Nursery Before and After

When I designed our floor plan on my software originally we were not going to finish our basement which meant fitting 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and our great room, kitchen, dining, laundry, pantry and mud room into 1850 sq. We knew we would be having at least 2 kids and would need the 3 bedrooms on the main level because we were not sure when we were going to finish the basement. We ended up finishing it anyways but realistically we need both the kids on this level anyways as they are so young. At first I was a little worried about having the nursery right off the great room even though it also has access to the bedroom hallway because I thought it wouldn't be private enough. Now that I had my daughter, it is turning out to be a pleasant surprise because I can put her down for a nap in her crib and have eyes on her from almost everywhere in the great room. I can nurse her in here with the door open and still have access to my 2 year old who plays in the living room for the majority of the day.

Originally this room was our office, it is pretty tiny. We were going to expand it a couple of feet before we started construction but didn't want to compromise the look of the front of the home. We also tried to make the bedroom window larger from floor to ceiling to make the room feel bigger but the plans had already been engineered and this would have meant more waiting time. So, our tiny office because our nursery pending the arrival of our second child. Our three downstairs bedrooms will not be able to be used as kids rooms until they are a little older.

The first thing I wanted to do was add a plank wall, the ceiling heights in this room are over 15' and vaulted which makes that very difficult because of the ceiling angles and expensive (I didn't want to do the window wall because this is mostly covered by curtains anyways) so I came up with a plank wall design that goes to shoulder height on all three walls instead of doing one complete wall, and after weeks of convincing my husband it would look good, we started it!

Before

 

 

 

The plank wall was very easy to install but a little tricky pulling the electrical outlets out and re installing them. We also had to rip off the baseboards as they were a different thickness then the product we were using for the walls.

 

The plank walls instantly made the room feel larger, the fact that the window is off our front porch is also nice and acts as a visual extension of the room.

 

 

 

After installing, caulking, and painting the plank walls, the room already felt bigger partly because we used a simple bright white color on it. I also wanted to add these plank walls because I was re using my previous dark furniture and wanted a bright color for it to pop against.

 

Then time for the fun stuff! I used the nursery furniture I already had but I did invest in a new rocker this time because I figured out really quickly last time this is where I spent a LOT of my time. Although the room is very small and probably too small for this size rocker, I thought it was more important I have something comfortable to sit in, I mean, how much room does the baby need in here anyways? The rocker was a great deal from target and 20% off with free shipping!

 

Since the walls are already a greyish blue I decided to use grey and white for my main color scheme and accent with mint. I didn't want anything too girly; however, I did choose very detailed frames to add a little bit more of that feminine element. I bought old frames from second hand stores and sprayed the frames white, grey and mint so they would go with my color scheme and put them on floating shelves for simplicity. The room was really too small for a large ottoman for the rocker so I ordered a charcoal pouf from Walmart pouf for $39.

 

 

I used one of the ladder racks I made for baby blankets and will probably end up putting some receiving blankets on it as well. Obviously I also had to get a throw blanket for myself as well as I will be spending many hours in this chair. I chose a simple mint and white chevron one from Target.

 

 

 

I decorated with very simply items like this small elephant piece, the owl, and the mint box to store baby memorabilia items in. Because of the size of the room, I really didn't want it to appear too cluttered so only chose a few key items.

 

 

I needed a lamp but wanted something really small since this dresser is tiny. I fell in love with this black spot light from Target.com Target Threshold Spotlight. I like how you can direct the light away from you and it looks really nice shining up towards the shelves instead of a traditional lamp which really only shines light downwards. I can also shine the light away from the babies face when we are in the rocker which is nice. I threw a couple of binkies in this apothecary jar for a more feminine look and for easy access. And of course since its December, I need easy access to cute hats and booties.





 

 

Next to the rocker I wanted something small for storing cloths, receiving blankets, feeding supplies etc. and found this perfect little stand from TJ Maxx. The bead board detail matches the plank room perfectly and the black iron ties in well with the spotlight. The drawer was perfect to hide away my breast pump and the elephant basket tied in nicely with the wall mount piece. I still felt like I needed a little more color in this room so I brought in a pop of purple into this mint vase.

 

 

 

Tucked away and hidden is the diaper genie, hamper, and bins if anything extra I need storage for like diapers, bottles, shoes, hats, etc. I used clear labeled bins for most of the storage in this small closet.

 

 

 

The curtains I already had and tied in with the color scheme perfectly, I also liked how the pattern was more feminine, these were also from Target. I sprayed the knobs on the changing table grey to match the sprayed picture frames and break up the darkness of the crib and used the grey and white chevron bedding I had from the last baby. I did get a new mobile as a gift and the grey and white elephants went with the room perfectly.

 

 

I used a white shag rug that I already had to tie the room together and make it a little more plush and cozy feeling. For such a small nursery, I was able to fit a lot of storage in here with the upright dresser and space saving crib/changing table combo. By using two calming base colors (grey and white) and three pops of accent colors (mint, and limited amounts of pink and purple) and not more than three different patterns this room ended up feeling very relaxing.

 

 

 

Even though this nursery is small, it really doesn't feel that way. It feels cozy and homey and ended up being the perfect room for Peyton.