Shortly after finding out I was pregnant back in April, I immersed myself into the nursery design. We didn’t tell our families for a few weeks so, when I wasn’t vomiting, I distracted myself with design boards. My goal was to create a room that wouldn’t be too baby-themed and would remain fairly gender-neutral. If there were elements to invest in, I wanted them to be able to be used elsewhere in the house later on and be able to be used for either a boy or a girl (since we didn’t know yet what we were having).

I had several design boards, but I figured out that I liked this one best. I’m actually fairly impressed how well I stuck to the design, despite the fact that–sadly–the abacus went out of stock and I couldn’t get it. (I had thought it was a) cute, b) a learning tool…for myself as well since I have no idea how an abacus works, and c) sentimental since Kevin & I met while working at a bank where counting is obviously very important.)

To start, I wanted a clean, bright space. Since the room is pretty tiny, I decided on a very light gray paint color. My mom and I knocked out the painting one morning, but then I got carried away and decided to paint the closet doors (they were still the original wood color) to match the rest of the white trim. I’m really glad I did (!!), but man, it was a lot more time consuming than I had imagined and I was absolutely exhausted when I finally got it finished. (Also, I probably should have waited until Kevin was home from work so he could help me. My fault. Definitely not his.)

As impatient as I was to get the room put together, I also wanted to be as thrifty as I could. If I knew there as something I wanted for the nursery, I would watch it and wait for it to go on sale. In the end, there isn’t anything in the room that we purchased at full price.

So many of the books on these shelves were gifted to us by my clients. It seemed like every day there were new packages in the mail with beautiful baby books and clothes. I felt so overwhelmingly loved. The little wooden circus train was the very first toy I bought after we found out we were having a boy.

This rug. I adore it so much. I waited and waited and waited for it to go on sale and when it did, hallelujah, I ordered that thing so quickly. It’s such a statement piece that really pulls the whole room together. I can easily see it in other rooms of our home as well if I ever get tired of it in the nursery, though I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

The curtains were made by my mom, whose sewing contributions to our little guy’s room (and our entire home in general) are many! In this room alone, she made the bed skirt, curtains, bumper pads (not shown, but so cute!), changing pad cover, and, of course, our little guy’s baby quilt.

I had found this rocking elephant online and absolutely adored it. I put it in the original design board for the nursery, knowing I’d never actually have it because, well, it was a completely unnecessary item that I wasn’t willing to splurge on. Then, at a baby shower, it was gifted to us. Bless!! Tiny’s nursery is complete!

Hanging the wall art was challenging because I wanted everything to be very secure (particularly the canvas above the bed). I ended up adding my own hardware to the picture frames to make sure they’d wouldn’t move and also used sticky tack on the back corners so they would stay straight on the wall. The canvas was a little trickier since I needed it to be absolutely firm. I found some great hardware at Lowe’s and used some Hercules Hooks (I know, I know, but I’ve used them for years and they truly do work!) to hang it…with some very calculated leveling. It is so sturdy, I don’t think anything could make it come down. (Hopefully, not famous last words…)

The feather fabric was a find by my sister when we were both looking at baby quilt fabric. She ended up not using it at all and I fell so in love with it that it’s used multiple places in the room, including the bed skirt and the backing of the baby quilt. Also, isn’t it amazing how well it coordinates with the rug?!

On social media, I’ve been using the hashtag #bebecrall for all baby & pregnancy related posts. I love this custom burp cloth my sister made for me with my little boy’s hashtag.

Okay, so this quilt…it’s amazing. When Kevin & I got married over 5 years ago, my mom made us a queen-size quilt and pillow shams for our bedroom. I remember at that time being overwhelmed with figuring out an entire quilt from scratch; the design, the colors, the fabrics, the type of quilting, etc. (It’s beautiful, by the way.) So when it came time to figure out everything for the baby quilt, I didn’t know where to start. Luckily, one of my sisters is also pregnant also with a boy and so I got a lot of ideas from her as we both looked at quilt designs. She found this particular design online and I immediately fell in love with it. I’m such a copycat. In the end, Mom made this up as she went, using the same style for both of ours, but they look so different because of the different fabrics we chose. It’s such a special piece to have in the nursery that will one day fit perfectly on Tiny’s toddler bed.

Using the computer, I gathered the color hex codes from the rug and fabric pieces to make this canvas. I was so unsure how it would actually turn out once printed, but I love it! The mobile was a happy surprise as I originally wasn’t going to have one. All the mobiles I could find were either outrageously expensive if they were actually cute or completely babyish. I stumbled across this one in a CB2 magazine one day and immediately set out to find it. It was discontinued on the original site, but I found it on another site (on sale even!). It couldn’t be more perfect for style and color. I have it hanging high enough that it’s out of reach and will adjust it’s height again later on if needed as he gets older & taller.

One more bonus piece is the drawer underneath the crib. I had my eye on a white crib with a drawer, but this was fell into our laps as a hand-me-down and it’s absolutely perfect. There’s great storage underneath for miscellaneous things like extra bedding and blankets. In a small room, I don’t take extra storage for granted!

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