Nursery Part 1

I'm due with my first baby at the end of April, just 8 weeks or so from now. Yikes! Amazing how the time flies. We finally got the nursery cleared out, cleaned up, painted and wallpapered over the last few weeks. Here's a peek:

 

Here's the pretty boring before picture. It was painted by the old owners a sort of peachy pink and had worked well as our nondescript office space. We cleared out everything except this Lack shelving unit which I think we'll probably end up keeping in the nursery. It's too big to go anywhere else and figure it will provide lots of storage. 

We decided on Benjamin Moore's Simple White for the walls and, above, Florida Aqua for the ceiling. The aqua is a shade lighter than the birds on the wallpaper we're using which you'll see below. Both are from the Aura line which is super easy to work with and low-VOC to boot. Only the best for baby!

Here's the wallpaper that we're using. I posted about this last year; we were planning on using it in the guest room but decided otherwise after we found out I was pregnant. It's a print by Julie Rothman sold through Hygge & West called Daydream.

 

 

This was our first time wallpapering so it took a while just getting set up. Initially we were going to have it professionally painted and hung but my increasingly handy husband (do men go through that nesting phase too??) decided he wanted to do it himself. Notice the very helpful dog. 

  

The first panel was definitely the hardest. We hadn't yet figured out exactly how much paste to use and had to line up the panel perfectly in order for the pattern to track evenly across the wall. We're also working with uneven walls because our house is old and shifty. We ended up using too little paste so I had to go back with a paint brush to get the edges to stick. 

The next 3 panels went increasingly well.....

 

We were expecting to have to use a 1 1/2 inch piece at the very end but either our measurements were wrong or the paper expanded and the 4 panels ended up fitting almost perfectly. 

 

We (or he rather) also ended up installing a dimmer switch for the overhead light which I'm guessing is why this picture turned out as dark as it is. But there you have it, nursery walls and ceiling painted and wallpapered - check!

Next up....setting up the crib (I decided on the classic Jenny Lind) and figuring out carpet, bedding, window treatments, lighting, a chair and some odds and ends. I'm finding that I'm being drawn to more gender-specific decor so may opt for the decorating-dash after the baby is born. In the near future expect some options for each!