Nursery Mockup 3000

Have I mentioned lately that a tiny person is coming to live with us in a few months? Don't you think it's the weirdest thing EVER that two people have sexy time and then suddenly there's another person in between you, taking up all the extra space and eating all your food? Well, it doesn't actually happen all of the sudden... it's 10 (yes, 10 -- count them) months later, and I need every single day of every single month to finish all of the loose ends I have created by tearing up our house and then expecting for all the bits and pieces to fall back to earth, perfectly arranged.

I need to get a grip, y'all. Pri. Or. I. Tize. Hence today is nursery mockup day. Kaboom.

Let's revisit the most amazing room that I am obsessed with right now:

I want to make love to that folding screen and brass footed ottoman and have artsy fur babies (it would be cool if this took less than 10 months). The tone on tone is check check delicious, and the cobalt pop is perfecto. My kid friendly interpretation:

I'm sure it needs some tweaking, but the bare necessities are there. I tried to make do with what I had, so it can never be as amazing as that amazing room, but hopefully it has a similar artsy cool, comfy breezy feeling going on. Let's discuss the elements.

1) Wall color is living room neutral, double formula for some extra oomph. Sisalish carpet is what's already in there.

2) The chandelier is from Ike's old room. It used to be black, but wondering if I should repaint... suggestions?

3) Vintage dresser is already in there, but it's a triple dresser and has brass hardware. Hoping it won't take the vibe too far towards brown town.

4) Shades are plain ivory/white romans with cobalt piping. Not enough room for curtains.

5) I already have baskets as well as the moroccan butt warming stool and Senor Giraffe. He may or may not make the final cut.

6) I already have the six-pelt sheepskin rug. Hoping it will do the trick since it's light and bright but is amazingly easy to keep clean.

7) The table lamp and crib are from Ikea.

8 ) I don't have that blue painting. May have to do a poster thingy. Gold frame is a must.

9) And now we come to the chair... this is where things get tricky.

I could of course reuse this guy, who is already the perfect cobalt blue:

However, handsome rocker is A) not very comfortable and B) takes up mega space. This was ok in Ike's giant old room, but space is at a premium in the tiny new fetus nursery.

OR I could sell the rocker (I hope), and pay bucks to recover this Thayer Coggin chair:

This is the perfect chair, scale and comfortwise. It even rocks and swivels.

So, what do I do? How much will it cost to recover a small barrel chair? I can't imagine using it in its current incarnation, unless maaaaaayyyyybbe I put it into our soon to be pinkish/peachish bedroom. Honestly, it would really benefit from new fabric, though.

I just don't know if that's where I should put my money right now...

Yesterday our second car blew up and we're now at 5k for car repair costs this year alone. It's barely May.

That would have paid for a new couch, the table I want, wallpaper, paint, chair upholstery, etc.

So I must spend wisely. I also don't want to do things 50 times over because I'm not happy that I cheaped out the first time.

Tell me what to do, sage people.

Ohm Mani Padme Hum

Hello fine friends, thank you so much for all of your comments (and mockups!!!) on my lighting score and dinette drama post. There was kind of a lot of feedback to process there... so I got overwhelmed and did absolutely nothing towards addressing the dinette/kitchen problems last weekend. Instead we painted ceilings and stair risers.

Sexy.

Not really, but it feels nice to get a neutral base going so I can hear myself think around here. I'm getting the tiniest bit closer to solving all of the (my) worlds's problems, so here are my responses to some to your questions and comments.

1) The dinette is the dinette and the front room is a playroom because the front room is kind of secluded and will never ever get used as a dining room. Also it is very very wee.

Hi, front room! Don't worry, paint for the shelves is still on the docket. It's looking like wall color in high gloss.

I am the decider. Boom.

2) I am feeling very wiffle waffley about our current dining table. I hate to put time and energy into painting it properly (it will have to withstand childocalypse), so I am trying to decide between leaving it suburban brown and saving up to buy this:

$1100 shipped. On one hand, I am a little gun shy about the quality... it has a cast aluminum base which is a plus, but that sucker really has to be heavy to stay upright when tiny monkeys hang off the edges. On the other hand, I think a simple pedestal table would solve a lot of problems. In all white, this guy would go with almost any chair, bench, settee, etc, imaginable.

3) You may have steamrollered me into painting the kitchen cabinets. MAYBE. I have about 800 things to do before I propel a watermelon sized human out of my vagina in a few months, so this is low on the list. But it's on the list.

Now I will just have to decide on a color. I will tell you now that I want cream, and you will probably tell me to go gray green. It's going to be an epic struggle.

4) Speaking of baby, if you think the dinette drama is a hot mess, you should see all the paint swatches in the fetus' room. Sanders has been very patient with my umpteen sample requests, but he probably secretly (or not so secretly) wants to kill me.

This was my inspiration, and while it's very cute I just can't find a green I like in that room. It gets a lot of light and everything goes neon pastel babytown in there.

Meet my new inspiration. It's perfect -- well, except for the sharpened obelisks of doom. But I think I'm going to go creamy neutral tone on tone, with a pop of cobalt. Lots of texture.

Ok, so that's only four things but it's four more than I had last week.

Now you can decide whether I should splurge on the table and what color to paint my cabinets.

But fair warning: despite the fact that it's now covered in paint swatches and the ceilings are painted with raggedy unfinished edges, that area is kind of on the back burner (until I start tearing my hair out over its horrificness). My ever expanding belly is urging me to prioritize...

Baby here in T-14 weeks. Also car #2 is dying.

Deep breaths.

[nursery via Apartment Therapy, amazing room via Wendy Schwartz Designs]

Team Wipeable

I'm taking a break from my own decor drama to give a shout out to my bud Naomi of Design Manifest, who has a splendiferous article about Mona Ross Berman in the latest issue of Trad Home. The best thing about the article (besides Naomi's mad writing skills) was reading about how the designer dealt with a kid and pet friendly household, which is something near and dear to my heart (and furniture). Now if someone were to gift me with a yard of Scalamandre's infamously expensive Le Tigre or Leopardo velvet, I would of course grab it... and hide it. Far, far away from Ike and the baby and my heinous vomity cat.

This is a spectacularly gorgeous, totally hostile environment for children. I might as well move to Jupiter.

I know that a lot of people have expensive textiles and white couches, and somehow manage to impose something called "rules" on their kids and pets that magically keep expensive stuff clean. But I'm dealing with a stable of wild animals and it's really important to me that our house be livable. Wipeable.

Cue Naomi and her article on Ms. Berman.

No carpet underfoot and leather chairs make this dining room as approachable for children as adults. May I also point out the lilac walls and Sarfatti chandy? Kids can't ruin that unless they bust out a ladder and get really maniacal (I guess it could happen).

The banquette is covered in LAMINATED Duralee fabric. Brillz.

Ha! Just try to destroy this, children.

There goes one of the little buggers now -- looking for trouble, no doubt.

Mom and dad have subverted midnight rotovirus attacks by using washable velvet fabrics throughout the master bedroom.

Keeping breakables in cabinets away from tiny hands is always a good idea.

As long as no one mistakes the walls for a coloring book, everything should be fine here.

So what do you think? Would you rather have your lovely delicates on full display and train your brood of pets and children accordingly, or are you on Team Wipeable?

Should we just call this debate Fabric vs Leather?

[Trad Home]