A Modern Glam Nursery for Our Baby Girl

I cannot believe it’s time for the One Room Challenge again. In case you’re blissfully unaware, the ORC is a grand ol’ opportunity to throw sanity out of the window and attempt to transform an entire room in under six weeks (while six months pregnant, might I add)!

For the ones new to FOXYOXIE.com, welcome and thank you for stopping by! My name is Oksana, and I am a designer, blogger, wife and mama-to-be to a little girl arriving in July. The husband and I bought some property back in July of 2015 – read about that oh-so-hilarious story here.

Anyway, the property included nearly seven acres of land and a dilapidated, crumbling, straight-out-of-a-horror-film bungalow – originally built in 1930 and abandoned for 20 years prior to us purchasing it. If you’re having a difficult time picturing that mess, pop over to a previous post that highlights just some of the exterior transformation.

Over the past 21 months, we’ve made steady progress in turning this house into our little home. If you’re curious, click on any of the photos below to tour the somewhat finished rooms:

Living Room Tour:

Dining Room Tour:

Kitchen Tour:

Master Bedroom Tour:

Guest Bathroom Tour:

Entryway Tour:

You can also peruse all posts in “Our Bungalow Renovation” series if renovations and home improvement are your cup of tea.

Back to the excitement at hand… Mere days after finishing our first-ever One Room Challenge (where we transformed our living room) I found out we were pregnant. With our baby girl due mid-July, it only made sense that the next ORC would involve creating a nursery for the little babe.

I’ll admit, for a hot second I contemplated using the challenge as motivation to tackle the remaining unfinished spaces in the house – the guest bedroom, laundry room, hallway, master bathroom, master closet, mudroom, the house exterior and deck – but quickly realized that being six months pregnant is likely not the time for a self-inflicted mental breakdown.

All the photos so far are of the room in its current state. Just a few days earlier, however, it was packed to the ceiling with boxes and the beginning of what was supposed to be my office. I’ve temporarily shifted everything into the guest room (and out of my mind) and plan to deal with the mess later, but for the next six weeks the nursery is my priority, and I refuse to feel guilty for the mess in the rest of the house.

Are you with me?

If you’d like to see how this room looked before, here’s a peek. Be warned: it ain’t pretty.

And no, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. This room was originally a combination of the only bathroom in the house and a storage closet. Any remains of that mess, however, are long gone – including the hoards of bees that used to live inside these very walls.

The Design Plan

Like any normal (and totally sane!) woman, I’ve spent a solid portion of my life pinning photos of babies and nurseries. But when time came to choose a style for the nursery, I couldn’t commit.

First decision: choosing a color palette. I wanted the room to fit the overall classic color scheme in the remainder of the house. Yet it’s not every day I get to design a space for a little girl, and I definitely didn’t want to lose out on the fun and frills of that experience!

But, I reasoned, the square footage of this room is quite small – no bigger than 96 x 126 inches (8 x 10.5 feet). Mixing bold colors and patterns would feel way too chaotic, so instead I chose a calm and soothing color palette of gray, black and white with plans of adding bolder elements through the accessories.

I’ve talked ad nauseam on Instagram about wallpapering this wall or that but never progressed beyond daydreaming. The nursery, however, is a perfect place to experiment with more playful motifs, so I was ecstatic to secure a partnership with Walls Need Love to help me do just that. The best thing about Walls Need Love – other than their massive selection, obviously – is that the wallpaper is temporary. Should we have a baby boy later on and need to move baby girl into the bigger bedroom, changing out the floral wallpaper with something more masculine will be a breeze.

Two major challenges I’m facing in this room are the limited square footage and the long and narrow layout. Fitting a crib, a dresser, as well as a glider is out of the question. I had to sacrifice something. Considering that the first is a necessity and the last is my not-so-secret obsession, the dresser had to go. Instead, I will be working with ClosetMaid to install a built-in custom closet, complete with drawers to make up for the lack of a storage in the room.

Here’s a peek at the mood board:

Chandelier  |  Curtains  |  Artwork 1  |  Artwork 2  |  Rocking Chair  |  Mirror  |  Blanket  |  Crib  |  Floor Lamp  |  Faux Bouquet  |  Pouf  |  Rug  |  Wallpaper  |  Storage Box |  Cake Stand  |  Dresser

A Massive To-Do List

In no particular order, here are my main projects for the room:

1. Install a custom, built-in closet to maximize storage space.
2. Remove the closet doors for easier access, given the small size of the room.
3. Organize said closet with matching storage boxes and baby clothes hangers, a la Ali Fedotowsky’s nursery.
4. Install a whimsical feature wall with large-scale floral mural.
5. Choose, order and hang artwork that is versatile enough to evolve with the room over the years.
6. Find, purchase and hang black-out drapes and a curtain rod.
7. Order the DaVinci Jenny Lind 3-in-1 convertible crib from Amazon.
8. Find a comfy, stylish and affordable glider that won’t overcrowd the room.
9. Decide between a teeny-tiny chest of drawers (on which to put a changing pad) or a small changing table. Given my OCD tendencies, I’m not fond of open shelving that would come with a changing table. Yet I’m afraid no chest or dresser is small enough to fit into the tiny room.
10. Research and purchase a crib mattress and bedding. Is organic really better? Why are there so many sizes?
11. Possibly find and purchase a small side table to place next to the glider. Although I am cramped on space, a good side table can double-up as storage.
12. Complete a couple of DIY projects, including a wood bead hanging shelf a la Preciously Me, possibly a floral mobile, and maybe even a knit blanket if I’m feeling extra ambitious.
13. Find and order accessories, like an elephant hamper, rocking chair, plush toys, cozy throw pillows and blankets.

Wow, that is one massive to-do list… I better stop talking and get to work!

Don’t Want to Miss the Next Update?

I will be sharing our progress every Thursday, and I hope you’ll tune in to cheer me on and see how it all unfolds. You can also sign up for the FOXY OXIE newsletter or follow on Instagram Stories, where I plan to share lots of behind-the-scenes peeks.

Which parts of this project are you most excited to see play out in real time? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section, below.

Huge thanks to Linda from Calling It Home for organizing the One Room Challenge. To see the other bloggers’ transformations, check out the “One Room Challenge” linkup.

Another thank you to this round’s sponsors, including ClosetMaid, Walls Need Love, Lamps Plus, and Minted.

Most of all, thanks to all of you lovely people who continue reading, sharing and commenting on FOXYOXIE.com. You make this blog (and projects like this!) possible.

About the One Room Challenge

The One Room Challenge (ORC) is a wildly anticipated design event hosted by Calling It Home in partnership with House Beautiful.

Twice a year, 20 featured designers along with hundreds of guest participants are challenged to transform any room they so choose, but they must complete the entire project in six weeks.

Learn more.