Our Baby Nursery

Last weekend Rob and I watched the documentary Babies. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd definitely recommend it, even if you are skeptical. It's so funny and precious. Besides being adorable, the film also offers insight into how babies around the world are raised, and how without all the trappings of this American life, they all learn to walk and talk and become their own little people within their own culture.

The film got me thinking about how much we here in America obsess about our babies. We buy all kinds of things and have all this stuff for our babies when babies in some cultures don't even wear diapers. Do we do all this stuff for our babies out of necessity (yes I think so in most cases -- it is culturally acceptable for our babies here to wear diapers and clothes and sleep in cribs) or do we do it because our culture tells us we should? (I also think this deserves a yes answer).

Whatever the reason we do things for our babies, for me personally, I wanted to have and decorate a nursery because having a place for our baby in our home was important for me. Having a baby is an extension of Rob and I and the start of a new chapter in our lives and I wanted the place we bring our baby to be warm and welcoming.

So, all that to say, we fixed up our nursery for Baby B. It has taken us (me really) awhile to actually get everything together, but finally today, we hung the last picture and I think if the baby came I would feel good about bringing him/her here.

Thanks to my friend Erica I decided on a gray and yellow themed room because it's gender neutral, but also something different than typical baby stuff. This summer my mom made the crib skirt, the bumper, the rocker cushions, the window valance and several of the basket liners out of slightly unconventional "baby room" fabric, but they all worked together. Our crib was a gift from Rob's parents. The rocker is originally from Brazil when my parents visited there years and years ago. My mom rocked all three of us in that rocker so it is special. We did repaint it white though. The dresser/changing table we found in PA at a garage sale for $20 (mirror included) and in my mom's words it was "hideous." I however saw the potential in it and once Rob painted it and distressed it a bit and put new knobs on it it looked much better.

Months ago I said I would set aside the month of September to do some "crafty" projects in the baby's room. I wanted to use a lot of the leftover fabric from my mom's projects and incorporate some other ideas into the room as well. Here's how everything came together.

I started with a blank gray wall over the crib

I found these five old frames at a garage sale for $2. They didn't have glass and were in pretty bad shape, but once I cleaned them up they worked out. Three frames I repainted white and distressed them and then one smaller frame I painted dark gray. The blue frame I kept as it was because I liked the color and it worked in the room.

After much deliberation and many trips to Michael's craft store, I decided to make a paper collage tree in the two bigger frames and then three fabric animals in the smaller frames. I don't really have photos of the process (or the hours) all this took, but here are some photos of the finished products.

Half of a tree. I decided to collage half a tree into each frame so when the frames hung next to each other on the wall it would look like one tree. The background is foam board covered in gray scrapbook paper. I found books at Goodwill and ripped out the pages and then just started cutting to make all the branches. Everything got a coat of ModPodge to hold it down and then I just fit the finished tree into the frame.

The finished frames on the wall. The yellow pieces have the first three verses from Psalm 1 written on them. These verses describe the man who follows the Lord and meditates on his law. It then says that he is like a tree planted by streams of water. I liked the idea of our baby growing up under those verses.

I fitted the three smaller frames with foam board and covered each one with a contrasting fabric. Then, I printed off drawings of an elephant, a bird and a rabbit from the Internet and traced them onto contrasting fabric. I used a product called Wonder Under to adhere the fabric to each other.

The bird.

The elephant and the rabbit.

The whole collection above the crib. I think it looks really sweet.

The other side of the nursery with the rocker and changing table. The painting above the rocker my mom sent me for my birthday and fits the room well.

A close up of the changing table.

The rocker and basket of stuffed animals waiting to make new friends with the baby.

The other corner. It's hard to see, but up on the shelf there is a white frame my future sister-in-law Logan made (it's adorable) and then of course, the very important Royce Yoder piggy bank that very special babies receive. I think first grandchild counts as that! There are plenty of books and tiny diapers waiting for baby there too.

All in all, the room came together so nicely and really didn't cost that much to pull off. I actually really enjoyed the decorating part and finding things at garage sales. It is also really special that many things in the room are handmade or have memories already attached to them. Now all we need to add to the room is a baby!

And here's me this week, looking like a snail who accidentally put her house on her front, not her back. I feel pretty good, but definitely ready to meet this baby! Thanks for praying that he or she comes soon. We'll be posting photos here soon I hope... :)