The New Nursery

Uh-oh, Kate is preparing for the new baby... by practicing her pouncing skills

While Kate might be getting ready for the new baby by tackling her Daddy, Matt and I have been working hard on a safe, Kate free room for our little man.  I didn't want a room that was overly babyish, I was aiming for something that could grow with him and last longer than just his early years.  We went for a neutral gray color with navy and red accents.  It turned out classic and simple and I love it.

Since the existing furniture we had to work with was oak, including an old beat up dresser that Matt beautifully sanded down and re-stained to it's original glory, we hunted for an oak crib to match it.  The crib was the only piece of furniture we had to purchase this time around, plus a few details to tie in our vintage airplane theme for the room, and suddenly our upstairs had two children's bedrooms!

As usual, it's hard to really capture a room without seeing it in person, but hopefully all these pictures from several angles will help you get a feel for this special new space in our home.

A few of my favorite details are the custom pillow I ordered on Etsy for the bed (it has a map of the world on it and little airplanes flying all over it), and the fun mobile over the glider of colorful biplanes.  I also ordered a custom boppy pillow cover to match the room.

 There are meaningful pieces like the navy throw blanket on the glider which my Mom knit specifically for her grandson's room just like the pink one she knitted for Kate.  Another sentimental touch is a photograph of Matt's grandfather in his flight suit over the changing pad.  We ordered a print to go along with it of the tail of a B-17 since he was a tailgunner.

Matt painted a bookshelf navy and painted the  dresser knobs to match once he refinished the old dresser

Matt also cut a shelf and painted it red to go over the crib and we hung simple navy grommet blackout curtains over the two bright windows.  I'm amazed at how well they work, the room is completely dark when they are shut and I hope they help Baby Boy stay sound asleep any hour of the day!

I get mushy just sitting in my beloved Kyoto glider.  It's not just a chair, it's where I became a Mommy- rocking, singing, reading, feeding, and soothing my first baby.

We moved my old twin bed into the room too because I loved having it in Kate's room when she was an infant.  There were many nights early on when it was just easier for me to sleep in the nursery, especially when Matt had to go to work the next morning and I was on maternity leave.  When you're a sleep deprived zombie, every extra step you can cut out helps.  We bought the red comforter back in Kentucky for staging our house as a three bedroom home when we sold it, it's actually never been used and ties in perfectly to the primary colors I wanted in this room.  We also had the large airplane artwork from an old calendar, it just took some dark gray Ikea frames to make them ready for display.

 We have less than two months to go and the room is done!  It feels great to have this finished and a bit surreal to walk past a second crib in our house knowing it will be occupied very soon!  Thanks for taking the tour, up next I need to take some pictures of where the furniture that used to be in this room all ended up.