Hey, that rhymes! I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.
This is Theo's room before the "big boy bed". It was really designed as a nursery in the true sense of the word. He slept in our room for over a year, but I loved to sit in the rocker and nurse him.
This before shot is how the previous owners had the room.
Of course I made lots of things in the room. I've shown you the quilt and numbers collage before, but here are a few more:
Pillows, roman blinds, a turtle and two fish, covered lampshade, and, of course, the border mural.
Instructions and all the supplies you might need for blinds can be found here. There's a bit of math involved, but they're really not that difficult. The turtle and fish are from patterns by Rumpled Quiltskins.
The border was another of my past-the-edge-of-sanity projects.
Truly.
It's painted from a stencil, but instead of using one color for the waves and one for the background, I felt the need to make it more like actual tiles by painting each square individually with a range of blue hues. And no, one coat wasn't enough. They all needed 2-3 coats. Do you have any kind of idea the kind of time that takes? Well, I do, and it's no picnic. 100s of hours.
And this is how I spent the nesting energy of my second pregnancy. About 1/2 way through I wanted to quit, but I can be plenty stubborn when preggo.
Here's hoping Theo develops a love for fish. Right now it's all trucks, race cars, and trains. I really don't want to have to change this any time soon.
JT
this is the most beautiful baby room I have ever seen!!!!
WOW!!!!
Posted by: Yael | January 21, 2010 at 03:23 AM
We have a nautical theme in our sons room ( Léo)
and even taught he`s in to knights( Cars and trucks. spider man, space shuttle and rockets before) at the moment he never wanted to have an other deco for his room!
Posted by: Sandra | January 21, 2010 at 04:17 AM
Wow that relaly looks straight out of a magazine catalogue! i really can't believe you hand painted the mosaic! what a huge amount of work... the whole room looks like it took a year of solid work to put together. Beautiful!
Posted by: amy | January 21, 2010 at 04:47 AM
It's a beautiful room, full of handmade love. How can he not love it :-)
The mosaic border is beautiful. Lol at the amount of work you put into it! It's those "halfway through" moments - when you realise it was a big mistake time-wise, but the only way is onwards ;-)
Well worth the effort.
Posted by: Sam | January 21, 2010 at 06:22 AM
wow. the nursery is really incredible. especially the painted wave border. what a project!
Posted by: Nichole | January 21, 2010 at 09:14 AM
WOW! I love this room. This nursery looks like it came out of a magazine. Amazing border, I thought it was wallpaper.
Posted by: Blakely | January 21, 2010 at 10:57 AM
I decorated my son's room with a sailboat theme and he is turning 7 next week. He has never asked to change it even though he went through a cars phase, train phase, dinosaur phase, and currently is in a Star Wars phase. So, you are likely to get away with it for some time! You did a wonderful job. The border is "bordering" on insanity...
Posted by: Amy | January 21, 2010 at 08:02 PM
You are crazy!! You painted every tile by hand...with multiple coats!!?!??! Wow!
oh, and I Love the turtle...my mom made something similar, tho' not as nice in the 70's for my little brother..it was great for watching TV with...(back when there were only 3 channels!)
Good luck on converting Theo to Neptune's side!
Posted by: Scott at BlueNickelStudios | January 21, 2010 at 10:04 PM
this is so inspirational! its so amazing to see the care and love you have designed this room with!
Posted by: Bayla | January 21, 2010 at 11:21 PM
This is so beautiful and creative! I LOVE the turtle! Thanks for mentioning the source for the pattern. The transformation from the old room is amazing! You can tell that you put LOTS of love into this room and I'm sure he loves it!
Posted by: Lori Porten | January 22, 2010 at 08:18 AM
Oh, Jess, that is truly beautiful. And I think a truck and car theme could definitely be incorporated in with waves. It has to. How could it ever get painted over?!?
Is the canvas over the bookcase printed fabric?
Posted by: Doris | January 22, 2010 at 10:19 AM
I LOVE the turtle.
Posted by: Stephanie Soebbing | January 22, 2010 at 11:56 AM
great job...vibrant colour scheme...from one sewing lover to another....you're great!
Posted by: Carmelina Lounsbury | January 22, 2010 at 04:31 PM
You are crazy amazing. That is the kind of room movie stars hire out for their kids! And while my daughter's room is nowhere near as amazing as this, you really lit a fire under me to take some photos of it. She might like to see what it was like one day, and I'm sure we'll change it a bit before she's really old enough to remember it!
Posted by: Rachael | January 23, 2010 at 03:17 PM
GORGEOUS & love the colors!
Posted by: Julie @CalleLillyCafe | January 23, 2010 at 08:26 PM