Henry's Orange & Mint Nursery

Our first new house project is complete! Or at least, as complete as it's going to be for now. As I had mentioned in my last post, we decided to go with an orange and mint nursery, as inspired by the nursery on this blog.

The first order of business was replacing the nursery furniture. Henry's nursery in our other house was a fairly large room (I think about 12 x 12 ft?), so when we put his furniture in his new nursery (which is much smaller, about 8 x 10 ft, with awkward doors on 3 walls) it seemed like the furniture was swallowing the space. Not good.

I noticed that a few of my favourite nurseries had the same crib in them (It is the Hudson by Babyletto)... and then I found it at a local shop, The Baby Boutique. It was fate.

We also decided to go back to using his first change table. It is a dresser we found on Kijiji for $30. It fits nice, although it is a bit trickier to fit all of his things in it! But it works since he also has a good-sized closet. 

When we first began painting, I was a little panicky. The paint was looking rather 90's sea-foam greenish. But as we continued painting it definitely grew on me. And once we put everything back into the room it began to come together. Thank goodness!
 

As for where we got things: Most things were budget/DIY/gifts/thrifted. Our one splurge was the crib, but we even got that on clearance since it was the floor model. (We saved $115 even though it was in perfect condition!) We got the shelf, frames and carpet at Ikea. 

I do still have a few small items on my wishlist. Although none of them are overly necessary - such as a bunting (this one, perhaps?), and maybe a new crib sheet and/or changing pad cover in oranges/tans/mint. I'm also trying to figure out a book display/storage so that they are within reach of the chair. For now, they're just in a basket.

We are pretty happy with how it has turned out!

DIY Graphic Lampshade and a Nursery Sneak-Peak

Joe and I have finally started working on Henry's nursery. It was only a matter of time, since it looked like this from the day we moved in:

Pretty sad. But that is all history now. We have changed almost everything. Yes, everything - including the crib, change table and carpet. I'm excited to show you what it looks like now! However, there are a few final touches to add before I post it on the web for all to see. So for now, I'm going to show you one little project I did for the room, and tell you the colour scheme we chose.

As I had mentioned in a previous post about Henry's nursery (here), the accent colour I had to work with was orange. We had a little old Ikea lamp that we've been using in Henry's nursery (the one on the change table, above), and I thought it could use some sprucing up.

I looked online for a simple, graphic pattern that I could free-hand. It had to be organic looking (one cannot free-hand straight lines very easily.) I decided on this pattern, which is on a lot of wallpapers that I've seen around:

 I took a Sharpie paint marker (it's the one I previously used in Henry's artwork) and started the pattern on the bottom of the shade.

 
Then, I worked my way up. Et voilà! I decided to stop before reaching the top, because I liked how it looked.

And now it looks like this in his nursery (please excuse the junky iPhone photo...)

 
Yep, after some debate, I decided on going for the orange/mint combo for his nursery. I am so happy with how it is coming together and can't wait to share!

Henry at 8 months

Sorry that this post is up late... internet problems!!

Yet another month has gone by.

Henry is 8 months and is cuter than ever! I am amazed every day by how much personality Henry has. 

He is super social, and gives anyone and everyone a big smile. He absolutely loves getting any kind of attention.

Playing with his new friend, Wirachat

This month he has tried a lot of new foods. In fact, Joe and I sometimes just share our dinner with him. He seems to prefer eating what we are eating. For the most part we have stuck to making him purées, though. He is getting a little better at eating a variety of foods. And he seems to be growing like a weed!

Henry isn’t quite crawling yet, but he is almost there! He shuffles and rolls around a room pretty well, though. It has been nice that he is playing a little more independently these days so I can do a bit of work while he’s awake.

This month has been a little bit more relaxed since Joe is back at work and we are all settled in. Henry and I have been really enjoying living downtown. We go for pretty great walks most days, which usually include a stop at one of the many nearby parks. 

Enjoying the fall weather at the park!

Here are a few more photos to show what we've been up to this past month.

On a coooold market day. Thanks for the hat, John and Nancy!

Picking Daddy up from school

Great day for a fall wedding!

Nursery inspiration

As you may have noted when I put up our house tour... Henry's nursery is in pretty immediate need of a facelift.

When we purchased our home, his nursery was used as an office and had huge shelves on the wall. Joe's brother helped us out by removing them on moving day. Unfortunately, the shelves left their mark.

Nursery before; With shelves

The nursery has definitely been on my mind lately, so I've been looking around online for some inspiration. While I liked our previous nursery, I had painted before I knew Henry was a boy... it was very neutral. While I am still considering a neutral colour, I am also thinking about something with a bit more personality. 

Henry's nursery in our last home

All of that being said, the colour that I have to work with (because of the accents I already have) is orange. While I'm thinking I don't want orange walls, I've been considering the following colour combos:

1. Orange and Mint: I love this combo. It is really nice and bright and would be a colour that I could easily work with, and that would flow really well in our home.

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2. Orange and Navy: This would be a little more bold. And a little harder to change later. However, I love it! The only big problem is that I've been considering painting OUR room this colour. 

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 3. Orange and Yellow: Our last house, which was painted entirely in yellow when we moved in, gave me a bit of an aversion to yellow paint. This nursery, however, is amazing! I love the yellow here.

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I even found this mood board, which has SO many things in common with the items and themes I already have: The rug style, foxes, natural woods. The dresser even looks like Henry's dresser... but in yellow!

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I'm starting to feel ready to narrow things down. I will keep you posted on what we decide!

Henry at 7 months

Our Henry (aka Henny, Hen, Bubba, cutie pie, etc. etc.) is 7 months old!

This past month has been so much fun with Henry. And busy! We moved into our new place, which took a bit of time to get used to for him. He's finally seeming to feel at home, which is awesome!

As you can see... our move meant that we had to give away our blue couch, so we will be doing his monthly shots on our white one, instead.

We spent this month unpacking, enjoying our new locale and checking out the neighborhood parks, going to the beach, spending time with family and friends and going to the cottage. Henry even attended his first wedding (congrats Andrew and Danielle! We loved joining you on your perfect day!) It was a relaxing month for sure. 

Henry's bigger achievements this month: Sitting on his own, *almost* sleeping nights again, eating a lot more foods and becoming a lot more social. Oh, and he got his first tooth! Enjoy a few photos from his past month!

One of the last days at our last home. Enjoying the backyard.

Still getting used to our new home: Up waaay past bedtime! 

Enjoying our new front porch!

Celebrating his cousin, Spencer's, 1st birthday!

Spending some QT with his birthday buddy, Uncle Mike!

The Kelly side

First visit to the beach... not so sure about the lake water!

Ok... SO FUN!

Cottage swimming on the dock!

Sitting on his own!

Ready to go to his first wedding! And looking pretty dapper!

Making a new friend.