In the world of home decor, designing a space typically goes one of two ways: slowly morphing the room to your liking over time, or fully embracing a vision and seeing it through to the end.
Each has its advantages, though I typically tend to stick with the former option. But having a baby on the way gave me a natural deadline to finish his nursery, so this time around, I rolled with the second option — and I think it may have resulted in my favorite room yet.
Let me start off by saying that I don’t particularly think nurseries are necessary to complete before a baby arrives, let alone see through to perfection. It’s not as if an infant will notice whether his room has hand-sewn drapes and a coordinated color scheme.
In fact, finishing the nursery was far down on my list of things to worry about throughout my pregnancy — that is, until I one day felt the sudden urge to transform the room into a dreamy space for him to live and play in. I’ll chalk it up to nesting (and/or somewhat selfish motives).
Whatever the case, somewhere along the way, creating his nursery became an obsession. It all started with a woodland-themed wall mural I spotted on Pinterest, which I wound up not purchasing because of issues with the product, as I wrote about in a previous column.
As disappointed as I felt, I fully believe that many (if not all) things in life happen for a reason. The mural kick-started my inspiration as I revamped my design vision, and I wound up finding similar decals on Amazon for a fraction of the price.
In my column about the failed mural purchase, I advised that planning an entire room around an element you didn’t already have in hand was a mistake. Now, allow me to offer the flip side of that advice: Designing a room around a specific element you’ve already purchased is a wonderful idea.
Once I received the decals from Amazon, my vision took off. I used the decals to dictate both the color scheme and the theme of the room. They inspired me to create an accent wall on the opposite side of the room with painted stencils of woodland animals. I scoured the internet for woodland decor and found baskets, lighting and, of course, stuffed animals galore.
From there, the room truly became a labor of love. I hand-built wall shelves, while my mom sewed custom shades for the windows.
Aside from letting the wall decals serve as my main source of inspiration, another aspect of this design that helped me complete a full-room renovation in just a couple months was having a theme in mind. It allowed me to stay focused and vigilant when looking at the vast array of inspiration photos and items available for nurseries. And while thousands of woodland-themed nurseries exist, it was a fun challenge to put my own spin on it.
It’s rare that I feel a room is “finished” in my home, but this experience has shown me it is indeed possible — and I may have just discovered my new way of doing things.
Email your questions to Theresa “Tess” Bennett at homewith[email protected] and keep up with Tess on Instagram @homewithtess.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Home With Tess: Designing a woodland themed nursery was a labor of love