The Nursery Plan!

After much deliberation and research, I think I have finally figured out what to do with the room that will become Baby Boy's nursery. I mentioned in a previous post some of the ideas we had for a "theme" or direction in the nursery. I want Baby's room to be an inviting, cozy space, as I will probably be spending many of my not-so-awake hours in there, while he is oh-so-awake. I want it to be a comfortable space that he can enjoy, and that is not too bright and crazy of a place for mom and dad to spend time in at 3 a.m. And, of course, we're trying to do everything on the cheap, so expensive nursery bedding and decor sets were out for us. After quite a bit of research on countless websites, and walking around a few stores, I think we've got it mostly figured out! Disclaimer: This blog post is mostly for my own purposes. It's a fun way to help me organize my thoughts. I could do it in a Word or Pages document, but I thought it would be more fun to share it with you all, too. So, here we go.

I'm thinking of going with our original idea -- a sort of Colorado Country themed nursery. I know...nursery "themes" sound so uhhh...suburban, upscale, ridiculous to some, but my brain needs something to focus it and give it some direction, otherwise we will end up with a mismatched, truly ridiculous looking nursery. So, when I say we will have a "theme", I don't mean that everything in the room will have mountains, moose, or bears on it. Quite to the contrary. I'm not a fan of that sort of use of "themes." I just mean that it's something to help guide my color selections, and a bit of decor, and more importantly, to utilize some decor that we already have on hand! So -- here's the plan:

Walls: We're thinking of going with a green, perhaps some sort of pine...but not too dark of a pine. Does that make sense? I may search etsy for a fun wall applique of some sort. Aspen trees, perhaps?? :)

Furniture: Baby's room is little, so we're going to need to make smart use of the space we have. We're thinking a crib, and a dresser that doubles as a changing table. Other than that, we're just going to put a rocker or glider of some sort (whatever we can find on craigslist for the right price, probably), and we're thinking that's what will fit. The jury is still out on finish -- I like white, husband likes dark woods. Not sure which we'll go with yet.

Bedding: We'll probably just go with some simple solid or pattern print sheets/blanket that have greens, browns, and maybe golden/reddish hues.

Decor: Lastly, we already have a large print, framed, that is a children's room sort of print. It has snow-covered mountains, a gorge with a bridge over it, a train going across the bridge, I believe, and I think a hot air balloon in the background? Kind of an odd combination of things, but it works. :) And, we also have some old, wooden snowshoes that I found in my grandparent's attic a few years ago when my parents were cleaning out their house. I snagged them to hang over our fireplace in Colorado, but they have just been packed away since we moved back to Virginia. I thought maybe we could give those a fresh coat of paint or something to clean them up, and hang those on the wall, too. Then, I found this fun mobile on etsy that will be going on my Christmas wishlist:



It doesn't make music, and isn't for touching, but I thought it was cute and worked well.
There were also some cute wall hangings/paintings on etsy that I could use to finish out the decor. Or, we could just enlarge some of our photos from our time and travels in Colorado, and hang them for more inexpensive decor.

I'm hoping that all of this turns out well. It all works in my head, but sometimes things that work in my head just don't come together so well in real life. The idea to use this "theme", though, just seemed so appropriate. During our time in Colorado, I really fell in love with the idea of being a mom, and of raising a family. When we first were married, we figured we would probably want to have children eventually, but it wasn't something that really excited me a lot. But, being a part of a church that loved and cared for their children so well, and watching our friends in Colorado so diligently, lovingly, and carefully parent their children -- it just helped to develop a greater vision in my heart and mind for what God intends us to be as parents, and got me really excited about entering into that phase ourselves. My heart went from rather indifferent about the idea of children to really excited during our time in Colorado. And, though Drew didn't get to spend much of our time in Colorado actually with me, I think a good bit of my excitement spilled over to him, as well. So, to have a nursery that will be a reminder to us of God's faithfulness in preparing our hearts for this season seems so right. And, that's the plan so far! :)