The Nursery!

Well, we finally did it!  Keith and I started making preparations around the house for Lil' Eli's bedroom.  We live in a spacious house, but it only has 3 actual bedrooms...of which two have been occupied as a guest bedroom and office.  Hmmm....how do we make this work?  We need a guest bedroom (just in case), not to mention we have a queen bed that we can't exactly put in the closet.  Additionally, I work from the house, so nixing the office isn't exactly possible either.  So, we had to figure out how to make this whole thing work, so that Eli wasn't going to sleep in the bathroom. :) 

Thank God for Ikea!  Yes, Ikea ultimately helped us bring our problem to a quick resolution.  We needed to combine our guestroom and office into one.  Well, thanks to Ikea we were able to get matching furniture that combines all of the rooms!  Our original apartment furniture (now guest bedroom furniture) is from Ikea, and comes in birch.  Well, they also make a small desk in birch, as well.   In addition to this, Ikea also makes a baby crib in the same material.  (Don't worry...!  This crib got an 'A' in consumer ratings for baby cribs).  So, now we have managed to combine the office and guest bedroom, and done so with matching furniture!  Additionally, we also have a fully furnished nursery with crib and dressers (the dressers used to be our 'guest bedroom' dressers).  We are pleased with the way everything turned out.  This worked out exceptionally well for two reasons A) a huge cost saver B) helps us avoid having to find storage for a bed and two dressers!

So, what does it look  like?  (The first photo is before, and the second is after)

What does Eli's room look like?  Well, so far, this......

So, we have to have an 'ultimate vision' for this room.  Don't worry, it won't stay white and birch.  My mom has been very excited to help with the nursery bedding.  Our hope is to have some really neat custom bedding that she will sew together.  She and I spent an entire day (in the rain) running from fabric store to fabric store to find 'the ultimate' bedding for Eli. 

Can I just point out how few options there are for little boys!  If I was having a girl, I would be running through miles of fabrics and options trying desperately to pick 'the perfect ones'.  On the other hand, mom and I drove miles and miles just to find a few good options.  We would find great fabrics that had pinks in them or stuff like that.  Or, we would find beautiful fabrics in blues, greens, and browns...but the pattern was flowers...(Argh, the frustration).  Of course, we could always fall back on 'airplanes', 'trucks', or 'clowns', but that is not our style.  So, after a full day we found the perfect fabric that lends itself to plenty of options.  

Here is the picture....you will have to imagine the rest.  Also, the wall color will be a two-tone version of the blue green that you seen in the dots and solid fabric.  We will be doing a lighter blue green on top, an antique white chair rail, and a darker blue green on bottom.  

FYI...this is going to take awhile to piece together, so be patient with us.  But, I will have pictures as the project progresses.

Enjoy!