Baby Girl Nursery Reveal

My faithful readers, I know you've been waiting for this post.  We had the nursery done a few weeks before baby's arrival, but I was waiting on the reveal until she was here.  And then she was 8 days late, so that has delayed things even more.

Let me start by saying that nesting is real.  As we approached the due date, I didn't want to leave the house at all.  I just wanted to be home with Dan organizing, cleaning, and decorating.

Once we knew the baby was healthy and we found out she was a girl, Project Nursery began.  We had to transform the space from walk-in closet to baby's room.  We started by emptying everything out.  The room was actually a lot bigger once all my clothes were out.  We moved everything into the other side of our bedroom which is pretty much just open space.  Eventually I hope to convert this to a true closet, but we'll see.  

After the room was emptied and cleaned, Dan painted.  I knew I wanted gray walls no matter the gender, so we used the same color we have in our guest bedroom.  Then, it was time for furniture.  I also knew I wanted white furniture from the start, so over the summer, we purchased her crib from Amazon.  We had seen the one we wanted at Babies R Us, but it was cheaper on Amazon with free shipping.  Dan was going to have to assemble it either way, so this was the better option.  A little while later, we found the matching dresser and a glider, so we ordered those.  The last piece of the furniture puzzle was a shelving unit which we found at Target.  We flipped the dresser and crib a few times, but settled on the way it is now.

Our fall was pretty busy, so it wasn't until Halloween weekend that we finally had a chance to put the finishing touches on baby girl's room.  Plus we had to wait at least until after the shower.  We took out everything we wanted to hang on the walls, including some shower gifts, and shelves we bought at Target and came up with a layout.  Dan then hung everything to my specifications.

Then we had to order a blackout shade, so we found a cordless one at Home Depot (after a failed attempt at one from Christmas Tree Shop).   I had found a pink tulle curtain at Target over the summer as well, so that went up as well.  For the inside of the dresser, I ordered some drawer organizers from Ikea.

We went back and forth over whether to get a small table for next to the glider, but there wasn't much room.  Then we debated a floor lamp, but the short ceiling height limited (and by limited, i mean virtually eliminated) that option.  I looked for a small lamp for such a long time and couldn't find anything I liked.  I had seen one at Target with a wooden base that was the perfect side, but I didn't know if the wood tone would go with the rest of the decor.  I finally just decided to test it out and I actually liked the contrasting wood with all the white and gray in the wood.  Plus it tied in with the wooden toys and the rocking horse.

Now that everything was in, it was time to play.  I actually took a day off work to organize.  I loved it.  I washed most of her clothes and organized the dresser, and hung everything else up in her closet.  I did leave the tags on a lot of stuff just in case she grows too fast and misses wearing something.  I had purchased some closet dividers on Etsy that I used to separate the sizes.  I know I'll only use these for a few months, but then I thought I could easily use my label maker and change out the tags for future use.  

Once her clothes were organized, I set to work on the shelves.   This was tough, but I eventually found something I was happy with.  I tried to mix in some new things with some sentimental things I already had. 

For her crib, I went with a pink tulle bedskirt that matched the curtains and then some plain gray sheets.  I actually opted not to buy baby bedding.  It was so expensive and I figured we wouldn't use much of it anyway and it would be more for show.  So I took some throw blanket and used them to accent the crib, as well as some stuffed animals and the sign from our shower.  Obviously, everything will come out once she's sleeping in there, but for now, it works.

 

Since the room is small, we needed to get the most use out of every space possible.  I used a jewelry organizer that I had on hand to hang behind the door.  I put some of her accessories in there like bows and also some pacifiers. 

Outside her door there is a little nook that I knew needed something functional.  I toyed with a few ideas and ultimately settled on a rolling cart from Ikea to house her bathing supplies, extra wipes, and anything "medical" such as her thermometer, snot sucker, etc.  I also thought it a good place to display her adorable growth chart.  I found a heart shaped board at Target with hooks that I used to hang her robe and towels.  The upstairs bathroom is close to the nursery, so we figured we could wheel the cart in for bath time, and then wheel it back.  And as she gets older, we can use it for whatever else we might need.

Here is the view when you first enter the nursery.  The crib is to the right and the bookshelf on the left.  It pretty much turned out the way I had envisioned it which doesn't always happen with my ideas, so I was happy this one was true to form.

Be well,