Gliders and rockers and chairs, oh my!

Who knew that the hardest part of putting together a baby nursery would be finding the "right" glider to match the decor?? I thought, in my naive little world, that picking out the crib and coordinating furniture would be the most difficult decision I would make. Turns out, that was the easiest. I immediately fell in love with our nursery furniture. Black, classic, gender neutral=perfect. Next step was to find a rocking chair or glider for those late night feedings, bedtime story readings and lullaby singing that Avery and I will be doing in the very near future. I searched online websites, again having a "vision" in my head of exactly what I wanted. And darn it if I didn't find it. Very quickly, I might add.

It's completely gorgeous. I love this chair. No, really. I LOVE this chair. "So buy it!" I hear you say...."what's the problem?" The problem is the price of this little chair. The chair of my dreams is a whopping $449. And that's just the chair. The ottoman (because, of course, I want to kick my feet up and relax after a long day at work) is sold separately, tacking on another $125 to the already steep price tag. I literally have arguments with myself over this chair. I constantly go back and forth over whether or not I should spend that kind of money on a daggone chair. The war in my head goes a little something like this:

"I love this chair."
"I do not love the price."
"It's sooooooooo pretty. It's definitely a chair that I would use after Avery's outgrown the rock-me-to-sleep stage."
"The price isn't that pretty."
"This chair is so unique...have you seen it in anyone else's nursery or home??"
"Of course not. No one else is crazy enough to spend that kind of money!"
*pouty face* "But I waaaaant it."
"Sorry, you need to spend that money on more practical things like bottles and diapers."
*sigh*

This conversation takes place probably once a week. I go to Target's website, look at the chair, decide I want it, click on it to add it to my cart and then feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. Yes, we got Target gift cards for our baby showers and could apply that money towards the chair. But then I think of all the things that we could buy with the gift cards instead....a set of organizational bins for her closet, more bottles, more diapers (because Lord knows you can never have enough). As always, my more practical side always wins out and I click out of Target and do (yet another) extensive google search on gliders. I search and I search. I click on less attractive, but soooooooo much cheaper gliders and wonder if they have the ability to re-upholstered. Then you're looking at the cost of fabric. And trying to find someone that can accomplish the task of re-upholstering glider cushions. And the time spent to wait for the glider to be shipped to me and the cushions to be done (and, as of today, we're talking 35 short days away from my due date). And then I get overwhelmed, click out of the websites completely and continue my nursery chair-less day. I'm beginning to think that labor will be easier than picking out this stupid chair......

Decorating a baby's room....my idea of fun?

Does it make me a bad person to admit that the first reaction I had after we found out we were pregnant (behind shock and excitement, of course) was obsessive thoughts about how I was going to decorate the nursery?? I was beyond excited that I had a new room to decorate...a blank canvas almost. And a nursery is a room where you can get away with doing a lot of cutesy, crafty things without it looking totally overboard. I laid in bed at night and dreamt of all the possibilities. I knew, of course, that we were going with a black and white theme. It's classy, it's gender neutral and could be used again if we have a second child that's a boy. Plus, it's totally me. :) So my nursery hunt began with the search for black and white nursery bedding. It took several months before I found anything I even halfway liked. Finally, I came across a major deal on toysrus.com. Mix and match black and white print bedding....almost EXACTLY what I had pictured in my mind. I was beyond thrilled. The baby mattress came yesterday from Wal-Mart and I immediately rushed to put the bedding in the room to see what it looked like against the purple walls. Love!

I really don't think I could love the result any more than I do. I adore the polka dot, damask, and black and white stripe combination. It's beautiful. And again, exactly what I had pictured in my head. I love it when a plan unfolds just like you envisioned :)

After I had the bedding, my thoughts quickly turned to craft ideas. Things that I could make for Avery's room that would make it uniquely hers. Don't get offended or anything, but I'm just not a fan of the cookie cutter, let's buy a "12 piece set and everything in the room will match perfectly" matchy-matchy type of baby room. Yes, I realize it's more convenient, but I love the idea of mixing and matching things. Finding bedding online, a lamp from Kirklands, a chair from Target, painting her a canvas for the wall. Then the room suddenly turns from just another baby room to completely, 100% Avery's room. But anyway, back to my crafting ideas. The first vision I had was of a bow holder. Yes, I've seen the cute bow holders with the block of wood and the ribbons hanging down where you can attach the bows, but I wanted something a little bit different. Inspiration came in the form of a giant picture frame I found at Hobby Lobby last year for $6...

I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but I just knew this would be the perfect solution for my unique bow holder plans. After throwing around a couple of ideas, my boss informed me that she had roll upon roll of this plastic netting that she used in her garden and no longer needed. Easy to cut, but durable, I knew I had found the solution. Adding a metal flower from a garden ornament on clearance at Kirkland's and a massive burn from my hot glue gun, Avery now has a bigger bow holder than even I think she'll need:

It's not the finished product I had in mind, but it's pretty close. Project #1 of baby's room....done!

My next project I had pictured was a mobile to hang over her crib. Gone are the days of little stuffed bears playing lullabies for baby's crib's. Extensive searching on google provided the most gorgeous results. Butterflies and printed patterns that fluttered with the slightest breeze, long pieces of tulle decorated with gorgeous flowers, pinwheels....you name it, they have made it into a crib mobile. After searching through page after page of mobiles, I decided that I was going to save a considerable amount of money if I just made it myself. The end result isn't exactly what I had planned, but I'm still happy with it. That's all I have done so far. She'll be here in another 3 1/2 months (ahhh!) and I have the following projects:

One VERY large canvas to be made into a personalized subway art painting. A wine rack...this one's a secret :) And attempting to find a super cute black and white printed glider. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this process. Yes, because it's decorating for my own baby's arrival, but I'm loving the process of finding things that match or go with the room. I wonder if there's a career out there as a nursery interior designer?