Bright and colorful nursery

I realize I've been a complete blogging slacker. I don't know why I thought I'd have more time for this being a stay at home mom but I definitely have less haha. I can't promise how often I will post but I have some fun posts to share (including this one) that I hope to get around to soon.

The nursery in our home is probably the most decorated and most complete of all the rooms. I had a vision for it and it came together just like I hoped... this room makes me so happy! I shared the painting of the aqua nursery here.

I didn't want a particular theme in the nursery and wanted it to be bright and colorful and happy. I knew I wanted animals in it but not all themed around one animal. After finding the crib skirt and curtain fabric everything came together to go along nicely with those. The source list for everything I can remember, is at the bottom.

To the right of the door when you enter is the diaper changing area and dresser with photo collage above it. It is a mix of photos, printables, a mirror and a wooden painted letter. In the corner is a small trash can and the cloth diaper pail

On the left wall after you enter is the cube organizer that contain toys, books and a few bins. Two of the bins serve as laundry hampers and the other two hold blankets, babywearing wraps and extra wet bags. The door on the right side of the cube shelving is the closet... redo here.

Two of my favorite things on these shelves are the Hobbes that Dexter confidently points to when you ask him "where's Hobbes?" and the Star Wars print which was the first thing Eric and I bought for baby at a vintage bi-annual market when I was pregnant. It says "Dad, you are my father".

The opposite wall of the entry door has the crib and glider recliner. I've always loved the vintage look of the jenny lind crib. I spent many many hours in that chair and it was totally worth every penny. Since it is microfiber it cleans easily which is important when you have a reflux baby :)  The flashcards and thumbprint frame with thumbprints from people at my showers are two of my favorite part of the nursery. I have always loved the look of hanging flashcards in a nursery and it was the perfect way to have animals without it being too themey.

The final wall to the right of the crib has two windows and a little side table next to the glider. It was the perfect size for my water and phone and any other essentials while nursing. It was originally pink and my parents painted it yellow for us. My rocking chair and teddy bear from when I was a child are also on this wall. I had planned to add pictures or something on the wall in between the windows but haven't yet.

Over a year later and I still love this room. Good thing since I go in here many times a day!


Sources
Dresser: Craigslist
Diaper organizer: Amazon
Changing pad: Amazon
Changing pad covers: made by my mom
Dr. Seuss print: free online
Mirror: Target
Wooden letter: Craft Cuts
Robot print: etsy
1 Samuel print: made by me in photoshop
Frames: Target and HomeGoods
Cubby Shelves: IKEA
Gray linen bins: Target
Alphabet box: HomeGoods
Sunshine canvas: HomeGoods
Ceramic A, Z blocks: made by my mom
Books: various
Clemson piggy bank: Clemson Variety and Frame Shop
Star Wars print: Sable and Gray
White noise machine: Amazon
Red rocking horse: Lake Norman Antique Mall
Nightlight moon: Amazon
Crane truck: IKEA
Shoes: made by my mom, HomeGoods
Little People blocks: consignment sale
Camera monitor: Amazon
Alphabet animal flashcards: etsy
Crib: Amazon
Crib sheet: made by my mom and I
Crib skirt: made by my mom and I
Glider recliner: Best Storytime
Side table: HomeGoods, paint color: BM Dalila
Lamp: Goodwill
Cork lamp shade: target, only in store
Gray plush rug: HomeGoods

How to plan and create a gallery wall

I've done a few gallery walls between our last home and this home. My favorite is galleries with photographs! Here is the process I go through when creating any type of gallery wall.

1. Design with paper: First create your gallery wall using regular paper the sizes of frames you want (or think you want) and tape them up on the wall using painters tape. I tape multiple pieces of paper together to achieve the right size if needed. Then it is easy to rearrange them until they look like you want. Look at it for a few days or a week and keep tweaking if you want. Note: if you don't have all your frames yet add at least 2 inches to the length and width of the photograph/picture size when you cut out a paper. So for an 8x10 you would use a 10x12 paper or larger. I prefer smaller frames for the most part. This also works for plates, mirrors or any other objects in a gallery wall. Just cut paper the same size.

Also don't be like me and leave the white paper up for 6+ months so that you start thinking it looks totally normal to have paper on your wall. 

2. Vision with frames: Gather your frames and arrange on the floor in mimicking your wall placement to make sure you still like the look. I didn't have all my photos printed yet at this point especially because I knew I wanted a few from Dexter's newborn photo shoot but having the frame sizes picked actually helped me pick out ones from his session that I wanted in this gallery wall.

3. Measure hanging placement: Measure on the back of each of your frames how far down from the top of the frame the screw needs to be for hanging it. Then make a mark on your papers on the wall to correspond to this measurement. You can put the screw in right through the paper and then tear the paper away after so you are sure to get it in the right spot. Note: the nice thing about a gallery wall like this is that if you are off by a little bit it doesn't matter since nothing has to be lined up just perfect

4. Place on the wall: Hang your frames on the screws you put in the wall.

Here is the finished product once I had all the photos printed for it and the printable I made printed out at kinkos.

In case you are interested in what sizes the photos are, here is a guide.

1. 8x10 landscape
2. 11x14 portrait (photo by Brittany Lauren Photography)
3. 5x7 landscape
4. 8x10 portrait (photo by Brittany Lauren Photography)
5. 8x10 portrait (photo by Brittany Lauren Photography)
6. 8x10 landscape
7. 5x7 portrait (printable I made that says "find joy in the journey")
8. 5x7 portrait
9. 11x14 landscape (photo by Brittany Lauren Photography)

I really like how this gallery wall in our family room turned out. I may tweak it over time if I get a new photo that I really want up there. If I do, I think I would move frame #1 up higher and fit another frame in below it, probably a 5x7 size.

Hope this helps you create beautiful gallery walls in your home!

My Nautical Baby Shower

I didn't get a chance to post about the awesome family baby shower my sister in law threw in April before munchkin arrived but am so excited to share it with you now! It was nautical themed and the invitations were so adorable with Ahoy It's a Boy on them.

The decor was top notch! If anyone is throwing a nautical shower, I know some of these things came from etsy. There were fun banners, various ships, a sailor hat and lighthouses that both of us and my mom happened to have for decorating the table that contained the Wishes for Baby cards and the Advice for the Parents-to-be cards. There were also thank you cards that matched the theme where the attendees went ahead and filled in their address - this is something Megan had done for her at one of her showers and it is a real time saver when you have so much going on with a new baby.

My mom gave Megan the Little People Marina to put out which I played with as a kid. Love all the old Little People stuff.

This diaper wreath was amazing! It said Baby Munchkin in the center and is from etsy.

With the wonderful host! She was so sweet to host a baby shower with a 2 month old.

Now let's talk about the amazing food. First the diaper cake on the food table was adorable. We cloth diaper but I haven't really had to buy any disposables for when we travel, etc. due to diapers from my showers.  It was the perfect centerpiece.

The food was catered by someone that catered one of Megan's showers and it was delicious! Chicken salad, veggies and dip, fruit, spinach artichoke dip and some sort of cheese dip in the hollowed pineapple that was to die for! I could totally go for some of that right now.

The cookies are from Blue Flour Bakery in Columbia and they are so so good! I first had their cookies at the shower I threw for Megan when her mom brought them. They are a great shower dessert and I prefer cookies over cake.

With Miss Abby right before we all ate.

After eating, everyone filled out the Baby Wish cards that I cannot wait to share with Munchkin one day and the Advice for the Parents-to-be. 

Then I opened the gifts. My chair even had a Mom-to-be sign and the mantle was all decorated too with BABY letters Megan made and some onesies and burp cloths y mom made.

With Eric's mom and my mom

One of our close family friends was really sweet to come up from FL for the shower.

As well as my aunt from FL and cousin from Charleston.

And my sweet niece. She was the flower girl in our wedding and is so grown up now.

There were cute cookie favors for the guests to take as they left also from Blue Flour. I actually froze two of these for us to enjoy post baby and ate them a couple weeks ago and they were still just as delicious.

Eric helped out with clean up and packing up the baby loot.

And of course this little guy dressed up for the party in his nautical wear too at a little over 2 months old!

Oh The Places You'll Go Baby Shower

Last month, my mom and one of my best friends Katie threw me a baby shower here in Charlotte with the theme Oh The Places You'll Go. It was more travel inspired with just a touch of Dr. Seuss which I loved since we really love travelling and seeing new places and hope our little one will too.

All of the decorations were perfect. My mom has a lot of travel decor (like the hats hanging from the kitchen light fixture) from living in different countries growing up in an army family. And she has lots of Little People travel themed toys like the airplane and bus and such that my sister and I played with as kids. She borrowed the globes and garland from me and made the table cloth and banner.

She also made this diaper wreath with clip art travel stuff taped to it. She also made a pretend passport for the baby. We are hoping to cloth diaper but of course will always need a few disposables for when we travel and such. She printed the Dr. Seuss quote out and framed it. We are excited to hang it up in the nursery.

Our little guy has a ton of cute appliqued and handmade onesies and such from the mantle. I'm loving the little hat and leggings with transportation stuff on them. There are a few more Little People toys on the mantle as well as random little toys in the two vases as decor. And a Oh the Places You'll Go Baby book to be read in utero from my sister. We've read it to munchkin several times and he seems to move around a lot and really like it!

I took these two photos later that night so you could see the window decor and table cloth better because it was hard to capture on camera when it was so bright out.

When guests arrived they grabbed a bow tie and if someone said the word "baby" you got to take their bow tie so the person with the most won a prize. I lost my bow tie very quickly :)

All the food was labelled for a different country to go along with the theme... so clever!

The little food labels were made out of punched out maps and punched out white paper with the words printed on them and are attached to binder clips.

My friend Elisabeth brought this activity that I was super excited about which I had seen at a friend's shower. Everyone puts their thumbprint on the printable (in the end it will look like a big bunch of balloons) and signs their name in their thumbprint. I can't wait to put this up in the nursery too!

We played  few fun shower games Katie came up with. One was matching the word "baby" in different languages and another was about what different things you have on your smart phone.. some was related to baby or kids and there were other categories like how many contacts you have with a "B". Much better than the measuring tape game or the candy in diaper game that I've heard of played at showers.

And I opened gifts. Little guy has some super awesome stuff already!

The wives from the group we usually hang out with.

Katie and I... can you believe she co-hosted a shower when she was about 37 weeks pregnant. She is amazing!

Elisabeth and I

My friend Kelley brought her daughter Olivia who is seriously the best behaved almost 4-year old I've ever seen. She is so adorable too.

With my mom and sister

And the hubby... who was great at clean up and packing up :)

I had such a wonderful shower and munchkin is already so spoiled and loved! Thank you mom and Katie for throwing the shower!