Forms of nature: 2011

Ok, finally, here is it, the long-awaited post about the transformation from nasty upstairs bedroom to lovely little nursery. I know that you, my faithful readers, have been passing many sleepless nights anticipating the photo-journalistic recap I am about to provide, so I would like to sincerely apologize for the long wait. Turns out it takes a lot longer editing photos and maintaining a blog with a newborn around the house. The title of this post refers back to something my father said when we were at Menards over a year ago, shopping for moulding and wainscoting. I was lamenting the cost of buying an entire bedroom's worth of trim, wood for shelves and wainscoting and professional floor sanders. My dad responded, "Cheer up. At least when we are finished you will have one glorious room in your house." And so, today I am happy to share with you all the journey towards that glorious room, and the final destination, which little Will is enjoying immensely. (Ok, not yet, but I certainly love gazing around the room ~~exhaustedly with red-rimmed and bleary eyes~~ adoringly and bright-eyed during those 3am breastfeeding sessions that last about 40 min more than I wish they did.) Well, without further ado:
Here is the start of our journey. 3 years ago around the time that we first bought our house:

Much as we loved the sky-blue carpeting and blank white walls, I knew that this had to go, and spent the next year or so dreaming up a scheme for how we would renovate this room. First things first, this carpeting had to go. So we ripped it out, revealing lovely wooden floors...with lovely stains.

However, our floor sanders, who did an excellent job, were able to eliminate this nastiness, as you shall see in future pictures.

The next year was spent with me dreaming about how elaborate and expensive I could make this room to put my poor father into an early grave as he worked his butt off trying to realize the dream. At this time, I didn't even have the hope of a future grand-child to hang over his head. Poor father.

Many hours were spent at my dad's shop, cutting, sanding, painting, assembling, and such.

And then many MANY more in the bedroom.

If only it took as little time and effort to finish this room as it did for you to scroll through the above portion of this blog. Oh well. It's done now, and here are the pictures of the finished product!

The rocking horse was a garage sale find which we lovingly fixed up with a fresh coat of paint and a new mane made of a tea-stained mop-head (yes, my mother-in-law is Martha Stewart reincarnated...if Martha Stewart were no longer with us)

This hook was a clearance bargain I snatched up early in my pregnancy when we were just positive we were having a boy and naming him Will. And the hat my hubby went out and bought the day baby was born. Honestly I really think my husband was hoping we would have a boy just so he could buy him this hat.

Here is a picture of him wearing it...a little big still

All of the furniture in the room was purchased from craigslist, including the crib and the rocker. The dresser was a garage sale find which we fixed up and dressed up with knobs from Anthropologie.

Lamp was from HomeGoods, and the little elephant we named Max (as in Max Rebo from Star Wars) is from a sweet friend (you know who you are :)
These lovely shadowboxes were made by some incredibly crafty ladies (you know who you are) who matched them to the color scheme and theme of the room

He's got some adorably organized closets (thanks to my mother-in-law) hung with many adorable outfits. Yes, you might see some green and gold in there...Go Pack!! 14-0!!
A home-made mobile hangs over the crib...this took a lot of work. I hope to do a post about this some time...

The built-in bookshelves have some lovely gifts, vintage knick-knacks and classic children's books...I still need to get my hands on a bunch more like "Goodnight Moon" and "Blueberries for Sal" to name a few.

The built-in window seat obviously is the crowing beauty of the room. I drew a sketch of what I wanted, and my wonderfully talented and gifted father, who has been building gorgeous custom cabinetry for over 30 years (sorry, can't help but put in a shameless plug), designed and built the entire thing, in addition to installing beautiful new trim and wainscot.