The Nursery: October Pin it and Do it

Thursday, October 22, 2015

The nursery is just about done! We are already in the third trimester and my work is incredibly busy right now, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner, and the baby will be here before we know it. So I think having most of the nursery done is a good thing. I love how it turned out and every little detail was so much fun to work on.
Our little girl's name is going to be Sydney Diann (my Mom's passed away and her name was Diann). We went to Sydney, Australia last year and in addition to loving the name itself, it's such a wonderful reminder of our trip together and our love of travel. There's a few other Sydney items around the room, including a photo I took of the Sydney Opera House (top right in the above photo). The name on the wall is a decal I ordered from Etsy (link on my Pinterest board here).
I love the glider, a gift from my Dad and stepmom, and can't wait to read to our little girl while sitting there. Above it you can see a print that says "She Believed She Could, So She Did" that my sister got for me. She also got the cute hanging poms. The other print is an Etsy print of the Sydney skyline.
One friend got us the world's largest teddy bear. I'm still not sure where he's going to end up! One of the other prints on the far left is the famous stacked LOVE image. The original sculpture is located at my favorite museum in Indianapolis. I found an Etsy shop that let me pick custom colors (navy and coral) for the print. The other print says, "You are my bucket list."
There's a little bookshelf filled with kids books. This has always been in this room, because whenever my nieces and nephews come over they make a beeline for it, which is wonderful! About half the books are ones I saved from my own childhood. Others are gifts, hand-me-downs, and a few I've collected over the years. The highest shelf has a few longer books (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, Stuart Little, etc.) that we'll save for when she's older. 

I have another friend who hand-sewed the most incredible pouf for our girl to sit on while she's reading. You can see a closeup of the detail above and the whole pouf in the top photo. It has the complete train system map of Sydney on the top and the city's ferry system map on the bottom. It's such a thoughtful gift. I can't imagine being able to sew something like that, but I just love it and it will mean so much to our little Sydney as she gets older.
I turned an old beat up nightstand and bookcase into sweet additions to the nursery with a coat of coral paint. Luckily, I had a friend who helped, because I'm a horrible painter. They turned out great! Not pictured is a print on the other wall with one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes, "Though she be but little, she is fierce." That wall also hold the closet. The Huz is planning on adding some shelves to it, but we haven't tackled that project yet.
These are a couple of before photos of the room. It was our guest room and had a big queen-sized bed and huge wall of frames in it. We changed the color of the walls from bright turquoise to light gray. 

We have had so many wonderful friends already give us hand-me-downs. So the dresser already has some newborn and 0-3 months clothes, blankets, swaddlers, and burp cloths in the drawers. 
I participated in Trish's Pin It and Do It for the nursery. I painted bookshelves and picked out color palettes using things I found on Pinterest. Here's a link to my nursery board on Pinterest where I got ideas for just about everything I did from the rug to the curtains!

Photos by me.

14 comments:

Mari said...

The nursery looks great. Love the colors and the name. My newest niece is named Sydney, too. :)

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Mari - Thanks! We love the name too :)

Debbie said...

It's beautiful!

Jillian said...

Love it!! So creative and I adore that name. Perfect for you two travelers.

annieb said...

What a wonderful name for you daughter. I love Sydney Aus., too. You did a great job on the room and the bookcase is perfect. I wouldn't mind browsing there myself.

Vicki said...

What a cute nursery!! You did a really good job!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I absolutely love it!!! The colors are so great and I'm impressed with how much of it you have set up. We will be transferring Evie to Elle's room and using that room for the newbabe (nameless), but I'd like to do a bit of redecorating to make it her own...but alas. I think I might have to set up a print collage in the (to be) joint room--love that idea! Sydney is a lucky little girl. :)

Anonymous said...

Sydney's nursery is amazing! She's a lucky little girl.

Brona said...

What a lovely and loving created space you have designed for Sydney to grow and dream in. She's one lucky girl <3

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Debbie, Jillian, Vicki - Thanks guys!

annieb - Thanks! We love the name. We had a hard time trying to find even one that we both liked for a boy, but a girl's name was easy!

Trish - I knew that if I didn't get it done in the second trimester it probably wouldn't happen. With all the holidays and my crazy work schedule in Nov. there's just not much time.

ardentreader - I had so much fun working on it!

Brona - We can't wait to meet her!

Leslie @ This is the Refrain said...

What an absolutely beautiful nursery! And such a beautiful name.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Lu - Aww thank you! We love it too.

thecuecard said...

Oh the room is wonderful Melissa! Great work. Sydney will love it. How adorable.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

thecuecard - She might not appreciate it for years, but I love it!