Cora's Nursery

 Our little lady still isn't here, but her room is finally ready and waiting for her! There are still a couple of tiny details that need to be finished up, but for the most part, the projects have all been completed. This has been very beneficial for the rest of my household, because I definitely neglected more mundane tasks while I worked on getting her space ready.

 When we first found out we were having a girl, there were two projects I already knew I wanted to work on for her: a quilt and a sampler that I had stumbled across in different places on the great worldwide web (you can see my post with the pics that were my inspiration here).  Those two projects really set the tone for the feel of the room, and after lots of Pinterest browsing, I settled on a color scheme. Nearly every detail of her room has some significance, so it has been really enjoyable and special to piece it all together.  That said, on to the good part: the pictures!

While most of the fabrics in Cora's quilt are from a line called Children at Play by Sarah Jane, along with a few other newer prints, there are several vintage pieces that came from my grandmother's scrap stash. As a child, my mom even had a dress that was made from one of the fabrics included (the print with little turquoise geese, one of the pieces is on the top row, middle left). This was such a fun project to work on every step of the way, and ended up being much easier than I thought it would be.

Here is her sweet little sleeping corner!

We found her crib on Craigslist and Josh lovingly labored to strip the dark gray paint off of it so we could spend a million hours painting it white. The crib was possibly the one project that was not fun ... it was a lot of work. My mom & I picked up a used bumper at a thrift store, which she cut the fabric off of and then re-covered with an old sheet Josh and I had. The fabrics in the adorable pennant banner are scraps from the quilt. She also sewed the crib skirt using more of the same sheet, so costs for Cora's custom bedding were quite low!

The paintings above Cora's crib are gifts to her from both of her aunts, my sister & Josh's sister. A couple of months before I found out I was pregnant with Cora, I was reading a blog I admire, and loved the idea the blogger had of asking her mom and mom-in-law to paint coordinating canvases for her little one's room. Since Abbie & Heather both love to paint, I asked them to do the same. I picked out the paint colors and asked them to each do a simple painting of flowers, using the flowers in Cora's sampler as inspiration. They never saw each other's paintings until they were done, and I am just so impressed with how precious they are, and how well they go together! The massive orb of floating tissue poms and lanterns was Pinterest inspired, and such a fun, cheap way to brighten the room. I made all of the poms, and the lanterns were less than a dollar apiece at Target (I painted the coral ones, so that I wouldn't have to order more expensive ones online).

The little shelf above her bed was a find at a local flea market and then repainted. The print is an old picture from a magazine from the 1920's that my mom found on a different flea market outing, and the little baby booties are family heirlooms.

The focal point of the other side of the room is the alphabet sampler. I love it so much! I so enjoyed using this project to learn embroidery, and it kept me busy many nights from February-May.

We took one of Liam's bookshelves out of his room and I painted it white to match her furniture. The little nightstand was already in the room (it used to be the guest room), and it was repainted gray and given new drawer pulls. The glider was also in Liam's room, and my mom so kindly re-covered the cushions and ottoman in a Joel Dewberry fabric I LOVE. My mom also sewed the curtains (I know, what would I have done without my mom!).

I love this antique baby book I found at a different flea market. It's empty now, but I plan to hole punch paper to the appropriate size and fill it with Liam & Cora's monthly pictures from each of their first year of life (and any other kiddos we might end up having).

Another nursery I found on Pinterest and was inspired by gave me the idea of doing a photo wall of pictures of family wedding photos. It will take a little tweaking here and there for this part of the room to be finished (and I still haven't printed the two pics from Josh and my wedding that I'll be putting up), but I love that she'll see her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents every day!

I also LOVE this print I purchased from an Etsy seller - she adjusted the colors for me to better coordinate with Cora's nursery.

The dresser belonged to one of my grandmothers, and was yet another repainting project. I am SO glad to be done painting!

  So there you have it - the little nest that has been so lovingly feathered for our little girl. Now we just need her to come and live in it!