Katie's Nursery!

We've been putting a few finishing touches on it for the last week . . . trying to find a few decorative storage bins, washing her linens and clothes (it took 3 loads!?!) so that we could dress her bed and pack her hospital bag, hang up a few things on the wall. But there will always be stuff to do. I still have a couple of projects in mind to decorate and we have to build some shelves to help organize her closet . . . but, really, I couldn't be happier with it.

But first, I should probably share a bit about our baby girl. We decided on her name a couple of months ago. We love it and think it's such a sweet, simple name and we decided to incorporate into the decoration of her room (and her baby shower). And, to my complete surprise and delight, so many of our friends and family gave us things with her name monogrammed on them. For some reason, this amazed me. It was such a thrill seeing her name on things (hooded towels, blankets, cards, clothes) and it was just a reminder of how real she is and how soon she'll be here! So, I wanted to share her name with everyone since you'll be seeing it splashed all over her room!

Our baby girl will be named Kate Autumn and, as you can probably tell by the title of this post, we've taken to calling her "Katie." So, without further ado, here's a quick tour of Miss Katie's room!

Here is a quick reminder of how it looked before we re-vamped it into her nursery. It was our old guestroom (see also: Raina's room). During the remodel, we removed the weird crown-molding that was about a foot and a half below the ceiling and added new (real) crown molding. We also spackled, painted, hung a new fan and new closet doors.

This is her bookcase. This is the first thing you see as you look into her room, right across from the doorway. More than anything, I wanted a bookcase in her room. I have such wonderful memories of being read to and learning to read when I was younger. Brad is just excited about reading to her as I am and we plan on starting as soon as possible. So far the bookcase is filled with books from my childhood and from Brad's. Over time, we'll get her books of her own. I just hope she'll develop the love of reading and learning that her dad and I have.

Another view of her bookcase. Her diaper bag is resting on the floor at the foot of the bookcase and is packed and ready for us to take to the hospital. On top of the bookcase is a topiary that one of my shower hosts made from washcloths and baby socks, curled up to look like roses. How adorable is that?!? I can't bear to take it apart! And you can see a few of her stuffed animals hanging out in the bookcase with her books.

Moving over, on the other side of the window is her glider. It's so comfy and I can't wait to rock her and feed her in it! Next to it is her hamper which is conveniently located in between her crib and her glider so that I can dump spitty burp cloths in it after feeds or dirty linens from her crib.

Again, here's a view of the corner of her room with her glider in it. And you can see the stripe affect that we painted on her wall.

Her bedding and her crib. I'm not a huge girly girl. (I know, I know, but it's true, despite all the pink!) So rather than go with flowers or butterflies, I really liked the idea of clean lines and geometric shapes. Her dad ::cough::cough:: is a big fan of gender-specific color and so, in addition to all the pink, I added in touches of brown and green. And the bedding incorperates this color scheme and the stripes and polka dots from the rest of the room.

And, of course, we couldn't resist adding her name to the wall above her crib. Her birth certificate will say "Kate" but ever since we decided on her name she's been our "Katie" girl, so we went with that. I just bought these wooden letters at a craft store and painted them the same brown from the stripes on the wall and hung them over her crib.

And, to prove I'm not a girly girl, you can see one of my stuffed toys from childhood . . a football! Brad thinks it's the weirdest thing ever but I love it. And I wanted Katie to have it. I also love puppies (hence my "Puppy Love" Christmas ornaments) and thought this was one of the cutest stuffed puppies I'd seen and had to have it for her. Also in her bed is her "going home" outfit. A cute but simple, soft cotton dress. We'll probably need to add BabyLegs or a sweater or bundle her up nice and tight since she will be born in December/January but I really loved this outfit for her to come home in. I kept it on the hanger rather than in her diaper bag so it wouldn't get wrinkled . . . now, hopefully I won't forget it!

And here is her changing table. It's to the right of the door as you walk in and on the opposite side of the room as the bookcase. The only wall I've left out just has her closet on it, not very exciting. I fell in love with an adorable diaper caddy that I got but wasn't able to use, since this is a small changing table and it didn't fit. So the storage bins underneath hold all of the supplies for diaper changes as well as a few odds and ends like lotions, pacifiers, thermometers, bath supplies, etc. Hopefully it will be pretty convenient, even though it can't go on top of the changer like I had envisioned.

And, as you can see in the above two pictures, Katie's older sister, Raina, had to come in and investigate while I was taking pictures of her room. I know she's been scratching her little head, wondering what in the world we've been doing to "her" room. She's very curious about it but since there isn't a big ol' bed for her to hop on and no covers for her to burrow under, I think she's a little underwhelmed with the remodel. ;-)

So, that's her room. I can't wait until there is a little girl here to put in it!