Sunny Boy/Girl Room in Seattle

My friend Tysha recently finished decorating the bedroom her young son and daughter share, and I loved it so much I got her permission to share it with you! It was also just featured on THE interior decorating blog for kids' rooms, OhDeeDoh, (see here) that's how awesome it is! But I don't have to keep telling you ... see for yourself!

Tysha has a great mix of homemade and friend-made and hand-me-down and store bought. She put this room together over a long period of time, so she chose everything very carefully. There is a reason behind every decision which makes the room super special for the little inhabitants. 

She and her husband opted to give the kids the master bedroom so it could easily double as the play room. Smart move! I also love that she chose a pale yellow for the walls to off-set the often gloomy out-of-doors.

Birds done right! Love that mobile! The yellow and grey combo is perfect for a girl/boy setting.

This play kitchen is fantastic, no? As with all the other objects in the room, Tysha put a lot of thought, time and effort into this thing. 

And there are her two cuties! Tysha is a photographer, too, so these pictures are hers.

Cool roadster and some inspiring words!

Seriously, nice job Tysha! Thank you for sharing.


Read more here on her family blog about her process of putting together this room as well as the back stories on several items that are especially meaningful.


*Martha

Sienna & Noah's Nursery

Little Mr. Noah Hullinger Ware came a three days early on May 27! In fact, I was at Target getting one more thing for the nursery when my water broke! His early arrival caught me off guard because my daughter came four days late but since he has been such a good sleeper, I was able to hurry and get pictures of his finished nursery before he really makes me start working. 

Here is Sienna's side. Not much changed here except I painted her crib white to match the one I bought for Noah. Painting that crib was NOT fun. I repeat: NOT fun at all. But now that it's done, I love how it freshens up the room. And, like I said, it matches Noah's crib; it would have royally bugged me if they didn't match even though for a long time I was hoping to buy a natural wood colored crib for Noah to match Sienna's but decided it would be too hard to get the exact right tone of blonde wood. 

Here is their closet. Her side of diapers and blankets, his side of diapers and blankets (except I just realized their diapers are switched in this photo - oops) with wipes in the middle. I like having the metal baskets so I can be well aware when I am running low on supplies. And it looks like I am low on wipes!

The room is small, so in order to keep the big glider in the room we ended up putting the dresser in the closet. I actually really like that we can put everything away at the end of the day or during nap time and close the doors so all distractions are out of view and the kids can just focus on sleeping.

And, yes, that is a shower caddie. I wanted some more shelves at the changing station and liked how this matched the baskets above. The knobs are yellow flowers from World Market, on sale (4 for $7) - a much more sensible option than Anthropologie knobs I always pine for. I added the knobs to that bird tray (in case you can't tell what that is on the right) I got at an antique shop in Oregon awhile ago which turned it into something to hang things from.

I made the changing pad on the top of the dresser by cutting down the mattress that came with my son's portable crib and then making a couple slip covers out of cheap fabric. The other cover is green polka dot.

Here's Noah's side. I bought him a portable crib since he will be transported from room to room for several months for nighttime and naps. Right now he is sleeping next to me on the couch! The sleep situation is always evolving, so I know this portable crib will be put to excellent use.

The reversible pillow is from Target. See? Boy side:

And girl side:

And, finally, my favorite accessory in the room: that $4 red stool from a thrift store. It's perfect as a side table for stacking books for story time.

I hope you enjoyed my little nursery tour! I really enjoyed putting it together. What I love the most about it is that it's not too matchy matchy, not too blue or pink saturated and not too cutesy. It was not easy figuring out how to make sure two genders were represented, but it became a bit easier when I let go of stringent boy/girl color schemes or mainstream nursery styles and instead collected/made little pieces along the way that made me happy. When I go in that room it just makes me happy! And that's the kind of environment I want for my happy little kiddies.

Layering Design Styles in a Room

I've been watching Secrets from a Stylist lately, the HGTV show hosted by Design Star Season 5 winner Emily Henderson. From the episodes I've seen, she works with couples to create a room or two that combines both of their styles. She starts by doing the entire room in one person's style, after which she brings the couple in to show what it looks like. Then she edits some things and layers the second person's style into the space. Interestingly, the couple usually isn't totally thrilled with the first style (even the person whose style it reflects) but they love the end result of the two combined styles. Here is a look at some of the rooms from the show:

Example #1:

Look #1 (wife's style): Hollywood Regency

Look #2 (added husband's style):Hollywood Country Club

Example #2:

Look #1 (husband's style): Mad Men Chic

Look #2 (added wife's style): Mad Men Bohemian

Example #3:

Look #1 (wife's style): Modern Artsy Nouveau

Look #2 (added husband's style): Single Malt Nouveau

I think the show proves an important design point: anyone can buy up a set of furniture and accessories all in the same style and have one canned look. Or you can embrace the personalities of the person or people you live with and incorporate some style from everyone and come up with something even more interesting and unique.

This is a great show to give you that guidance! Watch it on Hulu here.

*Martha

Hot Air Balloon Mobile

For my future son (due in two months!) I decided to make a hot air balloon mobile for his side of the nursery from the idea here.

I followed her tutorial for the most part but made a few variations of my own. I started with a template for the balloon. I did mine from card stock. Fold it in half and draw half the hot air balloon (like you'd do for Valentine hearts). No template here, just winging it. I drew it big and fat and basically cut it down 10 times using some Google images of real hot air balloons to get the shape right.

There are 6 sides to one balloon and I had enough paper to cut out 66 flat balloon shapes and piece them into 11 balloons.

I mixed and matched with patterned paper so each balloon looks different depending on which angle you are viewing it from. It'd be just as cute to do each balloon in the same pattern/color, I think. I even fancied the idea of making each balloon with only 4 sides because I was getting tired of cutting. I think that'd work, too. But the more dimensions the balloon has, the more visually interesting it is, and I'm glad I went the extra mile to make them all 6-sided. I glued them together with Elmer's glue.

I used an awl to stab a hole near the top.

STAB!

I was going to use blue yarn but the hole wasn't big enough. So I bought some basic twine-like string. Can't remember what it's called. I still had to force the hole bigger to get that through, but it all worked out. I tied a knot at the top of the balloon and tied it at the top of the embroidery hoop. Still working on what to do about all those fringy knot tops. But here's the mostly done mobile:

And future baby boy's view from the crib: 

I'll post it again when it's in place in the finished nursery. Stay tuned for some wall art inspired by hot air balloons, too. 


*Martha

Duvets for Mr. & Mrs.

Seeing Dwell Studio's new spring line re-ignited an inner fire that burns within me for something I feel strongly about. You see, I am puzzled completely when a married couple or living together couple or whathaveyou couple has a bedroom that reflects that only a woman sleeps there. Where are the men when the decor decisions are being made? Hmm? Oh, what? They don't care about home decor? "Just do what you want," is that what he said? Hmmmmm? 


Ladies, this can't go on. Your man cares. He doesn't want to sleep among flowers and ruffles and fluff. He wants a calm, cool oasis where there's equal ground. 


Enter Dwell Studio amazingness. These are part of their spring line and I heart all of them (and I think my husband would, too, except he probably wouldn't use the phrase "I heart..." because ... he's not a girl).

And some of my old Dwell Studio favorites:

Okay, that's a lot of grey and white. But still, great options, no? What do you think, would your man go for any of those? Do you have another brand you swear by for unisex bedding?


*Martha