My First Nursery Decorating Project Part I

 I married into a family that really values my creativity.  In my ten years of marriage I have been asked to contribute to various decor projects by selecting curtains, curating accessory collections, and consulting on furniture.

The first grand-baby was announced (my sister-in-law) and I had no expectations that I would be on deck for a nursery, as that is such a very personal project.  I was absolutely overwhelmed with joy and terror when I was asked to take on the project.  Joy - it is such a precious project.  Terror - um, no pressure!

I wanted the space to be original and personal.  I had the added challenge of avoiding anything with a face on it, in order to respect a long-held belief that blessing angels could mistake these characters as ill-intentioned spirits and avoid bringing the blessings of health and happiness. If you are a parent, you know how much children's designers rely on animals for decor.  If you are not a parent, walk through the baby isle in a grocery store, Target, or Walmart and marvel at exactly how much is available without any sort of faced character on it.  Yup - not much!

Challenge accepted!  And I love a good challenge, so this was doubly fun.  The design for the nursery came from the expectant father's and soon-to-be uncle's shared interest in trains.  My husband, uncle #2, has a thing about cars, and all three men will never turn down an air show.  Trains, planes and automobiles it is!  Well, that was far easier than expected!

Challenge #2 - the room is 10-foot by 10-foot (9.5-foot by 9.2-foot if I am completely honest).  This needed to accommodate a crib, changing station, and a guest bed.  Yes - all of that. And the room has a giant window on one wall, and the entry door and closet on the opposing wall.

I had a great time shopping for, and decorating this project.  Along the way I learned to apply a few previously-known techniques in new ways.

• I purchased removable wall decals, but wanted to add some personal touches.  I used clear contact paper and my ink-jet printer to make up some pieces that completely personalized the room
• Storage should never be underestimated, and I tucked it into every conceivable space I could.  The bed is a trundle, but the lower portion is just for storage (in place of a second mattress), and the crib has a pull-out storage drawer below it as well. 
• Shop in every department!  Ikea's Besta entertainment cabinet became my over-the-changing-table storage, and it is filled with clear plastic kitchen drawer organizers as a means to keep little bits tidy.
• Personalizing is as easy as your printer and some Avery Iron-on Transfer paper.  (Bed Pillows)
• Never surrender!  The window for this room was 48-inches across.  The valance was 52-inches.  One looked absolutely wrong.  Thanks to the wonder of Amazon's 2-day shipping, I put up two and side-by-side they look more polished
• Tell a story with your art.  I could have easily slapped stickers on in a willy-nilly fashion, but I wanted a narrative and thought about that when purchasing and placing my art. 
• Versatility - Baby #1 came in 2014, and was a boy.  Baby #2 will be her in 2016 and is a girl.  No worries, I prepared for this!  The stickers can be pulled and replaced with pretties (rainbows, pink space shuttles, flowers, pink race cars, etc...).

Without further ado, I present my first nursery:

The view from the door as you walk in.

The "Trains" wall depicting a city scene, a construction zone, and some train accents.

Narrative: the older city buildings are being demolished.  

Channeling the classic train conductor colors the bed is covered in a blue-and-white-striped duvet, and has complimentary red accent pillows.  The train is a series of 6 full-size Avery Ink Jet Iron-On transfers that I printed and ironed onto king-sized pillows.  I love the look and feel of a bed being a sitting space.  We could not pick a true daybed as we have some tall family guests whose feet would be cramped.  To compensate I choose to add 4 king-sized pillows to create the feeling of a seating area.

We are also a Lego family, so a Lego train was the right touch.

Corner shelving next to the bed provides guest storage space.

See the rest of the room in my second post.