The Mom Crowd

Months ago, Amanda posted a great peek into her daughter’s beautiful nursery.   I was so impressed with how cute and practical it was.  Recently, another friend of mine redecorated a room in her house to create a second nursery for her new son (nursery #1 is now her todder son’s bedroom).  I was practically drooling at the colors, the theme, and the pristine, matching furniture.  This weekend, I read the new People magazine, which featured “Baby Yearbook 2008″, covering celebrity baby lifestyles from fashion to nursery decor.  I marveled at J. Lo’s extravagant nursery for her twins, and then imagined what it must be like to have two other houses with two other nurseries decorated exactly the same way (Max & Emme won’t be confused at any of their three homes.)

My reality is altogether different.  Here are my true confessions:

• We’re renting a house.  This means major decorating is not only restricted, it’s kinda pointless.  Therefore, we make do with what we have.  And what we have is funny.  It’s hilarious watching peoples’ reactions to the wallpaper in my son’s room.  Three walls are a masculine, somewhat dark pattern, which is fine.  One wall, inexplicably, though, is a repeated pattern of pictures of colonial American buildings.   Let me say that again:  it’s a repeated pattern of pictures of colonial American buildings.   It’s a bit like having a giant, permanent history poster in your bedroom.  On the plus side, Eli has a better sense of our country’s past than I ever did at that age.  So, bonus!
• The crib bumper is adorable.  It’s green, blue, and red, which we bought at Wal-Mart.  It doesn’t match the wallpaper, of course, or anything else in the room, for that matter.
• There are no curtains for the window.  I wouldn’t even know how to hang them if I had some.
• I find random baby room decor at Target when it’s marked down, and occasionally, I buy it.  So Eli’s room has a few animal plaques here, some safari animal clings there, and a wooden sign that says “Thank Heaven for Little Boys” over his window (this sign was a gift, actually).  All of this is hung on top of that wallpaper.  (Sometimes, if you stare at the walls long enough, you can make out new images, like those old Magic Eyes books.)

• We’ve moved a few times since my kids were born.  Therefore, Eli’s room is also our storage/junk room.  This is fine for now, since he only uses the room for sleeping.  Other than the crib and wall decor, it’s pretty much my dumping ground for extra books, picture frames, and boxes.  His closet is our extra storage closet.

• My daughter Lucy’s room is painted blue.  Go figure.   
• I try to stay away from Pottery Barn Kids, Babies R Us, and other baby specialty shops as much as possible, to keep my envy in check.

As much as I wish I could have a nursery that is airy and bright and serene and precious, with gliding rockers and lullabies playing, it’s just not in the cards for me.  And frankly, the kids just don’t even know any better.   

Have you got any confessions you’d like to share?  Anyone out there in a similar boat?

p.s.  I recently painted these letters to add to the decor, and I am pretty proud of them.

My little girl celebrated her first birthday with a party at our house this weekend. So I decided I should probably finish putting her nursery together, you know, so I can show it off to all my family and friends. Luckily Ace can’t talk yet and complain about my wall color choice or beg for Dora posters. The nursery still isn’t complete. There are two blue v-shaped floating shelves that I am waiting for my husband to hang.

We started the nursery when I was pregnant. We didn’t find out the gender so we wanted a gender-neutral room. Also, we are planning a second child some time soon and I didn’t want to re-theme the same room for the second one. I am way too cheap frugal that way. We chose a light lime/apple color for walls. We matched the wall paint to a pair crib sheets we picked out. Then anchored the room with white furniture and blue and orange accents.

The Room

* Diaper Champ! love it. Gift from baby shower
* White Dresser from Ikea – $69.99
* Changing pad from a baby shower gift.
* Oatmeal laundry basket – Gift from baby shower
* Dump truck from my niece.
* Orange hanging storage unit from Ikea – $4.99. This is a great place to store all those bazillion stuffed animals that we receive as gifts. Really, how many stuffed animals does a girl need?
* Dimmer on the wall from Lowe’s – $20
* Art by me.

* Crib from Babies R’ Us – A gift from my in-laws and Uncle at my baby shower!
* Sage Gerber Crib Sheet from Babies R’ Us – $7.99
* White Dust Ruffle from Babies R’ Us – $17.99
* Art by me.

* Do you see the strange blue things in the corner? Those are the two blue wall shelves from Ikea that need to be hung – $6.99 each.
* Hedda Multicolor curtains from Ikea – $29.99
* Bright orange sheers from Ikea – $14.99 for a pack of two
* Curtain hardware from Ikea – $3.99 for rod – $1.49 for hardware.
* Marley the monkey and stroller were gifts.

* White bookshelf is a hand-me-down from my friend, Barb.
* Blue storage bins from Ikea – $1.49 each.
* Books, frame, and stuffed animals were gifts.

The Closet

* Large storage boxes from Ikea – $6 for pack for 2.
* Small boxes for clothes (notice: they are all labeled!) – $3.99 for 2.

Lighting

* Magnesium Spotlight System from Ikea – $69.99. I saw a picture of a nursery with cool track lighting and found this alternative. They were really easy to install. We also added a dimmer. I also like how the S-shape mimics the pattern in the curtains.

Art

* Canvases were a total of $35. I can’t remember. Brushes – $3. I used leftover wall paint for the paint. I am not an artist and this was my first attempt. I used to see abstract pieces of art and think, “I could do that!” Now I know why art costs so much. I didn’t have the right paint and my skills simply aren’t the best. I did these really quickly last week.

* The circle art is inspired by Essence-Chocolate and Essence-Blue from art.com.

* The alphabet piece highlights my daughter’s initials in orange. I remember seeing a website where they would create an artwork piece with your child’s name highlighted in the alphabet. It just worked out the A,C, and E are the beginning for me.

Putting together Ace’s nursery was incredibly fun for me. Can you tell I love Ikea? Did you put a nursery together for your little one? Do you kid’s room have a color palette or theme?

We’d love to see your nursery or kid’s room – post a picture or video to your blog or to flickr or YouTube (etc) and leave a link in comments below!