The Little Nursery That Could

Dear readers! Before the baby gets here and trashes the place, I would love to show a few photos of where she’ll stay.

The nursery wall, as we call it.

The rocker was my modernist-loving grandmother’s, and the crib (former laundry basket) is a makeover story done by Joe (he posted a few before photos). I love the mobile, it was the first nursery item we were given, and for most of the winter it hung in our living room as a promise that we would someday have a place for it. We’re planning to hook up an ipod to the radio with white noise tracks so it can double as a sound machine, along with playing NPR for me.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen when I posted a photo of Joe finding the globe in the trash near our apartment. It works perfectly as a soft ocean-and-continent-glow nightlight. It’s a still mystery why it was in the trash as no deadly spider babies have yet emerged from it.

In our apartment storage is an enormous challenge, so we definitely needed a new place to put her clothes. We bought the two pieces of furniture at an antique warehouse in southern MA. Joe repainted the cabinet when we were in Maine, and the knobs on the changing table are from Anthropologie. Those orange bins will be all cloth diapers, since I finally found someone in Boston who does diaper deliveries.

This Kurt Vonnegut quote (from A Man Without a Country) is a good one for us. We’re always noticing after the fact how nice something was, and never quite settling down in the moment. We used this sign and the “crib” in the market last year, so it feels like we brought a little bit of our past adventures along with us.

We changed up the artwork in the rest of the bedroom as well, and I love this old schoolhouse map for its pinks, oranges and blues. It’s so cheerful (and historically educational, since most of the facts are wrong now).

Looking over at this wall, for me, is like sitting before a grotto of flickering candles. The fact that we finally appear to be physically ready to welcome her, and she will have place to fall asleep, and a place to put her clothes, is incredibly soothing. Possibly the most soothing thought I have ever encountered. I try to fall asleep facing that wall.

9 Comments

mfvr

June 27, 2011 at 3:50 pm Reply

Beautiful… so wonderful to see this space. Thinking of you and waiting for “News”.

Hannah Brooks

June 27, 2011 at 5:24 pm Reply

I just love this post. The nursery (wall) is lovely!

Junglewife

June 27, 2011 at 6:11 pm Reply

LOVE it all! So great to see the little space your girl will be occupying! We never had a proper “nursery” for either of our kids, due to our transitory life at the time they were both babies. They both occupied corners of the rooms we were in at the time, slept in port-a-cribs, and turned out just fine! I understand the desire some people have to create elaborately decorated nurseries, but those pieces of furniture are used for such a short period of a kid’s life! I love what you have to use, and that it can be transitioned and re-appropriated when the time comes.

Jacki

June 27, 2011 at 10:16 pm Reply

I just love the lil babe nook! It looks so cozy and and sweet for your small little family. Thinking about you all a lot and waiting for good news! Praying all goes smoothly. And nice job with the Kurt Vonnegut quote – go Hoosiers!