Nursery Makeover

AD / Contains affiliate links

Before I start, I should probably let you know we are expecting our second child in a matter of days (hopefully not weeks, but these babies keep you on your toes, she’ll be here when she’s here).

We’ve lived in our three bedroom house for four years now and the third bedroom has always been my office. When I found out I was expecting I knew it would be time to give up my office at some point, after a bit of reflection I can’t say I’m that mad about it. I used to work in there all the time, and then over the past few months I’ve just been using that room as a dumping ground and for weeks I just shut the door on it. Not having that space for me to dump things is already turning out to be a good thing.

I am lucky I can work from any seat in the house, and often do. Lots of my work is shoot based which means I move from room to room to produce content.

Before I began work on the nursery, I knew it would need a monumental clear out, and whilst I knew it was long over due, there’s no deadline like a baby to get you moving. Thank goodness it was January and I’m freelance as I probably spent a couple of weeks, with the help from my mum, trimming my belongings down in the office and the rest of the house.

Now it’s done, I can’t recommend it enough. However many many times throughout the process I questioned myself and I know soon enough the garage is going to need some attention. But that can wait for time being.

Wallpaper

Anyway, back to the fun bit, decorating! I want to be clear that from the outset I had been approached by Lucie Annabel about working together on a paid project for their wallpaper. This blog post is separate to that work, however the paper definitely gave me a spring board and inspired the whole theme. As soon as I clicked on their website I knew which wallpaper it was going to be. However I ordered some samples just to make sure. There’s some others I loved such as their stripes and this Rosehill print in the Juniper colour way is another of my favourites.

For this room however it had to be the Tulip Garden print in Pink and Olive. We needed five rolls to complete the room and it’s given me that feminine, “Maximalism” look I was going for.

Furniture

Having a nursery is most definitely a luxury and it’s also recommended that the baby sleeps in your room for the first few months. However having somewhere to put all their bits is a game changer. I knew from experience that we wouldn’t need much hanging space to start with, so drawers would be a great option for now. My go to with most furniture is, see what is available second hand first, these drawers were actually from my parent’s garage and after a sand, paint and new handles it was just the ticket for this space.

These are painted in Rugged Olive, which was left over from the wardrobes in our bedroom, we did add a bit of white to this originally but I don’t think it really made much difference to the colour.

Next up furniture wise is the cot. Again she won’t be in it straight away but better to put it together this side of sleep deprivation that the other. This was a temporary, now permanent loan from friends when we lived in Margate but it’s the classic Ikea white cot and worked well for us the first time round.

Mirrors can be super costly so I was very happy to find this bobble mirror in Homesense for just £39.99. Originally a distressed white, I hoped without too much work or money I could change it’s appearance and thanks to a £6 Farrow and Ball tester pot that was the case. A few coats later and I was super pleased how it turned out.

The only other piece of furniture in here is the pink Mustard Made locker which houses the rest of my office bits, such as cameras, tripods etc. I will eventually have to find somewhere else to house all of these things. However I’m thinking I have 6 months to a year at least before I need to worry about that. I really love the Mustard lockers of which I have three spread out through the house. I am always considering more so definitely give them a visit if you’re looking for free-standing storage options.

Oh and not forgetting the shelves on the wall of course. This set were from very.co.uk last year, and after a good hunt I’ve managed to find them again.

Soft Furnishings

The rug is the same one that I used in my office and it’s actually an outdoor rug because I can never quite afford the rugs I actually like. I’ve had it for a couple of years and it’s had no complaints from me.

The pink velvet curtains are stolen from our bedroom. I had bought some green linen ones from Piglet in Bed in the sale, but they felt like wrong colour for this space. However after mulling it over I decided a swap with our bedroom curtains would work just fine.

The tie backs are from Anthropologie, which were an absolute essential, cost nearly as much as we paid for the original curtains but they’re just adorable aren’t they?!. The pole they are hung on is this one from John Lewis.

On the cot there’s a baby blanket, again bought in the sale from Projektityyny. I love their products so much and the patten clash makes me so happy. A quick side note, it won’t be hanging over like this when the baby is in here, it will be safely tucked in.

Lighting

I always need a lamp in every room of the house and the one on the green dresser is an old Soho House one. However unfortunately it has sold out now. The lampshade on the overhead light is a custom one from Etsy, there’s some really great lighting treatments on there so I’d definitely recommend having a little look. Again this was originally in our bedroom, but I swapped it over. I don’t know if it’s because we rent and everything is only semi permanent that I tend to swap things around the house but this swap worked out perfectly.

Finishing Touches

Now this is my favourite part of any room, the bit where I get to faff around with pretty objects. One of the best parts of being a parent for me is having an excuse to buy more Jellycats. I’m obsessed! You can find the daisy one here and the octopus here but if this is your first introduction to the Jellycat world YOU ARE WELCOME. Also I suggest having a look on second hand sites as lots of people sell them brand new…yes I know I have a problem.

To me scallops are always a good idea. I have these trays from Accessorize dotted around the house. They come in lots of different sizes and colours and are perfect for the finishing touches.

Another thing that pleases my inner child is the Maileg Mice. Again if you’ve not seen them before give them a search and I am sure you’ll be in love too. This princess and the pea one is in the sale here and my my almost 6 year old loves to play with both Jellycats and the mice too so not just a pretty toy for me, I promise.

Olli Ella is another brand that you’ve probably seen in people’s nurseries and for good reason. They make the cutest wicker baskets, and this house is no exception. It is actually technically a bag which is just adorable and like the sale hunter I am, I’ve found the pink one reduced here, but again second hand sites have lots of these if you didn’t want a brand a new one.

I’ll start wrapping up the finishing touches as I really could go on all day and if there’s anything you’ve seen, that I’ve not mentioned, you can click below and it’ll take you straight there. But one last thing. Alan and Janet Ahlberg is the stuff of my childhood so I needed absolutely no excuse to buy a new copy of the classic Each Peach Pear Plum and we seem to have misplaced our copy of Peepo so will be running out to get another one imminently.

One last note, the wooden pear is a vintage piece and the swan is from Flying Tiger. Etsy is also a great place to look for vintage ceramic swans alongside wooden pears. Vintage pieces often finish off a room nicely but can be hard to find.

Children’s rooms change so often with their needs and I know this space won’t be looking like this for too long but I feel it’s given us a great start ahead of our new arrival. I still really want to add an adult sized chair in here but haven’t found yet anything I like in our budget so the search continues.

How long will it be before the plastic toys start to creep in?

I give it less than a year…