Nursery Tour: Norah’s Sweet and Sunny Nursery
Name: Norah
Age: 4 months
Location: Utah
Norah’s mom Caroline says she smiles every time she walks by this room and we can certainly see why. The aquas, yellows, reds, oranges and pinks manage to be both vivid and soothing at the same time to create a feeling of warmth and calm.
Caroline’s DIY moxie, even eight months pregnant, is evident as she not only found pieces to fit her color scheme but used pieces she liked and transformed them with paint including Norah’s enviable yellow crib (a true labor of love – read more about it below). Norah’s nursery was inspired by one Caroline saw here on Ohdeedoh and we’re willing to bet the room she created for her daughter will inspire one of you!
Inspiration: I was very inspired when I came across Little P’s nursery on Ohdeedoh last spring. I immediately fell in love with all of the bright, cheery colors and knew that I wanted to do a similar color palette. I found some really cute pillows from Pier 1 that had a lot of colors I wanted to incorporate in the nursery, and it all just went from there. I was also very inspired by the cute embroidery hoop fabric swatches originally done by The Purl Bee, and I knew I wanted them in the nursery as well.
Favorite Element: I just love the bright and cheery colors of the room! Each time I walk by it puts a smile on my face! My favorite element has to be the yellow crib! It really brings something unique and is the main centerpiece of the nursery.
Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge I faced during the making of the nursery was trying to do all of it myself. My problem is that every time I would see something that would go great in the room I’d get it and think, “Oh, I’ll just paint that and it will be perfect.” Well, the idea sounded lovely, but doing it all at 8 months pregnant isn’t the most enjoyable thing and I would wonder why in the world I was doing it.
Another challenge I faced was trying to re-use our white glider that had blue cushions on it from our son’s nursery. I was able to find some great cushions from Pier 1 that matched my pillows and I put one on the seat pad then flipped the other one over to cover the back of the seat and put a pillow in front, and viola, i had a new /old glider!
Proudest DIY: My proudest DIY would have to be the yellow Jenny Lind style crib! My friend picked it up for me for $5 at a yard sale and it was in really, really bad shape as far as paint. (It appeared to at one time be white and red) I had a pretty little white crib from my son, but I wasn’t ready to give up his nap time, so I really wanted another crib. Since I got the crib for so cheap, I figured I’d just paint it, no problem. Well, after 13 plus cans of yellow spray paint, almost as much primer, a nice safe top coat applied by hand twice, and 13 plus hours of my time, the crib was complete! I hated every minute of doing it, (and almost gave up many times) but I am glad I stuck with it. I’m in love with the end result!
My husband and I also re-painted an old dresser from his childhood white and I spray-painted a cute little chandelier from Ikea pink.
Biggest Indulgence: All in all, I didn’t splurge too much on the nursery since I was able to reuse a lot of items by re-painting them, etc. I bought a few prints like the Flock Print by Wayne Pate and the cute vintage alphabet print from Lovely Sweet William.
Best advice: My best advice, and what works for me, is to browse blogs or magazines to find inspiration of colors and set-ups that you like. Then find a color palette you want to use. For me, I was so happy to find pillows that incorporated all of the colors I wanted to use in the room. So, when I went shopping I’d just bring along the pillows like they were my color swatches.
The wall color you chose is lovely – can you tell us the name? Thank you! I love the wall color, too. I am really drawn to blues and grays, so this great blueish green color was perfect and went so well with pinks, yellows, and reds. The wall color is a Benjamin Moore paint called Robin’s Nest (Color #618)
Was your process for putting together a little girl’s room the same or different than your son’s? As far as the colors went, it was much different putting together a girl’s room this time around. (I was not quite ready for pink.) But, the process I used to put together their nurseries was very similar. Find a color palette and pieces for the room and work from there.
Your photography is beautiful – can you share one tip for photographing babies or their rooms? Thank you! My photography is still very much a work in progress. Especially for photographing rooms. But, my one best tip for photographing babies or their rooms is to try many different angles. For babies try getting down to their level and shooting every angle possible. Same goes for rooms. Getting really low, or standing on a stool can help you to get a great shot of the room and it helps you to view it in a way you have never seen before.
(Photo credits: Caroline Drake)