My Creative Blog:
Farmhouse Renovation

T he nursery is finally complete and ready for the arrival of our sweet babies.

At first we thought we'd wallpaper the nursery but we never did find a pattern we absolutely loved, nor a pattern that was in our price range. We also considered stenciling the walls but couldn't find a pattern worth the effort or cost.
I have been wanting to do panel wainscoting ever since I tore out a 'how to' article on it from This Old House magazine years ago. It turned out that the nursery was the perfect room to do this. It added a wonderful detail and even better, was very affordable ($200 for materials). The walls are painted with Benjamin Moore's Simply White in flat. The trim, doors, windows and wainscot are painted with semi-gloss Simply White.
You can go here to see what we started with when planning the nursery.

From the very beginning, I knew I wanted the nursery to have a natural earthy warmth. I find rich wood hues provide that warmth, especially with abundant natural light. I used white and gold colors to provide additional lightness to the room. I also thought that this color scheme would offer a nice neutrality for our baby boy and girl.

From the opposite end of the room, you can see the paneling detail and the antique French armoire.
Draped over the chair is my old baby blanket.

Update: we added a changing table a few weeks after I took these photos. The talented Patricia Banner from Cottage by Design made this for me!

I wanted an armoire for easy access to baby clothes and linens. I also liked the idea of having a beautiful antique in the room and the rich warmth of the wood.

Baby girl clothes are on the left and baby boy clothes are on the right.

I chose a Da Vinci Jenny Lind crib in cherry to match the armoire and brightened it with white bedding.

I went with basic cotton bumpers to save on cost, but did dress them up by sewing white satin ribbons to secure them to the spindle railings. The second crib is upstairs in our bedroom where the babies will sleep at night.

I love the ornate detail of this antique frame and its beautiful gold glow. To go in it, I ordered a print of The Screech Owl by Albrecht Durer. In addition to the picture rail, we secured it to the wall as an extra precaution.

The art next to the nursing chair is a beautiful watercolor landscape my Grandmother used to have in her bedroom. I've always loved it and knew that one day it would go in our nursery. To freshen it up, I added a new mat.

The armoire mirror reflects the natural light from the windows.

After a considerable search, we finally settled on a 100% jute braided oval rug, which offers a nice softness to the room. We also like that the oval shape leaves more of the original wood floors exposed.

I bought this beautiful antique crocheted baby blanket years ago.

I absolutely love these curtains! They're a very lovely brown and white old-fashioned rose floral pattern.
Putting together the nursery was a unique experience for me. Besides finding the armoire, (which I purchased early on in my pregnancy when I was much more mobile), I wasn't really able to get into Portland to shop for things. All of the items in the room are ones we already had on hand, or were able to purchase online.
I hope that you enjoyed visiting our nursery. We know it will evolve over time and we'll be adding things and making adjustments as the babies grow. We're looking forward to welcoming our babies home very soon. xo
Here is a resource list of some of the items we used:
DaVinci Jenny Lind crib $199. (from Target) Oval 5 x 8 jute rug $130. (from here ) Jenny Lund slipcover chair $199. (from IKEA ) Floral curtains $24.99 per panel (from here ) Antique brass curtain rod and drapery rings $110. (Home Depot) Owl print $40. (from here )
Go here to read posts on the green nursery.

If you would have told me how long it would take to put in our outdoor dining patio, I wouldn't have believed you. I simply had no idea of the time involved in completing such a project. Like the fence, it took many, many hours (and many, many weekends) of meticulous consideration and hard work.
Hubby did most of this work. He did all the math, the measuring, leveling and planning. See Exhibit A.

Exhibit A. As for myself, I was good at pointing around and saying, "like this, and there!" Which hubby was able to translate into a beautiful patio and stairs.
Although it was our intention to have this completed before summer officially began, it has now been completed before summer is officially over!
So the following photos are what it took to create this new space of ours...

This is what we started with after the dining room addition was built.

Retaining wall was built first. See urns? I'm already starting to decorate.

After a significant amount of gravel was added and leveled, Hubby built a frame for the patio stairs. We decided that the easiest way to build the stairs was to adhere pavers to a strong foundation of concrete.

This was the night before the concrete truck came to pour the concrete into the stair frame.

The concrete pourer was able to help with leveling the concrete as it was being poured.

After concrete cured, pavers were adhered.

Next step was to lay the patio floor pavers.

To make sure that the pavers looked right (as much like real stone as possible), Hubby worked out a pattern on paper first. The pavers were the same width but came in four different lengths so there was a system in place to ensure that all seams were staggered.
There are a lot more photos. Most of them are of hubby up to his ears in gravel, dirt and pavers. And a few with him giving me the stink eye when I interrupted him with, "stop, let me take your picture!" This request was usually met with deaf ears.

Here's hubby ignoring me after such a request.

This photo shows the completed patio before we planted the boxwood hedge and limelight hydrangea.

This photo shows the beginning stages of planting a hedge of boxwood around patio to create a living wall. We wanted the patio to be as green as possible so we opted for a living wall rather than concrete/stone.
Later on, we decided to add stairs down the center.
AFTER

PHOTO UPDATES: New patio table and chairs. Full post here.

W e're at a stopping point with our renovation of the old sauna. Left to do is paint the fir floors grey — glad some of you like the unfinished look! We're holding off on this task until summer when we won't be using it as much....when we reconvene our evening walks.
Go here to see before pictures!

I am so excited about the new shelves! Hubby recycled these from the old sauna benches he removed. The old table, which weighs a ton, is a gorgeous handmade table that came with the property. It's been tucked away in the barn so we thought we'd finally put it to use.

I'm really happy with what Hubby did with the table and shelves as it's going to provide some much needed storage for a project I'm working on!

I dug out this great old basket I had down in our basement. I picked it up several months ago but found it to be a bit over sized to use for laundry.

And oh yes, the gym!!! Not all that pretty but serving us very well now that the place has been spruced up a bit.
The large wood mirror is something I bought at an auction in Maine many years ago. It was one of my very first antique purchases. I've strategically used it to cover up the hole from the old medicine cabinet that was there.

Here's the outside facade. I'm really anxious to get a new door....which style do you like best?

Option A, except in white, is a classic style French door. I think this would be a more casual look.

Option B, also in white, is more of a traditional front door and I'm wondering if it would make this little outbuilding look more like a sweet little cottage.
What do you think?