Neutral Nursery

This nursery has been a long time in the making and the room has certainly come a long way! At 37 weeks and 3 days along, I can happily say it's done...for now. Once baby is here there are some gender specific items I'll add, but right now this is it and it makes me so happy to walk by or sit in this room.

I've always picture a gray and white nursery for us. When I bought the canvas below, two and a half years ago, I pictured it to one day tie into a "woodland" nursery. Isn't funny some ideas come and go and some stick?

Formerly as a guest room

And now for the big reveal; the place we'll change many dirty diapers, read many books, have sleepless nights, sing lullabies, rock the night away, and fall so deeply in love with our babe; our nursery.

We started our nursery furniture hunt back in March. I knew I wanted a white crib, white dresser, and gray chair for neutrality and to keep the room soft but bright.  We ended up ordering all three from Pottery Barn Kids (in store). Ultimately, there were many headaches with our order.

One of the biggest issues was our chair. I had a total of three chairs delivered, all with some kind of damage. I was shocked with this kind of quality control (or lack there of) from a name brand company and the price point of the chair.  In the end, PBK offered a fair refund for the unfortunate events. Ultimately, we got a chair we love, it glides and reclines (something I wasn't set on, but leave it to Ben to pick out something pricier; at least it wasn't me!) and will be getting a lot of use out of. 

Chair: PBK 'Wingback Glider and Recliner' in Washed Grainsack Gray
Arrow curtain rod: Target (purchased in pewter, spray painted gold)
Curtains: IKEA 'Vivan' in gray

For our dresser/changing table, we ordered the Kendall Dresser and Topper from PBK. While I'd initially considered getting a dresser from IKEA, we agreed it made sense to invest in a quality dresser and knew that ordering our crib and dresser from the same place would ensure the white finish was the same on both.

Before ordering the dresser I asked if the knobs were removable/replaceable and was told they were. Guess what? They weren't.  I know it's a stupid reason to return a dresser; but it would have been even more stupid to keep a dresser that: 1. Was expensive; 2. Made me cringe with I looked at it. In addition, the dimensions of the dresser were on the smaller and shorter side. In the end, I ended up returning the dresser and going with my original pick from IKEA; which I'm smitten with!

Dresser: IKEA 'Hemnes 3 Drawer Chest' in white stain
Knobs: Hobby Lobby
Changing Pad: Keekaroo
Changing Pad Cover: Koala from Babies R Us
Animal Prints: Minted (gifted from my sister)
Picture Frames: IKEA 'Sondrum'
Fiddle Leaf  Fig Tree: Hobby Lobby
Gold Planter: Ikea
Diaper Pail: Dekor

More embarrassing than returning a dresser because of knobs, is my rug hunt. You would not believe how hard it is to find a true gray hue rug (I'd say harder than our 8+ gray paint samples). So many rugs say they're rug, but in person they're a combination of brown/cream fibers or black/white, etc. I'm surprised I'm not banned from Target online shopping. I ordered a total of 11 rugs before finding the right one. Thankfully I was smart and ordered the smallest size possible to check color (and thank you Target for allowing in-store returns for online orders.) 

Funnily enough, in the end we ended up ordering the gray version of a rug I'd purchased in blue for my Vail apartment. I originally found it on RugsUSA but was worried after my other rug coloring experience I wouldn't like it and would have to pay for return shipping; then I found the rug at Home Depot (who also always in store returns for online order) and it was the one!

Rug: NuLOOM Maginifique in Light Grey (purchased from Home Depot, also available at Rugs USA)

Crib: Pottery Barn Kids 'Emery Convertible Crib' in Simply White
Crib Sheet: Pottery Barn Kids 'Sateen Broken Arrow' in grey
Dock-A-Tot Deluxe in Dream Weaver
Bulldog Stuffed Animal: Ikea

It's been so fun (and admittedly, stressful. There were a few moments I thought I was going insane or going to put myself into pre-term labor) pulling this room together. It's gone through waves of inspiration and lulls; keeping an open mind but an open eye for items to add to the space. Most recently (as in this week), I decided we need to add a shelf near the crib for our video monitor but I wanted to keep the wall along the crib open to add gender specific items later on. This little shelf ended up being the perfect match and really completed the wall for me.

Canvas: Hobby Lobby
Shelf: Target
Adventure sign: Hobby Lobby (sold as dark bronze, spray painted silver)
Mini-terrarium: Anthropologie (old)
Moon sign: Hobby Lobby
Monitor: Summer Infant

Confession: I HATED the lamp cord plugged into the outlet below the table, so I ran the cord under the rug and across the room to another outlet so it wasn't visible at the wall. #OCD; Also, it took three lamp purchases to find a lamp that was sturdy enough that Ben and I didn't knock over it over while sitting in the chair. Whoops!

Lamp: Safavieh (purchased from Home Depot, also available on Amazon)
Blanket: West Elm (old)
Table: Target
Picture Frame; TJ Maxx
Faux Succulents: TJ Maxx
Stuff Animal/Tree Stump: Gift from MIL/SIL

I will say, while Pottery Barn Kid's quality has been an issue, their customer service and credit card rewards are worthwhile.  We got a Pottery Barn credit card when we bought our house and dining set.  The card gives you back 10% in store rewards for every $250 you spend. Because of this, we were able to get a few items (crib conversion kit, sheet, etc) for "free" with our rewards money.

There you have it! Our nursery. I'm sure it will change and evolve as we discover annoyances, nuances, and items we're missing, but for now, it's everything I'd hoped for. We're as ready as we're going to be for your arrival little one!

If you're interested in seeing the nursery before, knowing more about the wood plank ceiling (a huge thank you to my husband and father in law for their DIY skills), or paint color; read here.