Our nursery, part 1: the fabrics

From the day I found out I was pregnant, I began dreaming up projects for our nursery. I love projects, love design, love fabrics, so needless to say while I may lack much talent or true experience in these realms, I was undaunted and very excited to design this room from the ground up. I studied textile design during our time in London and really wanted the baby's room to be the first room done in fabrics I designed entirely on my own. Because I'm crazy like that. This was a fun but challenging, and at times all-consuming project. Lots of blank canvas fear. Lots and lots of tweaks were made and rounds of swatches were ordered before I was happy with it, but I love the end result.

I began working on a girl collection, which was always silhouettes of hummingbirds (in many different forms), and a boy collection, inspired by Nicholas' family's ranch up in Amarillo. The boy collection was much more developed and exciting to me, despite the fact that I was totally positive we were having a girl. Once we got the news that she was a she, I was challenged. All I had were silhouettes of hummingbirds I'd done, and a cherry red hutch we'd picked up years ago on Craigslist that we'd be using in the room and the dear husband did NOT WANT TO TOUCH. This was made clear early on. Somehow he sensed I'd want to paint it. I also knew I wanted a light blue nursery regardless - I love light blue for little girls and think it is such a sweet and feminine color despite its masculine rap. Case in point:

(Eliza asks that you not look too closely at her baldy patch. She's sooo embarrassed. We've assured her it's only temporary.)

So for months I was stuck on a muted aqua and cherry palette that I just couldn't love. My mom was the one who suggested I just take the cherry I'd started with down to a rosy, raspberry pink, and that way it would still work with the light blue. But yes, we did end up painting the hutch and what a JOY that was trying to hit just the right shade. That day, and the 7 trips to Lowe's, was one of those stand-offs where you're not sure what path the marriage will take on the other end. But I won. Ha! Sweet, sweet victory. And he agrees it was worth getting it right in the end. So ha! Anyway, I love how cheerful and feminine it is without being too babyish; hopefully it will grow up with her. Now that you've peeked into my crazy brain, below is a tour of Eliza's nursery collection:


Hummingbirds: We'd been up at the Millers' cabin in Colorado for my sister-in-law Katie's wedding last summer, and I loved watching the zillions of little hummingbirds happily flit all around the hanging baskets on their gorgeous deck. I'd never seen so many in one place before and thought of how cute the hummingbirds would be as a little girl's nursery fabric. I tucked that little idea away for the time being, only to pull it out just two months later when we discovered we were pregnant! These silhouettes, once drawn, took on so many forms and color palettes. They were always the centerpiece fabric of the nursery, so I wanted to get them just right. The silhouettes ended up being larger than "true to size" - a swatch ordered in true hummingbird scale turned out to be far too busy.

Hummingbird path: I knew that for the curtains, I wanted a large-scale print that featured plenty of white to play off the pale blue walls. Carrying on the hummingbird theme, I started drawing the frenetic path of the hummingbird - the single squiggle you see repeated above - and built the pattern up from there. It takes on a sort of trellis effect on the textile, which I really love - it reminds me a bit of being in a garden.

Spindle: This fabric started out as one thing and ended up as another. It echoes the Jenny Lind-style spindles on Eliza's crib and serves as her cribskirt. It's so cheerful and might just be my favorite in the room.

Chevron block: I love chevron prints, but I wanted this to be a little different; I wanted it to have more of an organic, block-printed feel. Since we were using it for the glider slipcover, I also needed it to be gender-neutral so that it would potentially work in a boy's room too someday.

Pearl drops: This is one of the fabrics used on the crib sheets; it's done with a watercolor brush and reminds me of a strand of pearls - incidentally, little E's original birthstone before she decided a May birthday suited her a little better.

Medallions: This was a happy accident I made while playing around with an early iteration of spindle. It serves as the bench cushion cover. A version of it is also found on the Good Day, Sunshine print I did for the room.

E. - Pretty self-explanatory, I designed this fabric to make a pillow for the glider, which I backed in the spindle fabric. I made it right before she was born and had to keep it hidden so no one would guess her name!

Coming up later this week: Part 2 - the nursery, which now also serves as the "before" since this morning I spilled a full cup of coffee all over the carpet, and it's showing no signs of coming up without a fight.