Childish and Serene Nursery {Featured Real Room}

Jessica Flannigan is a freelance writer, blogger and public relations professional in Minneapolis. She’s also expecting her first child, a baby boy! Jessica and her husband wanted a room that was peaceful and serene, filled with inspiration and color. Mission Accomplished!

Child’s Name: It’s a secret. {due April 23, 2011}

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

What was your inspiration for the room?

We knew the moment we found out we were expecting our baby boy that our nursery would be modern, clean and minimal with neutral walls and lots of splashes of color throughout. I found a lot of inspiration on blogs with modern nurseries including Chic Cheap Nursery and Buy Modern Baby Blog.

Describe your decorating style.

Our decorating style is definitely clean, modern and bright. I despise clutter and wanted our baby’s room to be peaceful and clean with modern lines, but still filled with light and color. Because the room was small, the white really helped to keep things bright. You can see before photos on my blog. We had to completely redo the baseboards and closet doors to brighten it up.

Which are your favorite items in the room?

My favorite item is definitely the paper lantern cluster. I call it his mobile even though it isn’t a mobile at all. I designed it so that his view is just as good as the view from the door and rocking chair when he is getting changed. To me, this piece adds “wow” and interest to the room. I’m hoping our little guy enjoys it as much as we do.

I also LOVE the art and the bedding. The bedding really helped us to focus our color scheme. I love color, but definitely wanted the room to be understated-not over-the-top with too many colors. The bedding was custom made by Nursery Dreams on Etsy. We had a great experience ordering bedding and it exceeded our expectations.

We had the city art custom designed on Etsy by Lisa Barbero. Lisa took a few photos of our hometowns and designed all of these just for us. We love that this art will show our son a few of the important places in the world to us very early on. My husband’s parents are from Kandy, Sri Lanka. My husband grew up in Austin, Texas. I grew up in a tiny rural Minnesota town called Benson and we now live and LOVE Minneapolis, so those four prints seemed right.

And, the bookshelf made by my colleagues adds the most interest and color. At the shower, each of the guests brought us a book. Our baby now has 52 books on the shelf and it really draws you in. Every child that walks in the room is immediately drawn to the books. I had my girlfriend over and her 1 year old went right at it and even my 5-year-old cousin got excited to see so many books in one place. It was truly special and I am so excited to read all of these books to our little man.

Any advice you’d like to share?

I know it’s not a new concept, but shop Etsy! We found all of our artwork on Etsy and lots of inspiration there as well. Every single seller we worked with was incredible! Don’t be afraid to ask for custom items or tweaks to things they have posted. We were able to get exactly what we wanted from each artist very quickly without paying much extra by simply asking.

I would also recommend starting early, especially when shopping for rockers/gliders. We ended up with an Ikea one that we like, but it’s not exactly what we had in mind. We originally planned to get a fancy modern glider, but after sitting in many of them, we found them to be too uncomfortable for the price. I just learned that Babyletto has a few glider options now, so would’ve loved to try one out as the price is much more manageable when you are going for a budget nursery.

Nursery Decorating Resources

We set a budget almost right away and we were able to stay under it thanks to a couple of sales and a few compromises. AllModernBaby.com ended up saving us a lot of money. Things are often on sale there and you don’t pay tax or shipping, so it is a great way to get what you want. Our Ikea chair was a major savings from our budgeted amount for a rocker/glider and we are really happy with its comfort. It’s a great chair and the price is right.

Paint: Martha Stewart Flagstone

Diaper Bag: Messenger Bag from Fossil

Artwork:
Kandy, Austin, Minneapolis and Benson prints – Lisa Barbero on Etsy.
ABC’s name print – Apple Blossom Prints on Etsy.
You are getting very sleepy print – Sycamore Street Press on Etsy.

Bedding:
Custom bedding and changing table pad cover by Nursery Dreams on Etsy-$279

Furniture:
Crib {$399} and changing table {$389} – Modo by Babyletto (check out this alternative for a few $100s in savings)
Chair-Poang chair by Ikea with white cover-$169
White bookshelf created by my colleagues as part of a book-themed baby shower!
Side table – Mimic Cube by Crate and Barrel-$79.99

Accessories:
Drum light fixture from Lowe’s {$59.99}
Hanging white wall shelf from Target {$26.99}
Mini green suitcases by Land of Nod {$19.95 per set}
Ugly Doll at Pacifier Stores in Minneapolis {$15}
Curtains from Target {$18.99 per set}
Faux white wood blinds by Home Depot {$29.99}
Closet door hardware-small zinnia knob in aqua by Anthropologie {$6 each}
Lime green organizing bin from Target {$12.99}
White mirror from Target {$26}
Lamp-Home Goods {not available online}
Hanging paper lanterns: Martha Stewart lanterns and star and white lanterns from The Paper Lantern Store {$26 total including ceiling hooks and fishing line}

image source: {jessica flannigan}

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