Baby Sandy’s Nursery: Inspiration
Is there anything better than Ikea?
This is just the tip of the giant Swedish iceberg
I bought a yard of Ikea fabric while in Minneapolis to use as “inspiration” for the new nursery/playroom but I’m already changing my mind about it. It’s very…yellow. And the green is sort of a split-pea-avocado shade that may be too modern for me. It does have adorable birds and a fantastic amount of orange so I’m hesitant to trash it, but it may end up as a single throw pillow instead of the main color scheme.
I’m sort of shocked at my total NON-desire to do Baby Sandy’s nursery in pink and purple and crystals and ruffles and flowers. I want primary colors and clean lines and shapes and animals and have no plans to paint the almost-white walls and beige-yellow moldings. (And not just because I hate painting, especially trim.) My taste in nursery decor has pulled a total 180 in the past year and a half. Maybe I’ve been looking at too many nursery tours on Ohdeedoh. Or spending too much time stalking Morgan at The 818.
For example, if I had had a girl the first time I think I would have gone TOTALLY overboard with the nursery theme.
Like this. Only PINKER. With a giant chandelier.
Or this one. Only SPARKLIER.
OR THIS ONE. Which I will admit is pretty cool. Really cool. I kind of want to go to there.
I think it’s good I came to my senses for Baby #2, don’t you? (My husband may have just pulled a muscle from nodding too hard.)
So here’s my question: BESIDES Ikea, where should I be shopping for nursery stuff? Pottery Barn Kids is…boring. I get the CB2 catalog but none of it is very baby-friendly. Same with West Elm (and holy over-priced end tables Batman!) Should I just start stalking Craigslist with a passion?
P.S. So we actually WENT to Ikea Sunday and I bought…none of the above. I did buy this:
EDLAND dresser
It is MUCH paler gray in person and will match both the yellow & beige walls & carpet and that fabric I’m growing to like more and more every time I look at it. Plus, it’s huge. I’m going to put it in Baby Evan’s room for now (to solve our current NO DRESSER problem) and move it into the new nursery once we get our renovations done.
I also bought the easel I’ve seen approximately fourteen different people blog about this month, with a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other PLUS giant roll of paper you can pull over it for crayons. Baby Evan is a little young for it still (did you know chalk will write on almost any surface, including your own face? BABY EVAN DOES) but I mentioned it at least forty times as we walked through the store and E wanted me to shut the hell up likes buying me things I want.
Next time, I’m going to mention the moose rocker.
Tags: baby evan, baby sandy, home decor, house, nursery, playroom, renovation
Give Little Evan a paint brush and a small cup of water for the chalk board. Madison LOVES it! I have been writing letters and words on it in chalk and she paints over them. No chalk dust and no paint. Win, win!
I JUST BOUGHT one of the dog tail hooks to hang the dog’s leashes on!
And I gushed over the Ikea kid’s section of the store…
I should have told you before you went, but i was just there last weekend, and bought an awesome little table and chair set for $20! Rory LOVES it! she likes to eat there, or color, or just hang out with her dolly in the other chair.
I want one of these too! Every day it is becoming more of struggle to get Cora to sit in her high chair and I am tired of the wrestling match!
Have you looked into Serena and Lily? They have some really cute stuff for kid and baby rooms!
We totally have the moose rocker and it is AWESOME. It was the only thing Christopher purchased for Ev when we were expecting..and then we were about 1.5 months from our due date when he got it. I really want to get the hammock chair for Ev’s new room but I can’t find it in the catalog so was afraid they maybe aren’t carrying it anymore.
As for decoration..I think you should be looking at yourself, lady! You are amazing at decorating for parties..just use your party talents/resources and “make it work”. :D
If you have money to burn, I like Land of Nod (which I think is pretty much Crate & Barrel kids).
I love the stuff from Land of Nod, but if you’re looking for a bargain that’s not the place to find one (most of the time).
I love Ikea so much. I think Sandys nursery is going to be adorable. I stalk craigslist a few times a week. There are some truly wonderful things waiting for you there. Most just need a little polishing up, and for so much cheaper. Our Craigslist is OVERloaded with Ikea merch.
i just went on an ikea shopping rampage for corbin’s room a few weeks ago. everything i got was only like fifty bucks but i did not see those dog butt hooks! sooo cute! i cant really think of anywhere else to look besides of course target. everything else seems to be so expensive! i like to stalk clearance on all those fancy sites though and sometimes come across a good deal!
I laughed at the “just like this, only PINKER and with a giant chandelier”-type comments on the photos!
I love love love that green Ikea crib and want very badly to buy it and take it back in time with me.
If I had it to do over again I’d buy an Ikea crib. My mom bought us the Stokke oval-shaped crib on eBay, and while it’s nice, has clean lines, is not gigantic, etc, I wish we’d told her to save the cash and get us an Ikea crib instead. I also love the blue dresser in your Ikea photo collage. We have a dresser in the baby’s room but I much prefer that one. I have not seen the one you bought; it looks great too. My SIL uses some counter and drawers thing from the Ikea kitchen section in her kids’ room. It’s really great and roomy, but a lot more $$ than the dressers.
Land of nod has good stuff but it’s pricey.
Love the grey and yellow idea!! I’m glad you wrote about the easel because I have been wanting to get one from Ikea but my sister said that not all Ikea’s have them-good to know New Haven does!
LOVE! i went with a similar color theme for Jude’s room – a base of lime green and light blue with highlights of red and pink. i’ll be interested to hear about your experience with the Ikea crib because i have a feeling we’ll be buying one in the next few months. i love my co-sleeper but i think i love my sleep even more…
[…] Baby Sandy's Nursery: Vintage Bib, Ribbon Mobile, Chalkboard Tray Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginSince the new “nursery” is more of a playroom than an actual nursery (I’m still debating whether or not we’re buying a second crib – so far, “no” is winning) I’m way less interested in making it perfect than making it fun and functional. At the same time, I feel sort of bad that Baby Girl is going to be forced to share her space from the very beginning with an older brother so I’m putting a lot of effort money thought into special touches just for her. I mean, it’s SUPER AWESOME that we’ve already banished most of the ugly, plastic, music playing toys to the second floor, but it also means a pale pastel princess color scheme is totally out of the question. Good thing I was already into the idea of bright colors. […]
I was doing a search for Ikea Edland dresser review and came across your post. It really made me laugh because I have a son, and had he been a daughter the room would have looked just like the 1st picture above, but now if I have a daughter the next go around the room would be completely different! Curious, after having the Edland dresser for a year how do you feel about it? I am looking for something to go in my living room for toy storage. Cute blog by the way!
I still like it! It’s Ikea furniture, which means it did that thing where the bottoms of the drawers sag and needed to be glued into place but the outside has held up really well. And thank you xoxo