So I know I caused many of you (including myself) great pain last week with the butt-ugly pictures of Alice’s room in chaos. And it wasn’t just the chaos–it was the ugly washed-out lighting of the overhead light and poor exposure and color balance. If I never look at those pictures again, I will be a happy woman. So after finishing the room about a week and a half ago, I decided to wait until the following morning to photograph it, when the light was streaming in the window and beautifying everything it touched.
There’s nothing like morning light to make a space feel extra fresh.
Walking in from the hall, this is the first view of the room.
The little hanging butterflies and polka-dot sheet were given to me by my friend Emily, who got them in turn from her friend. Thanks, ladies!
And the quilt, my absolute favorite piece of bedding, was hand-made by my sister Erica.
Thank you thank you thank you!
The little Marcy doll was a purchase my husband made at Cedar Point a few weeks ago.
He hopes that she and Alice will become special friends.
Turning clockwise, the next stop is the changing table . . .
. . . which was the butcher’s block in the kitchen of our old apartment.
I’ll have to stop myself from saying “put that baby on the butcher’s block!”
It just sounds wrong.
Above the butcher’s block is one of my favorite wall-hangings. The other week I got a surprise package from my cousin June, and in it was a vintage Alice in Wonderland paper doll. I put it in a frame and love the results!
The other picture we hung is from a set of three. My friend Eve made me lovely burp cloths–so lovely that I decided to frame the fabric and hang them throughout the room!
Hope you don’t mind, Eve.
And how better to turn a butcher’s block into a changing table than with bins! A bin for diapers and a bin for wipes, both of which just slide right out . . .
. . . and a bin with all of her little accessories: bows, ribbons, shoes, socks, hats, sunglasses, etc.
Continuing our clockwise turn, the next thing we come across is the gigantic closet, which occupies the whole back wall.
Inside, all her little things are organized.
(though we have since installed the car seat in our car–not the ordeal we imagined it might be, believe it or not!)
On the left side, we have a hanging organizer with bedding and cloths.
The big green bag on top has extra diapers that simply wouldn’t fit in the bin.
I think plenty of diapers is a good thing . . . or so I hear.
In the middle of the closet is a tall cupboard that houses clothes:
With bins inside that I can pull out as if they were drawers!
The little skirts, for instance, are all here:
To the right is another hanging organizer, with swaddlers on top and then onesies each assigned a cubby by size and type (long sleeve/short sleeve). It may look a little messy, but I promise it’s all thought-out and structured.
And further to the right are her sweaters, outerwear and assorted dresses.
On the shelving above is her Pak N’ Play, ready to go for all our out of town trips.
One of my main concerns about Alice’s room was the mismatched factor. Besides the crib and crib mattress, which we bought new at our Ikea trip, everything else was recycled from other past rooms. Which isn’t a problem–reusing stuff is great–but I had visions of a horribly hodge-podge room being the final product. Which might make me cry.
I wasn’t reassured it would all work until, well, it worked.
Until everything was in its proper corner, at the proper angle.
Continuing on our clockwise adventure, the next stop is the side table/rocking chair area.
The side table used to house our microwave at our old apartment, and now houses this adorable turtle nightlight from Aunt Jacquie, and breastfeeding paraphenalia inside the cupboard (nursing pillows, breast pump and the like).
The top of the microwave table was so beat up that I decided to cover it with a polka-dotted burp cloth from a set my friend Vessie bought us.
On that final wall are built in shelves that we have definitely put to use!
How can such a small little girl already have so many books???
I’m delighted.
I decorated the bottom shelf with some girly things, mostly gifts that to me represent all the love this little girl is being born into, though she doesn’t even know it yet.
Another framed burp cloth from my friend Eve . . .
. . . these lovely purple cut-out pictures that my cousin Emily made . . .
. . . and a wire basket (from Mama Kitty and Big Jake) full of the pink paper flowers my friend Carrie made as decorations for the baby shower she threw.
I’m so glad to be having a girl. It’s occurred ot me: what the heck would I put on this shelf if I were having a boy?
An . . . airplane?
Who knows.
And our clockwise spin has brought us back to the crib!
I painted that little shelf (from the basement of Mama Kitty and Big Jake) white, and put up a watercolor of flowers my mom painted, and the final framed burp cloth.
I love it. I have such a sense of peace entering this room. We’re ready for you, little Alice!
Very serene and pretty. I love it. Ready for little Alice!
alice’s room looks great jenna! i love that her walls are blue and not the famed pink. 🙂
Perfect room!!
I can relate to this so much because so many friends I have, are able to go out & purchase and set up the 100% totally matched sets of furniture and room decor.
In my case, just like you, we have a mixture of items, and from various places, and stuff re-purposed, and talented people contributing too.
I realized it makes sense because they outgrow their cribs, they soon won’t need a changing table, so why buy an expensive Babies R’ Us one? (In my case that is… as someone who has an at-home-mom budget, I’m not putting down anyone who does do that; if I could have afforded it I probably would have myself).
Anyway, I’m happy you figured out a good organizing system for all her clothes and accessories too!
How perfect is it also, that the room color is such a light nice color for a little girl too?
I love the Marcy doll, Alice in Wonderland print, turtle nightlight, and that her room is blue and not pink! It’s absolutely lovely.
this is so cute! i think that the room is absolutely wonderful. it’s great to repurpose things. then, when she needs big girl furniture, that’s when you can buy the matchy matchy set that she will have forEVER! in a few years, a changing table will be a thing of the past. and now you have me considering how i could repurpose our furniture one day…. haha
Jenna, the room you’ve put together is light, airy, peaceful… and cooking-related. 🙂 Love it! (Your creativity with burp cloths is admirable, too!) Looking forward to your next photo session in Alice’s room with your precious baby caressed by soft sunlight in her crib.
Jenna, can I switch rooms with Alice? She can have mine and I will have that lovely room! Lucky kid!
So many cute details! I especially love the Alice in Wonderland picture!
It looks great! I love the colors!
lol – put her on the butcher’s block. You crack me up, cuz. It is an absolutely delightful room. I didn’t notice the turtle light before, but I love it. And a child should definitely have a plethora of books 🙂
It’s absolutely perfect, Jenna! I can’t wait to see that precious little girl in her cute lil’ skirts, headbands and pretty little sweaters, all on stand by in the bins 🙂 Ay ay ay!
I think the room is perfect for a little girl. We never had anything that matched for our children and somehow they turned out just fine, and not one of them has metioned their furniture. They have, however, mentioned the love and care they got. This room oozes that love and care, creativity and practicality, thoughtfulness and stimulation without being overboard. Wow! I love it. Such a fun room (and I especially like the doll – good job dad!).
So true! She won’t even be aware of what “matching” means for many, many years. But the love and care–now that’s imperative! =) Thanks for the reminder to focus on what’s important.
Very sweet. I like what you did with the burp clothes too. The vintage Alice in Wonderland is really neat, love it! For a boy’s room I found a radio flyer wagon about 12 inches long at a rummage this summer, it’s adorable. I just mailed it out last week.
oh and p.s. I heart the doll!!! I can picture it 10 years down the road, all raggedy and showing signs of wear because it’s so lovable and – wherever Alice goes, it follows… 🙂
I love it! She will be so happy there =)
wow! 🙂 that’s just amazing. LOVE the Marcy doll. A very unexpected touch. I’ve never even seen one – she’s just the right little friend for Alice, I’m thinking. So excited for you and your whole family! Much love to you.
Adam things that Marcy is a good role model–serious, responsible, etc. =) Hee hee.
So beautiful!! Can’t wait to see a little Alice in that room!
Oh, kiddo, I love it!!! It’s just perfect! I love all the white and fresh look that everything has. I think it looks way better than any storebought matchiness could bring. I can’t wait to snuggle little Alice and tell her how loved she is.
Lovely, Jenna! I love how you recycled so many things, and came up with a magazine perfect nursery! It really is beautiful. I love that shade of blue. My bedroom growing up was blue.
I had my baby one month ago, three weeks early! What we were convinced was a boy turned out to be our lovely daughter, Nadia Jane 🙂 I’m so happy we had a girl too! I just love all the pink things we’ve been getting! The comment you made about what you would put on a shelf for a boy made me laugh.
By the way, having given birth now, I want to shout out all the merits of the Bradley Method from every rooftop–I am SO grateful to have taken those classes–it definitely made my labor experience what it was: one that I look back on with thanksgiving! I pray you have a safe delivery and that it is all you hope for!
Awww, I love it! It great, you can’t even tell you recycled old stuff for her room! I didn’t recognize the butcher’s block at all until you said it was the butcher’s block, then I knew it. Now it’s just part of the room and it looks like it was meant to be a changing table. Same for the microwave cart. you did a great job, Jenna, that must have been a lot of work and it paid off!