When we moved into our new home in January, we chose the largest upstairs bedroom, besides the master, for Eisele so that it could double as a playroom. The older two girls have a living room area down in the basement to escape to so it seemed fair. I'm patting myself on the back for my forethought because her room is large enough to share with her brothers when they arrive, and still have a play area! Saves us a whole lot of bedroom swapping!
The nursery is over the two car garage so it's roughly the same size. Only downside is it isn't insulated well so it gets colder in the winter and hotter in the summer than any other room in the house. We've fixed that with a window AC/heating unit. And while it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing bit of machinery, it gets the job done. I think eventually we will insulate the ceiling in the garage better, and will replace the original windows with energy efficient ones.
But, the idea of creating a shared nursery that was also fairly gender neutral was a fun challenge. I'm really feeling the light, neutral and natural vibes you see all over Instagram right now and was influenced by colors that reminded me of a desert sunset - rust, mustard, blush pink and cream. But I live far from the desert so I didn't want that to be the overall feeling. That always seems forced to me -- kind of like when you see a house decorated like it's at the beach when it's in the Midwest. To each his own but that never made sense to me.
I found some great nurseries on Pinterest to get some inspiration from like these:
via Pinterest
via Pinterest
via Pinterest
And then starting putting it all together on a design board to help me visualize it. I have started buying most of the design elements and after the painters come next week to give the walls a fresh coat of almost white instead of the awful orange-tan they are now, I can starting putting things in place. Or more accurately, John can with my direction because I am beyond all heavy lifting at this point in my pregnancy (28 weeks currently). Climbing stairs is a feat at this point if I'm being honest with you all.
The only changes I'm currently planning to make are on replacing the toddler house bed with a rattan daybed like this one. We haven't transitioned her out of her crib yet - she hasn't learned how to escape - but I think just biting the bullet and getting her a bed that will last for years is a better investment than a transitional toddler bed that would only be good for a few years at most.
I can't wait to start piecing it all together in the next week or two! I would love to know what you think if you want to comment below. I'm not a designer by any means so suggestions are welcome.
