It’s been FOREVER since I updated this site – whoops! It feels like I’m definitely moving a lot slower these days, especially now that we’re already 25 weeks along! It’s hard to believe that in just a few short months we’ll have a new baby in our little family.

When we first moved in, we had made this bedroom one of our first projects, since it was slated to be the first foster care bedroom. Our house has four bedrooms, so we have tons of space for little ones. We painted the walls a very neutral white so that we could easily swap out decor depending on the age and taste of the kids that came through our home. It was important to us that they could carve out a space that was theirs, especially since they would be going through a tumultuous time while their lives were being turned upside down.

We ended up buying this gray bed/dresser set on clearance at a local furniture store, which was so helpful since we had SO MANY things to purchase. Although the style wasn’t what I would necessarily gravitate towards, it was the perfect fit for what we needed – the bed can transition from crib to daybed to toddler bed to twin sized bed in just a matter of minutes, which is exactly what you need when you don’t want to store multiple beds for different age groups. Since we had signed up for ages 0-12 with a preference for the older end of the age range (babies find homes pretty quickly and the older kids tend to be overlooked, especially once they become teens, but we still feel too young to have any real authority over teens), this set could easily accommodate any child that came through our home.

We had just gotten approved for our foster license and were about to start buying/building decor items (think wood shelving, a comfy chair to read in, some different curtain and bedding options, and lots of storage) when we found out that we were -finally- pregnant. Between now being much higher risk for severe COVID and all the pregnancy symptoms I was experiencing, we decided to put our license on hold, which just means we’re still maintaining our license, but we won’t be accepting placements for the near future. I’m sure we’ll know when we’re ready to take placements, but it probably won’t be until baby girl is at least 6 months old. (I plan on making one of our other bedrooms the foster care bedroom, probably with a built-in bunk bed so that we can take sibling sets, although they’ll have to be the same sex if they’re going to share a room. The last bedroom will stay a guest room/office, and if we do end up feeling comfortable taking teen placements while we live here, that could be a great space for them.)

So now we had gray furniture that completely stumped me in terms of design and a bedroom that would suddenly be used as a dedicated nursery, as opposed to a flexible and transitional space for a wide range of kids. I looked to a lot of inspiration online and absolutely fell in love with the design that Erin from Kismet House had created for her daughter; it’s sophisticated, clean, and leaves just enough play for whimsical items to be introduced. Best of all, it’s something that can age well with our daughter as she grows, although who knows how long we’ll be in this house! Plus, the wall treatment can be easily painted if our daughter ends up disliking pink once she’s old enough to tell us, but it adds a certain bespoke value to the house that we enjoy and that can be resold as an upgrade.

I’ll have to make a separate post all about how we installed our wall treatment and my struggle with paint color that I shed actual tears over (we’re going to blame the hormones here), but for now, enjoy some fun reveal photos! Up next is slowly styling the room to add in some more texture, dimension, and personality, and creating some functional storage.

PS, for those of you who will ask – I ended up painting the walls Nutmeg Frost by Behr, color matched in Valspar paint. I went with eggshell finish for the board and batten and semigloss for the trim and doors.