Ok, you know the saying ‘a magician never gives away his tricks’? Well the same is kind of true with Interior Designers….you see, we try and source the most original/beautiful/unique items and we spend hours doing so, so you won’t find many designers that will give you product details easily!
But because I am soooooo nice, I’m going to share everything about Charlie’s room with you! I know, lay your love on me now.
Let’s start with ‘The great wall of Stripe’. And let’s start with the most important fact: I taped and painted it all at about 35 weeks pregnant!!! Not an easy thing to do when you are having a 10pd, 10oz baby!
So you thought I was joking when I said I matched the wall to a onesie….I wasn’t. Here is the proof! I got out my trusty fan deck and matched the colours and then I scaled the stripes as well.
My inspiration for Charlie’ nursery was a child's room designed by Samantha Pynn. In fact I showed you here on the blog and claimed I loved it so much that it “was going straight to the pool room” (Quote from The Castle).
So as you can see it’s quite similar, but I felt I needed less red and more blue. It was then, I remembered the Sooki Baby Onesie.
The paint:
1. Dulux Angora Blue (1/2 strength)
2. Dulux Sandy Day (1/4 strength)
3. This one, I just picked a red while I was standing at the paint counter. It had to be a true red, not a blood red!
Other
4. My Dad gave me this gorgeous replica Egg Chair before we moved into our house. He knew I’d been eyeing it off for some time and got it for me…..isn’t he fantastic!
5. I found this table in a junk shop (and I really mean junk) shop, sanded it back and gave it a spray with high gloss red paint.
1. Shhhh don’t tell Charlie, but this is his birthday present (that he doesn’t have yet!). I love this replica Eames junior sized table and chair from Sokol.
2. One of Charlie’s fairy godmothers got him this beautiful Noah’s Ark for his baptism.
1. I have a thing for blue ombre at the moment, so I made up this print for the side table. Tell me, do you want a copy as a free downloadable? I might be able to make that happen.
2. This lamp was $10 (yes, $10!) from K-Mart!
1. I have specified mobiles similar to this for previous nurseries I had designed, but it really clicked when I saw this on Kelle Hampton’s blog (it was one of her sponsors, but for the life of me I cant remember who it was!). After googling how to make the globes, I found an old (or is it more trendy to say vintage?) at an Op Shop for $2 and went to town All the globes feature a place that is important to us. The towns where we were born, where we live, where we went on our honeymoon and our beautiful country.
2. How fabulous is the Ikea Spice rack. I know they have been done to death, but I love having it as a shelf above our change table. It holds a few books and toys as well as the creams we use every single time a nappy change needs to be done (for both boys!).
1. Using another page of my trusty $2 atlas, I covered a C from Cotton On Kids. The day I was doing it, was the day after the horrific earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand so I decided to share some of the ANZAC spirit and put a little of Australia and New Zealand on there.
Can I tell you how much I love the gallery wall? Love, love, love it!
1. The gorgeous Janette from My Sweet Prints gave this to Charlie as a welcome to the world present. It is beautiful, thankyou so much Janette!
2. Another My Sweet Prints print to add to my collection! I asked Janette to custom this one a little for me, as I knew I already had a few things with Charles name on it, I didn’t need his name on the print (like the standard one is), and also had the background lightened a bit.
3. I was a lucky girl and one 2 prints of my choice by Elissa Hudson. I picked this one to go in my nephews nursery, because let’s face it….I’m a pretty cool Aunty! The other, was this Sweet Dreams one for Charlie’s wall.
4. This one’s not actually a print! It’s a baby boy ‘Congratulations’ card (although it doesn’t say congratulations, just ‘Welcome to the World little one’. I was shopping for clothes for the boys (as I do regularly) at local shop, Milt and Joe (who also do on-line by the way) and noticed this lovely little card. I think it was about $4, so I picked it up and added it to my basket.
5. This is also not a print, it’s a card. I was hunting through Etsy and stumbled on The House Sparrow. Very cute prints here, you must go check it out.
6. I made this print. I tried and tried to get 2 perfect painted feet when Charlie was about 2 weeks old but failed…..I did however get 1 decent print, so I scanned it and added his details (full name and date of birth)underneath.
7. I think I was searching for moustaches on Etsy when I found this Solider print (also from The House Sparrow). I love it….reminds me of my old past time Marching…..plus one of the soldiers has red hair!
1. I’ve seen this beautiful blue chevron fabric (Premier Prints) in lots and lots of nurseries, but I couldn’t find any stockists in Australia. So I ordered it from Fabric.Com in the US. I did go a little overboard with the quantity, so you’ll probably be seeing it around this Nest a bit!
I made the cushion and also the skirt. Even if you aren’t a sewer, give the skirt a try. Really simple, all it is is 3 rectangles, hemmed (if you don’t sew, use the iron on stuff) and velcroed onto the base of the cot!
2. This is just some cheapo Chambray fabric from Spotlight.
3. I love this red and white striped Sofia fabric from Ikea. You may remember I used it here to make Hugh a teepee. Unfortunately Ikea have discontinued it, in Australia anyway (booooo!).
1. Let’s add some more Ikea Spice Racks to the wall, shall I? Initially I really wanted a reading corner for Hugh in Charlie’s nursery because, let’s face it, all the hours you spend feeding, changing etc., I wanted him to be occupied. So for now, it’s mostly used by Hugh but I know Charlie will love it in the future.
2. 2 words. Book Depository. Prices are heaps cheaper than in Australia and there are no postage costs!
See the book down the bottom right hand side? It’s called Cheeky Charlie and my Dad found that when he was in Brisbane working. Another point to Dad!
1. So not a decorating piece, but I wanted to show you anyway! My Grandma made this for Charlie and he ADORES it. As soon as he lays down into bed, he reaches for it and rubs and rubs and rubs it in his face. Usually we find it laying on his face when he is sleeping.
The bookcase was in Hugh’s nursery. It was a cheapo from Officeworks and I just added some blue backing which makes the items in the bookcase really stand out.
I’ll start on the top, going left to right.
1. This wind up musical box was a Christmas present from my Mum and Dad. It’s very cute and I love that it says ‘Bear’ around the edge (we call Charlie, Charlie Bear).
2. Hugh also has these blocks, made by a family friend.
3. I searched and searched for a nice globe. I never win on Ebay and the prices are always ridiculous for vintage globes and anything new was really bright and horrible colours. This one is from Bed Bath ‘N Table. They had 4 in the store when I went and this is the only one that wasn’t damaged. Fate!
4. This monkey is so soft and cuddly, also a present from one of his fairy godmothers. The globe (I always sing, he’s got the whole world in his hands when I look at it) is from Spotlight.
5. The white tin is from Riot Art and Craft. I brought it to use for Charlie’s party next weekend, but it will be going back to the shelf. It’s holding all his rattles (Sophie, of course, a beautiful knitted soldier rattle and a few other beautiful hand made ones).
6. I have been eyeing off these soldier skittles from Ministyle for years. They are beautiful (is it bad I don’t want the boys to just look and not play with them?).
7. Another toy that my Grandma made…a cute knitted hippo.
8. Books, books, books! Yes, I ‘rainbowed’ the books and no, they do not normally look this this (refer to this post!).
9. I think I specify these suitcases in just above every nursery I do! These are from Baby’s got Style and they really not only look good, but we use them for holding all the precious baby things (hospital bracelets, cards etc.).
10. Charlie’s baptismal items. I made his special candle when he was baptised, we also have his Cradle Medal from one of his great Aunts, his beautiful silver Noah’s Ark money box from my Mum and Dad and also his angel ‘C’ from Mum and Dad.
11. What a cute collection of shoes, hey! I love the black and white Vans my youngest brother brought Hugh, but unfortunately they never fit Hugh because he has fat feet…..I’m hopeful they will fit Charlie soon! We also have gorgeous Emu uggs (sooo soft) from one of his fairy godmothers and a pair of Dunlop's (doesn’t every child in Australia have a pair of Volley’s?).
So there you have it. As you can see, many, many items were gifts (even the things I purchased, I gave them to Charlie as Christmas presents) and items I made. And as I always say, unique does not have to mean expensive!
Any questions?
