A few weeks ago we had our maternity photos taken. Our photographer,
Julianne, is just the sweetest thing and has a great eye! She was willing to come to our house and deal with our little zoo so that I could have photos of Wren's nursery (and snag a few shots with the fur babies in them).
She did a FANTASTIC job and I'll be posting some favorites from our shoot soon, but first, I'm excited to show you our little love's room!
A lot went into the design of this room. The Boy and I decided pretty early in this pregnancy what we wanted the theme to be (when I say "decided," I mean - we made a decision, I changed my mind twelve times, and we came back to our original decision because I was clearly in love with it and just needed to stop over-thinking everything). Now, that doesn't mean that I had an immediate idea of how that "theme" would translate into an actual room. However, over several months of collecting things and sitting and staring at walls, the ideas began to fall into place.
We wanted to bring the idea of stories to life - to give Wren something of a living library to grow up in. We've always loved stories - it's one of the things that bonded us in our early friendship and it's a love we plan to pass on to our little ones. Stories build you, they change you and shape you like few other things do. They form how you see and interact with the world - both real and imaginary - and they let you travel to places you might not otherwise see and experience things you might otherwise miss.
"Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving." - Madeleine L'Engle
They make us who we are.
We want Wren to grow up on the wings of stories. To believe in magic, to learn to explore, to crave adventure, to love with abandon and loyalty, to make wild ruckuses, to embrace nonsense, to be kind to those different from her, and to celebrate the everyday along with the extraordinary. To be alive, human, courageous, and loving - and to grow in her own way.
Little Girl, we want all of this for you and more.
So, when we chose items for her nursery, we based them off the books that shaped us as children - those that had an impact on who we are as Momma and Daddy. In order to be sure it all tied together, I tried to use subtle hints toward the stories, rather than calling each one out individually. We were able to include nods to all of our favorites: Narnia, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, Where the Wild Things Are, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Tale of Despereaux, and a few more. Many of those are captured below.
I love the way it has turned out, and I'm so excited to watch our little one grow and learn in this room. Take a look - hope you enjoy!
The quote on the wall is another L'Engle quote that I just love. A sweet friend at work did the design for us and we had the decal printed via Etsy. As part of the room, we wanted to bring a few of the stories to life in some way, so I chose elements from six of our favorite classic stories and pulled them out of the books to live as pieces in the room. Most of the pieces I made myself so that I was sure I got just the right look and feel. A few are captured below.
Peter Rabbit's jacket and shoes that he loses in Mr. McGregor's garden.
Eeyore's tail (Owl using it as a bell pull is one of my favorite parts of the story).
Max's crown - and the world's smallest copy of Where the Wild Things Are (found by Seester on eBay and one of my favorite things in the room).
It's a smidge hard to see in this photo, but that little jar contains one small white button - meant to be the button Corduroy loses from his overalls (and then goes on a hunt to find).
The other two shelves hold copies of Goodnight Moon (with a skein of yarn and a small mouse) and The Velveteen Rabbit (with a large yellow flower to symbolize the fairy at the end).
Our nod to Narnia: a petite lamp post (from Lion, Witch, & the Wardrobe), holding a candle that I added my one of my favorite CS Lewis lines to - "Courage, dear heart" (an Aslan quote from Voyage of the Dawn Treader.)
Of course we had to have a little more Pooh Bear - found these vintage stuffed animals from the classic series on eBay and love how they look perched together in the corner. It's how I imagine they might have lived in Christopher Robin's room.
Her dresser decor was a happy accident. Many of these pieces were gifts we received at different showers, and they all go so well together! Love that this nods to her name.
(The dresser, by the way, was her Daddy's...painted and refinished by her grandfather).
My new favorite corner of the house! I love our rocker (so soft and comfy), and the light streams in there in just the right way. Plus, we'll never be at a loss for stories (thanks to combining my childhood collection, The Boy's childhood collection, and many, many books given to Wren as gifts.) Thank you to everyone who contributed to her library!
Speaking of the light streaming in, I have to point out the curtains. I couldn't find curtains I loved, so I made those from canvas drop cloth and hand wrote the first few paragraphs of The Tale of Despereaux onto them. They include several of my favorite lines from the story:
“The world is dark, and light is precious. Come closer, dear reader. You must trust me. I am telling you a story.”
"The April sun, weak but determined, shone through a castle window and from there squeezed itself through a small hole in the wall and placed one golden finger on the little mouse."
“The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.”
Kate DiCamillo. Isn't her writing beautiful?
Our hugable librarians! (via Anthropologie & Ikea)
I've mentioned the frames you see at the top of this photo in a
previous post - we chose our four favorite books (Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Narnia, & To Kill A Mockingbird), and printed out the first page of each. You'll also see our nod to Harry Potter in this photo - Wren's own owl (which I turned into a nightlight).
The two pieces here have my heart. My momma made her these monogram letters with pages from some of my favorite Little Golden Books. Aren't they precious? And The Boy made me (er...Wren) a replica of the rose from Beauty and the Beast. He's just the best thing.
One final piece - which happens to be what I sit and stare at most often, is this wall. The pages over the changing table, which spell out her name, are from a vintage Mother Goose book we found at a consignment sale! I love the soft colors and illustrations on each page, and, of course, seeing her name will always make my heart melt.
We just love the space and can't wait to read story after story to our sweet Wren in this room!
Thanks to Julianne for capturing it so beautifully! And thank YOU for reading! See y'all soon!
