The Nursery

Today, the crib bumper got the heave-ho.

It was a sad, sad, day, since I really love Baby Girl's crib bumper.

I knew from the beginning that it would have a short shelf life. Not because I'm an overly paranoid new mother (at least, I don't think so). But rather, because in the middle of the night, when I'm sleep-deprived and brain-addled, and up and back to bed for the umpteenth time, I don't need one more thing for my brain to process and/or worry about. Plus, when I described to my pediatrician this week the new planted feet body hurl move that my infant is mastering to scoot herself from one end of the crib to the other when she's annoyed, she recommended I go ahead and take it out. So there it went.

R.I.P., beloved bumper.

Or, maybe not, since I'm pretty sure that I'm going to just set the bumper in the crib during the day (when Baby Girl's not in it), just for aesthetic purposes. Do people do that? It seems to make sense to me, since I don't exactly want to just pack the thing up and never see it again.

But regardless of what happens to the bumper from here on out, its removal got me thinking about the nursery in general. Call me sentimental. Or hormonal. Or sleep-deprived and brain-addled. Whatever the case, here's my retrospective on the nursery, now two months in.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here it is:

These pics were taken before some of the final touches, like the lovely valance on the window, but you get the idea--and they're the only ones my sleep-deprived, brain-addled brain can find at the moment.

The wall color has always been hard to photograph accurately. It's a Ralph Lauren color called Winter Wind that I describe as a light gray with just a drop of lavender in it. It's subtle and beautiful in person (in my opinion), and really sets the muted, relaxed vibe for the room.

The bedding is a lovely blend of creams and yellows and blues and avocado (yep, that's the official color) in the form of modern flowers. And the rest of the items in the room play off those colors in one way or another, adding in some teals and even a few pinks, all while keeping the whole feel very calm and beachy (my hubby's descriptor, not mine). My descriptor is that the room as a whole is feminine without being girly, and just oh-so-soothing.

It has, without a doubt, become my favorite place in the house.

There are some items we really took the time to flesh out in detail. Like this beautiful vinyl vine decal:

We ordered it through Etsy and had a mother-fudger of a time putting it up on the wall. It took the hubby and I both our arms, and at times, other appendages (get your minds out of the gutter) to hold certain sections in place as we were putting it up. There were a lot of four-letter words uttered from our respective ladders, but in the end, we were so pleased with how it looked that the pain and contortion was all worth it. Then, when we added the flowers my mother fashioned at my request from the same fabric as the bumper, it completed our vision of a blooming vine that would cradle the crib. Again--feminine without being too girly-girly.

These knobs were another find from Etsy. It took quite some time to find some that we loved, but they're beautiful and add something lovely and subtle to the furniture.

And these, of course, are Baby Girl's pretties (that I also showed in my last post) on some shelves we found from Pottery Barn Teen:

The shelves were actually the last thing we purchased for the nursery, and they were installed the night Baby Girl came home from the hospital. I sat with her in the rocker while the hubby used the power drill, and believe it or not, she slept right through the noise (Where, oh, where have those days gone???).

Now, two months in, I have to say that I'm so, so pleased with the functionality of the room, in addition to the soothing vibe it continues to provide. I'm grateful that we kept the decorative items to a minimum (particularly anything that needs to be displayed), because those items have naturally accumulated over time. And valuable, uncluttered nightstand and dresser real estate has left room for unexpected necessities like humidifiers and gas drops and burp cloths, and all the tiny items we can't live without, and need at our fingertips.

I hope my little one enjoys the space as much as I do. But I guess only time will tell.