The Nursery

Being a teacher has taught me, that when it comes to children, everything has a purpose. They are sponges. They hear what you say when you aren't talking to them, they see how you react, and they soak in the environment whether they mean to or not.

When it came to the nursery, I had a plan. My nursery and decor were going to show what I valued in life and my hopes for my child.

"It's just a room. It doesn't matter. They won't remember it anyways."

Part of that is true. The other part isn't true for me. I'm setting a standard for my life and my kid's life... starting with his room. The message?

If you are going to put effort into something, make it meaningful. I want the nursery to look good, just like I like to look good,  but if all I have and all the nursery has is looks... isn't that time wasted? I want it to look good AND mean something. Looking good alone, is hollow. I'm going for deep.

Ok let's not get too deep Ann, damn it's just a room, haha.

So let's get to the good stuff.

My theme: Vintage World Explorer

When I told most people (including my husband), they didn't understand. They gave me that look like, "for a baby?" Also, its hard to picture. I am a big picture thinker..I knew they'd come around, they just had to see it.

Vintage: History. The past can be much more beautiful than the present. Value what may not be rich monetarily, but rich in story and depth. 

World: I like the world we live in. I do think it's a beautiful place. Diversity is great, and while the world has its flaws, you live in it. You better look for the good, or get ready for misery.

Explorer: See the world. Go out on a limb.  Fail, get lost, laugh, learn, and try again. What is more sad than having the world at your fingertips and never living? Never exploring? Being afraid to go somewhere new? Don't be afraid. Go out and have fun.

This is my overview. The wall decal above the fridge was soooo fun. No, it wasn't but I did it alone and bought it from amazon. The globe always started as my inspiration and my friend Chelsea and I love antiquing. She saw one in Noblesville so I picked it up. The suitcases were from my shower. My sister found them and they were super cute!! Now my favorite, the upper left picture. The letters are his name with map paper modge podged on by again, my lovely sister. The camera is a piggy bank and the plane is from DC. I made the wood map from my grandpa's fence. We packed up his house this summer and I wanted to do something with it. He was always making me wood projects in his spare time.. so I passed on something from him to Lucas. 

The shelves hold a ship from my grandpa's house, a fan from China, a bull from Mexico, and the turtle is from AL. We took tons of vacations there. The flag is my grandfathers. He was very patriotic, as am I.  Also, you can't see it but there's a chip of wood from Bloomington on Justin and my first camping trip. I love the quote art! Thanks to Alli Rodebeck for the design! I told her to start an etsy store. The quotes are what I want the theme to represent. 

"Not all that wander are lost" In my opinion, it's not about how fast you got there, it's about how much fun you had on the journey. Plenty of good times come from mistakes and errors. 

I made these gutter bookshelves. Nothing too special here other than.. Reading is important! When you can't go somewhere, read about it! 

This is my last part, and probably the most meaningful. The cross is at the entrance to the bedroom...Justin and I are both Catholic. It's a tradition I've always practiced. It's meant to remind you and protect you with the love of God.  The little mailbox in his room is for letters and postcards from family members. He's already received letters from Vegas from my mom, Thailand from cousin Christopher, DC from his parents and I also included a 115 year old postcard from a family member dated Nov 17th, his due date. 

I've been researching family history and these letters back and forth between my great grandfather and great great grandfather. It's an amazing and real display of love. There is also a postcard to my great grandfather who was station in Texas during WWI. 

My sister had a great idea to bring vintage postcards to my baby shower and family members all wrote a little message to Lucas. In the age of technology emails and texts won't be saved in 50 years, but he will have physical words and proof that his family always loved him. People will come and go in this life, and sometimes a few written words can say so much about a person. 

......

My mom said something to me one time when I was about 15, and I've always remembered it. "Well, we didn't buy the nicest house we could afford because I wanted to have money for vacations."

Values.

Priorities.

I may not have had the prettiest house in the whole town, but damn did we travel. I've visited a majority of the United States and saw how people were different. I valued and liked the differences in people. We took minimum one a year since I can remember. Most of the time it was 3 or 4 a year.

We didn't go to Paris or Tokyo. We traveled, and I learned a lot. I may not have always acted like I loved it then, but I do now. The United States is a beautiful place. It doesn't take much effort to see it. A $500 purse will never outweigh a weekend of memories. That my friends, is my plan.

So Lucas, when you are old enough to look back, you probably won't remember your nursery and that's ok. Hopefully you will be too busy enjoying and exploring, to realize... that was your mom's plan all along.