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! 

UPDATE: guest bedroom to NURSERY

Hello all! It seems wild that I just did an update post on Melrose's guest bedroom, and I all ready have another update to the room to share with you guys!  I knew all along that this room would eventually be a nursery so it shouldn't be that crazy to me.

I knew I would keep the same color palette of olive green, black & white, cream, white, and gold accents regardless of the sex, and then just add in touches of pink or orange if it was a girl or boy. As you all know, we are having a precious baby boy, so orange is the winner! Don't mind my crazy photoshop skills, but here is what I have mocked up so far for the nursery ...

We will leave one of the twin beds in the room and replace the other with a sitting nook and crib ...

I want to keep this side of the room simple and fuss free with all the focus on the crib and the hand knitted mobile. I know I am branching out and doing a pretty, accent chair rather than a rocker or glider, but this corner doesn't have much room and about 20 feet away in the den is a comfy recliner that rocks ... so I'm going for style points in the nursery!

This wall is opposite from the window and is sandwiched between two doors - a closest and entry. I want to hang a few of these acrylic book shelves on the back of each door since I don't have room for a bookshelf. We will use this dresser as a changing table and storage for all the baby goodies.

Here is an overall style board for the nursery. I want to hang this series of black of white vintage horse prints above the twin bed (opposite wall of the crib) and I'm still looking for a light cow hide rug to use. I'm really loving the direction of the room and I can't wait to see it all come together. 

check out all the sources on my nursery board

So, what do you think? I know it doesn't seem too "baby" but that also isn't my style. I want the room to be functional before and after the baby and not limited strictly to a nursery. I have updated the room a tad since the last pictures I posted -- I added the night stand and have made an attempt at bedside lighting ... but I'm not 100% sold on the lamps. I need your opinion! Here is a quick phone iphoto to give you an idea -

 [ignore the knick knacks on the table] 

I like how they are directional and don't occupy too much space on the table, but I can't decide on the darker brass finish or if they are too tall and slender. They are much daintier than I imagined which is good, but now I can't tell if the center post looks awkward next to the bed frames!? What's your opinion? I don't really have another idea except for maybe these gold task lamps, but I think they will definitely be shorter and chunkier. I'm leaving them for now and they are starting to grow on me.

That's what I have so far for Baby Owens' nursery! For so long I've had so many ideas running through my head, so now I'm super excited to have settled on a direction that I love. And now is the fun part, seeing it all come together! I'll be sure and keep ya'll posted ... 

UPDATE: melrose guest bedroom2

I took some quick pictures to update you on the status of Melrose's second guest bedroom. It is no where near done, but I thought it would be fun to share the progress. If you remember, I posted some inspiration images revolving around twin beds and these mock ups here -

Since then, I have purchased the bedding and bed frames, installed the gold curtain rod, hung the olive curtains, purchased the jute rug, and found a few other odds and ends.  I've been heavily debating on what type of dresser to get to fit between the beds (this one picture is no longer offered) - full of drawers, an open shelf, black, wood stain, cream or white?!?! So many choices! I think I have finally settled on a black stained piece with two small drawers on top and an open shelf for easy storage (baskets would be perfect) below. The wide dresser on the opposite wall (the awkward blank space is the above layout) is still up for discussion and seems like the never ending search. Here is an updated front layout -

Don't you love the clouds in the windows!?

I have also decided to go a different direction on the lamps. The original cream ceramic ones just seemed too big for the room, so I found these gold adjustable desk lamps that are much more size appropriate. Here is a sneak peek at the guest bedroom is real life so far ... 

So obviously the tan wicker tall dresser will be removed and I'm still waiting to purchase a natural cow hide rug to layer on top of this chevron jute rug. The only section not featured in these photos is the opposing wall that will have a wide dresser with a mirror above. So, what do you think so far!? 

It sorta reminds me of this boys' room I spotted on pinterest recently - 

I love the antlers and natural elements used in this room. And those are definitely RH iron beds I spot too! 

If you caught my instagram news from over the weekend then eventually the room is going to look something like this with the addition of a you know what! Stay tuned ;)

If you want to see all my options for the guest bedroom, check out my pinterest board! Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and weekend!

THANKSGIVING

Our Thanksgiving was great -- we enjoyed a day of beautiful weather, delicious food, and good company. I hope yours was just as nice. I thoroughly enjoyed my break and it has taken me a while to get back into the swing of things! Here are some snapshots of our fun filled day at Melrose.

cheese and meat sampler

horseshoes in the backyard - Brandon got a ringer to win us the game!

the buffet ready to start the dinner line

The set up! This picture makes my mouth water.

I ordered this magnolia leaf garland to use as the table centerpiece (per pinterest of course) and accompanied it with some dried okra pieces from a friend. I've dressed it up with some sprigs of holly berries and candles to extend it's life into the Christmas season as well!

the main attraction!

SNEAK PEEK: dining room

Look what has arrived at Melrose -

Do you remember this post? Well after hearing your encouraging comments, I decided to bite the bullet and go for it! The colors are very radiant and it brings a lot to the neutral dining room. Now I just need to put a coat of high gloss white paint on the legs of the farm table. More pictures to come!

FALL GROWTH

I wanted to share some of my recent gardening projects before everything dries up and withers away for the winter -- not that Alabama is experiencing any extreme cold conditions anytime in the near future. A few months ago I posted about my adoration for potted boxwoods, indoors and outdoors. Like I mentioned, I plated a few around Melrose and here are my boxwoods on either side of the outdoor fireplace in the backyard:

And at this same time I purchased some miniature boxwoods to sit on Melrose's front stoop. I would love to find some better pots (I don't love the carved detail in the concrete), but we all ready had these and they get the job done so I have left them. I do think they need to be re-potted in bigger containers though.

I'm pretty positive you have caught onto the fiddle leaf fig tree trend. It is everywhere. You can't avoid it. And don't try to. I'll admit, I have been debating on purchasing one for our den bay window, but I resulted to being happy nursing my baby fig trees to full growth. You will be surprised at how much they have grown! Here they are fresh from the mail, pre-planted:

And here is a picture from a few months ago ...

And, now here they are this morning! You can definitely tell the growth by seeing how much fuller they are at the top. It is fun to watch a new leaf bud form at the center stem, grow to size, and eventually sprout open. Now I just don't know where to put them when they reach my pot hanger!

Another gardening project I finally finished is filling my flower bed with rosemary and dusty miller. It took me a while to locate rosemary plants large enough for my space, but now they are planted and smelling wonderful! Here is the empty, lonesome space begging for beautiful greenery -

And here is the new space filled with new cedar wood chips -

I've been a little slacking on decorating for fall, but here is my outdoor arrangement I set up. I stole the pumpkin idea from pinterest via Martha Stewart. In my carrot bag I only ended up with one gnarly, pointy carrot so I shaved the other one down to look the same. (note to self: the carrots will deteriorate) I used the same wreath and spider stands as last year. 

What is your favorite fall decor tradition? My favorite is definitely the purchasing of the pumpkins and hanging the wreath!