The Nursery {Finally!} Before & After

Those who've been reading my blog for a while now know that I did absolutely nothing to the nursery before Justin was born.  I got a little less-lethargic about it towards end of my pregnancy and collected some things I loved (including lots of owls!), but this being my second baby and not knowing if he was going to be a boy or a girl, I really felt a bit uninspired.  Finally, I can say I'm pretty much finished with 3 month old Justin's nursery.    (sometimes- and I hesitate to say this because it's not always the case for me- sleep is more important than a pretty house ;)  Please pretend there is beautiful wall-to-wall seagrass carpeting installed...

 

{The little green vintage owl hangs on baby Justin's nursery door}

As I've said before, I'm under no illusions that a baby's nursery is for the baby... yet.  We (my husband, our 2 year old, and I) enjoy it far more than he does & I think he'd be happy almost anywhere.  My goal for the nursery was to create a cozy, fun space where we could hang out, read and play, and it had to include a comfy spot for me to nurse the baby and of course be conducive to sleeeeeeeeeeeping.  We used all of the same furniture from my first son's nursery and I really wanted a drastic change from that pale, pretty tone-on-tone space:

 

I was thinking dark and bright and a little bit curiosity-vintage (not sure if that's an actual term but I like it ;)  You know a bit Alice-in-Wonderland combined with a Strange Study?  Kind of quirky but still fun with some bright colors? My reasoning went a bit like this:  My frst son is very sweet, but really rough-n'-tumble like most little boys.  I wanted to create a space that feels a little more "boy" than "baby" because they become little guys so quickly.  The "baby" stage is so short-lived.  I wanted to fill it with interesting things we've collected over the years...  Things we can talk about...  With artwork that sparks questions & the imagination...  With meaningful pieces.  So, I'm aware that this nursery doesn't scream "baby" but it was a conscious departure for me. 

Here's what we started out with when we moved in:  The furniture, white walls, and the seashell mobile left over from Christian's old nursery. 

{Before}

And here's the nursery now:

(Crib with make-shift Canopy}

 

{Navy blue walls with punches of white and bright color...  It's a very sunny space}

{Collected and sentimental Artwork}

As I mentioned before, I did add a lot of cute little owls.  The handmade mobile is by Pink Perch on etsy and it's just so special.  Justin loves "his owls" and he actually falls asleep staring up at them.  (My first son never fell asleep in his crib so this is Heaven!)   

This is Justin's view from below

 

{He seems to love staring at the high-contrast pattern on the fabric up the wall}

My original plan was to have identical shelving on either side of the crib, but I nixxed the shelving on the left side in order to add a little reading/ "snuggle" nook in the corner for Christian.  He likes to hang out in the nursery while I'm feeding the baby so I thought it would be nice for him to have how own little spot.  (Gotta make those firstborns feel special when the newbie arrives...  balanced shelving or not! ;)  It's an old denim beanbag that used to be my little sister's.  It says "Morgan" on it but we put that side down ;)

Pillows are always rotating from room to room in our house, so currently we have a bunch of bright ones that work well with the mobile:

{Christian "reading" in his nook}

 

I'm a big fan of combination dresser-changing stations in babies' rooms and I like to get them in the closet if possible to maximize floorspace for play.  We ended up taking the bi-fold doors off of Justin's closet because when open, the left door got in the way of the actual bedroom door.  I plan on adding curtains to the opening eventually but haven't gotten there yet.  (I also know the curtains would pretty much always be open right now because we're in a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants kind of stage and have little time for extra steps.)  We mounted a cheesy winnie-the-pooh mobile above the changing station, but that thing is a lifesaver & I must admit, I love the song ;)  We keep extra blankets and burpcloths in the baskets and diaper stuff in the top drawer.  There's hanging space for clothes on the left and I didn't take pics of the left side of the closet because it's not "organized" yet  -- i.e. it's a mess!

 

Dave hung these vintage cut-crystal pendants in the corner of the room:

Here's another view of the nursery "before" and you can see the painted ikea shelf that we brought over from the nurery in our old house.  It created a really awkward space and was pretty inaccessible:

...So we cut it down and now use only 4 baskets instead of 6.  (The other 2 are now in the closet holding the blankets)  I made the blanket hanging on the crib out of some curtains I found at Goodwill that I backed in fleece and finished off with a fun fringe. 

One of my favorite things in the room is this vintage German cuckoo clock we found. (below)  I actuallly removed 2 rifles off of the front of it because I didn't like the message for a little kid's room.  (Christian's really into Bambi right now & that "mother!" scene is hard enough!) 

Here's the cut-down shelf.  Since I'm always moving stuff around, who knows what will stay and go on the top shelf (and once Justin can pull himself up in the crib I'll have to ditch the breakables)...  But for now, I used a pitcher full of branches from that magic bush on the side of my house (they'll root in water) along with the scale I recently found at a thrift shop.  Christian loves playing with the stones we placed in it.

I love baskets in kids' rooms too.  They're so easy for clean-up and encourage little ones to partake.  (I am all for a little free labor!)  Below is a close-up of an owl I had when I was a little girl:

We made the fabric hanging above the crib out of a dropcloth.  We -I promise I helped this time- used a stencil and leftover paint from the walls.  It took about 3-4 hours for this 14 foot dropcloth... spread out over a few days (baby crying & all that...)  I stapled it to the ceiling & wall with a staplegun.  (so easy!)  I attempted a little freehand painting on the front of the canpopy for a little added detail & differentiation:

Here's a close-up:

I used a fabric remnant for the "skirt":

Our chaise (below) works so well for feeing the baby and we can actually fit the whole family on it...  Why we would all hang out in the smallest room in the house is beyond me, but it happens quite frequently.  Like I said earlier, we've accumulated a lot of art work over the years- much of it sentimental- created by family & friends.  I hung pieces that just worked for me althouh the subjects vary... from an angel to ships on the ocean to a Spanish sundial...

I'm still looking for the perfect lamp to light up this little corner (ok, I know what I want but am waiting to buy it). the orange oil painting up top is by my Grandmother and I hung up an old gold frame and am filling it with cards & drawings for Justin:

(Below) Here's the beginnings of the collection- baby booties by the very thoughtful Patricia Van Essche from PVE, and a little bear card from our family friends:

Here's a close-up of an original mushroom painting I scored for $1 at a Goodwill a few years ago:

And, here are some more mushrooms, below, a vintage German mushroom chart:

I love this dark forest print I purchased at Joseph's Coat Resale Shop in Falls Church, Virginia with my friend Rebecca of Acanthus & Acorn.  Christian enjoys pointing out all the different animals:

One of my best friends, Lindsey, made this clay plate.  She stamped it with a Vintage German cookie press.  Notice the owl in the middle: 

{Lindsey is opening her online pottery shop soon!}

Here is the crewel owl family that Christian & I pretend is us.  I think I'm the angry-looking orange one at middle right-  eek! :)

I adore these barnwood paintings by my Grandmother below.  My Grandmother is one of the most creative and focused people I know.  She made these so long ago but I just love them. 

...So that's pretty much each & every item in the room!  I'm really excited about going a bit outside of my comfort zone with this space.  I had so much fun putting it together & love that I can just keep adding to it.  It's a really sunny bedroom so I'm loving the dark walls which dim it down a bit for midday naps.  I feel so cozy and comfortable in the nook where the chaise is and I just love curling up there with my llittle guys (and dog too!). 

Thanks so much for reading and hope you enjoyed!

xoxo,

lauren

A New Painting for Our Kitchen Nook

I'm crazy about this oil painting painting I recently found for our kitchen nook.  It's by a German artist named Decker and was done in 1886.  You know when something just calls to you?  ("Buy me!!" ;)  I didn't know where I'd put it (I rarely do with art...  If I love it, I know I'll find a spot) but for $60, I was thrilled. It's full of my colors and I just love its moodiness. 

I've been meaning to  get something up on the left side of my kitchen nook for a while now...   Here's a photo of the right side with the chalkboard:

The green in my cabinets (Behr's Witch Hazel in Semigloss) works perfectly with the Decker painting:

I'm leaving it unframed and I love seeing the tattered sides of the canvas.  The painting is so beautifully aged.  

And here it is up in "the nook." 

I'm never one for permanence in my home, but it'll be staying in the nook for a good long time!  While I do appreciate museum-quality art (who doesn't?)  I'm always on the lookout for beautiful inexpensive original paintings.  (And by inexpensive I mean under a $100 and preferably in the $30 - $50 range...  I know that's cheap, but I feel no guilt at checkout! ;)   

xoxo,

lauren

ps- The white floor vent register seen in the pics has finally been replaced!!  wahooo 

Before & After: Our Entryway

Ours was one of the worst entryways I'd ever seen. (below) The sickly light from the too-small 70s fixture cast an off-yellow glow on everything. I tried to keep it off so as not to scare guests away but I'm not sure a really dark entry helped either. The walls went up & up and anything I already owned that I attempted to put up there felt dinky. And the dirty linoleum was just the icing on the cake!

So we replaced the light fixture, the floors, painted & added some art & finally, here is is now:

I wanted something really special when you first walk in... Something unexpected & a little crazy. The 30 Leonardo DaVinci sketches were originally intended for the living room but once the beautiful stencilling went up I realized I couldn't cover it. Our sweet friends Amy & Greg came over & helped us hang the sketches. I had a really crazy week last week & was supposed to take it easy, so I literally just sat on a chair at the top of the stairs and watched & guided & tried not to be too bossy ;) as the three of them -Dave , Amy & Greg- "randomly" hung up the prints.

All together this was about an 8-10 hour project- split between both Dave & I, it didn't actually take this long but that's about how long it took man-hours-wise. We bought the book Da Vinci's Notebook and I cut & tore out the sketches along the original worn & jagged edges. We used a variety of different subject matter & for some reason I can't help being drawn to the "grotesque" studies he did of people. Da Vinci believed that to be able to recreate beauty you had to have an understanding of ugliness & what made someone "grotesque." Dave just kept shaking his head as I cut out more "old men" sketches from the book for the wall.

But with 30 frames to fill, we definitely got our fair share of pretty drawings:

And everything in between:

The custom 20" x 14" antique gold frames (approx $20 each from here) came in pieces & Dave put them together. (With 30 frames, this took HOURS but the price made it all worth it to us.) I ordered uncut white matting for the frames and just mounted the sketches right onto the matting. My big dilemma was: would I hang them in a perfect grid or fo for a more Alice in Wonderland feel? Clearly the grid would be safer but I've always loved Alice in Wonderland and try to take risks when I can. (And the installation was so much quicker!!! No laster levels, just friends & some hammers & nails!)

The floors are now seagrass & here is an older pic I have of them (below.) We have a little Ikea storage bench for putting on shoes & it's where Christian waits when we're all leaving the house in a rush. The cushion is really easy to recover and I plan on switching out the fabrics whenever I feel like it:

And below is a view of the entryway looking up:

And here it is now (below). I couldn't be happier with how the 4-feet high Minka- Lavery caged lantern from Bellacor works with the frames. (I got it for around $200 on sale!) ...I don't know if this makes sense to you (and this may be the synesthete in me speaking) but when I look up at the entry it reminds me of tinkling chimes. I can't explain it but something about the frames & the lantern & the light is musical to me... It's weird to say but I can almost hear it. (hahah okay I hope you don't think I'm on crack, but do you see at all what I mean?)

And finally, one last photo of the whole thing from the living room. The frames aren't spaced evenly and we just eyed the prints creating a crazy entryway of "randomness." I know this might not be pleasing to everyone, butI'm so glad I decided to go this way instead of with a grid... the risk was worth it.

Needless to say after last week & all of our holiday decorating frenzy, my face & ankles & hands swelled up & I got cankles!!! eeeeeek :) They're gone right now but try to come back whenever I'm on my feet fro more than a little bit. I'm almost ready for this baby!!!
xoxox.
lauren

-Exact frame purchased: Radius Colorcast- Antique Gold  (RC23)

Our Dining Room: All "Done!"

(Above, some nuts in a vintage jello mold.) Well, since Jonie showed the evolution of our dining room in her recent post, I thought I would share our finally "done" dining room with you! As you might remember, here's what it looked like when we first moved in:

And here it is now:

I finally made & hung my last set of frayed linen curtains & ordered Sears' roman shades in 'natural' for all of the windows:

I went with a totally white scheme with a few hits of green. I wanted it to be insanely neutral so that I can do whatever I like on the table & have fun with colors:

Right now I have my painted white thrift store bust sitting on a stack of magazines. We use the dining table a lot as a place to just hang out: read, use the computer, etc..

The chairs are from Ballard Designs & of course they're machine washable slipcpvers. (No other type of whit would last in this house!) The thing I love most about them is that I got the ones on casters & they are So convenient!!! They're great for pulling out one-handed when you've got something in the other hand and for pulling into the living room for extra seating. I didn't even know how much we'd love them.

And notice the little gray goat skin on the left chair... (above & below) Dave tried to surprise me for our anniversary with this "rug." He ordered it off of ebay & was thinking it would fit under our lucite coffee table before we had anything under there. Not knowing, this I came home with the cowhide one day and he told me that he'd ordered me a rug for an amazing deal (like $40 I think?) & could I return mine. (I couldn't.) He said his was a goat. I asked if it was a really big goat?? He said he guessed so. Anyway, I felt really terrible until the "goat" arrived & it was about the size of our dog. So now it just gets moved around the house like the rest of our stuff. And below, I'm finally 100% satisfied & loving my cocoa bead chandelier. It really nheeded the heft of the skirted parsons chairs underneath I think:

Thank you all so much for the wonderful emails & comments & "gifts!" Have an awesome weekend!!!

xoxo,

lauren