Virginia's Nursery

This past weekend I finally got around to taking a few pictures of Virginia's nursery.  I've been putting off taking these pictures waiting until her nursery was officially "done" but then I realized I'm so short on time these days her nursery will likely never really be done.  I may have mentioned it before, but Virginia's nursery is actually the master bedroom of our house.  You can probably tell from these pictures, but her room is huge, especially for a house as old as ours.  When we first moved in we decided we would never have enough furniture to fill the bedroom as a master bedroom, and instead decided to make it a giant nursery.  If Virginia becomes a big sister one day, our plan is for her to share this room with her sibling.  :)

I shared plans for this room here, and I think the room turned out pretty close to how it was imagined.  I really wanted this room to be colorful and full of Virginia's art and toys as the years go by.  So many pieces in the room are things we already had, but I'll share sources and tons of photos below.

The twin beds were actually my mother's childhood beds with simple matelassé bedspreads from Bed Bath and Beyond.  The splatter paint pillows are from Biscuit.  We purchased an inexpensive chest at auction to use between the beds and the gourd lamps are from a local boutique Cottage & Vine in Columbia.  The elephant and giraffe bookends are Serena and Lily (a gift from grandparents) and the art between the beds is by Michelle Armas.  (It's a print.  Wish we could have done an original but Virginia will never know the difference!)

For her rugs we decided on two Dash and Albert rugs.  In the end, two smaller rugs looked better than one huge rug.  One rug really took over the entire room.  Her crib is an inexpensive Jenny Lind, but I loved it's old fashioned classic look.  Crib splatter paint bedding by Biscuit.  Art above the crib is an old framed Spoleto poster, and the hot air balloon mobile is from Shower Me With Love in Charlotte.

We DIYed her glider (a tutorial to come!) and the blue and white garden stool I purchased to actually sell in a booth here in Charlotte.  (I purchased LOTS of stuff to sell in a booth here in Charlotte and then the next weekend I found out I was pregnant so the booth never happened.  So many of my purchases have ended up in Virginia's room.)  The pillows on the glider and crib by Kevin O'Brien Studio.  The bookcase was actually made by my grandfather for my nursery when I was a child. 

I'm using an antique buffet (another purchase that I planned to sell in my booth!) as a changing table for now.  I found the toile flower lamp at a vintage shop and the black mirror is an inexpensive piece that I painted a long time ago.  I would love something more fun like this, but it's not in the budget for now.

Right now this nursery stays nice and neat (too neat!) like this since Virginia can't yet move around, but I really look forward to the day that she has lots of room to run around in here, pull out all of her toys, invite friends (or a future sister) to have a slumber party with her, etc.  I'd love to add roman shades or some type of drapery to all of these windows to soften the room, but for now we're pretty pleased with our girl's sweet room! 

~Mary Keller

Ideas for the baby's nursery!

Most of you probably know that J.D. and I are expecting a sweet baby girl in early October.  We are both counting down the days until we get to meet her!  I've sloowly been making progress on her nursery.  I thought I was ahead of the game, but this summer is flying by and I look at her little (it's actually huge) room and wonder why it's still fairly empty.  But, I've got a game plan and I'm really excited to see it complete. 

For some reason I always knew I wanted her nursery to be bright and colorful, full of art and life.  I love sophisticated, neutral nurseries but they never felt right for our girl.  I fell in LOVE with this blue splatter paint "Jamie" pattern from Biscuit Bedding and knew it was the perfect starting point.  We're actually using our home's master bedroom for the baby's nursery.  (We sleep in a smaller room next door.)  The master bedroom is huge, we don't really do much in our room besides sleep, and we think that giving the baby the big room will give her lots of room to play, and we can maybe even fit another baby in there with her down the road. :)

So, in the baby's room we're using two twin beds with simple white inexpensive matelasse bedspreads, and then I splurged on two blue splatter paint shams to give the beds some color.  (This is a good tip if you fall in love with bedding over your budget.  I LOVE the look of simple white bedspreads, you can toss them in the wash, and then save your budget for beautiful shams.)  We bought a big antique chest at auction to use between the twin beds, and on top of the chest we will have cute accessories, picture frames and two Mint green Triple Gourd Lamps, similar to these.  Above the chest, in between the beds, we are using a bright colorful Michelle Armas piece.  (LOVE her work and wish we could spring for the real thing, but I have to remember she's a baby a print will be just fine. :)   I needed a huge rug and got this Serena and Lily Deco rug on super sale and even through it really isn't big enough, we will make it work.

The room also includes her crib and changing table.  Her crib is a simple, old fashioned white crib with the same adorable Biscuit blue splatter paint crib sheet.  Above the crib we're using a 2008 Spoleto Arts Festival poster.  (Spoleto is a huge arts festival in Charleston.  J.D. and I purchased this poster when we married in Charleston in 2008, but it's been in the closet ever since.  Happy to have a reason to put it to use!)  For her changing table we're actually using an antique sideboard we bought at auction pre-baby.  (Before finding out we were expecting, I was planning on opening an cute accessories/antique's booth.  Once we found out our baby news, we decided it was too much to take on.  So, as a result of my shopping for the booth, we're using the pieces we purchased for random other uses in our home...such as a changing table :)  I'm keeping my eye out for an old colorful floral tole lamp to use on the changing table with a bright mirror above. 

If anyone has ideas for a fun mirror, please let me know.  I haven't fallen in love with anything so I'm leaning toward painting a thrift store mirror a bright cherry color similar to a color in the Michelle Armas painting!  I'd love any suggestions.

~Mary Keller

Images 1) Jamie Sham via Biscuit Bedding; 2) Sabrina print by Michelle Armas; 3) Robert Abbey Gourd lamp via Neenas; 4) Serena and Lily Bone Deco Frame Rug; 5) Poppy Mosaic Mirror via Serena and Lily; 6) 2008 Spoleto Arts Festival poster via Post and Courier; 7) Jenny Lind crib via Amazon; 8) Jamie Crib sheet via Biscuit Bedding; 9) Sideboard via 1st Dibs