I'm letting my softer side through with this one, pretty and feminine is the mood of today's room ... not so suitable for a baby boy! That said, I've not gone completely overboard and twee, letting some really lovely elements speak for themselves. To stop things from getting a little to sugary I would keep the background (walls) neutral, maybe a soft putty or my favourite grey again??
Clockwise from top left - garland pendant vertbaudet £25.00, curtains (dagny) ikea £69.99, birdcage mirror vertbaudet £39.00, lamp (ljusas salbo) ikea £30.99, rug (aborg) ikea £35.99, bedding dwell studio £202 (approx), rocking horse moover £68.00, sleepsuit baby joule £22.00, coat stand vertbaudet £45.00, hanging bird ornament (centre) monsoon £6.00.
Cx
I love fresh and vibrant colours in a nursery, I know I've said it before but when you look at what is available in the UK high-street we seem to be falling into a beige for babies trap! I read that they need strong contrasts to help with their visual development ... and this delivers on that front! To keep things from getting a bit overwhelming I would use white as the main colour for the walls, maybe using the beautiful isak wallpaper on just one area.
Clockwise from top left - penguin wallpaper isak £38 (per roll), curtains (gronska prickar) ikea £14.99, lamp (lykta) ikea £9.18, picture (solmyra) ikea £9.99, sleeping bag vertbaudet £17.40, storage boxes vertbaudet £17.00, bedding dwell studio £220 (approx), rattle kidsen £18.99, changing mat £53.74, cot and drawers as before.
Cx
I've based this whole scheme around grey - I think it's a restful colour that works really well in a nursery. However, I do think you need elements of bolder colour to keep the scheme playful, something that can easily be achieved through art and of course lovely toys!
Clockwise from top left - light (torna) ikea £59.99, swallow mobile flensted £11.99, curtains (kajsa) ikea £30.63, picture (solmyra) ikea £10.99, lamp (alang) ikea £35.73, bumper dwell studio £96 (approx), crib skirt dwell studio £34 (approx), rug (ludde) ikea £20.42, cloud changing mat kidsen £29.99, elephant pull along sebra £30.99, laundry basket (grundtal) ikea £51.99, pillow (centre) lucky boy sunday £45.00.
Cx
In the midst of decorating and putting together our perfect nursery, I thought it might be fun to take the bare essentials of the room and see what different design options I could come up with.
The basics of our nursery will be the furniture - we've opted for a double malm dresser from ikea and the bibi cot from Mamas and Papas (both in white). Both are brilliant quality at an excellent price - the drawers come in at £101.11 and the cot is currently on offer at £80. We're going to use the dresser as the changing unit, as we're pretty hard up for storage in the house the drawers can accommodate plenty of essential but unpretty baby items while still leaving plenty of room for all the lovely tiny clothes (we also plan to get the stuva wardrobe from ikea too, small but perfectly formed for little people!).
So here is nursery design #1 - I've called it cool and contemporary. I would start with a pale blueish grey on the walls which ties all the other elements together.
This is a real mix of high-street bargains and luxury baby goodies. Clockwise from top left - curtains (gronska prickar) ikea £14.99, picture (solmyra) ikea £11.99, lamp (fillsta) ikea £20.42, rug (ludde) ikea £20.42, truck shelf dwell studio £75 (approx), bedding (skyline) dwell studio £220 (approx), mobile dwell studio £46 (approx), cot and dresser as above. Just realised I only 'shopped' at two places here ... perfect if you are ordering online!
While I absolutely love this look it is a little masculine - as we're team lemon a no go for us. I do think it would make a little boy very happy though!
Cx
Not meaning to sound cliche ... but time really is flying! 40 weeks sounds like such a long time but I can't actually believe where the time has gone, just 14 weeks left to my EDD.
I really wanted to get the nursery 'sorted' while I was still able to help, so we have taken some time off to get the bulk of it done. We've done really well with the majority of it now completed/assembled ... ahead of schedule! More of that to come later ...
We've had some lovely weather over the past few days, decorating while pregnant in the heat is not a good idea! It's been plenty of iced water and cool showers for me, thankfully I haven't had to leave the house much so I've been living in the hubby's t-shirts and loose trousers.
We went on a little trip to pick up our latest bargain buy today too ... I really wanted to get a baby swing but the ones I liked just seemed too much for something that the baby might not settle in and therefore not get used. The hubby's love of eBay was reignited after our trip to the NCT nearly new sale and he found this little beauty for £20!
It's hardly been used and is in immaculate condition! Hubby gets extra brownie points for that one ...
This week my tummy has been particularly itchy as the skin is stretching over my bump (could also be to do with the heat) as such I've been slathering on my sanctuary body butter to keep it hydrated and smelling delish!
The little one is certainly a wriggler - I've noticed it more on sunny days. Apparently at this stage when it is sunny or you are near a bright light they turn towards it ...
I'm off to go and look at the beautiful nursery now (I just can't stop!) :)
Cx
I've just discovered oohmoon.com, by Katy Moon an illustrator. The site gives you one free illustration a day, every day. After that they are downloadable at a small charge. There are some absolutely beautiful pictures on there. For example, today's free download is hope #5 (shown below with water mark).
Why not keep a look out for something to suit your nursery ... I know I will!
Cx
DISCLAIMER - this post may will contain some hormonal induced complaints.
We've taken some time off to do some work on the nursery, including shopping for some of the key items. So after a really successful start to the day we headed off to ikea, shopping list in hand.
Today's main purchases were the malm three drawer dressers and lack shelves to go above, in white. However we noticed a small sign on the display dresser which outlined that ikea currently stock two versions of white, the newer one being much fresher and brighter than the older version. Great, nice bright white furniture exactly what we wanted! However, when we came to load our goodies on to the flat bed trolley there were obvious differences in the finishes of the malm dressers and the lack shelves. One in lovely pristine white, the other a mucky nicotine stained colour in comparison. When hubby asked for advice we were told that the stores were gradually moving to the new white as stock of the older version decreased. Aaaargh! There was no way that we could get the mismatching items, so we bought the dressers and put the shelves back ... back to the drawing board on that one! It just seems silly to me to have a product labelled white which obviously isn't ... and as so many people mix and match from ikea I'm sure we'll not be the first to come across the issue. Of course my hormones don't help, a mini strop soon followed and we spent the rest of the day looking for alternatives!
And another thing ... they seem to have stopped selling my favourite light (and the one I was planning on getting for the nursery) in our local store. It's on the website but you can't buy online ... grrr!!
Rant over!
Cx
