Pepper Design Blog

Nursery Artwork: Colorful ABCs (Plus A Downloadable Version)

Congratulations to Liliana on winning the Lowe’s $50 & Change giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered!!

Here’s a little nursery update that I made a month or so ago. Even though we have plans to slowly turn this room into a pink girl’s space for two, I wasn’t quite sure how long that transition would take and back around Liv’s 2nd birthday, finally filled the blank frame that hung above her art table in her room. I’m not sure why I still call her space a nursery – she’s such a big girl now! But I guess the name can stick since technically it will be one again in a few months .

There are so many fantastic versions of this type of artwork out on Etsy, but I really just wanted to design something simple (read: cheap) and practical for her little art nook so I typed up the alphabet in photoshop, pulled colors from the space and printed them out on glossy paper on our home printer.

The frame just below the alphabet artwork was filled at least a year ago with an adorable card from Liv’s first birthday (another piece of cute, free art!).

That top frame though had been empty for ages! Here I am hiding back when we first added the little art nook to the room:

An inexpensive solution with a colorful, educational result!

Here’s a downloadable version if you’d like to use the print, too (8.5×11 in size).

Liv putting her reading space to good use, we love this table and set of chairs! Drawing, stamping, reading… you name it.

More nursery posts here. And the plans for the new ‘room for two’ right here! Can’t wait.

A Pink Girl’s Room for Two: the Inspiration Board

We didn’t find out if Liv was a boy or girl until we welcomed her on the day of her birth. That was thrilling and exciting and so worth the wait for baby #1. But this time around, I was much more ancy to know whether she might have a little sister or brother and I was so happy that Kevin agreed to a big gender reveal. Now I have three and a half months to plan, design and scheme a new nursery for 2! And two beautiful girls at that!

This means lots of pink. We’re pulling out all of the stops. There will probably be very little about this space that could qualify as gender neutral (basically the opposite of the design plan for Liv’s nursery back when).

Pink!! Still undecided on specific fabrics and patterns and art and rugs and lamps and paint and all of the details, but here are a few images that have resonated with me and have made it to the Pinterest board that continues to inspire.

1. We’ll keep the big drum pendant that currently hangs at the center of the room, but this lamp is very cool and a potential DIY project. I have wanted to DIY a glass bead hanging chandelier for some time too! This might be the right opportunity to make a version of this one.

2. Still quite unsure on the rug. Might be an excellent opportunity to introduce a contrasting color like this navy guy, or more pink. TBD.

3. Liv won’t move into a toddler bed for a while (she’s not ready, plus the new baby will stay in our room for at least the first 4-5 months), but when she is I would love to make a mini upholstered headboard out of a fun fabric and maybe attach it to an Ikea low toddler-sized platform bed. This photo is by the lovely Caitlin Wilson.

4. Art! I’m not sure at all where we’ll go with art, but I hope to add plenty of it . Here Here are a few ideas.

5. Liv’s room currently has a dark brown dresser that we scooped up on Craigslist (it’s Pottery Barn so it’s sturdy as a rock). Rather than replace it, I’m considering painting the drawers ombre like this guy.

Other than decor updates, there’s one big elephant in the room that we’ll have to deal with when reconsidering this room. When we opted to build a bathroom ensuite off of it, we completely demolished all closet storage space. All of it.

It hasn’t been terrible so far. Between the dresser, changing table and bookshelf we’ve managed to find homes for all clothing, baby storage (like diapers, wipes, wash clothes) and toys. It only becomes a bummer when we lack storage for bigger items like an umbrella stroller or Liv’s travel gear. BUT with two, I know that zero closet is going to be tough. So after much deliberating I’ve decided to build a series of built-in bookcases along the window side of the room. The unfortunate part of this decision is that we’ll have to paint over the beautifully awesome wall animals that Kevin’s mom and aunt gifted us with (they are both phenomenal artists). I measured and measured again but most of the animals will be awkwardly half covered up by the new bookshelves and drawers, and it just wouldn’t look right. Too bad we couldn’t pull the plaster board right off of the walls and relocate!

Those little baby animals are popular! They have been saved in over 37,ooo Ideabooks on Houzz and the tree bookshelves alone have been repinned more times than I can count.

It will be hard to say goodbye.

My ideas right now include a built-in unit like 7 below, but perhaps painting out the backings like Kate did in 8, and I’d like to use fabric for the new shade and window box similar to this little trio show in 6.

Last but not least are the walls. Everything will get a coat of clean white with the exception of the far right wall, which I hope to turn into a really cool accent wall by finding the right wallpaper.

Sort of like this room (so pretty, right?):

Here are a few patterns from Spoonflower (you can print your own wallpaper now! So cool!) that I love:

The sources for each (and even a dozen or so more that I love) can be found in my Houzz Ideabook.

There’s the start! What do you think? I’m so ready for a full room reno, even though it will be very, very hard to part with Liv’s current nursery. This is when you wish you had an extra room in the house for every idea . Except for cleaning, then that’s a terrible idea.

PS See more of our nursery projects for the current room right here.

A Mini Christmas Gift for Liv… the Inspiration!

Hope you had a restful and relaxing few days with family and friends! I took a much needed break… no work, no computer, very little media (even on Black Friday!) and attempted to keep all focus on what I’m most thankful for – that awesome bunch of family that I’m so fortunate enough to have. BUT I snuck in a few online deals post-Thanksgiving, when everyone was in that nap/football/book reading zone.

I am also just about finished with my Christmas shopping list. I love to brainstorm, shop for and sometimes even make Christmas gifts, so these coming few weeks will be full of delicious fun (rubbing hands together with a twinkle in the eye). More so than usual, I’m hand making a good chunk this year and I’ll keep you updated on my ideas over the next couple of weeks to see if some of them resonate with you, too.

First things first, Liv is getting a DIY kitchen so that she can ‘cook’ along side momma and dadda. Here’s a peek at my inspiration.

Annie’s awesome creation, (built from off-the-shelf home improvement store cabinets) complete with magnetic paint on the little fridge and a soap dispenser as a working sink.

Carla’s Ikea hack (previously two MALM nightstands), I love the little tile backsplash!

Holly designed a play kitchen with vintage knobs and a sweet little shelf to hold tea cups and what not…

Love Jane’s chalkboard detail and those little legs!

Don’t have the original post for this one… Pinterest leads me here. I love the little burners and the oven.

This looks like it used to be a changing table! Perty clever.

Loving this modern kitchen Ikea hack, too!

Finally, this YHL kitchen is full of cute ideas on how to make a cabinet makeover both pretty and functional.

So many fun ideas , four weeks to build. Will keep you posted.