A Finished Baby Boy Nursery

I am nearly 36 weeks pregnant and unfortunately, was diagnosed with preeclampsia.  Therefore, that means we will have a baby within a week!  I had hoped and prayed we'd make it full-term this go around (I have delivered my other two at 36 weeks), but it wasn't in the cards.  Most importantly, we need to focus on baby boy's health and my health!  The one good news with all of this was we got a little push to put the last finishing touch on the nursery and it's totally done!

Our sleep under the stars nursery kinda turned in to an adventure/ journey nursery and let me tell you, I'm in total love with it!  I wouldn't change a single thing about this room, it's not too theme-y, has great colors, isn't "I'm gonna be a tough boy!" and just lets this wonderful blessing come to a room that HE will make his own!  So blessed!

Without further ado, here's a tour:

I ADORE how our gallery wall came out!  I wanted something other than simply frames (which is gorgeous!  That's what I have in our living room!).  The creativity that this allowed me though was so freeing and fun!  I designed the "hitch your wagon" print and it's located in my shop (just email me at design@laceyfields.com if you want one!  It's $10 for the 8x10 and $14 for the 11x14).  The stitching was all done ourselves (hubby was great for tying knots!  Love those surgical hands, so handy!).  The frame with a photo is hubby's grandpa (baby boy's middle name is in honor of him).  The anchor and lures are also for hubby's Paw Paw (he was a big fisherman and navy man).  My favorite part is probably the calvin & hobbes page.  Hubby is a huge calvin & hobbes fan and that is the last strip ever made.  The last line is "let's go exploring!"  SO perfect for the theme!

This side of the room continued with the theme.  I decided to get teething rails instead of bumpers this time and they're awfully cute.  We kept with the bear-y theme for the bedding and for a crib skirt I just used a 40% off coupon and bought 2 yards of a green fabric at Hobby Lobby.

The mobile was purchased on our baby moon to Crystal Bridges museum in Arkansas.  It's so pretty and unique!

The shelves are simple yet have lots of life to them.  The lures are real ones that Paw Paw gave my husband over 20 years ago!  I did the handwriting on the globe and am ashamed to admit I painted the RV on a Mommy/ daughter date.  It looked cuter in my head! haha  But it's the thought that counts right? ; )

And there you  have it!  Room is all ready, now we just can hopefully keep the baby in there an entire week more.  Can't wait to hold him and rock him and lay him down to sleep for the first time in his room.

Sleep Under the Stars Nursery (An Update)

At 26 weeks pregnant, we figured we should really get going on little boy's nursery!  Since I have delivered 4 weeks early with my other two pregnancies, we figure it's a good idea to finish ours early.  The last few weeks I might (but hopefully won't!) be on bed rest.  Therefore, when I'm still in the "feel good" stage of pregnancy, we usually get busy & get to work!

We didn't have that much work to do for this nursery because all the furniture was staying the same!  Little girl had been sleeping in here and we bought very gender neutral furniture that can easily be translated to a boy.



I made this mood board a few weeks back as an idea of what we were going for.  The main thing that hasn't stayed the same?  The paint color!  We tried a pretty gray like the photo above and in our home, with the lighting, and the space, it looked SO cold!  It reminded me of a hospital and in case you're wondering, that isn't really the look we were going for.

We eventually settled on Early Morning Mist by Benjamin Moore.  It's very understated and has a bit of gray and beige in it.  It's absolutely calming and perfect for the space!

While we aren't done (we still have a gallery wall, bedding, etc), here's where we're at today!

 We're loving the progress!  We thought about making the teepee ourselves and eventually decided to just buy it.  BEST decision ever!  I got it off etsy (BE Little You and Me) and the price was really reasonable.  It took two seconds to set up and this baby is going to have so much fun playing in there one day!

The curtains are a Home Goods find (I had seen some on Land of Nod but they were $50/ panel!  That would be $200!  NO WAY!).  These were $40 total ($10 a panel) and were perfect.  I didn't want anything distracting from the pops of color I had planned around the rest of the room (gallery wall is obviously goign above the changing pad).

The bunting in the background was designed by me and the rug is from Joss & Main.  Got it for < $100 and honestly, it might be my favorite piece. Crazy huh?  It's just a plain rug.  It's just so perfect for what we wanted that it makes me giddy.

The other side of the room is moving along too.  Our print by Katie Daisy is surrounded by a wooden Hobby Lobby frame.  The shelves, crib, and chair are all ikea from the old nursery.  We made the chalkboard ourselves.  The lamp, trash can, and lamp are all Target finds.  The lantern is Hobby Lobby and the globe is from TJ Maxx.

As for the bedding, the blanket is staying.  I made that blanket when I was about 9 years old and we couldn't believe it has stars all over it! TOO perfect!  Such special meaning and though it's not a perfect match decorating wise, it's definitely a perfect match for our family. :)

The mobile has a fun story behind it.  I was going to make one myself but then hubby & I took an overnight babymoon 2 weeks ago and found this at the art museum's giftshop we went to.  It has birds all over it, including a cardinal (which holds a lot of significance to my family).  It looks awesome!

I'm loving the progress of the room and can't wait to finish it up over the next few weeks! 

23 Weeks Pregnant

I'm roughly 26 weeks pregnant and just posting about my 23 week pregnant chalkboard.  On top of things much? I've learned that with baby #3 things run more slowly.  Literally ... I walk more slowly, I sit down more slowly, you get it.  One thing that isn't slow though?  My belly growth!  I'm HUGE.  I know people always say that, but at 23 weeks, I'm the same size as when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first and 29 with my second!  YIKES!  I think we've got a big boy in there! :)

With my other daughters, I did weekly belly pictures and have really enjoyed looking back on them.  Now that my oldest is four, she loves looking through them and seeing how Mommy's belly got so big!  I knew that taking a weekly picture this time would be difficult since hubby is working all the time and doesn't get home until way past bedtime, so I wanted something special, unique, and still manageable!

Hubby and I built a big chalkboard for baby boy's nursery that is well secured above the crib.  I plan on writing his monthly milestones there when he's born, but why not use it in the mean time?

So there I am at 23 weeks!  YIKES!  I can't imagine how much more I'll grow! :)  But as he's kicking right now and going crazy as I type, I know it's all worth it.

To make the chalkboard, we measured the size that we wanted the chalkboard (I can't remember the exact dimensions but I think it's about 2 feet by 3 feet).  Hubby had a big piece of wood in the garage and I sanded it and painted with 2 coats of chalkboard paint.  Then I primed it (meaning you run the chalk over the entire area and then wipe off).  We bought some wood siding at Home Depot (cost was $10) and stained it with some stain we had around the house.  So the entire project cost us $10 and will make for tons of fun!

One afternoon while the girls read books in the teepee we have in baby brother's room, I started designing the chalkboard.  I don't know if I'll keep a similar style for the next or not, but in the mean time, this was fun!

I use plain anti-dust Crayola chalk and had a wet rag for the many mistakes I made.  I didn't sketch this out somewhere, this is a fun rememberance and wasn't meant to stress me out!

I'll probably do another shot in a couple weeks so I can chronicle the growth and will post those here too. :)  In the mean time, I'll keep waddling around and have people telling me "wow you're about to pop!" to then seem really embarrassed when I say "nope, still have 3.5 months left."
 

Sleep Under the Stars

As I said in my last blog post, the idea of decorating nurseries is just so much fun for me.  I love it!  I love the excitement that comes with it, the challnege (but in a good way), the deadline, and most of all, what you know will come home to that room. :)

When we found out we were having a baby boy, the hubby & I considered quite a few themes.  We thought of science, camping, adventure, and ultimately it all boiled down to the quilt.

We have a quilt that I made when I was nine.  I was what one might call a total tomboy growing up and my Mom did try to give me some feminine traits, including signing me up for quilting.  I made three quilts in total.  I only liked one of them in the end and it was a star quilt with light and dark blue.  For some reason, I always held on to the quilt, it made it through all my spring cleanings and when hubby pulled it out of the closet a few weeks ago he said "if it's a boy, we're using this."

Sure enough, along with the print we reiceved two days ago, we had our starting point.

I've drawn up a little bit of a mood board to get us started.  We've decided on a paint color (gray owl by Benjamin Moore) and have already ordered the teepee.  We found a few nice pieces at Target this weekend and through the weeks, I know we'll make something special for our wonderful boy!

We already have the crib, dresser, and chair from Gloria's nursery and they're all in good condition so we're keeping them!  The little side table and clock are from Target and we purchased those this weekend.  As for the rest, I have some ideas and can't wait to try them out and get started!

I'm about 19 weeks along, so likely half way through my pregnancy (I tend to go quite early but am taking medicine this time to try and make it full-term in my pregnancy).  Want him to stay in there are long as possible, until his due date would be incredible.  This gives us time to make something special, to have his wonderful sisters help (I want to involve their artistry in their some how), and to relish in the bond I feel when he's kicking in my belly.