Big nursery reveal!

After many weekends of work and a big push over the past 4 days as Andy had time off over the holidays, the nursery is finally ready for it's big reveal!  It's been a labor of love not only by Andy and I, but also by my dad who generously used his talents gleamed from years of house painting years ago to paint the walls, and my very talented artist mom who both painted our amazing mural and crafted the whimsical bird mobile.  With creativity in mind (and frankly, out of necessity) we did many parts of this nursery on the cheap- Andy painted an old dresser; almost all books were obtained at yard sales and resale shops; the glider and ottoman were bought used off craigslist and reupholstered; the rug was bought on sale at Urban Outfitters online utilizing a coupon code; filler storage furniture is from Target and the white chair was re-purposed from Andy's single days.  I still have a couple more details to fill in but in the meantime, here are some pics of our new favorite room:

I agonized over the fabric for this chair for weeks, but eventually managed to decide on this colorful, quilt-like fabric by a Japanese designer.  After much searching, I found it on sale on two sites and bought what was left at each.  My mom's coworker friend then used her sewing skillz to reupholster it (I originally considered doing it myself but subsequently decided I was WAY out of my league on this one).  I love the way it turned out!  The Rock n' Play, Mamaroo and Moses Basket will likely find homes in other areas of the house over time, but they're stored here for now.

You can see Zu's special "nursery bed" on the right side of this one.  She already loves the bed and the room as a whole.  We have found her hanging out there a couple of times already.  Funny enough, she is the only one with a bed in this room since we don't have a crib- Sprout will be sleeping in a co-sleeper in our room for the foreseeable future (she'll be out sometime before she turns 18 I'm sure ;)). 

The book nook.  I originally wanted an older, used bookshelf with more character, but got tired of looking for one in our budget and picked up this storage cube at Target instead.  It does the trick and actually works pretty nicely in the room with the added bonus of providing some much-needed storage space.

 

We realized it would be nice to have comfortable seating for more than one adult in the room and we had this extra chair, so we made this little art corner.  I have a couple more pieces of art to hang and I am planning on making a pillow for the chair out of the leftover glider upholstery fabric but haven't gotten there yet.  The bin next to the chair stores our million and one baby carriers, most received as gifts or bought used.

 Beautiful artwork by Oliver and Pearl totally goes with the multi-color theme of the room!  In case it's hard to see, the top picture is actually a family portrait by Oliver, complete with Sprout in my tummy and Zuzu beside Andy!  I got nice frames deeply discounted at AC Moore that were discounted even further with a coupon.  Love that! :)

The changing area.  Here you can see much handiwork: The dresser, expertly painted complete with contrasting knobs by Andy, and truly incredible mural and bird mobile by my mom.  You can also see my old bear "Cocoa Marshmallow" hanging out on the changing pad.  I am looking forward to passing my childhood friend on to our Sprout.

More complete pic of this part of the mural.  You can also see the Mamaroo in this pic.  Andy was having a hard time picturing life without it after drooling over the one that resides with our friends Jen and Rodney and their son Rowan.  So, when I found a 20% off coupon, we took the plunge.  It was probably our biggest splurge.

The mobile my mom made is incredible!  The hand-sewn birds hang down from a real branch with some purple bells attached.  I think Sprout will love it!

Close-up of birdy flying by the tree in the background :).

So, that's our nursery.  Andy, Zu and I already love hanging out there.  We've taken to "story hour" in the nursery where we take turns reading books.  I'm not exactly sure who we're reading to (can Sprout understand?  Does Zu enjoy books?  Are we reading to eachother?) but it's some good, wholesome family fun :).  Hope you enjoyed the tour and looking forward to sharing the nursery with many of you in person in the future!

Happy New Year to all!