{making room}

It is hard to believe that we are now just hours away from welcoming a sweet, new baby boy into our family. My emotions are running a bit high this weekend as I take it all in and try to prepare for all that is about to happen. We have attempted to stay busy by attending birthday parties, going out for ice cream, lots of loves and snuggles and enjoying a much needed pedi with a few of my besties. The other big item on the agenda was finishing off his nursery with the final special pieces and a few last tweaks!

When I decorated Leah's nursery, I never in a million years anticipated that we would have another baby on the way and she would get booted less than 2 years later.... but alas, that's exactly where we luckily have found ourselves!! I ended up being very, very glad that the first time around we A) went with a basic, neutral paint color and didn't paint crazy purple stripes or anything B) picked basic white furniture C) went with a neutral colored glider and D) had lots of gender neutral nursery accessories. It made it very easy to strip down and re-decorate.  I’m pretty sure CJ was equally glad, since when I start to scheme all he sees is $$$!

My only significant expense and purchase was the bedding. I had originally intended to re-use the grey geometric crib skirt from the littlemiss’ bedding set and just get new sheets… but lucky for me, Serena & Lily’s private sale email came around and I scored a full set for nearly half it's regular price. (Turns out it does occasionally pay off to be on all those email lists!) The sheet has a tiny stripe of brown in it, which helped me to tie in all the leftover accessory elements from Leah’s nursery. The chocolate brown rug, barrel shade, hamper, storage bins and changing pad covers all stayed and didn’t need to be replaced.

I struggled a bit with decorating for a little boy… it seemed that all the fluff and cutesy accessories were overkill and unnecessary. There were a few fun items from littlemiss’ original nursery that I kept in there, but since I was on a budget, I opted for super practical and inexpensive décor items to fill in the blanks….mostly toys and books. I picked up some fun wooden toys that I know he will love playing with someday soon, along with a few vintage items we had around and finally some of my favorite little boy books. And just like that, the decorating was essentially done!

In addition to his custom Petite Lemon Alphabet Chart that my friend created for him, the only other projects in the room were a monogram shadow box and his mobile. The “C” monogram came together in less than an hour and for less than $15….nothing more than an inexpensive wooden letter from Hobby Lobby with fabric (or scrapbook paper) mod-podged to it, attached to a fun sheet of scrapbook paper and inserted into an inexpensive 12x12 shadow box frame. Cheap, easy and cute is a great combination in my world! I also used a $3 can of white spray paint to re-freshen an old black mirror that we were no longer using to hang above the crib.

For the mobile, I knew I wanted something fun. I felt that littlemiss’ amazing mobile made her whole room…. So I enlisted the help of an amazingly talented and creative friend who literally “creates” for a living. She made the simple, adorable felt ball mobile that hangs above his crib and will lull him to sleep each night. It turned out to be the perfect final touch for little man’s new room! You can check out her amazing creations both here and here.

Although I didn't do much or spend much, his nursery is perfectly classic and simple and that’s what I love most about it. I love that so many of the items that make it special will be things that I hope he will one day play with and love and cherish. I love that there are so many items that I carefully selected when I first got the opportunity to create a nursery for a sweet new baby that still have a home in there. But mostly I love that very soon it will be home to a sweet baby boy….

my baby boy!

Welcome Baby Charlie!

We can't wait to meet you. I hope you love it here.

xox 

mama