Nautical Nursery Reveal!
Pregnancy is an awesome thing. I mean, the morning sickness (more aptly referred to as “all day overwhelming nausea torture”) sucks beyond measure and stretchmarks aren’t fun, but creating a tiny little person and feeling their kicks is amazing. Plus it’s pretty incredible once they get here. In a life changing sort of way 🙂
One of the most exciting parts of pregnancy for me was creating our son’s nursery.
His room started out as a guest room. Keep in mind as you view these “before” guest room photos that we bought our house when we were 19, and our furniture at that age consisted of pieces from childhood/ teen years, hand-me-downs, and whatever cheap laminate furniture we scrounged up from garage sales. We just needed *something* to fill the space with. What I’m getting at here is don’t judge the design too harshly. It was nonexistent at this point lol. Now that we’re not starving college kids, we’re updating everything, which is where this blog comes in handy 😉
As you can see, my husband and I were both fond of dragons in our youth…
When we bought the house, all the doors were pre-fab with faux wood grain, and all the walls were that unappetizing shade of off-white/beige-y yellow (which just made the walls look dirty, honestly).
I wanted to go with a nautical theme for Roman’s room. I cleared everything out and got started by painting the doors white and the walls Martha Stewart’s Dolphin Gray color matched in Behr paint. Here are some progress pictures:
And here’s what his room looks like today:
The crib is the Kalani 4-in-1. Since we have co-slept since he was born (and still do), I can’t tell you how well this thing might have held up if we actually used it…BUT I will get some use out of it eventually as a toddler bed and—later—a full sized bed. I occasionally used it as a pen when I had to set him down for a few minutes. When he started teething, he decided to gnaw on the railing, which is why I promptly threw together the red teething guard! I just got some felt fabric cut to size, cut 4 inch strips along the edges, draped it over, and tied the ends around the rails. Viola! No more bite marks! The white border on the rails is a breathable mesh thingie that’s supposed to keep tiny baby appendages from slipping through the rails while still allowing them to breathe. He’s our first, y’all. We couldn’t be too cautious.
Above the crib, I hung a ribbon mobile I made using a hoop from Hobby Lobby and various shades of ribbon. I had big plans for this (like five times the amount of ribbon, two tiers), but alas, the kid showed up nearly 3 weeks early. Whaddyagonnado? I still think it’s cute, and he still loves when I spin it for him.
The once-red dresser (scored for $10 at a garage sale) got a fresh coat of white paint. Above the dresser, I wrote his name using painted cardboard letters. I added wooden appliques to dress them up.
The bench, toy box, and shelf were mine when I was a kid (made by a family friend). I didn’t get to update them before Roman was born, but I still plan to stain them to match the crib. I also want to cover the heart cut-outs with wooden sailboat pieces. The rug is from Target (it’s just like this one). The shag style really softens the laminate floors.
I kept the original red curtains, but altered them by fabric-gluing the blue ones to the front to create a reversible curtain. I love the way the red shows when they’re tied back.On the closet door, I have this hanging diaper organizer. In the closet, I doubled the amount of hanging space by adding a tension rod. Much better use of space for hanging baby clothes.
So there you have it! Our first room tour. I’m very happy with how his room turned out, and I have more plans for the design as it evolves into a toddler’s room that will get used much more!
I’ll be putting the rest of our home’s “before” pictures on the House Tour page in the coming days, followed by several room reveals (I’m thinking the dining room is up next!).
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Until next time,