nursery series | inspiration

I didn't want to really start planning the nursery until after my first trimester. And considering how tired I was it wasn't all that hard to resist the urge to decorate. But I did know from the start a few key things:

1. The room shouldn't necessarily look like a "nursery". Knowing how much it can cost to redecorate a room from scratch, I wanted a room that would grow with our baby into childhood. This meant investing in furniture that would last and picking colors that were not all of the pastel variety. It also meant nothing very cutesy. 
2. The base pieces and colors should be gender neutral. At the beginning of my pregnancy, we were unsure if we were going to find out the sex of the baby so not too boy and not too girl was important. Also because we are planning on having more than one child, I wanted the flexibility to switch rooms or even have them share.
3. There should be a designated spot for Mom and Dad. I wanted the baby's room to be a place where the whole family would be able to hang out i.e. a comfortable spot for both Jeff and I. In our case, the baby's room is quite large so we were able to keep a full size bed, get a comfortable chair and have a crib and dresser. We also wanted to keep the option of the baby's room transitioning to a second guest bedroom.
4. Maximizing storage is key. When we were first planning the nursery, we didn't know we would be creating a playroom on the first floor (more on this later). So I figured the bedroom would be where we would need to keep the majority of all the baby's stuff. And it seems even if you try to do it as simply as possible, babies come with a lot of things. I also didn't want our whole house to become over run with baby/kid things so having "put away spaces" was important to me. 

In addition to forming my general design criteria, I also just looked for images of nurseries/kids rooms I really liked. Favorites included...

via Lonny | THE PLACE HOME

home of Molly Sims via Pop Sugar | THE PLACE HOME

home of Lulu DK via Lonny | THE PLACE HOME

by Animal Print Shop via Lonny | THE PLACE HOME

Want to read more? Check out one or all of these related posts.

rh baby and child
october 22, 2014

land of nod for kid spaces
july 31, 2014

a new pinterest board
june 12, 2014

rediscovering print

With a seemingly infinite amount of information and images on the web, it can be easy to think that the internet is all anyone really needs to stay informed and inspired. I can easily slip into this mentality, but recently, I feel like I have been rediscovering the value of print.

I have always loved books and am a bit of a snob in that I like to own my books. At times, this affinity can become a bit of a barrier to expanding my reading list. This becomes especially true when it comes to design books - big, beautiful and expensive design books! That is why I sort of feel like I have hit the jackpot in our local library. I know it sounds old fashion and obvious but our library is just three blocks from our house and has a well stocked design section. I also sort of love going because there is something about the smell of a library that just brings me back to of my childhood. And - just knowing I can leave with an armful of books and not have spent a penny!

So far I have checked out and read Nate Berkus' The Things That Matter and American Farmhouses: Country Style and Design by Leah Rosch. Berkus' book is an amazing read that I would recommend to anyone.  His approach to design is one that really resonates with me and to read it so well outlined and explained in his book was very inspiring. 

“I believe your home should tell the story of who you are. What you love most collected and assembled in one space. All your objects, finds, hand-me-downs . . . spelling out who you are to the world. Fact is, there isn’t a single item in my own home that doesn’t have a story behind it. This book celebrates the philosophy that things do matter. They have to. They’re what we live with and touch every single day. They welcome us home at night and greet us each morning on our bedside table. They represent where we’ve been, who we’ve loved, and where we hope to go. They make us happy, and I can’t think of a more beautiful way to live than that . . .” - Nate Berkus.

And of course, there are some amazing images as well...

American Farmhouses is a quick and informative read for anyone with a farmhouse obsession like myself. It also has an extensive resource list in its index which I have slowly been making my way through. It also has some great eye candy...

Greek Revival farmhouse preserved and restored by V. Romanoff and Associates

Other print sources of inspiration are magazines. And in particular, the new breed of independent publications. Ones I currently subscribe to (some independent and some not) are Inc., Taproot (read a more detailed review here) and Modern Farmer. Ones I plan on adding to my list include: Trouvé (thanks for the referral Emily Suzanne), Kinfolk, Sweet Paul and Anthology. 

Happy reading and have a good weekend everyone!

where is home?

I was lacking inspiration for today's blog post when I remembered TED. TED talks are an amazing and uplifting resource for me both personally and professionally. I listened to them a lot in between grad school and when I started "working". I put "working" in quotes as I try not to think of how I spend the majority of my time as work - something I learned from viewing Tina Roth Eisenberg's talk at this year's SXSW Interactive Conference. Eisenberg's talk is one of my favorites and I highly recommend it. However, it is 54 minutes long which is much more of a commitment than most TED talks which average 20 minutes.

Today, I want to share Pico Iyer's talk entitled Where is Home? . Iyer is a renowned travel writer who has written ten books largely about the juxtaposition of local traditions and global pop culture. However, his TED talk is less about his writings and more about his personal journey of understanding where home is. I don't want to give to much away as I think everyone should listen to it themselves (maybe on your lunch break?) but I will share the closing lines of his talk. 

"And home, in the end, is of course not just the place where you sleep. It's the place where you stand" (Iyer).