Our Nerdy Nursery

Putting together our nerdy nursery was one of the most exciting and stressful projects I had tackled in a long time, but the end result was so so worth it!

I really wanted a way to marry our love of Harry Potter, Star Wars, Disney, and celestial elements. I chose to stick to a very neutral gray and white based scheme with accents of blue, especially since we had started the design before we even knew what the gender of our baby was!

Mike and I transformed our spare bedroom using furniture we already had in the space, the existing closet structure, some fresh paint and new art for the walls. We made the chair rail that was already in the room work for us by painting the bottom half of the room a light gray and the top half a bright white. This alone made the room look completely different than it did before (a date, aged shade of beige), and created a peaceful and calm environment that our little man loves to bask in daily! I converted one of our dressers into a changing station, and re-purposed my craft cart as a diaper cart. While the cart never really gets wheeled anywhere, it's been awesome to use and store he's daily needs.

My favorite parts of the room are the canopy and the art! While I was sad that I couldn't find an affordable plain white canopy to use, I'm still so happy that I picked this up at Target because I know it'll make for a fun independent activity space when he's older. From the cloud shelves to the Star Wars and Winnie the Pooh mash-up art on the walls, I really can't get enough of the visual elements in this space. Miles is still too little yet to fully understand what the pictures are, but it's fun watching him just stare at them from his crib!

I hand made the stars and moon mobile for him in my last trimester, as well as the birth announcement cross stitch on the wall and the yarn covered M. Obviously, the cross stitch was completed after he was born. There was one other project that I worked on slowly throughout my pregnancy and by the time I was almost finished with it Miles had learned how to pull on it to make it fall apart so I'm just going to continue to pretend it doesn't exist and save it for the next kid.

We were so glad we chose this room for him as we began filling up the closet with everything he'd need for the first year of his life. Each of the center storage shelves housed things he would need at the different developmental stages. His clothes were separated by size using custom size separators I ordered on Etsy to get one side with Harry Potter and the other side with Star Wars. The top shelf and inner side shelves help to hold current overstock diapers and wipes.

And, last but not least, the last-minute addition of his name in balloons from my baby shower! I originally just left them in his room as a means of decorating it for his arrival. As the weeks went on, I loved how they added a little pop of... je n'ais se quoi, to the room. The holographic nature of the mylar balloons just made it feel more space-like. Every once in a while, when the light hits the balloons in just the right way, Miles just stares in awe and I'm reminded that it was a good idea!

This room has since gone through some minor changes since taking these photos, but still looks close to the same. The canopy has since been taken down as we have managed to completely and successfully transition Miles to his crib. His toys now hang out on the floor by his crib for independent play time. The cart has been dedicated to just wipes, diapers, and blankets since he's discovered he can pull things out (I leave the blankets on the bottom and he mostly just pulls at those). And the mattress cover has been switched to this plush one to help combat the winter nights, though his Harry Potter sherpa blanket is still is go-to to lay on.

I'm soaking in having control of how his room looks because I know it'll be a short time from now where he will be able to voice his likes and dislikes. For now, I'll just watch as he stands out brilliantly from his room while he plays with his colorful toys scream-grunting nonsense at his toys and flapping his little arms. 

As soon as we have his room completely switched over, I'll be posting our updated look. I promise this time I won't wait until I change it to share it!