Becca Designs the Nursery - Part 1
From the moment I announced I was pregnant, my friends and family have been asking me about my plans for the nursery. “What colors are you using?” “When will you start designing?” Those are totally natural questions to ask any parent-to-be, but I suppose even more natural for someone to ask me, given what I do for a living! But the truth is that for weeks and weeks, I had no answer. I had the hardest time getting started on this project because it just all felt so much bigger than me and so much more important than my ideas. My colleagues in creative industries can no doubt relate to this problem because we’ve all encountered it at times: creative paralysis.
Part of my paralysis undoubtedly stemmed from how I felt as I entered the second trimester. Unlike many of my experienced mama friends, I didn’t encounter relief from morning sickness and fatigue when I hit 13 weeks. I felt worn out, queasy, and just downright terrible most of the time and it lasted until I hit 20/21 weeks. At the end of October, we found out that our daughter will most likely be born with Down syndrome. I’ll write much more about this later, but for now, let me just say that the news felt incredibly overwhelming at first. (I say that in the past tense because it doesn’t feel that way now – it feels like an incredible blessing!) As I said before, it all felt bigger than me and bigger than what I could handle. It took me a long time to start thinking about little girl’s nursery because I could barely handle focusing on my own health and hers.
But here’s the thing, friends… it really is all bigger than me, but isn’t it supposed to be? And just because it’s bigger than me, doesn’t mean I can’t handle it! God chose my husband and me to be this little girl’s parents. He has also given me gifts that I know I’m meant to use! On a daily basis, I think and dream about colors, textures and spaces for my clients because that’s how I was created to see the world and how I approach every project. I finally realized that there couldn’t possibly be a more fun or rewarding design project than to create a space for my daughter and I just needed to dive in, heart first.
Without giving it all away, I’m going to share a little insight into the process and where things are at!
I began by thinking about how I want this room to feel when I’m spending time in there…and consequently, how I want our little girl to feel. This is the same way we begin a design process with our wedding clients. I’m just not ever that interested in hearing about how things “should look”. If design elements are chosen, curated and created in order to create the right feelings, then the look will be spot on. The look is only one fraction of what’s important! Isn’t it? Would you rather live in a room that just looks pretty, or one that feels so perfect, comfortable and inviting to you that you can’t imagine living anywhere else? I choose option B. And option B is always the most beautiful because the things that give us comfort and happiness are the same things we find most beautiful. Try thinking about aesthetics this way and it will change your life!
So here’s my inspiration… the feelings I want for this room:
SOOTHING
My hope is that she feels relaxed and comforted any time she’s in her room. My hope is that we do too! Late night/middle of the night feedings will undoubtedly be hard enough, so I want this place to be comforting when we’re tackling challenges in there!
SAFE
I think any little kiddo (or adult for that matter!) wants to feel safe in his/her room. It’s important to us as parents, that our little girl always feels safe in her home – safe from danger, safe from hurtful comments, safe from the ugly things of the world. I want this space to be a peaceful haven!
CHEERFUL
Jarrod and I know that parenting will be hard. We know that we can’t even begin to guess how hard it will be. But in the midst of the hard – we want it to also be joyful. We want to instill that in our little girl so that she feels joy, and brings cheerfulness into the lives of others, even when things might be hard for her. Certain design choices have the ability to uplift spirits and that’s going to be a big part of this room, for sure!
WELCOMING
If a room is feels soothing, safe and cheerful for us, then we want it to be all those things for any of our family members, friends or visitors too. Our wish is that anyone visiting our home feels welcomed into this little room where our most precious family member will live and grow.
What I didn’t do: Look at Pinterest. Nope! Not even once. I may find ideas there eventually, but I didn’t want to have the source of my inspiration begin with someone else’s nursery. That’s someone else’s special place...for their little babe. Not mine.
And taking all of the above into account, with hours of research and searching, here’s a sneak peek of how this little room is coming together.
Crib, Bookshelf & Changing Table/Pad: Pottery Barn Kids | Patterned Wallpaper Swatches: Spoonflower | Cabinet Knobs: Anthropologie | Diaper Pail: Ubbi | Book: The Wonderful Things You Will Be
Each color, shape, texture and object has been chosen intentionally and I am in love with it all. I know it may be hard to look at this inspiration board and just envision a whole room, but when I see it, that’s exactly what I do!! Keep reading and I’ll share more specifics and show how these details (and many others) will be used in the coming weeks!
XOXO, Becca