Around The Room: Baby A
I am so excited to have this room all set up and ready to go for Baby A's arrival in the next two weeks. As you will see and read below it is pretty much a mixture of Ikea, etsy, and a bunch of second hand finds.
My approach to her room was to keep it light and bright and simple and cozy. It's a mixture of orange, yellow, red, and white with an emphasis on photos and a few little pieces of art.
From the doorway, looking to the left. The crib is a nice small, simple one from Ikea (Gulliver) and is in the center of the room. In the corner is the changing table that was found at an antique store in Astoria, Oregon. It used to be out in our living room but found a new home in here.
It's providing great storage for all those cloth diapers.
The crib bedding is a light yellow floral print from The Land of Nod. The blanket on the couch is from the same collection. In the crib there is also a great little orange dot blanket from Quilt Baby. The moses basket next to the couch was a gift from my Mom to my sister-in-law Liz and she is now sharing it with me. The couch is a pull-out bed (and the crib is easy to move) that we found at World Market and used to be in Chris' office. I have a feeling I may be spending a good amount of time on that couch.
Next to the couch is a long yellow shelf that I found at an estate sale a couple summers ago. The yellow baby scale was found at the Coburg Antique Fair this past summer. The orange light is from Ikea and gives off the best glow.
The shelf is holding a couple toys, books, etc and I am sure will be filled with more favorite goodies as time goes on. The smaller baskets were found on clearance at Target.
Over the crib I hung 6 paper lanterns. The large one in the middle includes a light (with a piece of tissue paper in the bottom so that she can't look up into the light). The white lanterns are from Ikea and the small orange lanters were Martha Stewart Crafts that I picked up at Michael's during Halloween (I have been thinking about this for awhile). Something like this would have been fun too.
At some point in the last six months or so I saw an image online (I think it was either Domino or a house tour on Design Sponge) that included a gathering of framed white photos. I decided I wanted to same look for one of the walls in her room. The frames are from Ikea (Ribba) and the photos are 5x7. It was seriously not easy to hang these in a group but I love the result. I included a couple art pieces in addition to the photos: the embroidered "A" is from a kitchen cloth that my sister found, the orange letter-pressed flower is from Port2Port Press, and the small piece on the second row is from Swirlygirl (Christine Mason Miller).
Above the changing table (actually just to the left) I hung two enlarged photos (12x12 from www.scrapbookpictures.com) of Chris and I as kids. Frames are from Ikea. The mobile is from Quilt Baby.
The standing light that you see here was found at Target. It's great because it is has the option for up to three bulbs - we just put one in to be used as a very dim light for middle of the night changing. It is standing behind the changing table in the corner. The yellow shelf is a second-hand find. The bird etching is from an etsy shop called Cabin + Cub. Small orange and yellow cups/bowls have been picked up on some of my second hand adventures. The "A" canvas was found in New Zealand and was a gift from Jeffrey & Jessica. The artist is Mark Ussher.
Between the closet and the covered shelf unit (holding my albums as you saw in my office tour) I put up a small wall hanging unit. Right now it is holding two vintage dresses. The white one was worn by my Mom and the blue one I found at a antique fair. Carrie sent me the great pearl "A" years ago. Above this area is a cool alphabet print with her name on it (not shown) from Penny People Designs.
I showed this image a couple weeks ago as a peek into the room (taken before I hung the photo gathering). This is directly above the yellow shelf holding the baby scale. The bird print was a gift found at Three Potato Four. The giraffe print is a 2009 calendar from a wonderful etsy shop called Story By Mia.
Part of my nesting has been getting all the little clothes ready. One of the things I loved about this house when we first looked at it was the built in storage in both this room and Simon's room (built in the 1940's). It was great for me when my office was in here and is great for storing her clothes and accessories as well. I like that there is enough room for storing older clothes as well.
Washing & folding & daydreaming. The closet in this room is big enough to hold two of these chrome shelves (they are carts on wheels and designed to be used in the kitchen) from Target that sit below the hanging clothes.
Look at that sweet boy. I can't wait for him to meet his new sister.
It looks exactly like I pictured it. Gorgeous! So fresh and modern but still sweet and girly.
Could you give me a tutorial for how to hang that group of white Ikea frames?
I have been wanting to do that and I have no idea how to...
I'd really appreciate it!
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What a beautiful room! Is there anything you can't do? You are a designer in all definitions of the word.
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Lovely!! What a lucky little girl! :)
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Ali - It's so cute that you call your daughter Baby A - that's our daughter's nickname. She is Ashton Emily, and we called her Baby A for the longest time. Now that she is talking in paragraphs (she's only 2.5 and very loquacious) she's told us that she wants us to call her "Ash" So "Ash" it is. It was nice to see the reminder of "Baby A." The room is just gorgeous! Love the paper lanterns!
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We have a thing for A names around here too...we have an Astrid, Annika and Ava. :)
Love the cheerful room! I'm sure it'll be a great space for you after the baby arrives. (now I wished I'd done cloth diapering...sigh)
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I think that is the most gorgeous nursery I've ever seen! I'm honored that one of my pieces is in that beautiful space. xoxo
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So elegant and welcoming Ali -- great job!
You know my sister was pregnant too and due April 14th. I was looking forward to getting into the baby mode by watching your blog and seeing oyur baby too. And then she went and had him a couple of weeks ago, 3 months early! That silly boy, he foiled my plans. LOL
(he is on a ventilator but otherwise we hear he is fine; his name is William)
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Beautiful room. I like the scale best of all, I think. The colors are so pretty. My daughter "A" (Alivia) was born on Feb. 12 and we brought her home on Feb. 14. She was all dressed up in a red/white baby gap outfit with coat and hat and pretty little red hearts on the pants and top. Love those valentine babies! Hope you make it to your due date...
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It's the perfect room. Hooray!
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Hi Ali - the room looks great!
Just a quick question - where do you find all your letters from? Antique stores? I've been looking all over here and the only places I've been able to get them is Urban Barn and Michaels!
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I love it!! I had a hard time designing a room that was comfortable for me with our last baby, but you've given me some fresh new ideas, sometimes what we need is already somewhere else our homes! This room also has some really great lighting!!!
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What a beautiful room to bring your new girl home to. :-)
I have a question for you Ali... As a wife who is planning to get pregnant in the next few months, can you recommend some blogs that you read that are all about pregnancy/babies/motherhood/etc? Thanks so much!
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oh, i love it! so simple and lovely and bright! (must get going on my own now...)
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Ali, you are some sort of miracle worker with colors and things and spaces. This is absolutely lovely. The very simple crib in the middle of the space is probably my favorite part -- well, that and the little bird canvas under the shelves and the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and the colors, and the shelving unit, and the old yellow scale, and ....
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The room is lovely Ali! The little weigh scale is so sweet. :)
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Ali-
I love the baby's room...so sweet and simple. I almost got that same bedding for our twin girls before they were born...I love it!
Enjoy the quite nights in your house until that little baby girls blesses you and your family!
Melissa
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Baby A will love her room!! It's really beautiful!
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Baby A's room looks beautiful, ypu did a great job! I love how you combine the new and old and it just looks so right together. Congrats on your new little one! And good luck with the cloth diapers. I have been using cloth on my youngest since he was born (he's 2 now) and it is such a wonderful thing. So much better for their little tushes and for our environment.
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What a beautiful room!!!! I love the soft yellow, orange and white colors....lovely :)
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Love the baby's room. Too cute- totally looks like your style!
About the photo grouping- you said it was difficult to do, I am guessing you mean it was difficult to hang all the pictures frame to frame with no space. Have you tried 3M's Command Release adhesives? They make these great strips, including picture hanging strips (that work like hook & loop) that hold up to a pound per strip. They work amazing! I use them all over my house and haven't had anything fall off the wall. Makes hanging things next to each other super easy because you don't have to worry about where the nails go. Plus it saves your walls from holes. Works great on all surfaces. I highly recommend it!!! You can find them at places like Target or Wal-Mart.
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Very cute & inspiring! I'm trying to think more about our new baby's room (I have another little boy on the way - due in May). I like the idea of searching antique & second hand stores for treasures to display in his room. Oh, & I've become a little addicted to Etsy - it was bound to happen sooner or later. ;)
Saw you & your wonderful family on the cover of the paper yesterday! Sounds like your husband is working on some great things!
Teacher Katrina :)
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lovely room..... you look all READY!
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LOVE the nursery! I'm all about non-traditional spaces (having just done one for our new baby too). We have the same mobile. We use the same cloth diapers (assuming you're using the Kissaluvs). That has been so rewarding with both of my kiddos and laundry that I actually love to do! Good luck with everything.
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Ali, Thank you so much for sharing baby A's room with us. You are always so thorough in how you blog about things... listing out every detail and where you bought it from. I feel so lucky to be able to use your website as a resource and for inspiration. Thank you for being so open and for constantly giving us something new and creative to look at.
I am pregnant, but haven't yet found out if I am having a boy or a girl. Of course, I am already daydreaming about decorating... so your post really got me thinking (and plotting!).
Thank you, thank you. And Congratulations!!
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Congrats on your new arrival! The room looks great! I can tell you have been hard at work at it.
Do not forget to take some time to relax in the quiet before baby A comes :)
Have you written her a letter yet? That is one thing I plan to do if we have a child. I think that would be so meaningful to her when she is older.
Enjoy!
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