life and puppies

Although working on the nursery has been one of my favorite projects I’ve ever tackled, I’ve been more than hesitant to post pics of it  – partly because I’m having trouble capturing the space in pictures, but mostly because I keep waiting for it to be “done” before I do so. But the truth is, it’s essentially done and I’m not sure it’ll ever really be done done (as in to the point where I’m completely satisfied with it). In fact, I’m sure it won’t be — there are too many obstacles in the way, like not enough space in the area we’ve carved out for Baby Girl, the floors will never be clean enough (vinyl + winter + a sheddy Gracie = perpetually dirty floors), too many cords running around (I know: this one probably sends up a safety flag for more than a few of you) and the obstacle known generally as Kate. I keep ordering new things from Etsy to put on the walls or decide a different table needs to replace the one by the front door or I just don’t get around to putting the freshly laundered (thanks, Aaron) sheets on the crib mattress and, because I do these things, I decide the space is not ready to be photographed. But, sigh, let’s just have at it anyway, shall we?

Ok, here’s some pics to help orient yourself a bit.

Living room, before baby

Then, sometime after the holidays, we got to work on reinventing the space. Specifically, Aaron got to work putting together the Ikea bookshelves that operate as our room dividers.

The secret to a nursery in a living room

And then Aaron had the brilliant idea to put the shelves perpendicularly to the spot we had had in mind for them originally. Brills!

De facto walls from Ikea

Now, we have the living area on one side and baby space on the other. Let’s take a look at the baby space, shall we? Here goes.

View into the nursery

The crib, white dresser/changing table and rug are all from Ikea. This really helped us save a lot of money. And thanks to Baby Bargains recommendations and advice, we felt like we weren’t even cutting any corners in doing so.

Crib

Ikea dresser with Anthropologie pulls and Target storage

The space is rather narrow, but adequately long so that we are finding — as of now — we are able to fit almost everything we want to in the room. And yes, although it might not really qualify as a room for real estate purposes, it counts as a room for us. And for Baby Girl. And sometimes even Gracie seems to think it’s a room of her own.

Another view

All of the money we saved buying things from Ikea made us feel like we could buy the world’s most awesome glider. At least it’s the glider we think is the most awesome — it’s small and sharp-looking, fitting perfectly where we needed it to. Thanks so much, Rubin’s!

Super glider

In case you are wondering, that little side table was on super sale at West Elm and the lamp is from Urban Outfitters. My computer and I have been very busy the last couple of months, and the credit card has been putting in extra hours.

Etsy has been instrumental in helping me pull off all of the things I’ve wanted to … I came home yesterday to the sweetest little crocheted owl hat that I can’t wait for Baby to try out and a few days before that, I received these adorable sheep decals in the mail. I just love them.

Etsy sheep decals

We’ve also received a million and one things from the great showers our generous friends and family have thrown — from onesies to burp cloths to bedding to pacifiers to toys to books to the car seat to bouncers. Holy stuff. Where to put it all? Well, remember those bookshelves that you thought were just there to divide the room? Voila! They’ve been doing double duty as an excellent place to store all of the great things that are here waiting for Baby Sweet Potato’s arrival.

Ikea bookshelf & Target storage

Elephant lamp

I still don’t feel like the photographs capture the space in quite the right way, but you get the idea. I hope you like what we’ve done with the place.