Project Nursery

In the early days of pregnancy when we were still getting over our shock, Brandon would come in the room and I'd be lost deep in thought and when he asked what was up I would explain that I was mentally rearranging our second level and attic. This happened on more than one occasion because I know that the best way to get something done (or at least start it) is to visualize. I arranged, rearranged, threw things away, and decorated over and over again mentally for hours on end. Visualization is a powerful tool. Now here we are months later with a completed nursery, organized attic, and overall a much lighter home all thanks to some serious visualization.

 Brandon, like most men, wants to make his wife happy. I had seen this crib on Pinterest several times and I just had to have it, but I didn't know what it was called or where to find it. After much investigation I finally found out that this is a "Bratt Decor Venetian Crib." I looked it up, but I kept thinking we would find a cheaper, more reasonable crib on Craigslist; however, I couldn't get this one out of my mind. One day Brandon called me and said to meet him after work at Storkland. Turns out, he'd been researching and found out that the crib of my dreams was on display only seconds from my school. When I walked in the door, it was the first thing I saw. We immediately made a down payment and began looking for the perfect furniture and bedding to match.

The bedding wasn't nearly as easy as the crib itself. If you don't have children yet then you might not know how ridiculously expensive crib bedding can be (and this is from a girl who has not leaned on the cheaper side with her own bedding). Some websites we found were charging upwards of $1,000 for bedding! What made things more difficult is that we had painted our walls before we had chosen our bedding so we already had a color palette we had to stick to, which narrowed our choices even further. All that said, we finally have bedding we love. Yes, it did take hours and hours of browsing the internet and Pinterest and 3 purchased and returned bedding sets before we made up our mind, but it was all worth it! We finally found some reasonably priced, perfect palette to match our walls, bedding.

After we found the perfect crib, it was time to find furniture to match. Actually the same day we found the crib we went over to the Antique Mall & Home Consignment store across the street and found these two gems (dresser and a "chester drawer" haha). We found these back in late September and would go visit them regularly until my work bonus came in and we were able to go back and give them a home. They are antiques that have been refinished and sanded and we love them! We realize that they are not very "boyish," but the plan is to use our old guest room furniture with John Mark when he is old enough for a big boy bed. Hopefully by then we will be thinking about #2 (which will most surely be a girl, right?) and these will be perfect for her as well.

Oh the glider! I could write pages and pages about the glider alone, but I'll try to keep it short. Boy and Girl want glider. Boy and girl buy one on Craigslist. Boy and girl realize it's a rocker, not a glider (and there's no matching ottoman) and apparently that is very important. Boy and Girl fight over what, where, and if they should get a glider. Girl caves and realizes boy is right - a glider is a must. Boy and Girl are unsuccessful at finding a non-ugly glider on Craigslist. Boy and Girl sell rocking chair on Craigslist. Boy and Girl buy glider from Buy Buy Baby (it's not Cragislist, but at least they had a coupon). After much experience I just have one piece of advice for those of you who have not put together a nursery yet: buy a neutral glider that will sell on Craigslist: You may have the most top of the line glider, but if it is denim, mustard yellow, hot pink, or polka dot, no one is going to buy it on Craigslist (no matter how many times you repost it).

 Old Glider Rocker:

 

New Glider:

As you can clearly tell, Craigslist has been an important part of my nursery journey; however I failed at finding furniture, a crib, or a glider on it. That doesn't stop me from looking though: I'm on there all the time and there's so much good stuff, but I just haven't brought myself to buy any because I am so worried that I am going to over buy and end up with all this stuff that we just won't need or will only use for a short time (I guess that's just the way it goes, but I still can't get my mind around this concept). I WILL find something on Craigslist I can buy...just not quite sure what it will be yet.

The rest of the nursery shopping was not nearly as difficult. Thanks to Homegoods, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Etsy, my own attic (combined with a little spray paint) and we are finished (for now)!

So if you really know me, you know that my closet (or trunk or silverware drawer for that matter) has never really matched the persona I present when it comes to work and my home. I guess that is going to be true for John Mark as well. I decided over Christmas break that, while Brandon left me unattended for a short time, I was going to clean out his ENTIRE closet, switch some dressers, and move an old T.V. out of the attic and into JM's closet. I also set up the Direct TV box and DVD player all by myself and I was really proud. Brandon was a little less pleased (after all, I'd disrupted his "personal" space and done some lifting that I shouldn't have, but it's all over now). I figure that this TV (nevermind that it's from the 90s), will be good for late night feedings in my new glider!

Now we will just hurry up and wait! 50 more days!