Evie's Woodland Nursery

(UPDATE!!)  I've started a new blog called Sycamore and Slate, and no longer update this one.  To see pictures of our brand new house, as we're building it, please check out our new website. Thank you for reading! - Elana

As soon as we found out we we're pregnant, one of the very first things I thought about was decorating the nursery.  But, of course, I knew that we should wait a bit until we got through the first trimester and (since I wanted the room to be gender-specific) until we were far enough along to find out if the baby was a boy or girl.  But that didn't stop me from starting to plan right away!  Or from buying a few things that would be okay for either a boy or a girl.  

I knew I wanted a forest, nature theme and there were so many adorable things every time we went to Hobby Lobby or Target that I just couldn't leave behind.  Chad will attest to that.

It was good actually that we had to wait a bit, because the room had previously been our "spare bedroom" and it was completely packed full with my old bedroom and office furniture from before we were married, mostly all of my crafting supplies, and tons of other odds and ends.  Pretty much everything that we didn't have a home for got shoved into that room.  So I spent weeks cleaning it out, throwing things away, and packing things up for storage or a yardsale.

We had painted the whole house when Chad bought it just a few years before, a neutral beige color, so I left that alone.  It worked well for the forest theme.  But I did add white vinyl birch tree decals to one of the walls as a focal point.  I made these myself with my Silhouette Studio software and my Silhouette Cameo Electronic Cutting Tool.  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!



 

It took a while to get all the furniture we needed, and a lot of running all around to every furniture store within 3 hours to find the right things.  And also, lots of the good old online-shopping.  We got all our furniture, actually, from various online companies (amazon, wayfair, cymax, etc...) without being able to see them in person first. I was nervous that none of the white and ivories and tans and greys would match each other, but I ended up loving it all.  Each piece is slightly different from the others and yet they complement each other really well!

There were also a few DIY projects.  I helped Chad make these amazing gutter bookshelves. (And by help, I mean I found the idea on Pinterest and then tagged along with him to the hardware store to make sure he got the gutters I wanted).

I waited until all the furniture was in place, before I hung the pictures and wall decor so I could get the placement just right. Again, Chad did most of the actual hanging while I stood back and told him where to put everything. He will readily tell you how much he hated doing that.  Leveling all of them and getting the spacing just right was a huge pain (especially if your wife is a perfectionist).  But it was so worth it in the end! 

Many of the pictures are from Hobby Lobby including: 'Let Your Heart Sing', 'Hello Beautiful Baby Girl', 'And Baby Makes Three', 'Follow That Dream', and 'Children Only Have One Childhood'

This frame and the mini bird clothespins are from Michael's.  The quotes are Project Life journaling cards.

The 'E' was a DIY project that I made from sticks from my own back yard and a hot glue gun.

This was another DIY project that literally took maybe 3 minutes.

These gorgeous paintings are by TinyToesDesign, and they go so perfect in these frames I found at Bed Bath & Beyond.

I think it's the little details that finish the room off and make it feel cozy...  Like these sheer and shimmery curtains we got from JC Penney, hung from a shiny gold curtain rod from Lowe's.

This super soft lambskin that I have draped over Evie's ottoman.  It's so soft to put my feet up on when I rock and read to Evie.  This was a gift from Chad's parents to us back when we first were married. I love that it ended up here.

And we had to have some adorable baby toys... This soft hedgehog riding toy. I mean, come on.  Too adorable to pass up.

Also, I'm showing my owl love with some accent lamps... a little night light and a gorgeous lamp with a 3 way bulb for soft or bright lighting depending on the need.

And of course the adorable DIY projects that were gifted to Evie from loved ones.  A precious knitted lamb from Aunt Jessie and a lovely sign with one of my favorite verses from Aunt Tanya and Uncle Brandon.

How fitting is this in the closet?? I love the reminder when I'm picking out her clothes for the day.

And speaking of the closet... Chad and I got a system from Lowe's and he installed that, too! Even though Evie's closet has doors, I knew that I'd just be leaving them open most of the time because I'd need to get in there a lot for changes of clothes. I wanted something I could make kind of pretty so that it wouldn't just be a jumbled mess in there.  Plus I wanted something to allow for two hanging rods because baby clothes are tiny and it seems silly to just have one row across the top of the closet.

I love love love how the room turned out and I love spending time in there with little Evie.  The only thing I want to add yet is a mobile above the crib when Evie starts actually sleeping in here... which I think is going to be very soon! :)

Basement Renovation - The Reveal

Chad and I were so excited about the way our basement renovation turned out.  We've long had the "building bug" and this project just made us even more excited for future house projects. The basement has gone from my least favorite place in our house, to my absolute favorite... I LOVE to go down there now to do laundry (except for the carrying clothes up and down the stairs part which still drives me crazy!!) and we spend the vast majority of our "down" time downstairs now (pun!).  Hope you enjoy this little tour of our hard, fun work!

Coming down the steps, this is the view... 

I took out the clutter for a few pictures to show how the finished wall turned out... You'll probably notice how the paint color that we chose for here - Wedgewood Grey by Benjamin Moore - looks very different depending on the lighting... sometimes it's a light blue and sometimes it's a dusty bluish-grey: 

We keep Asher's crazy massive "cat condo" in the corner (not pictured) and a keyboard that we have no other good place to put :)

I designed this pretty dandelion out of vinyl and I hope one day to set up an etsy store and start selling this design and some of the others that I've made...

And Chad and I made this bench for the entryway space (more on how we made this in another post to come!!):

Now to the actual relaxing space!! 

Chad and I had a local furniture maker make us this cabinet (we don't have any knobs on it yet because we couldn't decide what we wanted...).  We searched high and low, near and far for a TV console that would work in our space and hold ALL our 400+ DVDs and Blurays.  I cannot speak highly enough about his work! We were so pleased that we decided to go with a local business.  It turned out to be cheaper than almost anything that we could find anywhere else, and it's the exact specifications/color that we wanted.  So pleased with it! (Also very pleased with the cool big screen TV we got to go along with it!) ;)

 

Chad also built some speakers into the ceiling along with the pot lights for a great surround sound system :)

I love having soft throws around this room... there is always one nearby to grab.  Just in the basement alone I have 7 right now! And I'm addicted to them... they always catch my eye in stores.  Chad makes fun of me because I can't keep myself from buying them!!

Plus I think fabrics are so important in a room like this to soften it and make it feel comfortable.  The sectional sofa and the pillows it came with (which Chad brought with him when he left home) is very comfortable and the color wasn't horrible with our other choices, so we decided to keep it and save some money.  We did get some new drapery, though, in a soft white color, almost burlap/linen texture. Plus how cute is the curtain rod we found??

 

I closed the blinds to help with some lighting issues but check out the gorgeous view we've got today due to snow a few days ago and an ice storm last night:

 
 
I love looking out the widow at that!  Speaking of looking out of windows, remember how we switched out the door to the patio to one that had a window in it... here's how that corner of the room looks now:

We made it into another little "entryway" space since we do use this door quite often to get in and out!  The bookcase and rug were also brought with Chad from his parent's house.  The bookcase fits so perfect in this spot!  Getting it "staged" is still a work in progress though... :)  Also, check out the view from this door... dreamy, icy, lovely winter. (I know most people don't like it because it causes a lot of problems, but you have to admit, it's beautiful!) ;)

We finished off the basement with some decor in a variety of grays/metals paired with wood grains/warmer tones.  Threw in some pretty clear glass pieces, and a bit of black and white to anchor it all together.

 
This space will be a work in progress, I'm sure, until the day we move... I'm always very slow to actually buy things (Chad makes fun of me because I oohh and aahh over things like crazy, but I can never bring myself to actually spend the money...) but over time I will slowly buy and incorporate new things! :)

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this "new" space and sharing in my excitement of it!  Just as a reminded of how far this space has come I'll leave you with a few pictures of what it used to look like.  In case you missed it, you can read about how it all got started and see all the progress pictures HERE.

I think we've definitely made an improvement! :)