Lay Baby Lay

The blog Lay Baby Lay is filled with beautifully orchestrated inspiration boards for children's rooms, mostly nurseries, by Joni the custom sign maker of chocolatebutterbean. Her choices are full of great art, color and energy- but most impressively she includes complete source lists. So thanks for the all the great ideas AND links!

 Images: laybabylay

I heart Baby Jives

Best. mobiles. ever.

All images courtesy of BabyJivesCo

Keepsake Name Prints

These keepsake name prints by InkTreePress are perfect. Perfect for any nursery or children's room, the perfect welcome baby gift, a perfect way to preserve the moment.

InkTreePress allows you to select custom colors and descriptive details of the birth day or night- it takes this print a step beyond simple personalization. The result is a beautiful instant captured on paper!

All images courtesy of InkTreePress

illustrated nursery

 from "The Laidlaw Reader Primer, First year--First Half"

 by Herman Dressel, M. Madilene Veverka, and May Robbins. 

Illustrated by Mabel B. Hill and Hazel Fraze

via katinthecupboard

I still have a lot to do in terms of putting together an actual nursery nook, but that is not stopping me from finding ideas everywhere. 

For example, I can not get enough of illustrated nurseries and picture book bedrooms. There are so many sweet touches to found (like the fabric chair in the image above or the striped curtains in "Goodnight Moon") that I find inspiring (though I have to be careful not to incorporate all of them and make the baby dizzy with color and pattern!) Here are some of my favorites:

In the bedroom below, I obviously love the view of sail boats outside the window (though I can't make that happen in my house...), but I also love the star ceiling, the little vases of flowers, and the animal shaped chair:

 from "Wonderful Story Book" by Margaret Wise Brown

illustrated by J. P. Miller via try-whistling-this

"Yes" and "please" to a patterned wallpaper, touches of the lightest, whitest blue, and a beautifully stenciled dresser:

via miriana (via This are a few of my favourite things...)

I think the  following picture confirms that I'm a sucker for sailboats and rocking horses and toy drums:

"The Indoor Noisy Book" by Margaret Wise Brown

illustrated by Leonard Weisgard via krakencrafts

Aside from the presence of the toys mentioned above, I love this image for the huge open window (and view!), the packed mini-bookcase, the kid-size table, and the yellow. I do have a soft spot for some well-used yellow:

"Words" by Selma Lola Chambers

illustrated by Gertrude Elliott via try-whistling-this

fabric for the nook

via golly bard drawing room

For Sweet Pea's nursery nook we have a rocking chair that used to belong to my husband's grandmother. It's a little scratched and the paint is worn out in places, but we aren't planning to change it. We love that the wear is reflective of its use and her love. We do have to soften it a bit for us to sit in.

So the plan is to pad it with a pillow or two. And even though I not very talented with a needle and thread - I think I can handle this project especially if I'm working with one of Golly Bard's lovely prints. Holly of Golly Bard is one heck of a talented artist (her blog, her etsy shop) and though I'm saving my pennies to buy one of her originals - having one of her fabrics to cover a rocking chair for my little fella is a very nice thing to have...

via golly bard drawing room

find the golly bard fabric at spoonflower

the centerpiece

We still don't have a crib. Or a changing table. Or just about anything else for Sweet Pea's nursery nook. But the one thing we do have is a print of this Dumbo poster. It's the Polish version of the 1941 Disney movie and it's just plain lovely. Because of its existence, I've convinced myself that now everything else will fall perfectly into place. How could I be wrong when I'm beginning with such a sweet illustration?

baby's nook

image by Erin Williamson of Design Crisis via parenting.com

I'm presently in the midst of doing all the boring but necessary shopping for baby Sweet Pea by picking out the safest of the practical things that consumer reports recommends like the car seat, stroller, and play yard. All this stuff is, of course, important, but I want to spend some time on the unimportant details of gearing up for Sweet Pea like decorating his world. 

And though I'd love to go all out in a baby nursery, the little fella will be sharing a bedroom with his parents for about a year or so until we move into another house. Nevertheless, although he will have more of a nook than a nursery - I'm looking forward to making that space his own. And the spaces that inspire me the most are the ones which not only look bright, airy and simple, but are ones which I would, as a grown up lady, want to live in too. For example, I'm still in love with the look of this baby room, but I'm also a fan of this nursery by Laura Naples of Orange Beautiful, this baby room belonging to Joanna Goddard of A Cup of Jo, and this one designed by Erin Williamson of Design Crisis. There is so much inspiration to take in - I just have to figure out where to start...

nifty signs

If you have been to a number of weddings and have spent any time cruising design sites on the internet, you kind of feel like- between what you have admired in person and what you have clicked on while browsing- you have seen almost everything that can be done at a wedding reception.

These signs by chocolate butterbean had me taking notice because they really seemed different. They can be painted or printed on wood or canvas and something about them caught my eye. The signs are not only for weddings, the nursery options are awfully cool as well.

I like the feel of the fonts and the wood versions especially, but really when I scrolled through the gallery, they were all just so....nifty.

All images courtesy of chocolate butterbean

The Animal Print Shop

I was reading Little Green Notebook the other day and Jenny mentioned that the deer print in the nursery she had designed came from Sharon Montrose's theanimalprintshop.com.

I went to check it out because there was something so striking about that print. It seems Ms. Montrose has an entire site full of these unique animal shots and I am sure they would be a focal point of any room.

The baby animal series is ideal for a nursery- not over the top darling, but just the right amount of sweet and unusual to make the baby's room something special.

All images courtesy of theanimalprintshop.com

Bookends for Baby

Image courtesy of rompstore.com

I am always looking for unique baby shower or welcome baby gifts. Sometimes you want to break from the registry or the predictable and search for something new.

I have always been a fan of giving books because it is never too early to start a children's library and there are just so many great choices out there. Recently I saw some adorable children's bookends and thought that would the perfect gift- a pair of bookends and a beautiful picture book!

The animal bookends happen to be my favorite, but there is a wide and impressive selection of everything from tugboats to ladybugs out there and surely there is the perfect set for the next baby you help welcome into the world.

Image courtesy of mollaspace.com

Image courtesy of zuny.info



Image courtesy of sandyvohr.com

Image courtesy of treehousekids.com.au

Image courtesy of rjbstone.com
Image courtesy of heirloomwoodentoys.com

Art within Art

There is no artist more productive than the toddler finger painter. They crank out masterpieces by the dozens and before you know it, you have more than enough art for every wall of your home (not to mention 95% of the pieces are giant smears of multicolored goo, these are toddler artists after all). It just doesn't feel right to toss all of the excess art into the recycling once your fridge is covered and the baby books are full....so I looked around for an alternative.
I heard from the teacher of the toddler art classes at the library that she uses the surplus of her kids' paintings as wrapping paper for the relatives. Another helpful friend suggested making gift tags and mailing labels from the extras. My favorite idea came via the blog sarahjanestudios.com/blog...the blogger, an artist herself, took some of the paintings her children had done and using simple templates (of her own design), created art for their rooms.

I think this is such a fantastic idea. What could be better than the miniature artists in your own home contributing to the design of their rooms?

I love the versatility of this project. The templates could be the simple outlines of train cars, bugs, any variety of animals.....whatever is most suited to the child and the room. Sarah Jane was generous enough to supply the templates from the gallery on her blog, but if you want to try something different you can do a search for clip art or silhouettes and come up with many fun options. At last, the proper showcase for finger paints!

{Images courtesy of Google}

Can I live here, please?

Forget about babies -- I want to live in this nursery! I saw this room first on mustard and sage and could not help going back to it to admire the "baby's first taxidermy" elements, the vintage yellow crib and cloud sheets, the birds!, all the beautiful shades of wood, and the room's gorgeous light (and cute light fixtures). Isn't this nursery such a design inspiration?

all images via grayhood.com