Fun with Dick and Jane

As some of you know, I am obsessed with interior decorating, especially interior decorating on a BUDGET! I love hgtv.com's Rate My Space, and I regularly go on there to get ideas for bedrooms, home offices, paint colors, and now, nurseries! I also look at design magazines and books to try to train my eye to notice and be able to create pleasing design. I love patterned, colorful (or not) fabrics, mixing and layering textures, and repainting or refashioning old pieces to create visually interesting, calming, unfussy spaces. I don't really have the money for much, but I am slowly working on putting my house together. This is the one area of my life where God has granted me patience! I do like to wait until I find the perfect piece, as opposed to buying something that "will do" only to dump it in a landfill when my dream furniture, fabric, etc. comes along!

As I am a notorious planner (I planned my wedding since 4th GRADE!!!) I have been perusing nursery ideas for a while. I really like vintage, and as I will actually have a budget with money I can spend for this room, I am looking forward putting together the perfect gender-neutral nursery to try out my so-called design skills. Here are the requirements:

1. Though I have seen many beautiful neutral/tan colored nurseries, I know that primary colors are the best bet for our baby's development. So, it has to have COLOR! but not be garish or scream "I am the baby room!" Subtle color.

2. Gender-neutral. I would like to use the nursery for future babies regardless of sex. As much as I would like to have pink bedding, pink pillows and a pink rocker, the practical side of me screams "ridiculous!" I want to use this stuff again! There will be time to have boy-ish or girl-ish rooms once they are tods and out of the nursery.

3. Have quotes, tons of books, and wording anywhere I can put it. The more babies are exposed to print, the better, especially when you take the time to read that print to babies. We call it a literature-rich environment, and it equals smart babies.

4. Encorporate pictures of the dogs. The dogs are and always will be our first babies, and we want our baby to be surrounded by their cute faces. Jason had the idea of taking costumed photos of them depending on the theme (for example, Duke in his cowboy outfit) and then blowing them up and framing them. This art is cheap and personal!

So, all that being said, here is the nursery I am using for my main inspiration. The theme will be vintage Dick and Jane. It is bright, gender-neutral, and oh so cute!

Here is one room I am using for inspiration. I love the vintage books (will use my old Berenstein Bears books probably, because those were my very favorite, and hang my daddy's christening gowns).

This shows some of the Dick and Jane fabric but not well. This is also a little "boyish" but more girly colors can be added later :)
Here is one sample of the fabric (J is for Jump) I am going to use. Note the alphabet and the emergent reader sentences! Yea!

Other example of fabrics that could be used.


Cute neutral print!

Mix in this Etsy owl mobile! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!

It is a start, yea? I still have to convince Jason (he wants a sports nursery if we have a boy...) but I really love what I have so far :)