I’m very excited to reveal Vera’s nursery since it’s taken up the majority of my free time at home over the past several months. There’s nothing like a nesting instinct to get a room decorated asap!

My goal with the nursery was to create a colorful, fun and unexpected space. No lace or pastel pink please. I wanted a room that I would have loved as a little girl and that Vera can grow into, and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It is by far my favorite room in the house right now.

So here we go– starting with the first thing to occupy the room once I found out we were expecting.

This is a dresser that was a hand-me-down from an old inexpensive set my grandma had. It got passed to me when I graduated from college and needed some furniture for that first apartment on my own. At that time it was a grandma-appropriate cream color with flower appliques and a frilly wood trim down the middle. It soon became a distressed black that worked with my room at that time and stayed that way until I decided that boy or girl, this aqua blue would be perfect. (One of these days I’ll get around to posting about that DIY project.) On to more room pics!

As soon as we found out we were having a daughter, I added these beautiful curtains from Urban Outfitters. I think I may have even purchased them that very day. I haven’t found a better place to buy curtains for my home. I love LOVE adding color and pattern through unexpected window treatments and they have the most unique styles at such great prices. As for the Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag, that was a gift from my amazing sister and friends for my baby shower. So pretty and so functional! It is even waterproof and wipe-able for easy cleanup.

After the curtain purchase, it was pretty much full steam ahead with the rest of the nursery.

As always, I’m (sometimes unrealistically) cheap, so pretty much everything in the room was picked up piecemeal at thrift stores, as I saw a sale, or when something caught my eye that I just couldn’t resist.

Side note: I realize that the baseboards still need to be painted in these pictures. I got discouraged at the thought of how uncomfortable it would be to crawl around on my hands and knees in the third trimester and that task got put on my ‘I’ll get to that eventually’ list. So please excuse!

Here’s the breakdown on the rest of the room:
That vintage bent wood rocker was a thrift store find for $25. I made Vera’s posters myself and framed them in spray-painted thrifted frames. The amazing hand lamp came from The Afternoon thanks to a wedding present gift card from my awesome sister-in-law. The flag pendants were custom-made by Alison of Starlit Nest Gifts. I love how they bring so much color to that side of the room. The wall flowers were a wedding gift. I’ve seen them at several stores, but I believe these came from Bed Bath and Beyond. And one of my favorites (a little bit of a splurge for me) is the incredible quilt. It is actually a blanket I found at Francesca’s Collections. If you haven’t shopped there before, I highly recommend it. They also have a great selection of clothing that doubles as maternity wear. I’ve loved this store for a while, but it was a staple for me during my pregnancy, since I refused to buy actual maternity clothes that I couldn’t wear post-preg.

And there it is. My goal was to create a bright, colorful and fun space– something V can grow into. I was really against having anything that screamed ‘baby’ but let me tell you, if you decide to go that route, it can be very difficult to find things for a nursery that aren’t in shades of pastel, so you have to be a little more creative.

Of course I can’t leave this room reveal without a photo big-brother Lu giving his approval.

This room is also up on HGTV’s Rate My Space website, so hop over and rate it! :)

[box type="info" border="full" icon="http://designingdawn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/favicon1.png"]UPDATE: If you’re interested in the details of any of the items in V’s nursery feel free to ask or read through my list of sources. You can also see the before and after pics and get my budget breakdown in this nursery comparison post.[/box]