Blank Canvas

I'm nesting.

I think it was the fact that I officially hit the 3rd trimester that put me over the edge. It instilled in me a panic that I haven't felt in a while: this baby is coming. And soon.

Although we had starting cleaning out the room a few weeks ago, I told Bob that we needed to clear everything out and get it finished by this weekend or else I might drive myself mad. Too late.

As I've mentioned before, the nursery furniture has been ordered and has actually be in for a while now, but we didn't want to go pick it up until, well... we actually had a place to put it. Duh.

Now we do.

Let me first show you pictures of the blank canvas that is baby girl's room... We'll call it "the before pictures."

The closet was a hot mess. We Bob was able to clear everything out of there and tear down the one shelf and rod that was up. There was even ugly green carpet on the floor. Ew.


It's a small closet, but we plan to maximize the space with a closet organizer {that we've already purchased and is awaiting instillation} and some shelving with baskets. But first, it needs a fresh coat of white paint.

Now for the room... let's take a tour, shall we?

Not much to say about this view... the closet along with the door to the room {and the stairs leading up to our master bedroom.} Carter's room is directly across the hall from Brynn's bedroom door and the bathroom is in between the two.

The plan is to put the changer/dresser along this wall with the glider in the corner. The wire's hanging from the ceiling are for the new fan {that is also awaiting instillation.} The charcoal and white rug will then go in front of the dresser and the changing pad and lamp will go on top of it. Above the dresser, will be 4 beautiful pictures that were drawn by Bob's sister, Brianna.

The crib will go in this corner of the room with shelving and her name directly above it and the black chandelier wall decal directly on the wall to the right of it:

We plan to put the high 5-drawer dresser on the wall next to the closet, with the mirror above it.
So those are the plans so far. We're hoping that everything fits in the way we want it too, but when does that ever happen? Exactly.

Now let's talk paint. The room is currently "Sterling" by Behr, which is a soft gray color and I love it. I think it will keep the room nice and bright with all the black that's about to take over.

One thing that I do plan to do is put up a white chair rail around the room and then paint stripes on the bottom half. What color stripes? Why, "Sterling" of course. Let me explain...

Right now, the paint finish is in "satin" which is just above a flat paint finish, but it has a little sheen too it {more than a flat finish but much less than semi-gloss.} I bought the same color "Sterling" paint but in a high gloss finish for the stripes. I wanted them to be subtle, but not take over the room.

Here is a picture of the "look" I'm going for with the satin finish and high gloss finish stripes {in gray of course, not red. Oh, and on the bottom half of the room, not the top}:
Nice, right?

My question to you is: how thick should I make the stripes? I was thinking 12 inches each, but I've never done stripes in a room before so I want to hear from you!! I also put a poll on the side just to get your opinions {even if you've never painted stripes before either!}

Now that the room is cleared out, here comes the fun part... taping. Yikes.

I absolutely hate taping a room in order to paint, so sitting in baby girl's room for hours on end measuring out stripes, taping them so that they're perfectly straight, and then marking out the section that needs to be painted sounds like my worst nightmare {besides filing, sweeping, or being stuck behind a slow car in the fast lane.}

I don't think I will be a very happy girl this week, but the end result is what I'm trying to focus on. I think it will look awesome. A girl can hope...