I am definitely not a decorating guru and actually really struggle with decorating my house. We moved in over two years ago, but it's far from being "complete". But I am very pleased with how the nursery ended up. It doesn't belong in a magazine or anything, but I think it's really cute. I took pictures so that you can see what it looks like as though you're turning around in a circle. I hope that makes sense!
View from the door right when you walk in
The door with an adorable wreath my friend Stephanie made! I love that she color-coordinated with my nursery theme.
Wall with one side of crib #1 and the changing table, which was a gift from my Aunt Alison and Uncle Wells. This thing came from IKEA and has been the PERFECT changing table. The height is great and there is a lot of drawer storage, which is definitely needed for 3 babies! We don't have an IKEA in Greenville so my Aunt Kathy bought it in Atlanta and my Uncle Duncan drove it up here. You may remember this post from a while back when Uncle Duncan and my dad were assembling it.
Crib #1 - this is a hand-me-down from my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Duncan. They had twins about 12 years ago! The crib was originally a natural wood color and they painted it white to match the look I was going for. They're pretty much awesome. :)
Wall with window and rocking chair (in between crib #1 and crib #2). Please notice how adorable the curtains are and how perfectly they match with the bedding! The boys' Aunt Ashley made these curtains. She is so incredibly creative and talented. I absolutely love them (and her)!
Crib #2 - this is where all 3 boys are currently sleeping. It's the only crib that we bought new.
Wall with one side of crib #2 and with crib #3 and our tall chest. There is also a small chest/nightstand on this wall. While the boys were in the NICU, Thomas and MaSha painted the tall chest and the nightstand white in keeping with the matching theme within the nursery. Keep in mind that painting was done in the garage and this was during the heat of the summer so it was a true, sweaty labor of love. Crib #3 was given to us by the boys' Aunt Ashley and Uncle Zack. At least one of their cousins, Taylor or Anna, or possibly both, slept in this crib.
This is a close-up of the diaper cake that sits on the tall chest. The babies' Aunt Tara made this for my baby shower in Virginia. I know I need to use all the awesome things on here (including the diapers!), but it's just so cute that I am having a hard time with the thought of taking it apart. Since this picture was taken, however, I did remove the Wubbanubs for use with the boys. FYI - the Wubbanubs are the pacifiers with a small stuffed animal attached. We thought it might help William keep his paci in his mouth. Well, it didn't, but they're so darn cute so we like it when the babies use them! Haha!
Wall with closet
Inside of closet. Again, thank you to all that have passed along hand-me-down clothes and given us clothes as gifts. We are so fortunate and blessed!
NICU milestones that hang on the wall - our nurses in the NICU put these together for the babies. Each time they met a milestone, the nurse would get a cut out of that milestone, put the date on it and add it to their ribbon. Examples of milestones - the first time their Dad and I changed their diaper (please note how small these teeny, tiny diapers are), the first time we kangaroo cared with them, when they hit the 3 lb mark, etc.
Crosses that hang on the wall that were given to them by one of my BFFs, Colby.
Close-up of the knobs that are on the changing table and the nightstand. These were given to us by Aunt Ashley - she ordered them on Etsy. :) They match the nurse theme so well and are so cute!
I got put on hospital bed rest unexpectedly and much earlier than I had anticipated going to the hospital. That being said, the nursery was a COMPLETE mess when I was admitted to the hospital. We had just had our baby shower in Virginia 3 days prior and had gifts scattered around everywhere. I also had not gone through any of the clothes and baby items that had been given to us in the months prior and everything was just kind of stacked in the nursery. It looked as if a plastic bin and gift bag hurricane hit the room. When I thought about the nursery while on bed rest, it gave me a headache. I also knew that I would most likely be in the hospital until the boys were born and realized that the nursery would not be "done" right when the boys decided to enter the world. This is another way that my pregnancy was so much different than a typical one. Most pregnant moms get the opportunity (and enjoy!) working on, decorating and putting together the nursery in anticipation of and before having their baby. I realized that my nursery work would be done out of order and it's much harder to work on a nursery once the babies are already born. I mean, who has time for that?!?!? But here is an example of a silver lining for a NICU stay. I also knew I would have some time to work on it before the boys actually came home from the hospital. Not tons of time, mind you, because I felt like I needed to spend most of my time at the NICU while the boys were there, but I could work on it a little here and there before going to the hospital. Anyway, I have such kind in-laws that did put some man hours (well, actually woman hours) into getting the nursery in better shape for me to come home to. My mother-in-law and sisters-in-law spent a lot of time going through clothes, washing and organizing them, putting gifts away and getting them organized, etc. When I came home after my C-section, the room was in much better shape than how I had left it. I appreciated all their work so much and would have been completely overwhelmed had I come home to its original state. But I also felt like I hadn't had anything to do with the nursery at that point. I didn't have any of my "touches" in there. Other than picking out the bedding, I had very little input up to that point. I really felt like I needed to do something so that a piece of me would be in the nursery. I was looking on Etsy for wall art and came across some really cute designs and the thought occurred to me that I could actually paint their wall art and that would give me a feeling of wholeness and inclusion in the nursery. So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some canvas and paint and looked around for other things that I could paint or craft to help decorate the room. Here are close-ups of my "artwork". :)
This was the idea I got from Etsy. Shhh...don't tell that I copied it. I drew the alligators to match those on the bedding. These canvases took some time because I had to get out the ruler to draw the lines. They're definitely not perfect, but I don't mind because they were made with love! These hang on the wall with crib #3.
I also painted this South Carolina flag canvas to go over crib #2. The reason I chose the SC flag is because we're proud that the boys are South Carolinians and because I was trying to think of something that would go with our colors (navy, white and lime green) and something that I could realistically paint without messing it up too much. The SC flag met the navy and white criteria and I googled the flag and was able to recreate it.
I needed something to go on the wall above crib #1. I found this cute alligator that was already painted at Hobby Lobby so I got a piece of blank wood and painted it navy. Then I hot glued the alligator on it and added the green ribbon to make it more decorative. The ribbon was leftover from the curtains so that is matchy-matchy, too. Yay!!!
I knew I wanted to put up some white shelves on a wall in the nursery but didn't know what to actually put on the shelves. I found these cardboard numbers at Hobby Lobby and decided to paint them, too. The #2 is supposed to be a chevron pattern....hey, I tried!
I also reused the wooden P that I used to trace the "P" on the alligator canvas and painted it navy to prop up on a shelf.
Reminder of what the wall with the shelves looks like, including the "P" and the 1, 2, 3. I saved you some time so you didn't have to scroll back up. You're welcome. :)
All in all, I am very pleased with the nursery. We actually weren't sure if we would be able to fit 3 cribs, a rocker and a changing table in the room. Although it's a decent sized room, that is a lot of furniture! While in the hospital, we "white boarded" it out to determine a good layout. What we thought was a good layout didn't actually work and we had to move stuff around and reconfigure the room a few times until we found something that did work. It's a little crowded and there is no unused wall space, but it works for us and I think it's the best use of the space! I am a little bit wordy about this room, I mean, it's just a nursery, but like I said, I am pleased with how it turned out and pretty proud of myself. The boys totally love their room and have told me several times! ;)
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