shared bedroom

[shellybelly]

Our nursery is currently decorated for my DS - in the twiddliwinks safari collection from target. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_3/601-3147872-1349741?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000E48JQE

my mother also made this really cute hanging thing - it's a branch suspended with vines on each side - resembling a swing - with a monkey hanging off the branch by its arms. super cute.

the crib is honey colored, and the dresser is 2 shades of light green with cream knobs. I have toy baskets that are light blue/dark blue and red/yellow that match the colors from the bedding. I also have several animal pictures and paintings. I'm wondering how in the world I should feminize the room for arriving DD!!

i've thought of painting the crib white, and adding purple or pink to the green. There's only 1 crate that's red/yellow, 2 light blue/dark blue, 1 light green/lighter green, and 4 that have not been yet painted. The purple and pink will totally clash with the red/yellow! Should I paint over it, or just put it on a different side of the room?? What cute things could I do to make sure it's a girls room, but still a boys room too??

We just moved into a new apartment, so I'm still putting the room together, when I do, I'll try to get pictures up. I'm hesitant to put it all up if I'm going to change some things. Plus we're really trying not to spend a fortune on this! We're also trying to decide if we should put DS in a bed or put DD in the (ugly) pack'n'play until DS is old enough for the bed. So many questions... I'm sorry for making this so long and laborous!

I would greatly appreciate any help and ideas you could give me!

-Shelly

http://b2.lilypie.com/3PAEm7.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev349prs__.png

[Happy 2B mommy]

I know how hard this is. We also decorated our nursery with a jungle/safari theme (Kidslines Savannah) because we didn't know our baby's gender and now that DD is here, I've been working on making it more girly. However, because your DD and DS will be sharing the room, I think a little more info would help. How large is the room? Is it large enough to divide it to a girl side/boy side? Can you paint the room?

I personally wouldn't paint the crib. I just think a natural wood color goes with the jungle theme better. also, I'd be scared about the paint flaking off the crib.

I think the darker browns and bold red-orange in your bedding are going to make it a hard to incorporate pink into the room. IMO pink will just clash. For my DD's room I added yellow gingham, sage green polka dots and ruffles to make it more girly rather than using the traditional pink/purple. (think lamps, basket liners, curtains) I do have a little lavendar in the room (picture frames/stuffed hippo) because it looks really nice with the sage and cream.

Here are a few simple ideas to create a boy/girl shared room. First, change out the knobs on the dresser. How about daisy knobs for the drawers that will hold your DD's clothes and animal knobs for the drawers that will hold DS's clothing? (target has them). Something else that might work is creating fake windows above the beds (I hope I can explain this. I've done this for 2 twin beds) Get 2 curtain rods and attach them to the wall above each bed. The rods should be a little longer than the width of the bed. Put up curtains that coordinate, but don't match (ex. green and white checked for DS and and yellow with white polka dots for DD) Tie back the curtains and in the *window* area put up shelves/ pictures/ letters that spell out the child's name. The fake windows are great if you can't paint because you can add some color to the walls and it's easy to hide the holes from the curtain rods when you move. Lastly, ask your mom if she can add another monkey to your branch swing, but put a bow on top of the new monkey's head.

BWT, I was just in KMart today and I saw a girly jungle crib set. I don't remember what it cost, and I don't see it on KMart's web site, but it was pink and purple and had a lion and monkey on it. I think it's brand new. It was called safarianna. I remember it because the name made me laugh. I don't know if you want to spend money for another crib set, but it's a thought - especially if you have your heart set on a pink/purple nursery area for your DD.

Good luck. Post pics. I'd love to see what you come up with

[shellybelly]

Kerri,

Thank you so so much for your help! You have some great ideas! We can paint our walls, but choosing a color is a whole other idea. I thought a little bit more last night and thought I'd probably better ditch the idea of pink/purple for the same reasons you brought up. I like your idea of yellow gingham and green polka dots. I also thought I could use red and blue flowers and maybe some other types of safari type things! I'll check out the safari set at kmart, "safarianna" (how goofy sounding) too. I love the idea of the knobs on the dresser and the fake windows, how cute! I won't paint the crib, you're right, I totally forgot about the whole "safety" thing for a minute! whoops! Thank you so so much! I'll get it done soon and post pictures!

-Shelly

http://b2.lilypie.com/3PAEm7.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev349prs__.png

[Happy 2B mommy]

I'm glad I could share some ideas. I really love decorating baby/kids rooms- it's so much fun! We painted our nursery yellow and sage with a chair rail between (I found out greens really change hue depending on the lighting and time of day- I tried 3 different sages and finially mixed the paints to get a color that looked right most of the time. If I had to do it all over again, I would have done all yellow. I would have saved time and a LOT of frustration.)

Most of the stuff in DD's room is 2nd hand (except crib/mattress. We bought that new and the bedding was a shower gift from ILs) We also are on a pretty tight budget, so I have had to get creative. I have found a lot of great stuff at thift stores, Big Lots, and clearance at Kmart/Target. I have also found that a hot glue gun is the easy way to customize/spruce up plain or imperfect things. Super easy to add ribbon/ruffles/felt applicates to picture frames, toy boxes, lamp shades. Cheap too!

So, have you decided to use the pnp or get another crib? If you do find another crib, maybe you could get that in white.

Happy decorating and congrats on your DD