{Baby}

We've been giving the guest room a minor make-over the past few weeks in anticipation of the arrival of our new family member.  A little early perhaps to be done with the room, but well, I had an 'itch.'  (My need to nest has been off the charts this time around!).  My inspiration for the room was the pictures of this room that I found online when searching for "red" nurseries (I didn't want to give up my great red nursing chair...so needed to at least use red as an accent color...).

 I decided on this color scheme before we found out if it was a boy or girl figuring it was neutral enough to work with either.  I loved the mix of colors and patterns and the boldness of it all.  Of course, the woman who did this room for her son made just about everything in there herself -- from the curtains and bedding to all of the stuffed animals.  Now, I am neither that crafty nor that efficient with my time, so my room is not nearly so personalized.  Though, Etsy did help to at least put some handmade touches in the room :).  So, here's my version:

Ever since I saw this in the spring Lowe's "do it yourself" newsletter, I became obsessed with paisley and making a paisley accent wall in the baby's room

Source: lowescreativeideas.com via Shannon on Pinterest

 This version was a little girly, so I had to find a way to make it a touch more masculine, or at least neutral....which meant I didn't make my own stencil as described in the Lowe's article, but found a wall stencil online that I felt worked.  I REALLY love the result!

This will be the changing area when the time comes.

I probably COULD have made these adorable stuffed baby toys, but I didn't.  A lovely lady who has a shop on Etsy did (the anchored hope shop if you are interested in checking out her stuff -- it's really cute!)

One of my favorite pieces of artwork that I found.  Check out childreninspiredesign.com for more of her work.

We didn't have to buy any furniture for the room, so I allowed myself to splurge a bit on artwork.  I'm glad I did.  I've always been intimidated by picture wall collages, and now I know I had reason to be -- putting these pictures up gave me more than one fit ;).  But I do love it.

You'll notice the lack of a crib.  This is by design and there are two reasons, 1) the baby's room will continue to double as a guest room and I think a crib would be a little uncomfortable for most guests that we are likely to have :), and 2) we are embracing who we are and the way we parent and admitting that this child is not any more likely to sleep in a crib than the girls did.  And we are okay with that.  This way the baby and I will have a place to go in case our bed in the master bedroom gets a little too crowded -- which it still tends to do....

The girls were nice enough to lend Sock Monkey and The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Little Peep's room for that final touch.

We still have a few months to go, but I have a feeling the summer months are going to go by fast.  I can't wait to meet this little guy and embark on this new adventure with him and the girls in tow!