(Another post from Janie, one of the finalists vying for a blogging position at the upcoming AT:The Nursery. Comment away.)
Our nursery came together at the last minute. After we discovered we were expecting and due in May, we put our loft up for sale and immediately began looking for a home with space for a nursery. Two months later we found our home -- sans nursery. A month later we moved in and began planning the renovations necessary to create baby’s room.
We knocked out two of the existing closets and commandeered hallway space to create a nursery that would be connected to the master bedroom. The result is a cozy 8' x 12' nook between the master bedroom and bathroom. Luckily, our baby came a week late, giving the paint time to cure and kinks in the radiant heating in the floor a chance to be fixed.
Our main goal was to create an efficient and modern space for Jonas without doing violence to the look of our adjoining bedroom and bath. We were aware of all the modern tot furniture available but unwilling to forfeit his college tuition to acquire it. So we splurged on a few expensive items and stretched the balance of our budget to acquire the rest.
-Janie
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Your baby is so freakin' cute! The nursery is beautiful too :)
wow. love it!what an adorable nursery!(the baby's not bad either) What is that blue paint color???!
what a lucky little baby. the pocket doors are a great idea.
Gorgeous space. I'd love to use some of your ideas if/when we have another one and have a nursery available. We currently share our 11x11 bedroom with our toddler.
Just wondering how this space will grow with your child? Or are you thinking about moving before it becomes a problem? Because it seems somewhat awkward to have the kid's room between the master bathroom. How would this affect resale value? What kind of storage solutions did you come up with to deal with the loss of the closets? I'm just curious, I think you made a great solution for your current situation.
Hi Ariel -- your comments/questions are on point. We won't be moving for a good long time after having gone through the renovation process. The wounds are still fresh. Once Jonas is older, we probably will move him into our current home office and swap the two rooms. Resale value was a concern when designing the floorplan; our solution was to create a separate entrance to the master bath via a new closet (not pictured) that completely bypasses the nursery. We have less closet space than we did previously but it's much more efficiently laid out. I think potential homebuyers who have no need for a nursery could utilize the space as a den, sitting room or extravagant dressing area(!)
Janie, love your nursery and your son is a doll. I hate to get all paranoid parent on you but this one thing that has been beaten into my head lately: Crib bumpers can present suffocation and choking hazards to babies. Just Google around on the topic and you'll find lots of recommendations from pediatric associations and consumer safety groups. I don't know how real the threat is of something happening, but I thought you might like to know.
I'm expecting in March and had happened upon some gorgeous nursery linens, including bumpers, handmade and embroidered in Italy or some such thing while I was out shopping with my mom, who is an early childhood person. The saleslady was chatting me up for the sale when my mom began screeching about SIDS, choking and suffocation with crib bumpers. Anyway, it was totally mortifying but point taken, ma.