Nursery Goings On

It feels like I've put the nursery on the back-burner over the last month or so... just kinda had to for the most part because work has been so nuts.  September and October have our last big filing deadlines of the year, so it's like a mini busy season for a few weeks.  Meaning, I don't have much time for anything else!

But yesterday was the last big deadline, and I can breathe again!  AND I can concentrate on more fun things, like getting Sam's room ready for him.  Because tomorrow marks three months till his big day!  Goodness... time is really flying.  I thought nine months would be an exorbitant amount of time to get ready for a baby.  Hmmm... not so much.  I feel time slipping away as I find more and more things to add to my to-do list!

But alas, we are making progress!  We finally got going on the bathroom paint this weekend.  We got this gorgeous robin egg blue from - where else? - Home Depot.  Hard to get the true color captured in pics, but it's really similar to this Restoration Hardware color...

We're going to do white bead-board along the bottom (up to chair railing height) - so that's why we didn't bother painting all the way down to the bottom trim.  I did most of this room - my energy is still there for now!  But the hub had to help me with the hard-to-reach spots behind the tub.

This afternoon I finished up with a second coat, and it is looking fabulous!  I just LOVE the color.  And I am not normally big into blue.  But this is truly a gorgeous color.  I think Sam will be pleased!

And I know I probably will regret this... I realize that.  But I'm planning to do a mix of white and taupe linens in the bathroom.  I'm looking for just a simple white shower curtain with a monogram.  May just grab a cheap white one at Kohl's and have a friend monogram it... or I may go with this Pottery Barn one that's actually pretty affordable (only $34 including the monogram)...

I've used several PB shower curtains in the past and they've all been great quality.  So how long do you think we'll go before that thing's covered it projectile baby vomit?!  Hopefully at least a couple of weeks.  I'll, uh... make sure I can wash it easily - whatever we end up with.  We also obviously need a mirror.  Because we (by choice) did a pedestal sink in this bathroom, we don't have a lot of storage in there.  So I'm wanting to do some kind of medicine cabinet mirror, like this one (also from Pottery Barn)...

So the bathroom is definitely starting to come together!  It's one of my favorite parts of the nursery... I adore baby and kids' bathrooms.

Also in the works, a few miles away, are the built-in shelves!!!  The hub's buddy is building them for us at his house and then he'll come install them once they're completed.  I haven't seen them in person yet, but the pics have me SO excited!  This is absolutely the focal point of the entire nursery and a concept I've had in my head for the last six years.  So amazing to finally see it come together... in real life!

The shelves will be painted white and there will also be trim across the top connecting the whole thing so it's one big piece.  Our one window takes up that entire open space in the middle.  Eeeks!  Can't wait to see those installed!

On tap for this weekend is getting started on the paint in the main room.  We haven't done the first thing about paint in there!  I was initially thinking we'd hire someone to do some fancy-pants design that I didn't have the patience for.  Not a mural, but just something cool - some kind of print or design.  But then I got inspired when we were in Home Depot last weekend getting the blue bathroom paint.  I noticed Martha Stewart's metallic paint collection and picked up a little sample bottle of this...

I've mentioned it before - I love me some metallic paint.  We have it in three rooms downstairs.  But they're very bold and heavy.  Martha has this very sweet, soft pearl-like gold paint that I knew would be PERFECT to accent the nursery with.  I was already thinking of incorporating some gold in there somehow, and this was my answer.

So fast forward through several rounds of what-about-this that went through my head, and that brings us to the final painting decision... We're going to do wide stripes on the main walls in two soft shades of taupe.  The ceiling will be painted with the soft metallic gold.  And in between the stripes on the walls will be a line of small coin-sized dots of the same gold.  Let me tell you, it is gorgeous in my head.  We'll see if reality plays along!

Lastly, I'm starting to pull together some accessories like wall decor. Gosh, there are so many little odds and ends I keep thinking of!  But I'm just trying to take it a step at a time.  So this week our two  main pieces for the walls came in.  I didn't know what I wanted to do on the walls for the longest time.  I try very hard not to do what everyone else is doing... I had a longer list of things I would NOT be doing than I did of any real ideas.  But finally I came up with a plan.  Above the crib, I'm using a frameless oval mirror that bestest gave us for our wedding (ahem 9 years ago).  It's from Pottery Barn (yes, I obviously have a thing for Pottery Barn accessories) and hangs by a ribbon.  Never been used.  Always figured we'd use it in a nursery someday, somehow.  My initial thought was to have the mirror engraved if we had a girl.  No dice there.  So recently I thought of getting some wooden letters to attach to the mirror since Sam's name is nice and short.  Which brings us to this...

That's the top of the crib in the mirror's reflection - in case my pic is confusing.  The letters (from PB Kids) came in white, but I'm 97% sure I'm going to spray paint them antique gold.  A bit darker than the gold metallic paint I was just gushing about.  Then we'll hang the mirror by a large blue grosgrain ribbon.  I wanted the letters gold because (1) there's already so much dang white in the room between the furniture and the shelves, and (2) I want them to coordinate with these kick-ass giant safety pins I ordered from Ballard!

Seriously, how friggin' cool are these?  They're meant to gussy up a laundry room but I saw them in the catalog a couple of months ago and thought they'd be awesome over the changing table.  They were very affordable - only $35 for the set.  And they're all metal, they actually fasten and unfasten, and all three have different antique finishes.  Very cool.

So yeah... lots going on in the nursery!  It's really starting to come together, though I feel like there is so much more to do!  I come up with new ideas everyday.  And of course, Gertie is always there by my side to supervise...

Hope to be back soon with more nursery updates as things progress!