at last...

Our nursery nook is complete, and I love it! Although it only consists of a dresser/change table, a crib and a wall shelf (all from Ikea), I think we were able to create a whimsical space for the mini papercut that doesn't take up a lot of space, but delivers huge impact within our master bedroom.


















Although the rest of the bedroom is still 'under construction', my little Zoe has a corner all her own. I wanted a space that was created solely for her, and even though the colour palette of the room and the pattern of the crib bedding is not typical of what you'd find in a child's bedroom, by utilizing elements that appeal to my husband and myself, her nook is definitely something we enjoy having in OUR space! Having said that, the addition of a bold floral mural and a few playful pieces here and there makes it decidedly HER space:)












































I enjoyed every moment of decorating the mini papercut's nursery. I wanted it to be beautiful and charming, while still feeling clean and modern. Keeping the furniture simple and adding whimsical touches keep the nook from feeling cluttered and overdone. I also love the idea of using items that you wouldn't normally associate with a kid's space for organization and display.


















We used a leather desk organizer as a diaper caddy, and a vintage sugar container to hold things like nail clippers, pacifiers, and other odds and ends. A pastel yellow candy dish is the perfect place for washcloths and keeps them in close reach. And one of my favourite finds is the table lamp that doubles as a nightlight that somewhat resembles a milkweed pod.


















I also wanted to re-use an old shelf from Ikea that my husband had in his office. I thought the space needed a bit of sparkle, but I didn't really want to purchase a new shelf when I had one that was perfectly fine, although not that attractive. I was inspired by this post on Apartment Therapy, and figured it might be a great solution for the shelf. Much to my surprise it looked amazing, and when the nightlight is on, it reflects some of the light throughout the room.




















Other little touches that personalize the space include the paper butterfly garland, the name art above the dresser and the paper flower bouquet. My mini papercut definitely has a corner of the room that belongs only to her. I'm just happy we get to share:)
















































Items in the Nursery Nook:

Paint Colour: Midnite Hour by CIL Dulux

Hemnes Dresser from Ikea

Gulliver Crib from Ikea

Didi Citron yellow + white fabric from Tonic Living
Amy Butler Grey Wallflower yellow + grey fabric from Cotton Thread Fabrics on etsy
Amy Butler Yellow Full Moon Polka Dots fabric from Cotton Thread Fabrics on etsy

Owl Bookend by Zuny

Jubilee the lamb from doggiepiggie on etsy

Socko the sock monkey from Muffin Top Designs on etsy

Milkweed lamp, pastel yellow candy dish, leather desk organizer, vintage sugar container all from Home Sense

name art, paper butterfly garland and paper floral bouquet all by Little Papercuts (that's me;) )

nursery accents

This is Jubilee. She is a sweet little lamb made of chenille that I purchased from the wonderful doggiepiggie on etsy.























I received this cute sock monkey as a gift yesterday from the lovely muffintopdesigns. Each one of my kids has a muffintopdesigns sock monkey, and she felt it was only fitting that the mini papercut should own one too. I think we'll name him Socko.

I've been on the look-out for nursery accents lately. Nothing tradition, maybe a little quirky and a bit whimsical. I'm only looking for a few things for organization: diaper caddy, container/canister to hold ointments, nail clippers, thermometer etc., and a night light. Up until now I haven't seen anything that really appeals to me, but today I was lucky enough to find a couple of items that fit the bill. This whimsical table lamp will be used as a nightlight, thanks to a low-wattage light bulb and the sugar canister will house all our odds and ends.

























Yes, I realize that these pieces are not intended for a nursery, but I kinda like the retro, vintage feel of the sugar canister, and the table light is just too cute, don't you think?

my toy sewing machine

A few weeks ago I purchased my very first sewing machine. It is not expensive or heavy duty, and by some standards might not even qualify as a real sewing machine. But I had a 50% off coupon at Michaels, and a desire to sew my own crib bedding, and I figured why not fork out the $25 it would cost for something that would save me a considerable amount of time vs. hand sewing.























I am by no means anyone who has any expertise when it comes to sewing machines. I prefer to have complete control, and over the years I have attempted to sew some quite ambitious projects, some successful and some not so much, with varied degrees of success. When I was decorating my eldest's room I chose to create a faux quilt duvet cover entirely sewn by hand, and while it turned out beautifully, it was a bit time consuming. I have no patience lately, so hand sewing was completely out of the question! Enter my new toy...























It's a tiny little thing, and is probably lighter than most of my kids' toys (my husband and mother-in-law both laughed and said "Are you sure that's not supposed to be a toy for the kids?'), but I am in LOVE with it. I am hoping that 'Santa" will bring me a real adult sewing machine for Christmas, but until then I am very happy with my toy :)




















So far I've sewn the bumper for the crib, a mini duvet cover and pillow, and today I flew through a couple of down filled pillows for my sister's mini muffin. I don't know why I've waited so long to learn to use a sewing machine, but it feels great to be able to make stuff for myself!

a painted room

Well, I'm happy to announce that all of the painting has been completed in my master bedroom/nursery. The painters actually completed the room last Monday, and over the course of the week I managed to paint the wall for the 'nursery nook' as well as the flower that adorns said wall. I also finished up all of the crib bedding, and I have to say that I really love how it all turned out. The mural is very reminiscent of what I had painted for my friend's little girl.























Right now the only portion of the room that's complete seems to be our little nursery corner, which at the moment really only consists of a crib :) Just wanted to give you a peek!

nursery inspiration

Shortly after finding out the sex of our baby (we're having a girl) I started thinking about how to decorate the corner of our room that would serve as the 'nursery'. Originally I thought I would stick to something in the browns and oranges, due in fact to whatever colours we chose for baby bedding would have to be some how incorporated into the overall design of our bedroom. Frilly pink is definitely NOT on the agenda! But after searching for ideas online, I found the colour scheme that I seemed to gravitate towards the most was grey, yellow and white. The combination of these colours is fresh and modern, without being too sweet or juvenile. Over the last few months I've found inspiration from websites like ohdeedoh, tinydecorblog and projectnursery, just to mention a few.























One nursery that really stood out in my mind belonged to Jenna Lyons, SVP of women's at J.Crew. Her home was featured in the pages of Domino Magazine. Although her nursery is yellow, white and black, I'm too chicken to paint my bedroom black, I immediately fell in love with the room.























What do you think...fresh and modern or boring?

today is a great day!

WOO HOO!!!! I'm very happy to announce that we are finally going to be making some HUGE progress as far as the nursery/bedroom goes. Yesterday, as I was perusing the kids' department in Ikea, my mother-in-law called me asking me if I had ever found the paint I was looking for in the storage locker. I replied no, not really giving any thought to why she was asking me, and she proceeded to ask me if I wanted her guy that was painting her other condo to pick up paint for me, as he was currently on his way to Home Depot to buy paint for her. Even though I do need paint, for the life of me I couldn't recall the name of the paint I needed, and I jokingly said, "I don't know the name of the paint I need, but if he'd like to paint our room for us that would be great!" Much to my surprise and pleasure she said "OK"!

Phew!!! That is a huge relief to me, because the painting was the one thing I was not looking forward to! Our bedroom has a lot of bulkheads and odd corners, and I remember when we first moved in here 9 years ago, what a pain in the butt it was to maneuver into all of those spaces to paint. Believe me, it is not something I really wanted to do now that I'm 7 months preggers, but I would've sucked it up and done it, just to get it done.

So...the painters are coming in TODAY to patch all the walls and by next weekend we should have a freshly painted room! I know I still haven't posted any nursery inspiration pics, but this news took precedence! I'll be posting more nursery stuff once all the painting is done...let's keep our fingers crossed that these new plans don't change ;)

creating a space for the mini muffin

I've posted a few times that I'm helping out my sister, muffin top designs, to create the perfect space for her mini muffin. I'm so thankful that she's allowed me to help her in this endeavor, seeing as my nursery or bedroom makeover is on hold for the moment...I'll get into that another time. We've made quite a bit of progress thus far, but since she lives downtown and I'm uptown, not to mention if I navigate my way to her place without the hubby, and her DH is at work, not much is really gonna get completed considering we have 3 kids between the two of us. Let's just say her nursery is a work still in progress :)

We've managed to do a good portion of the shopping online, while on the phone with each other, and we really lucked out the day we went shopping for all the bedding (we needed crib bedding and something for a twin bed fashioned as a sofa). We've been super focused on our trips to Ikea, scouting only items we need, and we're now in the last stages
of putting everything together. A couple weekends ago I took my brood to her place and I was able to paint stripes on an accent wall above the crib, as well as tidy up the mini's bookcase and dress the room with what we had. Unfortunately we were unable to put up a shelf due to a hardware malfunction...wrong size screws, but that has all been remedied.

I've also managed to finish the mobile that will hang above the crib. It consists of three balls: a paper flower ball, a ribbon covered paper lantern and a tissue paper pom pom. It turned out quite lovely, and I can't wait to get it in place! There's still a few things that need to be purchased, but we're in no rush at this point. I'll keep you guys updated as we go :)