Baby Nursery Planning

It's no secret that I'm pretty clueless when it comes to boys... and all things related to baby boys. Needless to say, decorating Raleigh's room has been quite a challenge. I've gone back and forth on so many things for a while now, but I think that I have finally made up my mind.

Not long after we found out that Mr. Man was coming, we bought this bed:

Once we had the bed... the next step was finding bedding. I spent many hours shopping at several different fabric stores and came up empty handed. SO, where else was there to go but the internet for inspiration. I spent lots of time on Etsy and Ebay... but again, came up empty. I just couldn't force myself to love things that I hardly liked. George's Mom, who is pretty decorator savvy, really wanted me to go with something plaid or printed... and although I am sure it would have looked great, it's just not me. Everything in our house, with the exception of our kitchen curtains (which took me 3 years to finally decide to hang b/c I wasn't sure about them) is pretty much solid and neutral. That's a hard box to step out of, I guess. With Raleigh's bed being black, I didn't want anything too dark... and I didn't want anything too busy, so after much deliberation, here is what I came up with (all on my own, woo-hoo!):

The Bumper Pad will be made out of White Minkly Dot on the inside:

...and White Chenille on the outside:

The dust-ruffle will be a combination of both. It's going to sewn together in about 12" wide gathered, alternating stripes of each and trimmed with white fringe similar to this, but in the next size up:

His drapes will also be made like the dustruffle and trimmed in the ball fringe. They'll be 2 panels and they will be on a 2" black curtain rod and black wooden rings.

Also, we're going to toss a pillow in there made out of the same fabrics (and before you people panic, I know that infants can't sleep with pillows, it's just for looks and will probably sit in his rocking chair)

My Mom, being the super talented seamstress that she is, has been busy constructing this for me. I absolutely cannot wait to see it!

When it arrives, I'm going to take his white sheets and have his name (not initials) monogrammed on them in black.

My goal was for the bedding to be all one color, but for it not to be plain. Between the mix of the two textured fabrics and the ball fringe trim and the monogram on his sheets - I am hoping that when it all comes together, it won't be.

We painted the walls a color called Clear Blue Sky:

and we painted the rest of his furniture (a dresser/hutch, chest, nightstand, rocking chair, and changing table) Black like his bed.

....there are pictures (and the story of the whole ordeal) of his furniture HERE.

Once I decided on the walls, bed, bedding, and furniture... I was pretty stuck, but I knew that I needed something to hang on our blue walls.

When we decided on his name, we bought 3 of these 26" tall letters (GRH) to hang over his bed:

My plan, as of right now is to paint them white and decopauge them. We have a good friend here that just so happens to be the manager of the railroad... So I hit him up for a map of the tracks and said he'd get me one. I plan to paint these letters white and cut up the map and use it to decorate the letters for over his bed.

To go along with the train track map... I have come up with a few train related things for his walls. I shutter at the words "themed nursery"... but I guess the theme is trains. Little boys like trains, right?

George's grandfather was THE sign painter in Valdosta, GA until the day he died. Apparently, everyone who was anyone with a business sign... had it painted by Sikes Signs. Since Raleigh will share the name of his grandfather, I wanted to make sure that we incorporated his love for painiting into his room somehow... hopefully having an orginal sign in his room it will give us many opportunities to talk about "Red" with Raleigh. I was just having a little difficulty figuring out what kind of sign I wanted to have painted.

George has been busy lately opening the third Zaxby's here... and last week I got to go in and see a sneak peek. The owners here try to make the things on the wall applicable to their family and to the area... George was so excited when the decorator got there and hung a sign on the wall that said "George's Bike Shop" ...he had no idea that they had ordered it---he and I both loved it. When I saw it, a little light came on... Since I had my heart set on trains, I took the idea from that sign and ran with it.

Here is what I have come up with:

I have another SUPER talented friend, Kellie, that is going to paint a sign similar to this for Raleigh's room. Instead of Saint Anthony's, of course it will say "Raleigh" and it won't say USED BOOKS, but instead (in a much smaller lettering) it will say, established 2010.

I plan on hanging this over his changing table. Kellie is also going to paint three other pictures for me to hang over his dresser side by side... Three train cars (the "lead car", a middle car, and a caboose) in black and white to coordinate with the train that is on the sign.

Also, George's Grandfather made a black and white sign when George was a baby that hung in his nursery that read: In Training. George's Momma saved it and we are going to put it on his shelves. How special is that?

Also, for his shelves... I am probably going to make some train car silhouettes and frame them to fill in empty space. --- another decorator savvy friend of mine gave me that idea.

His rocking chair (that I got as a STEAL) for his room was covered in a TERRIBLE hunter green mess of a fabric... so, I bought some black and white (PLAID!) fabric to cover it with.... if I don't like it once it is on the chair, I will probably find a basic black and go with that - but I wanted to give the plaid a chance. No promises.

All that I need now for his room is a mobile... and I am at a loss on what to do there. I haven't seen anything that I really like and I have certainly not seen anything to match. I'm running out of time to find something to go there... I am going to keep looking, but as of right now, baby Raleigh might be without a mobile!

So there you have it... the nursery in the first stages. My goal is to have it all done by the Albany Marathon, which is March 6. That gives me a little over a month to pull it all together. I'm excited to see if it looks like the picture in my head when it is finished. Look for pictures!