Nursery Reveal.

Here it is. The Nursery! Several of you have been asking to see pictures, but I wanted to get most things hung and in place before posting pictures; I'm finally there. Baby Boy Jackson's little "Crib" is just about done. I'm sure there will be a few minor tweaks and additions before his arrival and even after, but for now I'm feeling this project is complete (except I still need to hang the mobile). Do you remember this old room? It's quite the same, but quite different. Yes? We didn't do any repainting of the walls, which made this project much easier than it could have been. I was thinking ahead last year when we originally painted. I'm so happy with the way things turned out. 

I got a lot of my inspiration from this post here. I really wanted to keep the room gender neutral for the most part and not have it be too overboard baby as it is a guest room for friends and family as well. It's been a fun process because most things are refurbished items and items made and given to us by friends & family. The best kind, right? 

Above: a clothesline of baby wishes & advice given at one of our showers, and an old mirror of mine that I repainted with chalkboard paint. Below is artwork from my talented friend Catie that I'd mentioned here, a gift given by my sister Brooke, chalkboards and a mirror that I made by repainting and covering an old mirror and painting old canvas prints, that I almost got rid of, with chalkboard paint. I love chalkboards! Can you tell? The prints on the right hand wall are recreations from the book Are You My Mother?. Do you remember that book? I loved it as a kid and had a very old version that my mom was able to scan some pages of and frame them for the wall. I love the old barnyard frames. You can find them here. The yellow chair is an old chair of ours that was white and Lyle painted it to give the room a nice pop of color. I love how it turned out and it was so easy!

Below you'll see books looking as though they're just hanging from the wall. Well I'd had these "invisible" bookshelves for quite some time and had been wanting to use them, but hadn't found a permanent place for them until now. I think they are super fun. 

These giraffes were given to us by my parents. We found them up in Asheville, NC at a local artists' emporium. I think they are so very precious. A little giraffe family.

These balloons were a gift from a good friend of mine. Thanks Brooke! I absolutely love them. 

The rug is a creation that I semi-made. I got the idea off of an inspiration room I'd mentioned earlier. It's really just 4 small bathroom rugs sewn together and then taped together with rug tape. I love all the colors in the rug and it made it so easy to decorate around. Plus, the cats love it....but they're not allowed in here on their own....they're too mischievous.  

I'm so excited to read to our little guy in this little chair and have him sleep in this sweet bed someday so very soon. Oh how life is going to change..but only for the better.

I hope you enjoyed your little tour. I sure did. Happy Sunday ya'll.

lauren

Parental Visit Part Deux.

I promised pictures and more about my parents' prebaby trip to visit, and here you go! Warning, there's a lot of pictures. Please feel free to pass!

Saturday morning we all had breakfast before heading out to venture off to Asheville, NC. Here is the gang all entwined in their technology loops while I prepared breakfast. Yes, even Boppa had his own device. 

We took the long, scenic route up to Asheville and stopped at Looking Glass Falls.

We tried to take the Blue Ridge Parkway, though to our disappointment it was closed. We made the best of it though and got some great scenic pictures.

I was feeling dopey Saturday and stayed in the car during some of the lookouts...party pooper Lauren.

Dad & I on the couch in our sitting room at the B&B. Man, I'm looking larger everywhere! Baby's growing! I mentioned more details about the B&B here if you're interested.

On our way home we stopped for a hike along the Green River.

What a handsome husband and Baby Daddy!

Setting up the crib! Lyle was at work but gave Dad the "OK" to put it together. We thought it would be fun for them to get to help and see it before they left. 

Boppa hard at work.

Tutu beautified in all her glory!

And Done! Good job Boppa and thanks for all your help. You & Mom truly spoiled us this past week. Every bit of generosity was very much appreciated. Thank you, thank you!

So long for now.

lauren

Guest Bedroom...Pre Nursery

Picture of the Day!! Sweet kitten basking in the sun. Just had to sneak this in while I could. It's a gorgeous day here in Greenville and I'm super excited because my parents are arriving this evening for a week visit! Yay! That is if they can make it out of the snowstorm in Seattle.....They better. We have some fun stuff stored up for their visit....an overnight trip to Asheville, NC; some good eating, and baby prep! Why would you want to miss out?

As I was getting the house ready and straightening things up around here I realized that my guest bedroom will no longer look the same! I decided I'd better take some pictures to capture it in my memory. So here you go. I don't think I've put up many real shots of the house yet. I promise the tour will come now that we have the fancy camera. Actually, I should have done that today since the house was all spruced up and the sun is shining. Too late now. I have to leave in a bit. So here it is. We are putting up the crib this weekend so changes are taking place. 

Updates to come on the fun weekend and a 22 week update from me as well. Can you believe it??

lauren

Baby Nursery Thinking.

I've been starting to brainstorm this weekend about what baby's nursery may look like or resemble. I'm not quite ready yet to do any major plans, but I enjoy the process of brainstorming. My hope is to keep the room fairly gender neutral. This is for several reasons: I can start planning before we find out if baby will be a boy or a girl, too much pink or blue or gender persuasion I think will put me over the edge, I don't want the room to say "baby" all over it though it will be hard to hide, and it will allow the room to be used for other possible children that may enter the picture some day.

Early on when we found out we were pregnant, I found the style crib I want for our small house. It's the Jenny Lind style crib; not too bulky but with classic charm. As I've browsed Pinterest, I found that most of the nurseries I am drawn to all had that style crib! Funny, huh? Here are a few of my favorites I've found so far. I'm leaning towards a gray/yellow/teal color theme allowing for multicolor accents. Mostly because we already have those colors themed in one of the rooms (fyi...room has not been officially determined at this point).

These first three are my favorite...they are all from the same room.

This one has a similar feel.

I like the feel of this room but a switch in the colors and minus the poms; I'd substitute them with something else hanging.

I love this print. I may have to recreate this in my own fashion....possibly canvas or chalkboard?

Check out my Baby Pinterest board. There's more ideas I've gathered. What do you think?

lauren