I’m slowly learning that time is now very different. BC [Before Cora], it would take me say, 45 minutes to tidy the apartment and get myself ready before heading out the door. Now? Multiply that by 4 and you’re starting to get close. Between feeding, changing, predicting how much to bring with me, getting myself ready, getting Cora ready, feeding Cora again, dealing with explosive situations and then actually leaving the apartment, I’m glad I have very few scheduled things these days. One thing I have been hoping to do, you know, when I have a spare minute [😑], was to properly photograph the nursery. Though it’s not entirely finished, it’s been at this stage since the week before Cora was born. So yeah. Getting things done nowadays takes time. Even if it’s just taking photos. Baby steps?
Our spare bedroom is quite small and I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so I did what I quite embarrassingly love doing – I measured everything and made a little mock-up of the room on Google SketchUp. Here’s the design I decided on a couple of months ago …
Before I bought anything or decided on a design detail, I did a mock-up of it in the space. I imported Pantone’s ‘Lunar Rock’ paint swatch before committing to it, drafted a combination of fancy and plain knobs for the nursery dresser before buying them, did up a rough placement of artwork and shelves before hanging them, decided whether or not a secondhand chair would fit [which, as you can see, none have just yet], what kind of rug would look the best, what would be the best placement for the crib – everything. Everything was decided on in SketchUp. I find SketchUp so helpful for making decisions digitally so you don’t have to make a disaster in real life. It was only today that I looked back at my plans and realised how close the room is to what I had hoped. I’m quite proud of that!
The room felt a bit stale when I was finished so I added a string of Christmas lights up and over the curtain rod to help make the room feel warmer and … funner. I really love Christmas lights and used to have them hanging up in my bedroom as a teenager throughout the year. When I first switched them on in the nursery for Robert, he was so surprised by them and really impressed [thanks to the dark curtains, you can’t really see them when they’re off].
There are a few major pieces I have still yet to get. One being a proper bin [I’m currently putting dirty diapers into a plastic bag that hangs beautifully off one of the knobs on the dresser] and the other being a chair of sorts for the corner of the room. To give an idea of space, I put our buggy roughly where a chair would go, but I have yet to find a really great one secondhand to reupholster.
I also have a good few pieces of artwork to hang [like my baby prints by Bill & Coo.!] and some more fun pieces to perfectly place, but for the most part, this is Cora’s nursery. I feel like I say this in every blog post but if we owned our apartment, there would be so much more I’d do to the nursery. But we don’t. But I’m still so happy with our cute and quirky nursery.
It's so cosy! That grey colour is perfect with the pink.
Had a peek online real quick at diaper genies and found only this one….
http://www.mothercare.ie/tommee-tippee-sangenic-hygiene-plus-advanced-nappy-disposal-system.html
Which I immediately thought….could Alex DIY this into R2D2??!!!! HA!!!
Only thing missing from the nursery tour is more Cora!!
I've actually been thinking of getting an old coal bucket of sorts and using that as a diaper bin! Although I am liking the sound of making one look like R2D2 …
Oh it looks fab! And I love the addition of the little fairy lights – they work so well with those gorgeous curtains (Ikea? Like mine? Also, the rug in your Sketchup is the one that's in my office! Yay! GET IT!) I am also loving the cross stitch and emoji poop pillow and Bill Murray looking after the crib all Grandfatherly. So so sweet xxx
Ohhhh I love your office rug! I'm going to jump over now and see if I can creep it! x
It is gorgeous! The lights do give it a little something… Magical? And who wouldn't want Mr Murray watching over you?? Lurve.
I love it – it looks really gorgeous! And the fairy lights are really lovely – I wouldn't have thought of that, but it gives the room a lovely touch – magical, like Pat said. I love everything you've done in this room – it's great! xx