One of the first things I discovered when I started to research what things I needed for this coming addition to our family is that the amount of stuff out there you can get for a new baby is, frankly, overwhelming. Back in November, when I went to make a registry at Target before my baby shower, I had a minor breakdown because there was so. much. stuff–and so many opinions on what stuff you should get. Try researching strollers–that’s a scary vortex to get sucked into. As soon as you start comparison shopping, all the reviews start conflicting with each other and it’s madness. (I ended up just going with my sister-in-law’s recommendation, especially since it was one of the ones I had liked originally. Just in case you were wondering.)
I don’t want to be one of those people whose entire house and life becomes devoted to everything baby. I mean, yes, of course, we need some baby things. But all the giant plastic things kind of freak me out. I really just want the important stuff, not every single baby item under the sun.
It’s interesting when you don’t find out if you’re having a boy or a girl–some people (especially my students at school) just can’t understand how you can possibly wait to find out. Don’t we need to know so that everything we get can be appropriate for a boy or a girl? Actually no…not everything must be pink or blue. Really.
My favorite was when the first reaction was, “But how will you know how to decorate the nursery?” Clearly these people do not realize that interior decorating is not my thing. Sometimes I kind of wish it was, because I love it when I go to someone else’s house and see a beautifully-put-together room. But realistically, I just don’t have that gift. I like things to be clean and neat and practical, but I’m not real talented beyond that. I don’t mind painting, in general, but all of our walls at home are still white. For one thing, I really don’t mind white. For another, by the time I got around to considering painting last year after we moved in, I had just spent an entire day with my mom hanging all of our pictures and I really didn’t feel like having to undo that entire process right away. (When you have an old house with plaster walls, picture hanging is much more complicated than just sticking a small nail in the wall.)
I vaguely considered painting the baby’s room, but it just didn’t seem worth the effort. Instead I made new curtains–which not only spruced up the room, but gave me a chance to sew something! (It’s hard to make clothing for yourself when your middle is expanding, and hard to make clothing for the baby when you don’t know if it’s a boy or girl!) They’re striped with yellow, brown, blue, and green, but yellow is the predominant color.
Since my baby shower, though, a theme of yellow/turquoise has begun to emerge, which I quite like (though I never really planned it that way).
2 views of the room–this one was a couple of weeks ago and taken at night, but you can see the curtains better without any light coming through.
Taken today in the daylight–not much changed except for the addition of a chair.
You can see that not everything matches–the bedspread really doesn’t fit at all; it’s purple because that’s the only twin bedspread I had! (I think it’s the one I got for my birthday when I was 11…) You can also spy the quilt I made at the foot of the bed–I love it, but it certainly wasn’t made with any particular color scheme in mind!
The crib was second-hand but still in great shape. The picture’s kind of blurry, but if you look you can see the yellow crib sheets. Inside the crib (free storage space!) is the bassinet, also with a yellow scheme.
One thing I absolutely needed for the baby’s room was a bookshelf–and now I even have books to put on it. Anyone recognize that red one on top? I loved that book when I was a kid.
My mom got a good deal on this shelf and the drawers for me.
This part is my favorite. Ducks! They must be popular in the stores this year, because not only did I get these ones, but several duck-decorated blankets and onesies and things like that. They’re so cute! The blue knit hat on top of the large duck is the other project I made for the baby–I got the yarn on sale and there wasn’t a whole lot of color choice, but I don’t see any reason such a pretty pale blue wouldn’t work just fine for either a boy or a girl.
Overall, I’m really pleased with how the room has come together. I felt a little overwhelmed after my baby shower, trying to figure out where to put everything, but the shelves really helped organize the room. As did my wonderful husband and my mom!