nursery: check, check, check.

*Started this post last week...just now getting around to finishing it. #unmotivated


I know, I know - I am 100% slacking on everything the nursery updates. As in, I haven't shared one since July. And a lot has happened since then! Good thing, since my time is going to be a wee bit more compromised starting a week from tomorrow (edit: now the day after tomorrow, since I'm late in publishing this!). Because truthfully, it doesn't really matter if the room is "finished" by the time Baby arrives - at least, not as far as she's concerned. She'd probably be happiest chilling in my arms 24-7. And who knows, maybe that's how it'll be for a while. But between adjusting to life with a newborn and recovering from major abdominal surgery, I'd really rather not have to, say, install curtain rods on a stepladder or assemble new furniture. So I'm glad things are almost done.

Enough with the chit-chat; let's see some pictures, eh?

When last I left you, circa July:

At that point, the hardest parts - clearing out the room, painting the walls, installing crown and shoe moulding, choosing and assembling the crib and changing table, replacing the ceiling fixture - were done. But you know there are always going to be a few wrenches thrown into any room remodel (unintentional tool joke, natch) (I hate when people say natch, sorry)...so the last tasks have taken longer than expected.

What were those last tasks? I needed to flatten out and air out the rug; choose and assemble a glider and nightstand; make rain gutter bookshelves; and choose fabrics for the window curtains, closet curtain, and crib skirt.

Aaaand yep, I hit roadblocks with almost every one of those tasks. First up was the rug.

This is the Zig Zag Chevron Dhurrie Rug in Aqua from Shades of Light. Loved it online, loved the look in person - but ohmygosh the SMELL. It reeked. And no, it wasn't just pregnancy nose. It smelled like...I don't know, wet farm or something? Granted, it's a wool rug, but I couldn't handle it. It was banished to the garage to air out for a while, which ended up taking over a month. That was partially because bringing it back upstairs seemed like a lot of work, and partially because it really just still smelled. I Febreezed it, I poured baking soda all over it, I shook it out periodically, but the smell just stuck around.

J.J. couldn't understand why I wouldn't just return it. Well, the only thing I hate more than making rug decisions is returning things. In this case, I'd actually made a decision and pulled the trigger to order it, and I really did like the way it looked. The thought of arranging a return was overwhelming (she said, hand to forehead in a pose representing utterly privileged problems). So I compromised: We brought the rug back to the room to gauge how bad the smell really was at that point (the end of August, mind you), and I sent an email to Shades of Light requesting general info on the return policy for the smelliest rug on Earth - but not committing to an actual return. Non-confrontation FTW.

The Shades of Light representative was seriously the nicest customer service rep ever. S/he (gender-neutral name, not sure) replied within 24 hours with detailed information on how to arrange a return, and said I wasn't going to have to pay for return shipping at all. Score! BUT. What really made him/her the nicest rep ever was when I sheepishly emailed back and said, "Actually...it doesn't really smell anymore after all...so...you know...never mind and stuff" - and I didn't get an annoyed hate email in response. Shades of Light! Winning!

And yes, you read that correctly - the smell had sufficiently dissipated, and the rug was here to stay. Geez. Unnecessarily dramatic rug saga, anyone?

Thankfully, the glider and the nightstand weren't nearly as difficult. It took me a long time to choose a glider, mainly because I couldn't find any in stores that I liked (and that were narrow enough to fit into a tiny space), but I chose and trigger-pulled and this beauty arrived shortly afterwards:

Mmm. Yummy. It's the Little Castle Charleston Glider, and I loved its clean lines and modern look. Plus, the dimensions were just right. It was delivered fully assembled, which was great...except I had no idea how we were going to get it up a flight of stairs. I know I've pushed myself physically at times during this pregnancy, but my eight-months-pregnant self was not about to haul a 90-pound chair upstairs to the nursery. Hence, a funny/embarrassing story: I got home pretty late the night the glider was delivered, and something stupid - old dishes in the sink? - made me get annoyed with J.J. I was pretty short with him, didn't really talk much to him, and at bedtime, I went straight upstairs to our room and got in bed.

The next morning, I passed the nursery in the light of day and saw this:

Not only had he somehow wrestled the chair all the way upstairs by himself...not only had he placed a towel underneath it to protect the floor until we had a more permanent floor-protection solution...but he, adorably, had propped our little bear (the first baby gift we got; his name is Mosby, and he sleeps with us every night) in the chair, reading a book about becoming a dad. I died of cute and felt like an asshole for being grumpy the night before. What can I say...best partner ever, hands down. I love him so much. (Edit: No, he did not do this in response to me being grumpy the night before...he had already done it before I had gotten home the night before. I was just too cranky to notice.)

And as for the nightstand - I wanted something round (lots of square lines in the room), white, with a bottom shelf and possibly a drawer. Wasn't hard to find this:

From here

I actually found it on Lowes.com first, but after hunting around a little more, I found it on Amazon for almost $50 less - score! It's got a nice big top for holding all sorts of stuff - the baby monitor base, books, my water bottle, whatever. And I have some little books stored on bottom. Well - here, take a look:

You can also see in this pic that we rearranged the crib and rug to make more room - definitely necessary, and very helpful. And? We finished the rain gutter bookshelves on the wall behind the door! We followed this tutorial, and thankfully, this was an easy-peasy project (for once).

They're not big enough to store all of her books, but there's room in the closet for those. We may even add more rain gutters someday, since I have some leftover and they were so easy to do. For now, though, these are great, and they make good use of an otherwise sort of useless space behind the door.

Then, of course, there was fabric drama. I had some great fabrics to choose from, and I ended up ordering these two:

From here

From here

Unfortunately, the bird-and-spokes fabric - my fave of all the options - ended up being way, way too green in person. Just not the right color in the room at all. Luckily, I'm kind of a dunce and ordered about a jillion more yards of the Suzani fabric than necessary, so I decided to use those for the window curtains and find another choice for the crib skirt and closet curtain. I ended up going with this:

From here

It's pretty bright, but I think I'm going to like the look of it in combination with the Suzani curtains. They're almost done, so I'll be sharing that update soon when I get around to it?


So, for now, here's where we are on the Nursery To-Do List:

• Sell rug, glider chair and ottoman, keyboard, record player and receiver, desk chair, dresser, and bookcase (and, while I'm at it, the microwave, the toaster oven, the television, and the sink/faucet) DONE
• Organize the books, binders, and boxes; find new homes for remaining items
• Find nursery inspiration pictures DONE
• Choose a paint color DONE
• Figure out who's going to paint DONE
• Figure out how to fix the ceiling goofs from four  years ago DONE
• Remove the hanger bar and bifold door from the closet DONE
• Prep to prime: sand, scrape, caulk and spackle the window trim and the closet interior; remove outlet covers and heating vent covers DONE
• Prime and test paint possibilities DONE
• Paint the walls (not including closet yet) DONE
• Buy crown and shoe moulding (J.J. does install...sorry, love) DONE
• Paint moulding and window/door trim DONE
• Find color for closet interior DONE
• Paint closet interior DONE
• Replace beige/painted-over outlets and light switch with new white ones DONE
• Replace ceiling light DONE
• Choose, order, and assemble crib, changing table, nightstand, and glider DONE
• Choose and order a rug DONE
• Install clothing rods and shelves in the closet DONE
• Make rain gutter bookshelves DONE
• Find fabric for crib skirt and curtains, including curtain for the closet DONE
• Enlist someone else to make the crib skirt and curtains DONE
• Hang curtains
• Figure out our high-tech baby monitor
• Put up two shelves by the changing table
• Buy/make art for walls (in progress!)
• Birthe baby who can utilize the finished room

So glad we're able to check so much off the list before Baby gets here...but man, that last item on the to-do list is juuust a little intimidating.

Just a bit.