"The" Nursery

Many of us dream of what our baby's room will look like, even before we are expecting. That space where you'll bring your baby home to, and where you'll spend countless sleepless nights soothing her; it has to be perfection! "The" nursery... just the sound of the words conjure up wonderful images in our minds. Well, when the nursery you're dreaming of is for your grandchild, it's even more special. (I wasn't completely onboard with being a Grammie in the beginning, but let me say, it has definitely become my biggest excitement).

Beachy Chairs on the front porch

My daughter lives near the coast in North Carolina and her home has a comfortable beach-inspired feel. She is very adamant that the beach "theme" not be too literal, so she uses cotton fabrics, slip-covered furnishings and painted finishes. She sprinkles in touches of beach with a vase of seashells or an abstract painting of an ocean. She also likes nautical inspired clothing like Vineyard Vines, it's more of a preppy, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard kind of feel, rather than tropical or west-coast. So, her decor is more beach cottage feeling, than beachy... I'm not sure this is coming across, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right? 

So, taking these things into consideration, I set out to design the best nursery for "Clementine" (code name since they aren't telling anyone the name yet), but one that also functions for the parents and that flows with the feel of the rest of the house. Painted furniture, wicker and other natural materials, and lots of comfy, easy, cotton fabrics. 

we used gift tags to label the contents of the baskets.

They had a buffet that they were using in a guest room as a dresser, but it had doors instead of drawers on the sides, so we removed the doors and replace them with baskets to make it more functional, and we love the final result. 

Boat Cradle built by my dad with blanket crocheted by my mom.

She wanted a white crib and we found one that has a bead board detail, which is very cottage feeling. Since they had an upholstered and slipcovered rocker, recliner in the living room, they opted for a wicker chair in the nursery. With it's smaller scale and natural fibers, the same as the baskets in the dresser, it was the perfect choice. 

 A designer friend of mine had a small table she had rescued from a client who was throwing it out and we painted it to go next to the chair. We found a wicker lamp that works well with the other woven natural materials and it looks great in the space.

Then we added in details...

Changing pad attached on dresser, easily removed when she gets older.

You can see additional photos on my Facebook page and on Pinterest.

I used patterned scrapbooking papers to make her initials,
and then bejeweled them to make them sparkle.

I chose sheets to go with the quilt that reminded me of mens
shirts from Vineyard Vines.

We used more gift tags to organize the clothing by size
in the closet.

the gift tags and matching
clothes pins were invaluable
for organizing and hanging the clothes;
they look great too!

This little oar was adorable, but my son-in-law added these
glass knobs in the same colors to make it a coat rack.