We can't believe it - James will make his arrival in just about one month! Honestly, where did the time go? I will say... this little room probably takes the cake for the "longest" project to date for us... Nathan usually finishes projects in two weeks time around here, but with this (sweet little) room, we definitely took our time.
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We live in a fairly small home (around 1,600sf - with no basement)... we have three bedrooms, including the main bedroom, and office and "extra bed". We renovated the office space in early 2019... so when it came time to pick a room for James, it was an obvious decision to forgo a "guest bedroom" and turn the guest room into a nursery. This of course left us with no sleeping space for guests, but we do have a plan to resolve that problem! More on that at a later date!
Here are some *satisfying* before and afters... in true Kayleigh fashion, I didn't take any "before photos" when we still had the room set up a guest room -- I only remembered once Nathan started demoing the trim and baseboards, whoops.
BEFORE
AFTER
ottoman / glider / similar lumbar pillow / crib / name pennant / floor lamp / ceiling fan
BEFORE
AFTER
Nathan convinced me to replace all the trim and baseboards in this room and I pushed him to replace the carpet (to match the office carpet). I was reluctant to replace the trim, but I'm glad he insisted on it... because it really helped update the room. Plus, it just feels good to have some fresh finishes in this room for baby boy! For the walls, I decided to keep it very neutral - we used Chantilly Lace, by Benjamin Moore and I just love how warm it feels and it compliments the new carpet perfectly.
A lot of the larger items in this room were gifted to us by my parents (the glider and the crib) - but we did have a few items that we recycled from other rooms in our home. I already had black out curtains in this room, for guests, and we actually played musical dressers and swapped the dresser from our bedroom with the guest room dresser. The guest room dresser was too high to use with a changing pad - so we moved it into our room and put our smaller dresser in the nursery -- it worked out perfectly! I originally thought I would have to paint the dresser to make it work with the overall design, but once we moved it into the room, we loved how it looked with everything (win!)
ottoman / glider / side table / crib / shiplap / ceiling fan / curtains / name pennant
Can we talk about the glider for a minute though? I originally told myself that I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a glider or rocking chair... but oh boy - am I glad I picked a pricier one. Not only does it have a performance fabric that wipes up like a dream, but it is SO FREAKING comfortable! I am tall (5'-10") and the high back cushion is a game changer. I find myself coming into the nursery just to sit and rock in this chair... it's that comfortable. It is pricier... so I recommend throwing it on your registry or if you have a family member who wants to help out in a bigger way, ask them to purchase it for you as a gift. Either way though... I promise you won't be disappointed in this purchase!
As soon as we found out we were having a boy, I knew I wanted his room to have some type of wood accent wall... if you're new around here, it's kind of a running joke that we use shiplap in every single one of our projects -- literally every room in our home has some form of shiplap in it (hah!). For James' room, we still used our tried and true shiplap (linked here) - but we decided to showcase the reverse side and make it look more like a bead-board detail. I love how it turned out and I'm glad I stuck with my gut (when Nathan questioned me) about only applying it in the center of the wall.
BEFORE
AFTER
My other favorite part of this room -- which I have to give Nathan full credit for -- is the built-in closet. Nathan has a special hatred for all the sliding closet doors in our home, so we are slowly (but surely) removing them and transforming each closet into an "open concept" closet. Open closets may not be for everyone, but we have found that we can truly maximize our closet space when we do this... and in our small home, that's what's important to us. We used three 18" base cabinets to create this built-in dresser look. The amount of storage this added is UNREAL... and once James is older, I know I'll definitely appreciate all these extra drawers.
The wood top in the closet is a custom piece, and we purchased it from the same person that we used for our hall bathroom (they're local to us!). We decided to use Walnut for this piece, so all Nathan had to do was apply a natural stain on top to enhance that natural walnut color. The extra countertop space this provides is proving to be super helpful... I've already found myself standing in front of the closet and using this top as a work area - whether it be folding tiny baby clothes or simply having a somewhere to place the diaper bag when packing it up.
BEFORE
AFTER
dresser / lamp / book baskets / mirror / alphabet print
I really wanted to incorporate book storage that would be easily accessible for James -- this is probably something I will regret as he gets older and starts to throw his books everywhere, on a daily basis, but oh well! I wanted him to have access to his books and have this vision of him picking out a book for story time before bed -- again, this probably falls under "first time mom" daydreams, but just let me have my moment, okay??
I didn't want to use the same old "wall mount book shelves" that everyone buys from Ikea... so I decided to get creative with it! I bought these hanging wall file racks and had Nathan hang them individually -- they provide the perfect place for books and I love that the books can't easily fall out or shift. I also wanted something that was black to store his books in, so that we could tie in the metal crib... and I think these do just that. However, if high contrast isn't your thing, they also come in white and silver!
Aside from everything you can see when walking into the room, I did some serious organizing in all of the drawer space we have -- but more on how I tackled that in a different post!
Also, I think Nathan is taking a liking to all the plants I have around the house… because he insisted the room needed some “greenery” — so we hung the planter from the ceiling & I love how it can acts as a makeshift mobile for James.
crib / crib sheet / mattress / shiplap / name pennant / baby monitor
I hope if you're looking to create a neutral space for your little boy, that James’ room provides you with some inspiration.
- Here are all the *linkable* sources for the nursery -
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Talk soon, friends!
Kayleigh