I am over 26 weeks pregnant, which means it’s about time I get things moving in the nursery. I’ve held off because we had a few guests over the last few months and I didn’t want to ditch our bed in there too soon. But my goal is to get the nursery done by September, just in case the little man decides to make an early arrival, as Rory did. So now is the time to get things moving along in there!

The Room Now

Here’s a look at the space now. It’s been our guest room for the past two years and it’s a cozy one at that. While it was never used very often, it sure was nice to have an extra bed in case one of us was sick or we had an out-of-town guest. We’re still in the process of figuring out our exact gameplan for when guests come over. Right now, we have a queen air mattress and we’re looking to ditch my loveseat in the office and replace it with a small sleeper sofa or futon. More details to come as we figure out the ideal plan for our home.

DIY Projects to Tackle

I’m trying not to make a super long DIY to-do list in here. It’s getting harder to move around and do things and I don’t have the capacity as I did before having Rory. So here’s my manageable (or so I hope!) DIY gameplan for the room…

• Wallpaper the closet (I actually already did this and I can’t wait to share next week!)
• Install custom closet organizer
• Add picture frame molding to the walls
• Put a fresh coat of paint on the walls  (It will be the same color it is now, Benjamin Moore “Tarrytown Green”)
• Install blackout curtains
• Hang shelves
• Furnish and decorate
• Organize everything!

I absolutely adore Rory’s closet, so it was important to me to tackle that space first in the baby boy’s nursery. That way the closet would be done right away and we could put things in there as we start to organize and gather stuff for the new baby. I ended up going with this whimsical wallpaper from Relativity Textiles and as I mentioned above, I installed it a few weeks ago. It’s divine and I can’t wait to show you the finished product soon. As for the actual closet system, we’re doing a similar setup to our office closet except we won’t have the backs on the PAX system so you will be able to see as much of that beautiful wallpaper as possible. Plus, we’ll have fewer shelves and more rods. We used a different closet system in Rory’s room and it’s fine, but we’ve found that we can better customize the space using the IKEA PAX. And now that we’ve installed so many of them, it’s not that daunting of a DIY project. Perhaps I can tackle that one solo, minus any heavy lifting! One of my favorite parts of Rory’s nursery is the chair rail. It just adds so much interest, depth, and color to the room.

Inspiration via Yellow Brick Home

In here, I plan to install picture frame molding on the entire wall, not just the bottom part like I did for her. It will be very similar to the gorgeous dining room by Yellow Brick Home above. It will probably take me a few days to tackle solo, but I’m excited about one last hardcore DIY project before the baby arrives. Once the walls are done, it will mostly be little stuff left to do, like putting together furniture, adding wall art and shelves, and figuring out blackout curtains for the windows. I’m eager to get the big projects out of the way so I can focus on the fun stuff!

My Furniture Plan

So what about furniture for this baby boy nursery design? Well, I’m not gonna lie…it has been a bit tough. I ended up ordering this wood crib from West Elm back in May and I’ve already gotten two notices that it has been delayed. As of now, it says it will arrive in August, but I’m scared I may get another email pushing it back again. Eek. I love the crib, but we can always pivot and find something locally if we get too close to my due date and it’s still not here. You guys gave me so many awesome tips in this blog post about getting a recliner for the room and I started checking out lots of them online. Again, lead times are crazy and the last thing I want is to not have a chair to rock our little guy. My mom and I ended up hitting up the Pottery Barn Outlet in Joliet over the holiday weekend and we found a glider. However, the glider actually isn’t for baby boy’s nursery…it’s for Rory’s room! It’s a velvet blush glider (that reclines, although not sure how often I’ll use it with her) and then we’ll just add her glider to baby boy’s room. The glider from Rory’s room still looks brand new and I love the cream color against the dark green walls. We got it from Crate & Kids and unfortunately, they don’t make that exact one anymore.  We already have the dresser that will serve as our changing station. The dresser was in our main bedroom and when we upgraded the space we moved it to this room. It’s a great dresser and Finn can’t wait to get it all organized. Other than those three key pieces, I’ll just be buying a few random things here and there, like lamps, a side table, a rug, etc. I’m looking forward to getting those big foundational pieces in so I can finish up those little things. And now that I have more of a design plan, I may try to incorporate the DIY canvas art I recently made. I think it could look really pretty with the colors in the room. Potentially above the changing table? We’ll see. I also went ahead and ordered a few must-haves for his nursery that I know we will eventually need. This changing table topper, this changing pad, and this mattress pad were all used in Rory’s nursery and we love them, so I just got more for Baby Boy. I also scooped up some cute changing pad covers (this one in gray and black) and crib sheets (this one and this one). And I got this table lamp for the changing station. It’s a touch lamp and I’ve found it so helpful to use a touch lamp in Rory’s room, so we wanted to do the same here. They’ll be hanging in the basement until this room is a bit more ready!

Baby Boy Nursery Design Plan

So after all that, here’s a look at the first draft for my baby boy nursery design plan. Just like Rory’s room, I didn’t want to do a theme or anything too “babyish”. I personally like a room that can grow alongside the child and I think this room will do just that!

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore “Tarrytown Green” // Wallpaper // Rug // Dresser // Crib // Glider (from Crate & Kids, no longer sold) // Table Lamp // Gold Floor Lamp // Canvas Art

I think it will be a nice cozy oasis with those dark green walls. Then we’ll have the wood tones and accent everything with a bit of brass. Should make for a sophisticated little boy’s room! My plan is to have a weekly blog post with nursery progress until the big reveal which will hopefully be in September. I can’t wait to take you along for the ride as we design the nursery of our dreams for our son.

Casey

Catch Up on Ellis’ Nursery

• Nursery Design Plan
• Wallpapering the Closet
• Building the Closet
• Picture Frame Molding
• Installing Blackout Curtains
• Nursery Progress
• Adding Shelves
• How to Install a Changing Pad
• Baby Boy Nursery Reveal & Sources