Ready for Baby! Designing a Girl's Nursery
Planning and setting up Stella’s nursery was one of the most exciting parts of pregnancy. You don’t want to do it too early in the pregnancy, but then suddenly, you are huge and panicked and, YOU NEED IT READY NOW!
In the course of a “pregnancy movie marathon” I rewatched Father of the Bride, Part 2 (it holds up), and watching the nursery reveal scene, I knew that I wanted that vibe for Stella’s nursery. I was lucky to have Anne Sage and Caroline Ingraham Lee make that vision a reality.
The centerpiece of the design was the beautiful wallpaper - Tempaper Designs Chinoiserie. Left to my own devices, the room would have been saturated in over-the-top pink. (Thank goodness, for Anne and Caroline!) The green gives the room a fresh vibe that wouldn’t have been possible with only pinks.
There was a lot of behind-the scenes work to get the space ready. In anticipated of the wallpaper, we skim-coated the walls to get rid of the slight texture, which might have hampered the wallpaper installation. We also put in a new double-paned window. Replacing all the windows in our 1960s home is on the to-do list, but this room has two exterior walls and got really cold at night, so we went ahead and did this one. We don’t have any overhead lights in the rooms (another great 1960s feature), but we added it in here (on a dimmer).
We’ve lived with the space for more than a year, and it’s been really functional and calming. We have made a few changes: The large glass lamp on the changing table has moved to another room as has the floor lamp. Stella never slept in the crib with the canopy (for obvious safety reasons) and the canopy is now in the playroom. I also added blackout curtains over the blackout shade to get the room extra dark.
And that’s it! It’s been a beautiful space to spend hours and hours of precious baby time.
I can’t believe I’m brave enough to share this before. My husband had been using the office as an office space and we were in the midst of boxing it all up and moving it all out when I took this photo. You can really see how the giant area rug camouflages the rather blah carpet. (Pro tip: When layering a rug on rug, you must use a rug pad to prevent bunching)
Sources
Wallpaper: Tempaper Canopy
Crib: Babyletto Jubilee 3-in-1 Convertible Metal Crib
Chair: Babyletto Madison Swivelglider
Dresser (similar): Modernist Extra-Wide Dresser and Topper Set
Lamp: Bessie Candlestick Floor Lamp
Rocking giraffe: Happy Trails Plush Rocking Giraffe
Flush mount ceiling light: Jade 3-Light Gold Leaf/Cream
Photos: Anne Sage