Kellan's New "Big Boy" Room

I put "big boy" in quotation marks because he's still in his crib so I'm not sure it technically qualifies for a big boy room but its as BIG as it going to get for right now.  His room is a mixture of his nursery decor and the complete finished product that I have in mind for when we do move him into an actual bed.  On top of getting a new baby brother, Kellan's new room is on the other side of the house, instead of right beside mommy and daddy's room.  I was a little afraid of giving him too many changes at once and too much freedom at one time.  He would be the child wandering around the house in the middle of the night, playing in his room, or walking out the front door.  Yes he can open the front, back, and door to the garage.

Currently there are lots of patterns and colors going on in Kellan's room since its his nursery bedding mixed with his new room decorations.  But once he IS in a big boy bed the main colors will be navy and green with a little orange.  I already have his comforter which will be a navy and white stripe rugby stripe.

I originally had my mind made up on a comforter that looks just like this from Pottery Barn Kids but when I read the reviews I quickly changed my mind.  Luckily Target had this one for a fraction of the cost and much better reviews for how well it holds up in the wash.  It definitely pays to shop around.

We started out by painting the room Pale Avocado, appropriate I thought for a little boy that eats avocado every morning for breakfast :)  

The crib and bedding, along with the matching quilt wall hanging, tablecloth, lamp, and recliner all came from Kellan's nursery.  Evelyn Kientz made everything back before Kellan was born when I just showed her a picture of what I liked.  I can't say enough how talented she is.  The Playroom Rules canvas was a TJMaxx find.  And of course the big green leaf was a Michael pick from IKEA before Kellan was born.  We found the brown recliner at Garden Ridge before Kellan was born and it was also in his nursery.  It is THE most comfortable chair ever...I really should know because Kellan and I have rocked a lot of miles in this thing with late night feedings and lots of book reading.

I love picture collages and I think we have one in every room of our house.  I think they are especially cute in kids' rooms.  Since Kellan will eventually be potty trained I just set up this changing station on top of his new dresser.  Once he is ready to move into a big boy bed we will get him more permanent matching bedroom furniture so this dresser was a cheap find from bestbuy.com.  The rug came from Target, basket from Home Goods, changing pad cover from Etsy, and the "Kellan" sign with hooks on the closet door was a Christmas present from my parents.

The green and orange picture frames were all from his nursery but I did switch out the fabric to match the new color scheme.  I painted the "K" navy blue (it was from Michael's), the navy and green frame came from Home Goods, and the clock from Target.  The drawing was done by one of my students my last year teaching when I was pregnant with Kellan.  I will have to add some updated photos when Baby Alden is here.

I saw this book shelf idea on Pinterest and we found the shelves and bench at Target.  The green and turquoise canvas baskets were moved from the nursery and I found the navy ones at Target.  All of the stuffed animals and the Indian headdress have been gifts over the last year and a half and the big green apple we found at Home Goods.  The "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" canvas came from TJMaxx and its his favorite.  He loves that book and quotes it everyday.  The giraffe mat was a baby gift and we still use it now when putting PJ's on after a bath.  I'll be using it a lot after my c-section since I won't be able to pick Kellan up for a while.  The navy and white striped "Storage" basket in the corner was another Home Goods find.

I made the "1" for Kellan's first birthday party, the glass Kellan block was a gift from Michael's grandparents, we bought the whale when we were in Oregon and saw a whale at one of the lighthouses.  The wooden truck was made by Michael's grandpa and its full of the Wonder Pets which were gifts from Michael's brother and sister-in-law.

The big K was from my bedroom door when I lived with Kimberlee and Jenni in Raleigh.  We all had our first initials on our doors :)  The piggy bank was a gift from Michael's Aunt Karen, the ship in a bottle was something Michael already had, and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball helmet came from a game during our family vacation with my family to Florida.

I ordered these curtains from Etsy and the orange storage cube came from Target and was also moved from the nursery.  The big, navy bean bag was also found at Target.

This sign was cross stitched by our other talented friend Debbie Thien :)  It was a baby gift after Kellan was born.  The moon was a birthday present from Papa Mike.  Its called "Moon in my Room," it lights up, and comes with a remote so that you can click through all of the phases of the moon.  It is REALLY neat (and educational).

The lamp was from the nursery.  I bought it at Target and added the "K" from Michael's.  The baby alligator is from IKEA and is usually found in the mouth of the BIG alligator that Michael insisted on getting Kellan before he was born.  He's hanging out in the room somewhere too.  The glass jar where I keep Kellan's pacifiers was one of the decorations from the bridal shower that my Raleigh friends gave me years ago :)  Kellan also kept his sound machine and we bought Baby Alden one of his own.

Kellan loves to play in his room and has slept all night from the very first night we put him in there.  This wasn't new though, he's always been a good sleeper.  This is how his room will stay until Kellan gets used to his new little brother and I think that he is ready for a big bed.  He sleeps so well in his crib so why change it when it works so well and its one less thing for me to worry about?  He is only 19 months after all.  I don't want Kellan to feel like he has to grow up too fast because there is a new baby in the house.  He will be BIG soon enough :(

Baby Alden's Nursery

I have so many blog posts to catch up on.  I have pictures, trips, restaurants, and even two months of Kellan's monthly updates to blog about.  Those posts will be coming shortly but I just had to go ahead and jump to the present because we finished Baby Alden's nursery tonight and I am so excited to share the pictures.  His arrival is scheduled for May 30th (if he doesn't come on his own before) so I really wanted this room to be done by this weekend.  

I LOVE decorating children's rooms.  Kellan's nursery was my favorite room in the house and I didn't think it was possible, but I think I might love this nursery even more.  I will be blogging pictures from Kellan's new "big boy" room soon too.  We moved the majority of Kellan's decorations to his new room and I'm keeping him in his crib for a little while longer so that went with him too.  I also decided to keep the turquoise wall that we painted in Kellan's nursery and plan a new color scheme around it.  This was a relief to Michael who is never thrilled about changing wall colors.

Alden's new crib with his new bedding made by the fabulously talented Evelyn Kientz.  She made Kellan's bedding too and I am so in love with both of them.  I bought all of the fabric from fabric.com and Michael cut the boards, stapled it on, and hung them for me.

I am so happy with the color scheme and fabric patterns that I finally decided on.  Evelyn put it all together and I couldn't have imagined it turning out any more perfect.  Target also just happened to have receiving blankets, fuzzy blankets, and sheets in the colors I needed.  This grey and white polka dot crib sheet is one of them that I found.

The IKEA storage shelf stayed but I did get new canvas drawers to match the new bedding.  The old drawers went to Kellan's new room.  I got the book wall idea from Pinterest.  We are thinking about adding another row of books above this one just because I have so many and there is plenty more room.

Kellan's nursery had a green owl and an orange owl that I used as book ends on this same shelf.  I thought it was only appropriate for baby brother to have his own owls when I saw these two at TJ Maxx :) Kellan calls the white owl "Owl" and the turquoise owl "Monster."  My sister made the diaper cake for my diaper shower and I'm leaving it intact for as long as possible :)  The gray and white basket, the chalkboard, and the yellow lantern were all TJMaxx finds too (my favorite store).  The turquoise A either came from TJMaxx or Marshall's.

The yellow and white frames and the metal "A" came from Marshall's.  The  clock and the turquoise frames stayed from Kellan's nursery and I just added new fabric.  As soon as little Alden is here I will be replacing the photos with a family picture and a brother picture.

The lamp and "baby" frame on the table came from Target.  My sister found the leather turquoise A on the lamp.  Evelyn also made the tablecloth.  I love that yellow fabric.  The turquoise polka dot blanket came from Target and the yellow chevron pillow came from Home Goods.  I found the gray recliner online but I can't remember the website.  I just basically Googled gray recliners and there were only a few options that didn't cost an arm and a leg.  I highly recommend a comfy recliner for all of those late night feedings (and all during the rest of the day too).  Lots of mommy-Alden time will be spent in this chair :) We still read to Kellan every night before bed in his brown recliner so that went to his new room too.

We left Kellan's changing table in here and just added a new changing pad cover and laundry hamper to match.  The changing pad cover I ordered from Etsy and the laundry hamper was another TJMaxx find.  Its hard to keep this area cute and organized when its constantly in use...especially when a certain 19 month old loves to dig through the baskets and pull everything out.

Thanks to the diaper shower that my family gave us, we are well stocked up on diapers and wipes.  These are just the ones that we have in newborn size!!

The "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" canvas came from Home Goods and the frame from Marshall's.  I will be adding a new picture to this frame too after Alden is here.  The mirror was the same green mirror from Kellan's nursery and we used turquoise duct tape to cover it.  Michael did a fantastic job keeping it wrinkle free and even :)  He's the perfect craft husband.  He thought I was crazy when I told him what I bought the duct tape for but even he thought it turned out great.

I hope Alden loves books as much as Kellan does.  I read to Kellan from the very first day we brought him home and I plan to do the same with baby brother.  This crate also (surprise, surprise) came from TJMaxx.

Alden's room is ready for him to move in :)  Now if I can just keep big brother from tearing it apart until he is here.