apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Congrats on your bundle of joy! I'd think he'd find that wildcat scary, though. I would! Amazing that it's all hand painted.

That room is certainly a labor of love, and how great that the new Daddy wanted a hand in the decorating!

Probably baby Ayden will see the wildcat before he understands what it is, so it won't scare him.

Congratulations!

Oh sweet jesus.

It looks like you worked hard on the room. Congratulations on your new baby.

So I take it you like the Kentucky Wildcats?

The Wildcat is not a very nice image. It's violent. School spirit is in overdrive.
take it down a notch.

creepy.

God has blessed you? By the look of this room, it seems that the Wildcat has posessed you.

You just had a baby, not a football.

No offense intended, but you're gonna give the poor little dude severely serious nightmares. Please at least get rid of the "monster" wildcat logos. Seriously.

Aw, I like different ideas for babies' rooms besides the old pink and blue concepts. Bright colors and contrast are good for them.

I just don't want to show it to my husband because then he'll get the bright idea to decorate our future baby's room in Ohio State colors. Eek. Although I suppose it's better than the orange and brown of my alma mater.

Okay, it is now official - this is my last post and my last visit to AT - I am soooo tired of the constant negativity - an obviously thrilled mother shared her baby's bedroom with us and all she got for it was major slamming.

This type of commenting has reached an all-time low.

It's "She just had a baby, not a Basketball, frank.

Congratulations on your new baby! This room was certainly a labor of love. And here I thought people at my alma mater were football crazy! ;)

On the contrary, CR, I think this is the most hilarious post EVAH!
And [almost] on International Children's Day!

Other caring parents out there - click on my name for some decorative ideas for your nurseries. (For those still not knowing any Russian: these are photos of sculptural decorations on various children's playgrounds, arount post-Soviet Union and some from abroad - Israel and Sweden)

CR,
That's right, only you are entitled to your opinion!
Bye!

New Mom,
Thanks for sharing. But why all the caps in your text?
Good luck with your baby!

I like the use of caps in her pitch. GO TEAM!!!

This is totally not my style. But for some people I'm sure this would be the greatest nursery ever.

I'd rather have this than clowns. Evil evil clowns with their red noses and pointy teeth and plague victim faces.

My child will have a UFC themed nursery, complete with an octagon shaped crib using chainlink fencing for the sides.

ummm....yucky.

I gotta tell ya, as soon as the baby's eyes can focus, the baby WILL scream in sheer terror over the picture on the wall. Those kinds of images are supposed to drive fear into the hearts of the opponents, that's why you don't see the "Kentucky Kittens" or "Pittsburgh Ponys" or "Flint, Michigan Fawns" (all curled up looking cutie patootie).

I watched in absolute amazement, an infant (the really tiny kind that have just learned to focus) in the grocery store. Dad was busy with the cart. Baby was in one of those plastic carriers that plop nicely into the seat area of the shopping cart, pointing up. It was around Halloween.

There were several straw stuffed scarecrows that had been hung from the ceiling as decor. They looked pretty cool. They were smiling. They didn't even have pointy teeth.

Not to baby.

Baby eyes got wide, wider, WIDEST...the face moved around and went through umpteen baby expressions, none of which were "happy" ones, working the problem of floating people that don't look like people with straw hands.

Having properly considered floating straw people don't fit in this world, baby let out a wail you wouldn't believe. Baby was TERRIFIED of floating straw people.

And by golly, I'd let off a wail right now if some alien life form was floating around in my living room.

Redo the groovy team logo in the bar area of the entertainment room where the men go to belch and drink beer and holler at the TV because their sports stars didn't come through.

Give the baby a cute kitten picture that might someday grow up to be the fierce wildcat. Hey, even that fierce wildcat was a kitten once, and just a cute bundle of joy. Just like your little one will be. Unless your child comes out as a strapping teen (dear god, go for the spinal block), keep the baby stuff for baby rooms and the big team stuff for big people rooms.

I mean, uh, well, you wouldn't plaster it with Playboy centerfolds, right? That's adult too. You might however have little Care Bears and girl/boy books with fables and fairy tales and mysteries and adventures. You don't start them off with Stephen King books, Night of the Living Dead movie, etc.

Although, a lot of kids stuff is terrifying. Grandma eating wolves. Evil stepmothers. Poison food.

Unless your child is like I was (mom said she came into the nursery and found the Great Dane lifting me out of the crib by my head and I wasn't crying or hurt) the child WILL scream when it sees that image. You really don't want to start the little darlin' off with nightmares.

Pure enthusiasm of ANY kind is a beautiful, sweet thing.

Um, folks with answers like "yucky"... could you consider the pride of these folks, and perhaps put the baby bootie on the other foot... jeez.

Some kids are afraid of Santa Claus, and some aren't. I don't think you can absolutely say that the wildcat picture will scare a baby. We decorated our nursery with wild looking, strongly colored masks from Hong Kong, and neither baby batted an eye.

So are we saying that there is no room here for a "good design vs. bad design vs. no design"(what ever those actually are) debate? When you voluntarily place yourself in the public eye you have to consider the consequences both pleasant and unpleasant. And the caveat at the beginning doesn’t sit well either because it implies that there is something inherently provincial about the entry before we even get to take a gander. [Personally, I don’t care for themed rooms].

There must be a less in-your-face way they could decorate that room whilst still showing Wildcat pride. Maybe paint the crib in team colors and chuck the sheets, get rid of a few of those scary Wildcat mascot logos, mix up some non Wildcat teddy bears with the Wildcat ones...

CR, patrick (the other one), anyone else that's scolding. What is wrong with you? Did you not see those pictures?

I think we were (I was) responding obediently to the word "easy" in Maxwell's intro.

And I think Patrick (the other one) is absolutely on track.

I think that some may not like the idea of having a baby room decorated in this way. Not because of its design, but perhaps because there is somehow a strange underlying message. The mother and father may be very caring people, but we don't know them, and all we do know is what we see. They are huge fans of this team, and or this state. That is okay, however, it seems when one has a baby the child becomes the greatest focus in life. Especially at the beginning, when the baby is soooo fragile, and tender, and new. So when I look at this picture, It is as if they love the Kentucky wildcats equally as much as they love the new baby. Now, that can't possibly be true, but most people try to provide a calm enviornment for the baby. This couple provided the school mascot in contrasting colors of blue and orange. Just trying to get to the reason why I don't care too much for this look. I can see that they were very excited and decorated with zeal, however, it may not be age appropriate.

gRaMmArPhObE--

Yes, I did see the photos. I did not say I neither loved nor hated what they've done.

I've just asked for a little respect for the proud parents.

And, um, it's no scarier than BARNEY.

I love this post and the comments. Negative? I don't think so. It's more of an argument over what makes good design. This room is the grounds for a great design argument.

The concept here is strong and well carried out (DIY too!). The interesting question to me is what is age appropriate for a newborn? We have our own opinions on this, but hardly think everyone would agree with us either.

A few weeks back the NYTimes magazine published a cover article about Architecture, "the last art that we fight over." I am glad to see that interior design is alive and kicking as well.

Okay, this room obviously shows a huge amount of talent and skill on the part of Melissa and her mom and grandma, and if I were them, I'd consider going into business with the stencilling stuff. But what makes me slap my forehead is the phrase, "We Wanted To Have Him (the baby's father)Involved." Indulging his questionable decorating taste is the only way they can get this man involved in his son's life?

So what if the kid doesn't like the Wildcats? Or sports? I think rooms like these force too much of the parent onto the kid. I like the idea of painting a newborns room a soothing color and let the child figure out what they wanted as decoration on their wall.
You can tell the parents are excited about their baby- but I think it's a little much. Even for an adult!

Mia--

I did not interpret that as the son's *life*... but the decorating of the room, the prep for the baby.

It's a phase I have often heard expectant moms bemoan their husband's lack of involvement with, so good for her to find a way to "get 'er done."

Um, but from a developmental perspective, when do newborns even begin to see/interpret 2-d imagery?

Mia, I think you may be reading a tad too much into a couple paragraphs of copy. Maybe the father just isn't that interested in design, and the football theme engaged him? We really don't know these people.

And P2 has a point. Trust me, I worked one summer years ago next to a children's store that played the Barney "I Love You" song over and over and OVER.

Yes, but Barney never had fangs and claws that were reaching out to you while laying in your crib looking up!

P2, that's kind of to my point. If they wanted the baby's dad to be involved in the decoration of the room, he would think, hm, what would be best decor for a baby, and they would decorate from there. Not, whoo, I love me some Wildcats.

Or, if they wanted to get him involved in the putting together of the room, he might actually, you know, lift a finger. The phrase, "So My Mother, Grandmother, and I Put This All Together" shows that he didn't do anything.

I give up.

I think you mean, "I concede your point."

And yes enthusiam for a newborn is nice and all, but we cannot turn a blind eye to this room and say, "awww how cute". Not on a design blog. A mommy & me blog maybe...

i said creepy. i didn't say "these are horrible parents"... i just don't think they're thinking about what they're doing to a poor innocent clean slate. it's not fair to a kid to force everything you are (into) on him from birth.

and from a design standpoint, i think this room is creepy even for an adult.

What happens when the child grows up and gets a scholarship to Penn State, Southern Cal, or Duke?

No Mia, that is soooooo not what I was thinking when I typed that.

And this is a blog about personal spaces, and making them your own, as much as it is a "design" blog.

I didn't say it was cute. Hell, I didn't even say I LIKED it.

All I'm saying is that whether you like the theme or not, there is a sweetness to the fact that A) they all seem so willing to engage each other in this project, and with such heart, and B) that the father is taking ANY interest in something as "unbutch" as the decoration of a newborn's nursery, and C) they are so proud of the outcome, they are willing to brave the opinionated anonymous posters here.

Again, I agree with you, Patrick. (And CR, too, actually.) This is not something I'd ever do myself, but the enthusiasm is very sweet. And love it or hate it, the skill of hand-painting this on the wall is quite amazing. If you hate it, that's fine, but there are a lot of very personal comments.

And these people have tried for SIX years to have a baby. Let's not speculate on their parenting skills, based on the decor in this nursery.

Look, I think that if you post pictures of your home on a blog, you have to be open to some criticism. It is meanness and nasty comments that serve no purpose, not simple opinions or comments that may be critical.

That being said, this room is really strange. It took me awhile to figure out why,...despite the fact the parents are about to have a baby, this room seems to be all about them and their seeming obsession with their sports team. There seems to have been no thought about the baby as an actual person and what kind of environment would be optimal for him...there is nothing soothing or even childlike in this room at all. The obsessiveness of it...even the sheets, come on! ..it's down right weird.

Call me provincial, but there's no need for mean-ness. Constructive criticism, yes, but "creepy" or "weird" or "sweet jesus" are about as far from constructive as you can get...it reflects a feeling of superiority more than anything, like saying "I'd never be so BASE as to consider decorating my child's room with an athletic team's logo because I'm soooooo tasteful." And, frankly, babies couldn't give a shit about decor, so the parents had better like it, and these parents clearly do (though I am still of the "wildcat=scary" camp). More power to 'em. I like the fact that these folks had a plan and went with it, and they're proud of it. Would i do this? Or, would I dedicate a whole room in my house to Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters as my cousin did? No, but there's no reason to rail on them either. Seriously, the skill in this is better than in some of the off-the-shelf West Elm places. (not that I don't love some West Elm, but you get my point). I agree people open themselves up to this by submitting, and should be prepared, but that still doesn't make it right. I think some of the posts clearly make good points, but some are just pot shots.

How is the heavily-themed decor of ANY nursery EVER about the kid?!

And, um, isn't it fact that developing babies can't distinguish the difference between pastel colors for some time, and are engaged by contrast and shape first?

I think we have become accustomed to certain conventions in nurseries that are just that: conventions.

SuzyQ--
Um, how would you like someone (a complete stranger) calling any design choice you made in your house "down right (sic) weird"?

SuzyQ:
I agree with you. Regardless of its "design qualities," this isn't a baby's room ... this is a daddy's room. (And it might conceivably, at some point, serve as a 14-year-old boy's room ... if he likes it.) But give an unborn and unformed little tyke a bit of breathing room, for heaven's sake! Of course, that doesn't make these people bad parents ... and that's where some posters are getting sidetracked and going overboard here.

P2, I think the sweetness of the three generations of women working together on this room is a really wonderful thing. And I think the skill in the stencilling is up to the standards of anything else we've seen on this website.

But to say that it's mindboggling that a man would want ANYTHING to do with a baby's nursery is a little sexist. By this logic, are men who do take a sincere interest in their baby's nursery unbutch? What other derogatory terms do you have for those men?

please be a gay baby.

AH HA HA HA HA!!!! Good one.

I like the fact that 3 generations of the family got together to put this room together. I find this act very sweet, especially in light of the mother's disclosure that they've been trying for 6 years to conceive. Really, this room no different from any other of the "themed" children's rooms and nurseries we've seen in the recent color contest. But honestly, I can't help but think the story is just so darn sweet; and that makes me appreciate the room that much more. [End of "softie" moment. Time to go punch something and re-establish my masculinity...]

pyrex chapman: That's incredibly offensive on so many levels.

I was just about to say, Enrique. This reminds me of the Sears catalogs I pored over when I was little. There was the Barbie room that had Barbie sheets, drapes, valances, lamps, rugs, furniture, etc. Or the Dallas Cowboys, or Care Bears, or whatever.

Super hardcore themes for kids' rooms is nothing new.

We've hit on an interesting point, I think. Nursery decor is really for the parents, not the baby. As long as there's something to look at, a baby's happy. I mean, let's be honest--a baby doesn't know the difference between cute gingham and a sports jersey. It's all just bright colors.

Personally, I find Disney-themed rooms to be seriously creepy (though I'd never tell that to a parent or child who liked them).

c'mon, people. if we're going to condone the brainwashing of infants straight from the womb, can we at least do it with something more interesting than college sports? even religion is more intellectually stimulating.

Enrique: how many levels? i was gunning for the third tier of incredible offensiveness on the gay baby pyramid.

Well, I'd like to bring a different slant to this discussion. I imagine that this is the first child. It's pretty obvious that they have never experienced the sometime endless screams of a newborn (around 6 weeks old). They have yet to get up 20 days in a row in the middle of the night to change the diaper, feed the baby and wait until he/she falls asleep. Now, imagine when they have to stumble into a room like this at 3 in the morning. They will be dazed and confused, tired and at their wits end. Then and only then will these people realize the mistake. There is nothing like a soothing atmosphere to calm the parent during those crying episodes and during one of the most personally challenging periods of life. I can't imagine breast feeding at 4 in the morning while some kind of wild beast mocks me with his blue and orange paw.

I echo the sentiments of enrique, christine in d.c. and patrick (other one). The mean-spirited feedback isn't really about design at all.

Interestingly, the biology and psychology text books say infants need strong visual contrasts (think black/white and primary colors) to stimulate their developing sight and brain. The "soothing" pastels, which I too adore, are really for adults.

And as for animals, images, what's appropriate and what's not, has anyone studied the photos of Kelly Wearstler's children's rooms in Domicilium Decoratus? Are the art objects vibrant and whimsical or a little intense? Is there a right or wrong, or is it really about our adult notions of good taste?

yes, the nursery decor is for the parents, and yes, it is often thoroughly themed.

Craig makes an excellent point about soothing nurseries being for the parents.

The place we moved into recently has a Where the Wild Things Are mural over all the walls and doors of the kid's room. Against a brilliant lime green background. Everyone loves it. It was very skillfully done. I can't stand it. Like the book, like Sendak, but dealing with 6-foot-tall wild things and saturated lime in the wee hours after a nightmare or the covers being kicked off arouses my own wild things.

Thus, the preference is usually for soothing pastels, or warm neutrals for the modernist crowd. I'm going to be painting over that mural as soon as I finish changing all the other things the previous residents did that just aren't my cup of tea.

Congrats on the baby, and on your hard work on the nursery, Melissa and Glenn - sounds like your baby has very loving and excited parents! You love it, your family loves it, and your son will likely love it too until he's old enough to want to paint his walls black or whatever it is teenagers are doing these days.

P2 quoth: "How is the heavily-themed decor of ANY nursery EVER about the kid?!"

Bingo! I will never forget my BIL and his wife declaring that their first child's "theme" was rabbits. Personally, I favor children's rooms that are decorated like normal rooms -- with adequate play and toy space, and stuff down where the kid can reach it, but not all clown-themed or pink-and-fairies -- but I'm in a societal minority here. And decorating shows like Trading Spaces have made Theme Rooms an ideal for grown-up spaces, too.

Melissa and Glenn had a good time, and it does all look very coordinated. When the baby is old enough to express a personality, change will inevitably happen.

i think this item really underscores something we don't often recognize about childrearing. the way we decorate for and dress our babies has WAY more to do with parental preferences than it does with the actual children. which i think is ok. but i think it's important to recognize. this baby is never going to know the difference between this nursery and some kind of DWR, jr. European designfest.

i have to say there's no way in hell i would ever choose this nursery, but you know, there's nothing overtly wrong with it, the parents like it, and if it scares the kid, um, they'll probably change it. whatever. i wish we could admit it when the reason we don't like something is that it isn't to our taste, rather than it being Bad Design, which this isn't, necessarily. or at least no moreso than parents who do the same thing with Star Wars or clowns or fairy princesses.

now you know what does bug me? the fact that A) this is the only way this woman felt she could involve her child's father in his upbringing, and B) even though it was the father's idea it was executed by his wife and her female relatives on his behalf. wtf? how is this him 'getting involved' if all he did was, like, say, "dude, we should totally do a wildcats nursery" and then his wife obediently brought it to pass? if i ever found myself pregnant and painstakingly hand-painting my husband's team logo on the nursery wall WITHOUT HIS HELP i would probably ask for a divorce the very next day or at least say "screw you" and painted whatever i damn well wanted to on the nursery walls. in fact i would probably paint it pink with unicorns and pray to god that kid turned out gay just to spite my macho husband.

Although I really can't stand sports, and kinda think that it's a little presumptious to think that just because it's a boy that he'll be able to stand sports, I really do think that the jerseys and stuff are colorful and fun and if that's gonna help that mama get a little help from the papa to rock the kid to sleep, I say, go babe go! Honestly, there are some moms who just might as well be single for all the help their husbands give them with the kids.

But also, I have to chime in with the other folks who thought it was sweet BUT MAINLY because I think they did a good job, because I have a hard time looking at things that aren't well-done, no matter HOW sweet they are, and these people seem to have done it very, very well.

so we're all in agreement: a large wildcats logo, painted parallel blue and gray stripes and mounted stuffed animals is excellent design. a sports bar motif, if you will.

Baby vision:

http://tinyurl.com/zsx79

http://www.zerotothree.org/brainwonders/care_birth.html

Babies and fear:

http://tinyurl.com/p9x4o

Super basic development:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/human/pubs/infant.html

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/family/350-055/350-055.html

And a lovely, clearly stated abstract:
http://tinyurl.com/mhvow

Of course, I have NO IDEA what they are saying, other than SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) may be influenced by the fear paralysis theory. Whatever that is.

It just seems to be common sense that you don't scare babies.

Which of the rest of these images would be great for the nursery?
http://www.wolfweb.com/tales.html

http://www.clydecaldwell.com/large_images/werewolf_mp.html

Hey, since when did Werewolves start getting their ears pierced?

op0ponax--

Oh dear lord...

re:"this is the only way this woman felt she could involve her child's father in his upbringing"

Um, I don't think "upbringing" is at issue here at all. Involved in the preparation, perhaps... but don't take the leap to "upbringing."

re: "i would probably paint it pink with unicorns and pray to god that kid turned out gay just to spite my macho husband."

Um, sooooooo many things wrong with that.

Mia--
There was a reason I put "unbutch" in quotes. Go back and reread it in context.

I read an article a few years ago about a family in the East Bay area that had rehabed their MCM home. The children's rooms and playhouse were a lovely clean, modern design. They probably lived in a Neutra house, I can't really recall. It was a classic house and wonderfully decorated. The funny thing was that the couple's young daughter wanted a pink Barbie dream house room. So much for the modernseed nursery furniture.

I cannot beleive the comments that we have gotten on this room. I know that we shared this room with all of you & all, but we have tried for 6 years to have little Ayden.

Yes I do understand he is a baby, our baby, our miracle baby. And we only want what is best for little Ayden. As far as the wildcat logo on the wall well, this is not going to scare him. I mean think about what you did you childs nursery in, did he or she like it, well you will never know, you liked it and you would have not done it that way if a baby could come out of the womb talking, because if you ask me, I would have asked Ayden if I could.

When he is old enough and decides that he does not want this theme anymore, we will obviously change the room. Because he is his own person, I am not going to raise him with the same likes and dislikes that we have.

His daddy is a very nice caring man, baby Ayden is a boy, if it was a girl I would have chosen the theme for the room. His daddy Glenn did get involved with the room, he was not as talented as my mother and grandmother and I, but he did lay the carpet and hung the ceiling fan in the room. Glenn works as well so that I can stay at home & take car of myself and my little one.

All of these people that are saying these rude comments, I mean sit back and look at what you are saying, you don't even know us. I have read these comments, over & over and I have been in tears. Obviously I am still pregnant! I just think they cannot get worse and they do.

Baby Ayden is the center of my WORLD, he is my bundle of JOY, I still cannot beleive that god has blessed us with him, I wake up everyday and I cannot beleive that we are going to finally have a baby, don't get me wrong, I know that I will have many, many sleepless nights. But I am going to be a great monther & Glenn is going to be a great father.

Keep the comments coming, I am sure I can take them all. The good with the bad. We like the room and I am sure baby Ayden will like it as well, and like I said when he gets old enough and tells us that he does not like the room then we WILL change the room and let him express himself.

THANKS TO ALL,
Melissa & Glenn

Opoponax:

Why do you think I don't have kids? LOL! It's not that I'd design for my preferences. It's that I'm sooooo concerned with health for baby, the finances necessary to raise baby (I don't mean designer cribs, I mean food, medical care, etc), and development.

I just KNOW that there wouldn't be enough money. And the child would undoubtably end up being a serial killer, due to the things in the child's room. Yes, there'd be language tapes playing while music played and five TVs going with Science, Nature, and other worldly delights showing.

"Darling, today is Theme: Russian. We'll have tapes of language, Rachmaninoff playing, and a fabulous National Geographic programme on Russian geography."
***infant burps***

All those neurons needing to develop synapses in that first crucial month. Got to give the little one 24/7 input. Forget the child waking ME up, I'd be waking the CHILD up to hold them very closely to some advanced mathematical equation. None of that silly 1+1=2 and ABCs. A huge mural of the Rosetta stone done in primary colors. Yeah. That's good.

Boy or girl, they're getting Barbies and G.I.Joe. Diva pillows to go with the Army camouflage stuff. They get to choose. I will support them in their preferences. I don't believe in gender-specific toys.

I'd be a terrible mum. ;)

Melissa, I think it's wonderful that you and your husband are so excited, and it's great that this baby is going to be so wanted.

No one here knows anything about your life, so take all comments with a grain of salt. You don't need to justify anything.

You really did a really professional job painting and I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Melissa -- You like the room. Glenn likes the room. Little Ayden will like the room because he'll associate it with being loved and taken care of. When he's in his 30s, he'll find himself tending to buy one particular color of blue, and he'll have to go through old family photos to figure out why.

Is rampant sports enthusiasm *that* uncommon? I remember lots of my friends cooing over their miniature U of Minnesota (or RPI) sweatshirts for baby, and if they'd had the budget/creativity to do a theme nursery, they'd have done it.

Darn, that blue-and-white is growing on me! I'll never be a fan of theming in my own space, but that's a nice, crisp color scheme.

they could do worse. they could raise him in a cardboard box and he could become a sociopathic corporate exec like Profitt!!

p2: i stand corrected by Melissa on Glenn's involvement in the nursery. i still feel like if i were going for something this labor intensive (no pun intended) on the behest of another person, i'd want at least a lot of moral support. and the unicorn comment was a joke. though i hate it when other people say this in defense of their slightly off color humor, i AM gay and can make jokes about it all i want. and it DOES bother me that they are already intrenching some serious gender roles before the child is even born.

andree: nothing in my post was in any way directed at you. and, yes, when we design nurseries, in all but the most practical and safety-oriented sense, we are designing to OUR taste, not to our child's taste. Ayden has not been born yet and as such has no taste in anything yet. when Ayden is born, he will not have the capacity to opine on the design elements of his nursery for a few years. during which time it will be Melissa and Glenn making all the choices. this is true for every parent, whether they paint the nursery with ducks or kentucky basketball logos. and it's true in many more capacities. in the wake of the recent and ongoing baby boom among hipper circles here in new york, there are now a rash of baby boutiques selling Ramones and David Bowie onesies. one could debate the appropriateness of that till the cows come home. the bottom line is that parents who like David Bowie (and can afford it) will get their kids David Bowie onesies. parents who think such things are inappropriate for infants will not. everyone will most likely live happily ever after, at least until BowieBaby grows up to be a young republican and NoBowie grows up punk and resents his parents for not denying him that Bowie onesie which in hindsight he now wishes he'd had because then he could PROVE he'd been punk in, like, the WOMB, man...

Melissa and Glenn:

Chances are, you're not really seeing the mascot as being as scary as it is. You say it's "just a mascot"...I say "It's darned scary." Using one of the pictures from the links I'd posted, and your nursery, check out this alteration of your nursery:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/162132747/

Do you NOW understand our reactions? Does that look scary? Would you consider that appropriate? Do you want to stare at that? Do you want your child staring at that? Do you think that the child will be immune from bad dreams? That a ferocious beast posed ready to rip out your throat is a suitable image for baby?

I don't. I just don't. It's scary to me. It would be very scary for a child.

The design, the painting, that is EXCELLENT. Wonderful. You three generations of ladies could start up your own custom paint mural business. Sports bars. Private homes in the entertainment or bar area. Dorm rooms.

If you're that good at doing the mural from projector and painting, you could do ANY murals of any mascots. Meaning you could be doing all the local junior high and high schools, and colleges.

I wouldn't have scary mascots, beer can mobiles with a giant beer can/bottle painted on the wall. I wouldn't have packs of cigarettes on a mobile with a border of cigarette packs and a giant Marlboro man on the wall. I wouldn't have a border of condom wrapper images with a lusty couple painted on the wall. I wouldn't have war atrocities, pornography, or a huge blow up of the World Trade Center with an airplane crashing into it.

If you really think it's still okay, check with your pediatrician as well as local Child Psychologist specialists.

Because *I* am not an expert. I'm just going by what *I* would or wouldn't see as fit for a baby.

If you check with a couple of experts, and they check out the pictures and they say "Yeah, no problem, kids love that stuff" then leave it up and tell us all to take a nap and come back with a changed attitude.

If the experts scream in horror or want to mount several cameras for research purposes to see how it affects the child and if they grow up with unusual fears, then you just might want to paint over it (and have someone else paint over it, long before the baby is due, the fumes are harmful to both you and baby).

Opoponax, I know it wasn't directed at me, I was just commenting on your comments. I'd LOVE to see The Ramones onesies! And here they are:
http://store.pacifieronline.com/rebelonesies1.html

And plenty of comments on that trend here:
http://entertainment.ctcentral.com/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=144

Ahhh, the simple joys of parenthood. ;)

Let's better hope baby Ayden (cute name) doesn't come out a Red Sox fan.

xo
Holly

Somehow, I just suspect that Melissa has already read up on bringing up baby...

For the non-parents, a brief summary of how babies perceive their surroundings:
http://tinyurl.com/jz8yg

The short version is:
--Until age 3 months, the wildcat on the wall will just be a blur. Reaction after that will depend on whether baby interprets the wildcat as a face or as just a shape. Seeing it as a snarling cat is a learned perception that might not kick in for a good year.
--The high contrast of the blue and white is a fabulous idea, while traditional pastels do much less to stimulate baby.

dude. when i have a kid, i am so doing the Malboro Man themed nursery. brilliant.

actually, no, the condom one. definitely the condom one. that way i can instill safe sex into my kid's head from birth.

I think you guys did an awesome job with the painting here. Very cool.

For those of you who are up in arms about the gender messages the wildcat theme is sending, check this out: this straight chick's love of sports? Thanks, Mom. Love of antiquing (Lord, I hate that word)? Thanks Dad. Go figure.

And hopefully I'll one day be married to a Yankees fan who will go placidly along with my pinstriped den idea. All the more reason to flash that "I can cook too, Derek" sign at home games. As for Wende's comment, I don't think rampant sports enthusiasm is uncommon, but it probably is on this board. Safe to say if I every have any anklebiters they will be clothed in Yankees baseball jerseys and Cornell shirts. Indoctrination needs to start early.

I think this room is totally cute, and if little Ayden ever gets upset about the looming feline above the crib, Mom or Dad can always assure him that Mr. Wildcat just wants to hug him since everyone else loves to so much.

Melissa: Fiona's right. No one here knows a thing about your life; So, really don't pay attention at all to any of the negative *horseshit* that was slung on this thread. We are, after all, strangers to you. So, none of these comments--good or bad--make lick of difference. Try not to read any sort of judgement in them as they ultimately mean nothing to you or your life... Best of luck and congratulations to you and your family on your impending arrival. Your baby will obviously have a warm and loving home when he arrives. And that's what really matters!

And I just have to put this out there (whether people care to read it or not)... Perhaps some of us think that the anonymity provided by the internet gives us carte blanche to dazzle everyone with their rapier wit or clever snarkiness--with little or no regard for social mores or any sense of basic etiquette. Well, guess what, the end result is often unnecessary unkindness. And don't we all get enough of that in our everyday lives? I guess some people just don't know when to shut the f up because they love to engage in the game of one-upsmanship. Call me a Pollyanna, but the fact that this comment thread caused someone to cry doesn't sit well with me at all.

actually my gender issues here have nothing to do with whether it's ok for girls to like sports or not. i'm a girl. i like sports just fine.

my issues are these:

* there seems to be a lot of gendered division of labor in their household. mom stays home, while dad works. dad lays carpet and installs ceiling fans, while mom does the detailed painting (though i do realize that the physical labor of laying carpet and installing heavy machinery might not be feasible for a pregnant woman). dad doesn't help decorate because he's 'not good at that'. there seems to be a presumption that dad wouldn't naturally want to be involved in the nursery, pregnancy, etc. because they feel the need to decorate the room around dad's pre-baby interests in order to 'involve him'.

* Melissa specifically stated that if they were expecting a girl, they would not have gone with a sports theme. also, she said that if the baby were a girl, she would pick the theme herself with no input from dad. so it's only important to involve dad in a son's room but not a daughter's?

* there has been A LOT written by feminists and gender theorists about the way that children are socialized for gender from birth (and with sonogram technology, even before birth). one thing that's talked about a lot is the assumption, from birth, that boys will be more active and likely to be interested in sports, whereas girls will be more passive and interested in girlier things. there have been studies of people's reactions to babies, both female and male. when people assumed the baby was a boy, they made comments about how active the baby was, having a strong grip, being tough, etc. when people assumed the baby was a girl, they tended to comment on the baby's appearance, sweetness, cuteness, etc. this is kind of weird, no? now of course we all know that once a child is older, things may not turn out this way. there are plenty of sports loving girls and antique loving boys. but in babyhood, when the child is a blank slate, we see these generalizations made over and over. kinda makes you wonder. especially when faced with a situation where this child (whose sex is known) will literally be living in that generalization.

Folks -

Please stop associating "loves sports" with masculine / straight, and "hates sports" with feminine / gay. It demonstrates a bigotry that you should consider more carefully before repeating, or talking about how the "statistics are in your favor".

I'm gay - I have been out for a long long time - and I am a massive hockey fan. Love to play it, love to watch. Well, ok, yeah, I may also have dated a hockey player or two (RPI alum - YAY WENDE!), but the love of the sport predated the love of the players.

There are several bad assumptions in the arguments being made...

1) IMHO, FALSE: Only pastel rooms can be soothing. For me, anything familiar is soothing, even if it's bright and even at 3 in the morning. Show me RPI colors (cherry and white) and I'll be calm. If it's familiar for Melissa and Glenn, it will feel safe and calm. Don't be such color nazis.

2) IMHO, FALSE: A baby is going to be scared by the wildcat image. As someone pointed out, babies are fairly formless. It's all about how you teach them to react to the world. My first and best lesson on this: A very young kid (girl, for you sexists in the crowd) slid down the slide in the park badly and landed on her head. The father, my brother's friend, came over with a smile and said: Was it scary? Wanna do it again? . I'm SURE if the opening parental line had been "OOOH ARE YOU OK?" tears would have ensued. And yes, the father was smart enough to know what might have been a serious injury. ... Maybe the kid will identify with the wildcat and feel empowered and playful, and not feel threatened.

3: IMHO, just plain ignorant: Any assumption that you know ANYTHING about these two people, their relationship with each other, their interest in being parents, their qualifications as parents. Do you have the right to your opinions? Yes. The right to voice them? Yes. Ought you learn how to exercise a small amount of discretion, to acknowledge to yourself your own probable lack of knowledge, regardless of the forum? Probably.

Had to get that off my chest.

Oh, cut the "gender labor division" and the "he's
only involved because its a boy" crap. Quit passing judgement on this happy couple based on a few lines of introduction.

Sorry - seems the site software edited my last post.

The story about the slide:
Father: Was it scary?
Girl: Nod.
Father: Wanna do it again?
Girl: Nod, smile, raucousness.

Opoponax:

"The Pinks and The Blues"

Fascinating. Wanted to slap every single one of those cooing adults.

Wende:

I posted similar links to vision development.

Melissa, Glenn -

You did a GREAT job! Ayden's gonna love it. Even if it's focused on the wrong sport. =) Thanks for sharing this with us.

Best of luck with the birth and, well, every day of your lives afterward! Marked Sept 22 in my calendar and will be thinking good thoughts.

Mike.

ps: my comments were addressed to opoponax, not sitegeek

(you GO, sitegeek!!!)

i'm not passing judgement on them. i'm reading something VOLUNTARILY POSTED on a website, by Melissa, in her own words, and i'm getting out of it what she's putting in. she herself said every single thing i just commented on. as far as i can tell, i'm not taking anything out of context. i didn't mean to be insulting or judgemental in any way. just honest. i'm squicked by the gender roles they're already coding their kid with. gender roles i was encoded with as a child, gender roles almost everyone on the planet has been encoded with. sure, i hope that when/if i bring a child into this world i can avoid some of them. but honestly, as individuals we don't have a whole lot of choice there. i'm more annoyed by the fact that these roles exist and are so heavily conditioned in us than the specific fact that Melissa plans to by Ayden's primary caregiver, or Glenn isn't the crafty type.

i guess i should have put a disclaimer that i have issues more with the state of the world and our society's effed up ideas about gender and parenting, not that i have any particular problem with the way Melissa and Glenn have chosen to live their lives. They seem perfectly happy and able to raise a child just as well as anybody. I wish them luck, love, and happiness.

but i still get to have MASSIVE issues with gendered parenting in our society, and especially the role of fathers in parenting infants and small children. and i get to share them if i want. this is a public website. while i agree that it doesn't give me the right to be nasty, it does encourage dialogue. including dialogue that might make people uncomfortable.

I do stay home, now. I was working 60 + hours a week until we found out that we were expecting little Ayden, so we both Glenn and I decided that it would be better for me and Ayden if I stayed home to take care of myself and my unborn child.

Second of all I would have picked the room and no I did not state in any way that I would have not picked a sports theme for a girl. Not sure what I would have picked but I never once said that.

Last thing, Glenn did get involved with the room and he has been involved with Ayden since we found out I was pregnant, I mean we tried for 6 long years. Ayden is our MIRACLE, and whether we decide wildcats or whatever, that is our decision, not yours! So you just like it or you don't, either way Ayden is going to be well taking care of and th ewildcat on the wall is not ging to scare him, he is going to be sleeping next to that wall in that crib when he gets here, it's all about what they are use to and he will be use to the wildcat.

Enough about the feminist and all that bull, this room is a room, it is baby Ayden's room whether you like it or not, my family is not to be judged this room is the only thing that you or anyone should judge, please leave the family judging to to the GOD above!

Thanks to All For The Comments & For leaving my family out of this. And I am not up to people posting web links ect. for me to check out about pediatrics and doctors and all of that. this is our baby and we are gonna and will raise him the way we want to! So enough already, if you like the room good and if not good, either way

WE ALL LOVE IT.

Thanks, Melissa & Glenn

go, melissa. =)

ya know, since we seem to be implying that the nature of the nursery helps form the child in some way, it makes me wonder... what were the nurseries of some of this site's regular participants like?

Not sure, sure would like to have known. I just do not understand people, I mean on here they are right out nasty about there thoughts I mean very expressful. But if I met any of them in person, I bet 90% of them would say aww cute and would never say some of the mean things that they have said! You know

But to each their own, don't get me wrong I mean I love the thoughts and everything, on the room and some I laugh at, but then there are some that really do not make a whole lot of sense at all.

M&G -

You've probably seen on the site that Maxwell occasionally hosts parties in NYC for anyone who'd like to attend. I've gotten to meet some great people - jamiepup, ruth, curtis, haven't seen mary in a while - and lots others. (i'd say p/too, but i've known him for quite a while so that doesn't count =) ). I'm sorry you don't have that opportunity to attend these get-togethers - it would give you a much better feeling about the AT community than you might be getting here.

If you're ever in town...

That would be great! Wish I lived around there local, I would def. attend, can anyone attend, if I was in town. Or do you have to be invited?

Thanks, Melissa & Glenn

So how bout it room? fess up. what was YOUR nursery like?

All I remember about mine: 1960's chatchky (sp?) soldier motif, and the door was at the top of the stairs, so the first step out of the room was a step down.

Hm. Well... I wear my hair short. And I prefer going down stairs over climbing up them.

You know I do not remember my rooms at all, I grew up in a family that moved around alot. My mother was a single monther trying to make it and do the best that she could do raising my brother and I.

I guess that is why we have a close family now, we had to make it with what we had, if what we had was not muched we made it work.

I am blessed with a great family, even though I do not remember my rooms, at all.

I honestly don't remember my nursery. But as a child I LOVED the bedroom my brother and I shared: full-on Charles Schulz's Peanuts! It was chosen by moms, but it rocked. And, yes, I totally just carbon-dated myself with that Peanuts reference. "Ugh."

Read this. Nothing to do with the wall, it's just scary:
Babies Remember Pain
http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/chamberlain/

Okay, facial recognition templates:
http://tinyurl.com/ke89b

The child should be afraid of menacing things. That is NOT a friendly kitty, and a snarling big cat is NOT to be approached (unless you're an idiot like me).

Next thing you know, your toddler is hospitalized for walking up to the snarling pair of giant dogs, because they looked just like the kitty on the wall. Whose fault is it? You teach the child that snarling beasts bearing their teeth is "okay" and "friendly", that is transferred to all snarling beasts.

Kids sense stuff we adults might have blocked off, like it says in the article. Kids match up words and body movement and find they don't match...and they believe the movements more than the words. Never force a kid to do something they are wary of.

Every time I look at the image on the wall in the nursery, I think of something else to look up. Or some other possible result of having that image.

Geez, I gotta go paint someone's walls with the paint program and clear my mind. If I have bad dreams tonight...

Baby Ayden, like I said is going to be well taken care of, as far as the snarling dog goes. That would be my fault to leave my child unattended or even around a dog like that. So many parents do not watch their children.

I mean this is a painting, not something that is alive, I live in Kentucky, close to Lexington home of the Ky Wildcats, I am sure he is going to know what the Ky Wildcats are and what a snarling dog is, I mean get real. I did not ask for your parenting tips or pyscological input I asked for your input on the room.

Thanks Again, Melissa & Glenn

Okay, so you're not interested in what other people say in links about infants or development. What does YOUR doctor and pediatrician say?

Congratulations on your new baby.

The room, however, is quite tragic. What if little Ayden is into interior design and this offends his sensibilities? Maybe you could get a Wildcats throw for your own bed instead?

No I am not interested on comments about baby Aydens upbringing, this is Our child.

This is a simple whether you like the room or not, not a psycological study on us raising my child, get real.

Like I posted earlier, if he does not like the room when he gets older, I will change it to what he likes.

Everyone is failing to realize, especially parents what they did their nursery in, did the baby have input on the nursery...? NO

But like I said, if he is into interior desighn, or whatever then we will change the room, I want him to be able to express his OWN indiviuality.

Just the room? Scariest damn thing I've ever seen, and the most inappropriate baby nursery, in regards ONLY to the fiercesome beast painted on the wall and hung on a curtain and posed in the window.

The rest is adorable. Absolutely adorable. Would love for you to post the sources for the baby bedding. And the mobile.

And it would be great if you could write out a "how-to" on creating murals using the projector, including a project supply list. Did you use stencils for the letters? Or were they hand-painted? How long did it take? Is this your first mural or have you all done others?

There are a lot of people that would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do murals. I know darn well that I couldn't do anything as nice as yours, even if it does scare me. So have you had training or have you always been artistically gifted?

If you do more murals, maybe you could document the step-by-step process for the rest of us. Pictures and instructions. I LOVE how-tos, and it could inspire a whole bunch of folks who come here to try out murals too!

Thanks for any help on the mural info.

When I was a kid - I liked strong design. Not in any deliberate sense, I just liked looking at bright colors, tigers, etc. I remember moving into a house as a small child in the 70s and being enchanted that my room had a screaming grass-green carpet and white wallpaper with multicolored flowers on it. I was so disappointed when my mother stripped the wallpaper and painted the walls white, and took up the carpet to reveal the wood floors underneath. I was seven...

I also remember going to visit a relative by marriage once, a rebel of a guy in the Shenandoah Valley. He had a room in his house that was a shrine to a particular football team. And I remember that room years later, and the big personality of the guy who wanted it and made it happen, far more than I remember many more "tasteful" dwellings, all a bourgeois-bohemian blur to me now.

A lot of the time, in the quest for "design", personality and what people really like, on their own, seems to get shoved into a closet or subsumed. This baby's room seems lively and fun to me, and the parents radical for making such a strong statement. It's a lesson to us all to be exuberant about making our homes about our real selves.

Well said Emily, thanks so much for the strong input & the understanding of our design, without judging us and more less not saying that we are going to be bad parents simply because we choose a wildcat on the wall that most people would say to be scary & frightning to a young baby, when he is going to be use to this logo, since his dad & I are big fans. & this logo strongly expresses our indidividuality in, key word, OUR HOME!

Thanks, Melissa & Glenn

It would have been different if for:

1) We waited to do this design, after he was born & he was 2 or 3 years old, I could see possibly people saying that as a young child he would be scared, because he would have not been around the wildcat.

2) We live in Kentucky, close to Lexington everyone in our town loves the Kentucky Wildcats, and no this does not make me a bad person, nor a bad mother because I simply like the Ky Wildcats & wanted to expose my unborn son to this team. I would not care, if later down the road, that he wanted a change & wanted something different in his room, I would simply change it so that he could express his own individuality.

3) He is going to be around sports ect. my family and Glenn's family are all into sports, so he is going to be exposed to it all, whether they like that or not. Now what he decides to like & dislikes, now that is Ayden's own choice, not ours.

4) I just wish people would not judge us, simply because of a wildcat logo on Ayden's nursery wall, we both are so very excited on his upcoming arrival & both know deep within our hearts that he will be loved more than life itself, by Glenn & I both along with the love of our friends & family, whether he like Ky Wildcats or not & no we do not simply prefer for him to have our likes & dislikes, he will be his own little person, with his own likes & dislikes and no we will not be the ones to judge, like everyone in here has been judging us.

Thanks, Melissa & Glenn

the opoponax,

I share your strong feelings about gender and parenting, but 1) this is a design site and 2) everyone has to make the choices that are right for him/her.

If someone wants to be a SAHM, great. If someone wants to be a SAHD, that's great, too. I think things are progressing, but aren't progressing that fast, and while it's great to fight the fight, people are alienated by blanket statements that their choice is wrong. It also reinforces the rigid feminist impression.

All I'm saying is that there is a time and a place. Your audience has to be receptive, and maybe a design site is not the place to take a strong stand on parenting and gender roles, especially since this is just one woman who is doing what she feels is right for her and her husband.

I get frustrated sometimes, too, but I think we are reading way too much into this one nursery post.

Speaking of reading to much into all this, what are we to make of the fact that Melissa has spelled "mother" as "monther" on two separate occasions?

Interesting observation Anastasia. Anyhew, it just so happens that babies start to recognize facial expressions at a very early age. Before the age of one, they are able to distinguish a happy expression from a sad or angry expression. There have been many studies where babies presented with a picture of an angry face actually turn away to avoid seeing this expression. Wildcat looks angry. Once he begins to know this expression in human faces he may recognize the same expression in the face and eyes of the Wildcat. Okay there is another option. Relocate the crib so that the angry face is not directly over the crib. How is that for positive criticism folks.

Melissa and Glen,
It kind of cracks me up that so many people on this site have strong opinions about babies and parenting, yet don't have kids themselves. As a proud mother of one I can tell you that your child will probably not notice or care about the way his room is decorated for a while, so make it something that is pleasing to you. I also don't think the wildcat is going to scare your baby. Good luck to you and don't worry about what other people say. I think you did a good job with all the painting and everything else.

How will these parents react when the child comes home from Thanksgiving during his freshman year and announces he is coming out of the closet?

Hey, I hope I'm totally wrong. That's how I learn a lot of "valuable lessons". ;)

I hope the baby isn't afraid and is as calm as can be. I hope the first words out of the baby's mouth are "Mama", "Papa", and "Go Wildcats".

I hope the baby grows up healthy and happy and successful in whatever they do. I hope the raising of the child is nothing but pure joy and love.

I hope Melissa and Glenn cherish every moment they have with their wonderful new baby, Ayden (which is a very cool name, by the way).

I hope diaper prices go way down. I hope that everything is SMOOOOOOOTH sailing for everyone. I hope they win the lottery. So they can spend oodles of time with each other and the baby.

We'll know one way or the other about the mural soon enough. Whether or not it affects the child in any way, shape, or form.

I'm personally a worry-wart and think of far too many consequences...aw, shoot, I just think too much. :(

I just wanted to protect a baby that isn't mine from being scared, that might not be scared anyway. I'm a doofus. I guard lost children in stores and malls with the same fierce expression as that Wildcat on the wall. I won't even let store employees get too close to the child. I'm looking at the employees suspiciously, they're looking at me suspiciously, and the child just wants mom or dad.

Kids DO remember that stuff. One little girl came up to me in the jewelry store after I had changed jobs and hair colors, with her mother. She was one who'd been lost and I'd found her, and called security at the mall I worked at, while tending her. It was Halloween, so she was in costume and got separated.

I was in costume with a different hair color, working at a cafe. The child remembered my face, not my hair, not my clothing, not even the store I worked at, months later. I had no clue who the child was. But she remembered me. As being the one who "rescued" her.

I used to work for a care agency, that provided "babysitting" services for infants, children, and aging adults, both hourly and for extended live-in periods of time. I was very protective of all "my" kids.

Kids and animals can sense things. I don't even know what it is, because I think we lose it when we mature and become more reliant on what people say.

Kid in the hospital waiting room, chattering away with a parent, then starts practicing counting all the people in the room out loud. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ....and stops counting at me and just stares. I had cancer. Can kids sense cancer?

Or was it something telling in my facial expression?

Being around kids for some of my life. Studying kids for some of my university years. I have too much information and try to apply all of it. Which is STUPID. Kids have been doing relatively fine in all kinds of situations.

If the worst thing the child ever experiences in their lifetime is the Wildcat painting on the wall, your family truly IS blessed.

This got even more unbelievable since I last posted. Melissa & Glenn, as others have said, just ignore those people who don't know you and are passing judgement. And, "gendered" roles be damned. My friend (a man) is planning to stay home with his future kids (though I told him his wife had better had right of first refusal after carrying the baby for 9 months and giving birth!). At any rate, I applaud you for putting your child first. There are people out there who just don't give a damn about their kids, honestly. I have friends whose parents virtually neglected them as kids. I had a good upbringing in that I always knew my parents wanted and cared about me (my mom had me after 4 miscarriages and stayed home to take care of me and eventually my younger brother too). I am thankful that that's what my mom wanted to do because I always had someone there when I came home from school until I was 12 or so, and both my brother and me grew up to be very caring, intelligent adults and the first in our family to receive college degrees. (Though I do wish my mom had also developed herself and her interests a bit more, but I'll save that for my therapist!). Not saying that working parents can't also raise good kids (probably will be one myself), but my point is that I don't think it's "wrong" if that is what you and your husband have mutually decided! Just do what you feel is best for you. People are so ignorant.

If the kid is afraid of the wildcat (as I am) it can be painted over...sheesh! As a baby, he will not be...until at least a year or 2. Seriously. Growing up in Pittsburgh, and being a young child in the late 70s/early 80s, I had many Steelers pennants from the superbowl days and a Pirates pennant too...the latter of which had to be removed from my room b/c the Pirate scared me. But, this was probably when I was 4 or 5 and old enough to make an association. Oddly, I was also frightened by a stuffed Puff the Magic dragon and a crocheted clown. Of course, I also had a phobia of down escalators until I was 12--I was a skittish child.

My nursery was: I can't remember because I was a BABY! I think it was white or pale green, though--but I know this from pictures. I do remember my childhood room (from 3 or 4 onward)--same room, but we painted it pink (because that's what I demanded), with pink curtains from Sears (with a gingham trim), and a pink bedspread with holly hobbie on it (and more gingham--must have been a set). I had stuffed animals everywhere, a home interiors white plastic table as a nightstand. The one thing I didn't have a say in was the furniture. My dad thought that a nice brown wood set would be more suitable for the long term--I always held secret resentment that I didn't get the white princessy stuff. I always envied my friend Heather's canopy bed. Ah, memories.

Congratulations Melissa and Glenn!

Christine in DC,

I am still envious over my best friend Nicole's green and white canopy bed. Darn her! ;)

Re Mike's nursery question -- My parents lived in a tiny rental when I was born (I'm not even sure it had two bedrooms), so you can bet that I didn't have a themed nursery. I don't remember my own room in the house they bought when I was four. By the time I was seven, in purchased house #2, I was old enough to veto Evil Ruffles in my room.

All I know is that the house of my babyhood was right next to the train tracks, with noisy whistle-blowing and chugging several times a day. No, I didn't grow up with a lifelong fear of trains! I love 'em. I went to Toy Train Operators Society meetings with my father and growled at the old guys who inquired whether he wouldn't rather have had a son.

Husband and I bought HO-scale train buildings in Vienna because they were cute, and next thing I know, I'm eyeballing engines (they're only $35! and bright, cheerful colors!) and questioning whether dollhouses are as thrilling as trains.

Melissa -

I'm trying to raise my own kid with as little expert advice as possible, too - so cheers to you for ignoring the experts! Much of the advice from psychologists and other child development experts is conflicting, and the main effect it has is to undermine the self-confidence of the mother (probably the fathers,too - but they seem slightly less likely to turn to the experts, in my experience).

I apologize if the comments about the mural on my son's wall seemed at all critical of your own nursery mural. The mural we've got is not one we chose, and for me the whole thing is deeply associated with the unhappy circumstances under which the family moved out. And I really hate acid green walls. ;)

So, like I said, all of you like it, baby Ayden will like it too until he's old enough to start demanding whatever teenagers consider sophisticated. Who knows - maybe he'll be such a fan that he'll want to keep it!

And my own childhood room had alphabet curtains and a bedspread in primary colours on a white background. It also housed my sister's 1950s-era crib (already 30 years old then), and which we have used for my son, too. We also used a 50 year old cradle, built by my grandfather for my oldest cousin, and used for nearly every baby in the family since then.

So clearly I've utterly ignored many of the child safety experts, because it seems pretty likely that that crib and cradle would fail their standards and then some.

I'm so sorry you happened in on some long-simmering AT debates, and long-held passionate beliefs, which have absolutely nothing to do with you.

Best of luck!

When this unfortunate child is either frequenting leather bars or on a rooftop with a high powered rifle one day, don't say I didn't warn you of the perils of hoisting a fanged, claw-bearing, ravenous carnivore over his bed

What will be the excuse, Jonatahna, when your child does the same? (Although I can venture a guess.)

We have a few children in the neighborhood who are just neurotic and I think it is because the parents have read every article and book they could get their hands on. I think little Ayden will be fine. Melissa, please don’t read all those articles published. Pick up a good reference book and ignore the rest. Give yourself the credit you deserve and go with your instinct. I have listened to neighbors read an article and now their child has such and such disorder and the child is going to the shrink twice a week. Yes the sky is falling and their child needs some ritalin. I have a headache just thinking about it. The wild cat nursery is just fine and it is beautifully drawn. I just hope Ayden doesn't grow up and want to play basketball for Duke.

I have an infant son who has a pretty soothing (read boring), theme-less beige nursery. Our son loves his colorful wall art and searches it out when I hold him. We have “soothing” wall art that he ignores. I am sure little Ayden will love his wild cat and look at it often. Our son is a big fan of mirrors so you might want to add one to your nursery. Our son loves the colorful vintage style trains on his bumper and touches the designs. Did you know that according to certain medical experts you shouldn’t have a bumper because your child will suffocate? I haven’t heard of any infant in my neighborhood that has died from this but I am sure the "experts" are right and I am a horrible mommy. Again, you really can make yourself crazy if you listened to all the advice that is passed around from well meaning people.

As for my nursery, I was born in the mid 1960s and had orange walls in my nursery. Paint with lead no doubt. My father painted a wall mural with nursery tale characters including Humpty Dumpty falling off a wall. I am sure that you will be happy to know that I have no fear of falling or heights. As an interesting aside, my sister and I are 11 months apart so my mother and father didn’t have the time or energy to do anything except buy a crib for her. Her nursery was white with little more than a crib, an old dresser that was used as a changing table and a rocking chair from a sympathetic neighbor. Flash forward almost forty years (gasp). I frequent this site often to borrow ideas and color selections. My sister has an eye for color, design and scale that is the envy of our friends. I suppose that as an infant she would look out at her nursery and rearrange it mentally. Who knows? The important thing is to give your child a loving home. It sounds like you are well on your way, Melissa. Congratulations and the very best to you and your family.

This a design blog for goodness sakes, and I think everyone gets a kick out of the submissions and comments. But questioning their ability to parent goes too far; the theme of this nursery does not determine the future of the child. What about the rest of the home; if Dad prefers a tattered lazy boy chair and shag carpeting does that mean Ayden is going to be a serial killer? They sound like loving parents to me who will do the best for their child with what they have to offer; whether that's in the realm of AT readers design tastes or not. There's so much more to worry about with child rearing than what's on the walls of their bedrooms; for those recommending doctors and methods...find some studies on how involved, caring parents can make for intelligent, well adjusted children.

Although, this is not my taste, I admire M&G for their courage in sharing and I give them "A" for inspiration, perspiration and execution and I wish them all the best!

Karen, guess what? Their fitness as parents and likelihood for turning out a serial killer is EXACTLY what we are saying here. Lazy boy chair = serial killer. You nailed it on the head.

Johnathan, I'm guessing your parents loooved Lazy Boy recliners and sports mascots.

Karen, if only we could control your kids' futures through design, life would be a lot easier!

You know...I was reading the posts above and I found KT's post above very disturbing. You don't like what they did, but you give them an A for courage, sharing and inspiration. Isn't this really what is wrong with America? In this age of Oprah, we care more about the emotional hooplah of the sharing than the content of the message. It is abject moral relativism at its ugliest and, ultimately, leads us to a society with no moral compass whatsoever.

It's all very depressing.

Jonathan, I think many people would like to know how your parents' designed their home so they could avoid having their children turn out to be conceited morons. Of course, you probably agree with me, which is why you're no fun to taunt.

Let me point out that Maxwell posted this nursery on the New York site, instead of the Chicago site even though Kentucky is closer to Chicago. He knows the, uh, milieu, of the New York comments sections, because we're the same people posting here over and over. He even baited us by reminding us to be nice and made a snide comment about how Melissa didn't know that color month was October, or something. There is advertising on the site, so Maxwell gets paid on how often people come here. This little bitchfest has made him a nice chunk of change. At the expense of whom? Certainly not me, as I know better than to submit a room to this site.

You know, submitting this nursery to AT-NY is like submitting a tastefully decorated bondage room to Good Housekeeping. Imagine if GH actually ran it. They'd get just the same kind of bitchy remarks we're making here.

Good points all around Mia.

For the people telling Melissa to take the comments on this board with a grain of salt, by that logic shouldn't she take your comments of praise with a grain of salt as well?

I'm sure no one here meant to make a pregnant woman cry (although how hard car it be?) but SHE sent the pictures. No one forced their way into her house and took pictures of this room. Are we not entitled to our opinions too? Or does this work like the grain of salt theory?

Mia you're like Sherlock Holmes. Well done.

Your opinions on the room YES, your opinions on our parenting NO! Get real there

now i want a MIRACLE baby. just because they're much better than regular toddlers, especially when it comes to fighting off wildcats.

Jonathon, i don't like 70's disco either, but I wouldn't dis someone else because they liked it -- besides I was talking about "design" not morality.

I agree the parenting opinions are a bit much, because I thought even your wierd use of capital letters was endearing. But now that I have your permission to give my opinion on the room, which I thought was the whole point anyway, I think the room is Ugly. Perhaps a little more diversity would de-Uglify it. And is adding more stuff other than Wildcats and whatnots.

Melissa, sweetie, fully one-third of your write-up was about your family, NOT about decorating the room. If you didn't want our opinion about that, why did you write about it for public consumption?

Good point, Mia. Mellissa, if we want to know about your family we'll watch the film "Happiness"

And Melissa, why didn't you tell us in the original entry that your husband put in the ceiling fan and the carpeting, or even show us his work in the photos? Those are two very important parts of the design of the room, and we didn't get to see them. I don't even know what color the carpeting is.

Actually, Mia, there is no carpeting. Instead of carpeting, the child must leap over a shallow pit of writhing vipers, before climbing into his bed where there is a dangling, bloodthirsty wildcat

Vipers? What school has vipers as the mascot? Is that where's the kid's going to grad school?

Grammarphobe,

I was saying to take the comments about how her husband isn't involved with the child and other ridiculous comments about her life that no one here could know anything about with a grain of salt.

And any comments from anyone on the internet should be taken with a grain of salt, even on design--good or bad. For all you know, someone praising or denigrating your home has the most horrible taste ever.

Mia, Melissa was sharing her excitement about having a baby after 6 years. That's a long time, and I hope that you never have to struggle with an issue like that.

That said, I will concede your point that I think bitchiness is beginning to be encouraged here, and perhaps your rationale is correct. I was surprised when Maxwell posted practically encouraging the behavior here--especially when you'd think he'd be somewhat sympathetic as a father-to-be.

I am definitely rethinking my addiction to this site.

Hear, hear, Fiona! Also, manifestation of perseveration can be associated with some organic disorders of the brain. Is Jonathan is madly gleeful or gleefully mad?

But this is not a website about being excited about having a baby. It's inappropriate here. We responded in our inimitable way, which is appropriate for this site.

sorry, i'm such a bitch.

Mia, if you want to decide what's appropriate here, you should ask Maxwell for a job. Considering I am trying to get pregnant, I am interested in nursery posts. I'm sure I am not interested in some of the topics you are interested in--and doesn't design really revolve around lifestyle and stages of life, after all?--but I don't really feel that I should censor all topics that I don't feel apply to me.

That's it for me on the topic.

Yeah, you know, I'm actually pretty good at getting the bitchy comments going. Maxwell, maybe I can fill in while you're on paternity leave or something?

Here's a sample, so you can judge my skills:
"Uh, you might want to put off surfing for nursery posts until you're actually pregnant?"

fiona = terry cloth.

^^^^ true story.

MIA

Yes, I may have put in my write up about my family . But once again, these pictures are based on the room not my family, I was simply thanking God for what he has done for us and giving everyone the low down on the room.

I can see that it is just not me that you are insulting now it is also Fiona!You should not judge anyone or assume anything because you do not know any of us!

FIONA good luck on becoming pregnant, my family will have you in our thoughts and prayers!