Caroline's Nursery + Newborn Pics Sneak Peek

First off, I wanted to share a sneak peek of Caroline's newborn photos taken on Friday by the extraordinary photog, Bethany McGhehey of Bethany Blair Photography. I know she's mine, but I just about died when I saw these. 

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I had such a wonderful experience putting together a nursery for our little Caroline. I wanted to really take my time and choose pieces that had meaning to us personally - items from our own childhoods, bedding and special items with her name, frames with photos of family and books that were special to Stephen and me growing up.

I also wanted something sweetly simple. I wanted muted, soft colors and delicate touches. If I had to choose a few words to describe it, I'd say it was "vintage and shabby-chic".

I was inspired by this gorgeous nursery featured on On To Baby. I especially loved the simplicity of it all and knew I wanted to replicate the feel in Caroline's own space.

I was taken with the DIY wall art from this blog. We wanted to concentrate the majority of our budget on good quality furniture, so decorative pieces like art needed to be DIY. 

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Here's our sweet little sanctuary, simple and understated, just what we wanted.

The wreath I made for Caroline's hospital door, which now adorns her nursery door. 

I should probably state for the record that, currently, Caroline does not sleep in the crib. When she does, the pillow, doll and any bumpers will be removed : )

The Humpty Dumpty doll was mine when I was a baby! The pink crocheted blanket was hand made by a group of ladies at our church.

The 'S' was actually the cake topper for our wedding cake, which I painted to utilize for Cee's nursery.

We love, love, love this diaper holder from Pottery Barn Kids. If you're expecting, do yourself a favor and get one. It's a stylish way to keep diapers organized and handy.

These pillows were sewn by one of my Great Aunts. Didn't she do a great job?!

I couldn't love the dachshund art prints any more. I also wanted to incorporate just a touch of gold to bring light into the room. Again, the inspiration pic at the top had these exact round mirrors from Target. It was a cheap and chic way to make the room look larger!

I found the swaddle basket randomly on a trip to Homegoods and it was a perfect match with blue-grey used in the curtains and bedding.

Items were found at the following stores:

Crib- Pottery Barn Sleigh Fixed Gate Crib, similar here
Nightstand- Pottery Barn Catalina Nightstand
Changing table- Pottery Barn Catalina Dresser with Changing Topper
Bedding- Restoration Hardware, here
Diaper holder- Harper Diaper Holder from Pottery Barn Kids, here
Chair- Club Swivel Glider in Cream from JC Penney, here
Toss pillows in chair- Custom
Toss pillow in crib- Cynthia Rowley
Lamp- Hobby Lobby
Curtains- Bed, Bath and Beyond
Round gold mirror trio- Target, here
Doxie wall prints- Custom made via Oliver Blu Designs, shop here
Birdie hanger- Kirkland's
Fabric covered giraffe and elephant- Dreamweaver Designs in Heber Springs, AR
Shelves and square mirror- Home Interiors (we refurbished these items, which were purchased for my first apartment!)
miYim Good Earth Organic Mermaid Doll- Amazon, here
Fabric for wall circles- Hobby Lobby
Letter 'C' for crib wall art- Hobby Lobby

Caroline's Nursery Inspiration

I'll be honest, I haven't done a terribly large amount of work on the nursery yet. (Okay, so I've done absolutely nothing. And Caroline's nursery is currently still an office.) I'm feeling super inspired this week though, and I think it's time to get our rears in gear on our baby girl's special room.

I fell in love with the Baby Cache Chantal Convertible Crib in Linen with the matching Chantal dresser from Baby's 'R Us. I think we'll be ordering both this weekend!

As far as bedding, a Twitter/blog friend shared Serena and Lily's amazing site with me and I fell in love with the Tess Crib Collection. Those muted colors, that damask print...swoon.

I also LOVED the Blue and Taupe Paisley Crib Set from bedding.com. It is exactly what I feel like a sweet baby girl's nursery should be: sweet, subtle and chic.

As far as a color palette, I want lots of very muted colors: soft grays, creamy whites, burlap browns and the palest of pinks.

And yes, we'll be installing a chandelier. It was a must for a baby girl's room, which I said from the get-go.

A few nurseries I spotted on Pinterest that inspired the colors:

What inspired your children's nurseries? Or what is inspiring your future baby's nursery (if you're at that stage in life)?