Decorating a baby's room....my idea of fun?

Does it make me a bad person to admit that the first reaction I had after we found out we were pregnant (behind shock and excitement, of course) was obsessive thoughts about how I was going to decorate the nursery?? I was beyond excited that I had a new room to decorate...a blank canvas almost. And a nursery is a room where you can get away with doing a lot of cutesy, crafty things without it looking totally overboard. I laid in bed at night and dreamt of all the possibilities. I knew, of course, that we were going with a black and white theme. It's classy, it's gender neutral and could be used again if we have a second child that's a boy. Plus, it's totally me. :) So my nursery hunt began with the search for black and white nursery bedding. It took several months before I found anything I even halfway liked. Finally, I came across a major deal on toysrus.com. Mix and match black and white print bedding....almost EXACTLY what I had pictured in my mind. I was beyond thrilled. The baby mattress came yesterday from Wal-Mart and I immediately rushed to put the bedding in the room to see what it looked like against the purple walls. Love!

I really don't think I could love the result any more than I do. I adore the polka dot, damask, and black and white stripe combination. It's beautiful. And again, exactly what I had pictured in my head. I love it when a plan unfolds just like you envisioned :)

After I had the bedding, my thoughts quickly turned to craft ideas. Things that I could make for Avery's room that would make it uniquely hers. Don't get offended or anything, but I'm just not a fan of the cookie cutter, let's buy a "12 piece set and everything in the room will match perfectly" matchy-matchy type of baby room. Yes, I realize it's more convenient, but I love the idea of mixing and matching things. Finding bedding online, a lamp from Kirklands, a chair from Target, painting her a canvas for the wall. Then the room suddenly turns from just another baby room to completely, 100% Avery's room. But anyway, back to my crafting ideas. The first vision I had was of a bow holder. Yes, I've seen the cute bow holders with the block of wood and the ribbons hanging down where you can attach the bows, but I wanted something a little bit different. Inspiration came in the form of a giant picture frame I found at Hobby Lobby last year for $6...

I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but I just knew this would be the perfect solution for my unique bow holder plans. After throwing around a couple of ideas, my boss informed me that she had roll upon roll of this plastic netting that she used in her garden and no longer needed. Easy to cut, but durable, I knew I had found the solution. Adding a metal flower from a garden ornament on clearance at Kirkland's and a massive burn from my hot glue gun, Avery now has a bigger bow holder than even I think she'll need:

It's not the finished product I had in mind, but it's pretty close. Project #1 of baby's room....done!

My next project I had pictured was a mobile to hang over her crib. Gone are the days of little stuffed bears playing lullabies for baby's crib's. Extensive searching on google provided the most gorgeous results. Butterflies and printed patterns that fluttered with the slightest breeze, long pieces of tulle decorated with gorgeous flowers, pinwheels....you name it, they have made it into a crib mobile. After searching through page after page of mobiles, I decided that I was going to save a considerable amount of money if I just made it myself. The end result isn't exactly what I had planned, but I'm still happy with it. That's all I have done so far. She'll be here in another 3 1/2 months (ahhh!) and I have the following projects:

One VERY large canvas to be made into a personalized subway art painting. A wine rack...this one's a secret :) And attempting to find a super cute black and white printed glider. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this process. Yes, because it's decorating for my own baby's arrival, but I'm loving the process of finding things that match or go with the room. I wonder if there's a career out there as a nursery interior designer?