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

organizing my pinterest account

It's no secret that I have a real obsession with Pinterest. As a designer, it has become one of most valued resources - a constant source of inspiration, an important part of client communication and a main attractor to the blog. Since joining, I have done my best to keep my boards organized and not have too few or too many boards floating out there. Recently, however, I was noticing that things were getting a little overloaded and not as user friendly as I would have liked. So I took some time and did some re-sorting. In alphabetical order...

Blog|A Pin A Day: A remnant from the roughly year long series that I have since discontinued.

Blog|The Place Home: A repository for the images associated with blog posts.

Design|Details: All pins related to finish carpentry, joinery and material detailing. This is one of my favorite boards as I just love the craftsmanship and ingenuity that is expressed in some of the images. Plus its where you will find my image collection of dutch doors...

10" x 42" Live Edge Cedar Bench by Quarter Twenty

Design|Fireplaces: Another favorite as fireplaces represent that beautiful balance of function and aesthetics. 

Design|Garden: One of my most pin to boards and one that is probably in need of subdividing. This boards includes everything related to outdoor spaces, gardening and landscape design.

Design|Intervention: A board dedicated to large scale and experiential art. Some amazing images of land art that I find awe inspiring. 

stone piece by Andy Goldsworthy

Design|Kids: A board for kiddo spaces and products. 

Design|Private: Exterior images of well designed homes - traditional, modern, historic and more. 

Design|Products: A sort of mix match of images including graphic design and branding as well as just cool business ideas. 

clipnest by root design office

Design|Public: A collection of exterior and interior public spaces - restaurants, shops, multi-family housing units, barns, factories etc.

Design|Representation: A selection of amazing artists' works. 

Design|Quilts: This is one of my new boards as I decided this obsession needed its own space in my collection.

Design|Stairs: I love stairs for the same reason I love fireplaces - form and function. 

Home|Accessorize: An old board that I subdivided - this large collection now includes textiles, rugs, homewares, hardware and styling. 

Home|Bathrooms: Currently 100 pins of this highly used space.

Home|Bedrooms: A new board dedicated to one of my favorite rooms in a house. 

bedroom via House & Home

Home|Finishes: This board includes images of materials (largely flooring), paint and wallpaper. 

Home|Furniture: My go to resource for beautiful pieces - lots of rattan, walnut, brass, linen, leather...

Home|Holidays: This collection should probably just be called Home|Christmas.

Home|Interiors: Basically images of inspiring interior spaces that aren't bathrooms, kitchens or bedrooms. 

Home|Kitchens: A new board dedicated entirely to this design beast of a room. 

Home|Lighting: Another newbie full of form and function - lots here as I am not a big fan of overhead can lighting.

plaster lamps by Jacques Grange for Yves Saint Laurent via 1st Dibs

Living|Seasonally: An inspiration board for summer, fall, winter and spring.

The rest of the boards on my page are related to style and beauty, clients and just a few other random things. If curious follow me and if you aren't already on Pinterest you can sign up for an account here.

garden pinners to follow

In researching Wednesday's post, I discovered Hendy Curzon. A garden and landscape design firm in the U.K. with a truly beautiful portfolio of work. I attempted (somewhat in vain) to not get too distracted on their site and instead make it a Friday morning treat to myself. So for the past hour or so I have been in gardener la-la land dreaming of what I can do with our outdoor space. 

I will say that I find their site a bit cluttered and while totally worth the browse, their Pinterest page is a much more direct approach to see lovely garden images. I am especially fond of their board called Cut Flower Garden } Outside In. 

pinned by Hendy Curzon via An Abundance

I also have to credit the Hendy Curzon's Pinterest page for introducing me to Floret Flower Farm. Floret is a family farm and floral design studio located in Washington's Skagit Valley. Specializing in unique and heirloom cut flower varieties, the farm maintains a beautiful website, blog and Pinterest account.  Floret is also a 2014 winner of Martha Stewart's American Made Contest which I have featured here with some past winners being Nordt Family Farm, Paloma's Nest and Hey Baby Craft Co.. I would highly recommend checking out Floret for any future brides as well as anyone interested in growing a cut flower garden. And if you are in the Pacific Northwest, they hold workshops which I, for one, would love to attend. Below are some images of their work and life on their farm. Happy spring weekend!