Katie & Justin

Baby D’s nursery is finally starting to come together! I ended up going with a shiny gold, safari animal theme.

I wish I had thought to take “before” pictures, but here are at least some “after” shots, although it’s not completely finished yet.

We kept the walls the same from the previous owner. They’re white with vertical stripes, alternating with glossy white paint and flat white paint. It’s kind of a neat idea to give a subtle effect.

The initial inspiration for the nursery came from these photos, which I got from Etsy. I thought the animals were just too cute — and I loved all the sayings that went with them. It was super cheap and easy, you just download the files and then print them yourself. I ended up finding the frames, which are wooden with a little sparkly gold around the rim, at Michael’s.

Justin and I definitely struggled trying to get them hung up evenly on the wall. They’re not really straight at all but I was so tired by the end! At first I wondered if it would drive me crazy to leave them crooked, but then I thought maybe it’s kind of cute — cuz we tried our best, and that’s what we got! haha

I love this crib so much! The majority of cribs we saw in the stores seemed just so big and chunky. This one, though, is a little more delicate and old fashioned. It ended up fitting perfectly in our small room.

I was also really happy with how all the bedding came together. Instead of picking out a set, I found random pieces online — even with different brands and different stores. I wasn’t sure if they’d actually go together once I saw them in person, but they all matched nicely with one another.

The sheets are sparkly gold polka dots (I also have a second set with a gold chevron pattern) and the skirt is white tulle with gold sparkles. I was especially surprised to find a changing pad cover with subtle safari animals outlined in gold. Again, how perfect!

The dressers were my next project. (There’s also a taller one not pictured.) Again, I found these online so I was crossing my fingers I’d like them once they were delivered — and I did! They originally came with white knobs but I knew when I ordered them that I wanted to try changing them out with gold ones. After much debate at Home Depot between solid gold or the gold and white knobs, I opted for the gold and white ones. So happy with how it turned out! They spruce them up just enough while tying them in to the rest of the room.

On the opposite wall, we — again, tried — to hang these pictures evenly. I had registered for the elephant one (which Evan got for his cousin!) but the “hello sunshine” frame was something my mom got for the shower. I couldn’t believe they were the exact same kind of distressed grey wood! They ended up going together so nicely, and the sparkly gold font tied it all in to the rest of the room.

Here are the built-in shelves with already-filled baskets of toys and blankets. Baby D also has quite a nice animal collection already! Ginny got us the picture frames at the shower, without having seen any of our stuff yet, and those ended up matching so nicely, too.

And finally, after a lot of hard work in the nursery, some of us needed a nap! Luc apparently was also exhausted from a long day (of getting into boxes, ripping up styrofoam, eating instructions, stealing tools and barking at animal pictures on the wall), haha.