Introducing: The Nar(wall)

I have been a little MIA over the past several weeks.  It may have a little something to do with a growing business and a baby arriving sometime very soon (as I write, I am due in 7 days).  I have been at the phase of my pregnancy for awhile now where my body is so physically exhausted that it's a good day if I get a load of laundry done, breakfast and lunch made and my son off to preschool for the afternoon.  Forget bending over to pick up, clean floors, etc.  You get the picture.

But like any true pregnant woman, I still have the urge to nest and have been doing *some* things little by little (oh, how I wish I was able to get more done before this baby was born).  We have been working on the nursery since April and it's slowly coming together.  With my last two kiddos their rooms were done months before they were born.  With this baby, I know it won't be done completely until after he/she is born and I've come to terms with that.  I have to choose my battles :)  

The first thing we did for the room was paint the walls gray and hang charcoal gray curtains.  Then we painted the crib kelly green.  I had grand ideas for us to create a narwhal  for above the crib out of scraps of wood we already had.  After several tweaks, it turned out pretty cute.  

I drew the narwhal onto some kraft paper to create a template.  Jared, my husband, screwed together strips of plywood we had lying around and then I traced the narwhal shape onto what was now a large surface.  Days later (this is real life, people), he cut out the narwhal using a jig saw.  Several more days after that, we used some stain we already to cover the piece and then distressed it vertically with sandpaper and a hand sander.  I wanted it to look older, like it was found in an old shipping vessel.  

We hung it using a very lightweight and inexpensive picture cleat we found at the Home Depot.  I plan to eventually put Velcro between the cleat pieces because I know how rowdy kids can be in their cribs and don't want this thing coming down to be used as a sword!  

For now, I have a button taped to the head for an eye.  For the longest time I couldn't decide on eye placement and kept moving it around.  Depending on the photograph or image, a narwhal's eyes are pretty low on their heads so I think I will keep it where it's at and glue it down soon (again, this will probably take me months to get to-ha!).  

I searched high and low for some fabric for a crib sheet that mimicked waves but felt somewhat sophisticated.  I had seen Japanese fabrics that looked like handrawn waves but at $17.99 a yard, I knew I could buy a much cheaper sheet than have one made from fabric that expensive.  After almost giving up and then deciding to look at Pottery Barn Kids one more time, I stumbled upon THE PERFECT SHEET on sale for $10 (I had looked at their website a million times and never seen it).  I mean.  I couldn't even buy 2.5yards of fabric for $10 and this was the whole shebang!  That was a happy day.  

The whales even matched the crib color!

I didn't start out to do a nautical nursery.  I really just wanted something that was gender-neutral but still felt like it had personality with some fun quirks.  I planned to combine a little preppiness with some rustic woods and industrial elements to hopefully get something suitable for either a boy or girl.  I think that's happening so far, but after the narwhal went up and the sheet was purchased, it started leaning nautical and I decided to go with it.  I bought some accessories for the room that feel coastal but hopefully aren't too theme-y (more photos to come!).

I will do a whole write-up on the room and show you the rest of the space when it's done... we still have to add a couple of pieces of artwork and hang a different light fixture.  For now, however, this is one of my favorite corners of the room and since it's complete, I thought I would share!  

I wish this were my room now!

xoxo,

Rachel

Baby Room Progress and Inspiration

These days my life has to be planned out really well and I have to stick to that plan.  I have two preschool-aged kids with a baby on the way, a house in the country that's always covered in dirt, a husband to take care of, a business that takes somewhere from 10-15 hours a week and a wild social life to manage. OK, that last part isn't really true but I do have friends that I want to connect with once in awhile!  Because of all of this though, I am really starting to learn how important it is that I set goals, plan ahead and am focused each day so that I can stay on top of my life and not let it get on top of me.  It's a very interesting balancing act but I do enjoy it.  

Why am I telling you all this?  Mainly because in a long-winded way, it relates to how I make time for special projects around the house.  We have several projects we are trying to tackle slowly but simultaneously so that by the time the baby gets here in the end of September, we are mostly settled and ready for his or her arrival. Starting in September and lasting until January, also happens to be the busiest time of year for my business.  So don't be surprised if you see my listening to Christmas Carols and drawing Christmas designs in mid-July.  I want to be ready for the fall retail boom long before baby comes.

That being said, for this baby, I decided to start getting the nursery ready waaaay early in an effort to not have it be a rush at the end when my business is also taking a lot more of my time than usual.  You may have seen on Instagram that I painted the baby's room in April. 

I was really really pleased with how it turned out and still smile every time I step foot in the room.  I used Bedford Gray by Martha Stewart (in Home Depot's Glidden Duo brand) and I absolutely adored the paint and color.  

Choosing a gray paint for a room can turn into a really tricky task pretty quickly which is why I wrote the post Gray Matters for my friend Lindsay over at Moxie Design Studio. I've linked to it here in case you want to pop over and glean some tips from some of my gray-painting experiences.  

Here's a close-up so you can see how the colors plays with the gray-toned floors, white trim and dark gray curtains.  It's a lot of gray right now but that will be changing soon enough.  

Next on my agenda is to paint our Jenny Lind (think curvy spindles) style bed Kelly Green.  I love a pop of color and I love green so this will be a fun project.  The rest of the room will stay neutral but definitely NOT boring.  My goal is to make it feel sophisticated with a touch of whimsy.  I will use industrial elements (like a sweet bronze and black light fixture), some fun art (I'm loving Narwhals for this room-- do you know they are real creatures?) and some modern & vintage furniture pieces that we already own.  I have a couple other fun ideas up my sleeve as well.  

It should come together nicely and hopefully inexpensively as well.  Looking at the Olioboard I designed, I'm thinking my main expenses for this room will be the paint, lighting and artwork.  Not too shabby.

What's your style when you are painting or decorating a room?  Get it all done in a weekend or slowly over time?  Goodwill and junk finds or Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel?  I'm usually a mix myself.

I'll keep you posted,
Rachel