we were on a roll. The panels were going to be made with black out lining by Janet in Shreveport and mom and I were going to make the cornice boards....mom had several cornice boards from one of her "dumpster dives" as I like to call them....I snagged two and we spent a rather long afternoon and evening (without full power) assembling the cornices....in the end they looked amazing and I couldn't wait to get them hung on the walls!

AST's pic....

I needed a color one...so this is mine...don't judge:)

Hmm....what was next....maybe the chair and the bookcase?

The chair was an item that was just baffling me....true nursery gliders/rockers/swivel gliders are just plain expensive and I wasn't thrilled with any of my fabric options. So I just avoided the fact that we would have to have some rocker in there. Remember my glider that I found from Freecycle.org - BARF! I knew I needed some sort of book case also to display his "pretties" but those were expensive too and I wasn't finding anything that I loved....

I guess the shopping fairies knew this was going to bring a struggle for me and they sent over Patti and Amy to shop for the day....they discovered two perfect stores for me....Nadeau's and Guttmann's. I found the perfect bookshelf at Nadeau's on my 3rd trip to their warehouse....and I was thrilled with the way it looked in William's room - perfect!

At Guttmann's we found the perfect swivel glider for the nursery too.....so perfect that I knew Kat and Mom would need to come over and look for themselves and help me choose....there were over 700 fabric choices!!!!! Many weeks later they popped over to Dallas and Katharine and I acutally picked out the same exact fabric for our chairs! It's a beautiful cream fabric that was just perfect! Yeah!!! The nursery was just about complete.....

it is so comfy too....

nestled in the corner....

i can still get in the closet too....whew!

don't you just love the fabric?

the bookshelf....PERFECT!

and the bottom shelf is the perfect size for a 15 month old to fit inside in case you were wondering:)

I also found this great table at Home Goods to sit next to the glider....perfect for setting stuff when we are rocking!

Now for some specials of his sweet room.....in no particular order.....

my original copy of The Little Prince and the stuffed animal I got in Paris.....

his basket of toys....he has a Smushy to match his cousins....a Sophie giraffe because I think it's adorable....the LIttle Prince's lamb and fox....an adorable monkey....his first Easter bunny....and a lamb from his mommy and daddy the day we found out he was a boy!

a rocking chair from my childhood....customized for William....

those sweet big boy cousins had to be in his room somewhere....they will have so much to teach him....

framed lyrics to Godspeed....the sweetest song in the world....a porcelain Peter Rabbit set from my childhood....

she's musical....I must figure out a way to get her working again...I can vividly remember her from childhood....from my Mama Tee

Keep Calm and Carry On....I figured this is just a good rule of thumb with a child...also...lots of pretty silver and pewter items from my childhood...and one new silver rattle just for William....

his baby book....my splurge....I knew he had to have it!

my childhood Bible from my Godmother....William has one very similar right next to it from his "Aunt" Mary Dean....

his sweet books from friends and family and a Baby's First Year frame from his Mama Tee and Poppy

a pillowcase from my childhood....preserved to perfection just added some new ribbon....

Hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into William's room courtesy of Amy and her beautiful photographs. It was so much fun to remember how it all came together too.....

Now we're just hanging out waiting on a baby for the room....come hang out with us one day soon!

Grace will be waiting for you!