Apartment Tour : Olivia's Room

Hey everybody!!

Remember when Olivia was born and I promised that I'd do a nursery tour?

Remember how I totally never did that?

To be fair it wasn't all my fault... I never ACTUALLY finished her nursery enough to even do any kind of tour... until now... nearly a year and a half later...

...oops... ;)

But better late than never, right?

RIGHT!

It's still a little bit of a work in progress but everything that still needs to be done is purely cosmetic/decor stuff, and I'll point out where those places are (hopefully it doesn't take another year and half to get those done! ha ha ha!)

So without further ado, let's take a little tour of our humble little "not-quite-nursery-anymore"/toddler room for Olivia!

Here is a quick view of what the general layout looks like... as you can see, I had a lot of big pieces of furniture to fit into a not so big space.

As you walk in immediately to the right is her crib, and then going around is her dresser/changing table, rocker, and bookshelf/toy area. It was a little bit of a head scratcher for a while there but with the help of my mom (who has the BEST eye for these things) we finally found a sweet spot! Everything fit in nicely without blocking the closet or dresser drawers and still left plenty of room to walk and play in the middle.

Olivia's crib was a gift to us from a friend and I honestly love it! I originally wanted to paint it white but lost too much steam in the end of my pregnancy to ever get that project off the ground and I am SO glad I did. I honestly love the natural wood color now and it brings a little bit of life to all the white in the room (I kind of really love white...)

And speaking of white, I've had white sheets for Olivia's crib since the day she was born, and I never had any problems with it until these past few weeks that we have been trying disposables instead of cloth (it's a long story, yes I still adore and prefer cloth diapers, but hand washing just got to be too much and something had to give... at least for right now) and I swear she has had so many blow outs that they aren't even white anymore! YUCK! The other day while they were washing I took a quilt I made when I was a beehive and tucked it in as a sheet and every day it's growing on me more and more... I loved the clean crisp look of the white but the quilt just looks so girls and sweet that I think maybe I'll just keep it like this for now. ;)

Also, I'd like to point out that I had this crib all staged beautifully with Liv's blankie hanging off the side and her "puppy friend" sitting all happy inside but as you can see, she was having none of that! She was very upset and is trying to break puppy out of jail in this picture, ha ha ha!

Now let's address the elephant in the room.

That little number above the crib.

I swear it looked adorable like two days before I snapped this picture but in a fit of angry not wanting to nap toddler rage, Olivia ripped it off the wall and pulled out all of the fabric.

Just imagine a circle with thick white and grey stripes.

It's cute huh?

Now the original vision for this was from this Pinterest find and it never really played out. I never hung it up in our first apartment, and here I never got proactive about putting her name in it. Now that one of them is missing I'm just thinking about scrapping the whole project all together. The darling bumper that matched all of these patterns got ruined (which I'm still DEVASTATED by) so there's nothing they even coordinate with anymore... I don't have many ideas yet, but you can bet I'll find something sooner or later on Pinterest.

I'm thinking I'll probably just find two or three prints I really like, print them off big, and line them up over the crib... I guess we'll see. For now I don't have the energy to tackle it so it will stay like it is until I do. ;)

I didn't like the idea of pushing the crib all the way up against the wall and next to the dresser because, a.) I didn't want her climbing out and onto the dresser once she was big enough, and b.) the crib and whatever I decided to do above the crib wouldn't be centered on the wall and that would bug me just a little. So I decided to just plop a laundry basket there and it actually works quite functionally and is much less awkward looking than I was afraid it would be!

This is my favorite wall of the whole room! It's basically identical from what I had set up in our old apartment minus the cloth diapering accessories (wipes, water, and pail). I bought the dresser used from a ward member who was looking to sell it and I am seriously in love with it! It saw a little bit of abuse from our THREE moves since we got it but paint can always be touched up... I still love the heck out of it!

These "shelves" are actually upside down spice racks from Ikea! Can you believe that?!? I got the idea from Pinterest (of course) and I love it. I love displaying her little dresses and those newborn onesies were just too sweet to pack up... I love that I get to see them every day and remember just how tiny she used to be. Besides the plants (also from Ikea), all of the other decorations were gifts from friends. The gorgeous pressed flowers were given to me by my friend Camille from a trip to Europe she took while I was pregnant. The adorable little buggy was from my friend Rania, and the sweet monkey toy was from my friend Victoria. They all look perfect up there and I love having little pieces from people I love to look at.

Now that this space isn't taken up by cloth wipes I have a vision! I'm thinking about doing something like this since we are literally ALWAYS loosing her binkies! I think we ever only know where one of them is at a time, ha ha ha! Now I just have to keep my eyes open for a cheap jar/apothecary to put them in and this little ledge won't look so bare anymore. :)

When I was pregnant I was told so many times that I shouldn't waste my time setting up a changing station because I would never end up using it and would just change her on the floor or the couch or literally anywhere else anyway. Even still, every time I see one of those "List of Things You Don't Need For Your Newborn" or "Things I Regret Buying For My Newborn" lists, this is on it! But honestly...? 99.9% of Olivia's diapers are changed right here, I hardly EVER change her anywhere else! I love my changing station! Our place is so tiny that it doesn't seem like an inconvenience to walk into her room to change her, plus the top drawer of her dresser is where I keep all of her diapers so if I'm going to be going in there anyway it just makes sense to change her there. I made her little changing pad cover using this tutorial. Also! A little tip for all you mamas out there, cloth diapering or not... Lay a prefold down on the changing pad where your baby's but will lay, that way when any diapers get out of hand or your baby starts peeing during a diaper change it gets the prefold dirty and not your changing pad cover! It's so much easier to just toss a prefold into the dirty laundry than the entire cover.

One of the best pieces of advice my mom gave me before having Olivia was to go all out and invest in a cushy recliner for the nursery instead of just a little wooden rocker or glider. Oh my gosh was she right! We bought this one on Craigslist for about 80 bones and considering it was in practically brand new condition, I think it was a steal! This baby saved my life in those early days of multiple middle of the night feedings. It took me about a month or two to really get the hang of nursing and until then I had such a hard time nursing her in bed so I couldn't just have Taylor bring her in to me, I'd have to get up with her and go find somewhere to nurse. This recliner was SO comfy and supportive that I never felt nervous about leaning it back and closing my eyes until she was ready to switch sides, and honestly those 20 minutes of sleep made the difference between unbearable exhaustion, and just really really tired... I can handle really tired. :) Now it's just a fun cozy place to snuggle up and read, and I love it!

The space on these walls above the recliner is another place where I really want to do something, but I'm just not sure yet. I'd like to put together a shadow box of hospital things, and I'd also love to print out some pictures of Olivia with her Grandma Ruth (whom she is named after). I also have her birth stats artwork that I made a while back and still need to print... basically there's just a lot of ideas that I haven't taken the time to muddle through yet! The thing that's hanging on the wall is Olivia's flower crown from her Aunt Emily's wedding. I pressed it and Taylor framed it for me for Christmas. I absolutely love it, and I'd love one of the pictures hanging up there to be one from the wedding of her wearing it.

Oh this bookshelf. Where to begin...

Taylor's Grandpa Marvin was a very talented carpenter back in the day and made this gorgeous bookshelf/toy chest for Taylor when he was Olivia's age. I absolutely love it, and I LOVE that it belonged to Taylor! I'm a sucker for that kind of crap... remember that bassinet Olivia was rocked in? His Grandpa made that for baby Taylor as well... my heart!!!

I don't actually use the big drawer for toys, as of right now she only has just a few toys (I really try to be a minimalist, especially with her toys...she really doesn't need that many) and they all fit in the striped pink basket, so I just keep them there on that bottom shelf and store blankets in the bottom drawer. (also that top shelf is a mess... just look away, look away!) 

And yes, that is Olivia's old infant car seat. When she graduated from it to her convertible I never got a chance to put it away before it became a beloved toy...

...a VERY beloved toy! ;)

We keep Livee Lou's little library here and her favorite thing to do is come over and pick out books to read. She always takes her time brushing her fingers over each one until she decides which one she wants. I am so in love with how much of a book lover she is!

The step is also a pretty fun place to stand.

And I know what you're thinking here... how has she not toppled off that ledge?!?

The answer is she has.

In fact not two minutes after I snapped this picture she fell right off of it, ha ha!

Toddlers are tough.

(p.s. I think when I think back on Olivia's baby and toddlerhood, I will always remember her like this... just kind of a hot mess! ha ha!)

My sister made these beautiful little art pieces for my baby shower and I love the way they look over Liv's closet. They add the perfect touch of pink/girliness to the room, plus I love getting to read the sweet quotes she chose. She'll want me to make sure you know that she didn't mean to make the two pink ones different shades, but I think it looks beautiful as is. ;) It has sort of an "ombre" effect, lol


This poor wall is the only one that really looks like it's hurting a little...it's a good thing it's behind the door, ha ha! I also have big dreams for this space. I had a goal to get this project done by Christmas but it didn't work out... I have nearly all the materials, all I need is a little kick of motivation and maybe a buddy to do it with. ;) This is what I had in mind for it, with maybe a cute phrase over the top of it like "Loved Beyond Measure" or "Our Growing Family"... I just think it would be the sweetest thing to have, especially once we have more kids!


This is what we have there as of right now. I got Taylor this frame for Fathers' day and this picture is my absolute favorite of the two of them! It perfectly describes what it's like having a new baby in just one picture... everyone exhausted!! Ha ha ha, I just think it's the sweetest, and so for now it'll sit awkwardly on this wall until I build that cute measuring stick. :)

All in all, I love her room. I think that the one goal any mom should have in decorating their kid's nursery should be to make it a space that you love to be in (you are, after all, going to be spending a good deal of time in there, and not always doing the most enjoyable things). I feel like her room is feminine, simple, functional, and sweet, and the best part about it is her! ;)

Now when we have our next kid that'll be a whole different story and we'll have to be MUCH more creative with space, but we still have lots of time before that's an issue... I'm happy for now to enjoy it like it is. :)

So that's it folks! Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed this installment of our Apartment Tour! :D I'm hoping to cover the rest of the place once I get it all put together, I really am SO CLOSE!

Until then, lovelies!

xo