Need ideas for a puppy themed nursery

[nigele]

I thought I finished decorating my son's nursery before he was born, but as I look around the room I feel the walls need more decoration. The theme is puppies and I was hoping to see if anyone could give me ideas.

Thank you!

Lisa

[nitaghei]

Lisa,
Hi!
We're also doing the nursery in a dog theme! :)
Check out
www.wallies.com.
One of the new designs is dogs & cats. They also have wallies with pawprints and bones. Also check out
www.4walls.com.
They carry a mural of a lab - very nice. (I got the mural style border BOW WOW - DH vetoed the cocker one - which I loved!)
And - this is a suggestion I had posted before. Kate McMillan does really lively little watercolors of various breeds. You can find them at
www.katewerk.com
under canine art.
And of course, there's also Ebay. My strategy is to check out specfic breeds.
HTH
Nita
(expecting our first 01/03)

[mama2be]

Art.com has great things too...and so much to choose from, I think the largest selection anywhere. Several weeks ago there was a discussion on a dog thememd nursery I am certain....

Good luck!!!

[kathsmom]

Lisa,

I don't know how handy you are, but I will share an idea that a friend of mine used in her son's puppy themed room. She had her husband cut a piece of plywood in the shape of a bone. It was the width of the window in the room. They nailed it up over the window (maybe they nailed it onto a plywood cornice board they made) and placed curtains behind it - so it was kind of like a valance over the curtains. She painted it white. It was really adorable.

Good luck! My DS is 4 weeks old and I am still trying to decide what to do for decoration!!

HTH,

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and Andrew (9/23/02)

[nigele]

Toni,

What a cute idea. Unfortunately, I made a valance for his nursery before he was born.

As for decorating your nursery, you probably have some time. I had DS in my room for three months so he barely saw his nursery until we moved him into it! One suggestion I have for you is to look on the Pottery Barn Kids web site or store, if you have one locally. They have lots of cute themed nursery items. If you do decide on a theme from Pottery Barn Kids, make sure you buy everything you might want when you see it. They seem to change their product line constantly. I bought a lot of doggy accessories for our nursery and when I went back to buy a couple more crib sheets, they were discontinued.

With my nursery, I am basically looking for ideas to decorate the walls. Here is what I have on the walls so far:

- A poster from Art.com that is long and thin with lots of cute puppies that reads "Face it - the best things in life are furry!" (The poster is long and narrow.)
- A six-peg board with a PBK stuffed Dog-on-a-star hanging from it, along with two of DS's cutest outfits. This board is hanging about 3" below the dog poster.
- A small (36 X 24) quilted wall hanging with Mary Englebreit's "Everyone Needs their Own Spot" which hangs above the crib.

The wall area around the poster and the wall area around the quilt (two separate walls) looks bare and just needs something! Also, the wall above the changing station is empty and I would like to find something to hang there to distract DS while I am changing him.

I will look at the Wallies but would also appreciate any other suggestions!

Thanks,

Lisa

[kathsmom]

Lisa,

Have you thought about painting a mural or stenciling on the walls? I know that my former next door neighbors painted a mural in their nursery - they used a projector to project the image on the wall, and they outlined the pattern and filled in with paint. As far as something to distract your DS, I saw a mobile that could hang over the changing table to keep baby entertained during a diaper change, but for the life of me, I can't remember which website I saw it on. If I come across it, I will let you know.

I agree about Pottery Barn changing their theme stuff all the time. We have a PB Kids store not far from me, and every time I went in before DS came, they had put something on sale and brought in new stuff.

We actually liked the Lands' End Barnyard themed set. We ordered the sheets and loved them, so we went ahead and ordered the crib skirt and bumper (all were on sale, because I think they are discontinuing them). Unfortunately, the bumper was too long for our crib. We were wrapping it around the crib to attach the velcro tabs around the slats and it overlapped itself quite a bit!! So, I have to send it back. I may just try to find a solid color bumper pad and crib skirt.

Also, I had posted a thread back in July about decorating and using bumper pads and crib skirts. The thread was entitled "Does your crib look naked?" The ladies offered tons of ideas about decorating and craft ideas, so you might want to check out that thread.

Let us know what you decide to do and try to post pictures if you can. I love to see what people have done for their nurseries!

HTH,

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and Andrew (9/23/02)

[suzska]

Burlington often has some affordable artwork, although I couldn't say if they have any puppy stuff. I got a print there for Evan's room with a cartoonish horse, pig, and cow. But I have the opposite problem--no wall space! We have a Cape Cod so the ceilings in the bedrooms slope. There's shelving around most of the room, so there's not much wall space (especially out of Evan's reach) left.

Which brings up a "little" warning--anything you have hanging above the crib will probably have to be moved once your baby is pulling himself up. I had wooden letters that spelled out Evan's name (I had painted each one a different color) hanging near the crib, not above. I thought they were out of Evan's reach, but one day I found him chewing on the "E." The letters came down, and I haven't found a place to hang them back up.

The only idea I came up with is maybe painting paw prints on the wall.

[nigele]

I will definitely need to remove the quilted wall hanging from above the crib one day. I don't know what I was thinking when I hung it there! I will probably replace it with some stencilled puppies or paw prints or maybe even the words "Woof" and "Bow-Wow." I have had a difficult time finding whimsical dog stencils.

[cara1]

Though we don't have a puppy theme going, my favorite sheets for DS are "Moondoggie" by California Kids. It's a white scottie dog on a blue background surrounded by yellow moons and stars. There are lots of adorable matching accessories including throw pillows, wall hangings, and a really cute little rug. Check them out:
http://www.rainbee.com/display_item.cgi?product=california+kids&item=CK0038&cart_id=8087108.29261&from_search=yes

[nitaghei]

I just saw some more dog/puppy stuff at
www.babyant.com
In particular, a really cute Snoopy wall hanging. They also have Clifford and Blue's Clues, as well as the Wallies.
Check under nursery decor.
Nita
expecting our first 01/03
(mom to a cocker and a PWD currently)

[raynjen]

I know this was awhile ago, but hopefully you still have time to add a few things. We did our daughter's room in puppies. Most of the things I found out there were too realistic for what I had in mind or had a specific character that she would get tired of (Blue, Snoopy). We found a border wallpaper that had a 5' repeat, it consisted of five panels each with a puppy posed differently. The puppies looked like Beanie Babies and the whole thing looked watercolored (it was called "Full'O'Beans). The border went up at 4' high with trim on either side of it (to keep the baby from ripping it). We put up a shelf about a foot from the ceiling (WAY out of grabbing range) and put Beanie Baby puppies that matched the wallpaper up there along with other stuffed dogs. I cut panels from the excess wallpaper, mounted them on cardboard then framed them to hang around the room.

One thing you might consider, that seems to help with "filling a room" is to paint the walls a light color. Hope this helps,
Jen
Mom to Noelle (10/25/01)