B&A: nursery

Hi all! Today I'm going to share the before&after of Melrose's other guest bedroom! As most of you know, this guest bedroom started off as a gender neutral room with two twin beds, and now it is officially a nursery for Baby Owens (due in 9 days by the way). If you missed it, here is the post of how the room took shape with the twin beds, sans the rest of the furniture, and my inspiration for the room. I knew it would eventually be a nursery so I wasn't in too big of a rush to finish it up. Along the way I updated my inspiration boards with the nursery additions and just recently shared a sneak peek of the room! Now, all the decor is in place and we are patiently awaiting Baby Owens' arrival to make the room complete! 

Here is a quick, not-so-great-quality before picture of the room so you can see the full transformation. The room was a pale yellow with a super fancy frog and bug fan (the previous owners loved silly, kid fans if you remember seeing the hot pink flower power one in the other guest bedroom!). 

The wall color didn't change too drastically, but I chose Benjamin Moore's Elephant Tusk for this room. I thought it was a nice, soft cream that would set the tone for a gender neutral room. We replaced the fan with a simple, white ceiling fan. 

And, here is how the room looks now! 

I decided to keep the gold task lamps and I am pretty happy with them now! They don't take up too much room and I like the directional lighting they provide - it saved me from having to take up more space in the corner with a reading lamp. 

One of my favorite additions - a sweet ultrasound picture of Baby Owens at 18 weeks. See his cute little legs all curled up!?

I decided to use a simple, sitting chair instead of a rocker or glider due to the amount of room in the corner and I think it is going to work out perfectly. We actually have a recliner in the den that we can use for rocking, if needed. I was immediately sold on this soft orange velvet chair and love the color it brings into the room. 

The mobile that kicked start all of my inspiration for the nursery! It is handmade by a super talented Etsy seller and I'm obsessed with all her hand knitted animal mobiles. She is definitely worth checking out!

The glass box on the shelf will be used to collect all of Baby Owens' special momentos. The brass shoe bookend is made from one of Brandon's first pairs of baby shoes! 

I love these black and white striped canvas bins from the container store! They helped me organize everything in our tiny closet and they even match the room decor. 

So, what do you think? I'm so happy to have it "ready" before his arrival, but now I am so anxious to meet our sweet baby boy! If you want to see all the sources from the nursery, check out my inspiration board or feel free to email me. Hope you all have a great rest of the week! 

BASEMENT/LAUNDRY MAKEOVER

I guess with my nesting and spring cleaning in the air, the hubs and I have been in full force organizing around the house (my idea, not his). I love for things to be orderly and organized - I believe everything should have a "place". Sometimes that item may not always live in its place, but I like to know it belongs somewhere in Melrose. Otherwise, it is outta there! I try to eliminate all clutter and get rid of any knick knack random items that don't serve a purpose. That is just me. And I definitely try to donate all those items - I'm sure somebody sees them as serving a purpose! 

Well, the main organization project has been in the basement. Living in an older house, we do not have much closet storage space. Luckily, we have a handy, unfinished basement for the overflow. It mostly consists of cinder blocks, concrete floors, plywood walls, and dust. In a dream world, I would love to finish off the space and design a combination of these photos -

But that is not going to happen! It may one day be a rough play room, but until then it just serves as our laundry room, tool shed, and storage space. I have been able to organize it enough to have a work space for my craft and design projects, so that is nice. In the next week or two, we are hanging a peg board above the work table so Brandon can have somewhere to hang his tools. I hate having a work bench covered in tools so you can't use it! Here are some basement photos that I found and have been referring to while this project takes place - 

 I love plastic bins. And I love for them all to match. Call me crazy. I buy the same color/brand and store all our extra linens, party supplies, christmas decorations, seasonal decorations, and anything else we have a collection of in these. I also have pretty labels for them!

 I don't think I'll take our peg board as far as monogramming it, but this is super cute.

 This would be an ideal laundry area for our basement, but we just don't have the time, patience, or bank account to make it work. Although, hanging the curtains to disguise the cinder block walls are not a bad idea. 

Floor to ceiling peg board walls would be awesome. I like how everything is able to be hung so there is no clutter on the floor. 

What is your spring cleaning routine? Do you get excited over organizing a cluttered space, or do you dread it? I'm sure I'll be back at it this weekend getting ready for Baby Owens! So much to do, so little time! 

ROCK A BYE baby

When I was at Scott's antique mall in January, somehow I became fixated on vintage rocking horses. I don't know what made me take notice to them, but once I spotted 1 - I spotted 20. Unfortunately, any of the super cute, truly vintage ones were mega pricy so I was about to give up when I noticed this precious, petite little guy. He is definitely for younger toddlers (standing at a massive 2 ft tall), but it was in my price range and I loved the rustic, gender neutral colors - immediately I knew it would be perfect for Baby Owens' nursery.

After looking through some of my inspiration pictures, again, I started to spy rocking horses (or any animal, really) left and right. They are truly a classic, vintage piece perfect for any kids room. I think it will be something fun to keep in the family and pass down. What do you think? Check out these inspiring nurseries.

This is what I imagine when you say - classic, vintage rocking horse - all wood, shaggy main and tail, and perfect height to hop up on to. If only this size would have been available in my price range ...

May not be a rocking horse, in fact I'm not positive what animal it is, but it definitely rocks and you can ride it. It looks so cozy and sweet! I love it's texture paired with the floating butterflies next to the clean, white walls and streamline crib. 

This is such a fun way to show off artwork - I've recently seen several creative ways of how to display art projects around the house ... but that's for another post! 

The simple, all wooden models are definitely very popular - an easy decision so that it doesn't compete with the rest of the nursery decor.

A nice, safe option with a back rest ... we don't want any babies falling out! 

I love this entire room - I would never have the guest to put all these similar color tones together and patterns, but it all works perfectly together. That cherry rug in the center is right amount of pop to play off of the blues. I'm also in love with the mini doll beds all lined up - how precious. Can you spot the vintage rocking horse!? 

That's it for now! I can't wait for the day when Baby Owens' can try out his rocking horse for the first time. Do you think he will like it!?

LUSCIOUS SOFAS

Ever since we moved into Melrose I have dreamed of replacing Brandon's bachelor pad sofas (yes, he has a matching pair) with two vintage leather club chairs and a beautiful, luscious velvet sofa. The richness of the velvet would be a perfect contrast to our stark white walls and neutral decor. I am drawn to darker shades - olive, sienna, gray - and these rooms just influence me even more. 

sources via

Here are some sofas I have had my eye on:

This mink velvet with brass nailhead accents is gorgeous. The lines are simple and classic and you could always find a place for this sofa in your house. 

the balmoral sofa from jayson home

I love how full and comfy this sofa appears - and it is just as stylish without all the pillows! It looks fancy and sophisticated without being uptight and rigid. 

the holloway sofa by jayson home

I am head over heels for this sienna toned sofa - not too dark, not too light ... it's a nice neutral that still grabs your eye. Although I love the tufts, I think the husband would say it isn't "comfortable" enough ...

shoreditch sofa by jayson home

This olive green is amazing. I would bring this home right away and love it for forever. I doubt I could ever afford this exact one, but it gives me inspiration!

the highland sofa by cs post & co

the morgan sofa by jayson home

Currently, At Home in Homewood has a lovely gray velvet sofa that I sit on and lust over every time I'm in the store. I know it loves me too. I guess Baby Owens needs a crib and nursery before I decide to replace a sofa! Here's to dreaming ...