The Farmhouse | Starting the Nursery
THE FARMHOUSE I am so excited to show you guys our first project at the Farmhouse, the nursery. Yes, that's right, we're finally getting started on renovating this old house, and I couldn't be more excited about it! Unlike our previous houses, we're taking this renovation slow and will focus on one or two rooms at a time. At least that's our plan right now.
So about that nursery... I had originally intended for Wilder and Brooks to share a bedroom here at the Farmhouse, and we tried it for a couple of weeks. But they were waking each other up and waking us up and everyone was tired and cranky, so I admitted defeat. We started renovating the nursery the very next day. Brooks will get his own room until he's sleeping a little better, or until I get the courage to put him back in with Wilder.
I showed you guys the before photos of the nursery last week, so check out that post if you want to see more, but here's a little reminder:
Not good. Not good at all.
The room has really great bones, but they're hidden under those bad paint colors and the wall-to-wall carpet. And the drapes, which were mostly removed by the time I shot the 'before' photos, were hung on the top window molding, which really dwarfed the 9' ceilings. These strange design choices made by the previous owners, made the room feel small and slightly 'icky' and there wasn't much 'historic farmhouse' left in here.
Which brings us to what I'd like this room to feel like. I want this nursery to be light and bright and comfortable. And I'd like it to feel historic, but still relevant and modern. We also need this room to function as overflow guest quarters for Rodeo weekend (we're expecting 3+ families to stay with us during this year's Labor Day Rodeo, and once word gets out that we've got more rooms than we know what to do with, we could get some long lost cousins knocking at the door ;). So I'm imagining a daybed - or at least a daybed-styled bed - in addition to a crib. During the winter, I imagine the kids will play in here and I plan to do some writing in here (it gets the best light!), so it needs to work for everyone, people of all ages and genders. So even though it's a nursery, you won't see anything too themed or baby-ish in the decor.
We got around to priming and painting this room last week, and I couldn't be more excited about how this space is turning out! I shared a couple photos with my sister before she came to visit (like this one, which I also shared on Instagram), and she was adamant that the pictures don't do the space justice. So, at her insistence, I shot a video for you all. Let me know if you guys like seeing the space in 3D!
https://youtu.be/yyTmeC93ZbA
Sorry about the low volume. I shot this during nap time and didn't want to wake the boys!
Later that afternoon, we got a coat of paint on the walls. I used Benjamin Moore's Simply White (my go-to white color), because, as I mentioned before, I want the space to feel light and bright. I also picked white because there's something so intrinsically country about white walls. At least there is to me. Do you guys agree?
We pulled up the carpets after the paint dried and 'll tell you about what we found underneath them next week. But before then, I wanted to make one note. After watching the video, I realized that I seemed very negative on wall-to-wall carpet. So a big ol' sorry to wall-to-wall carpet and the people that love you! I'm really not against carpet (we used it here after all), I'm just against people laying wall-to-wall carpet over old hardwoods in an old house. Especially when said carpets smell like animal pee and are covered in too many stains to count. Yuck!
I'd love to hear what you guys think about this room! Do you like my ideas for it? Do you guys have rooms in your house that function for so many uses?
Have a great rest of your week y'all! I'm off to buy pillows for the future daybed and I couldn't be more excited about it!
xoxo
-Cathy
p.s. speaking about daybeds, I love how Emily Henderson's turned out in Elliott's nursery.
p.p.s. What do you guys think about wall murals and stickers? I'm really digging these trees! I'm pretty sure I'd use them in the nursery if our walls weren't SO textured.
p.p.p.s. This makes me want to fly to Columbus and get a tattoo. Stat.