Circles Nursery

by Jenni and Glenn McKay
(Wesley Chapel, FL, USA)

The first thing we picked out was our bedding, the JJ Cole Blue Bullseye bedding set, which was bright, fun, and modern with its fun graphic circles and stripes. This set has the color palette of orange, light blue, chocolate brown and sage green and we pulled elements from the bedding to use throughout the room.

We used Home Depot's no-VOC Freshaire paint in light green, with white wainscotting around the room. Then, since I'm a graphic designer, I recreated the concentric circles from the bedding and turned them into large vinyl wall decals to go on the wall behind his crib and around the room.

The crib is Walmart's Baby Mod ParkLane 3-in-1 Convertible Crib in Espresso, which is the exact same crib as the Baby Miro Mercer crib for $100 less! The dresser, wall cabinet, and bookshelf came from IKEA. The wall shelves are from Lowe's.

We used our existing twin bed in the room, and my husband made custom banquette cushions from MDF, foam and blue microfiber fabric that surround the bed for a cozy place to cuddle. The rocking chair has been passed down through 3 generations in my family, and my dad made the rocking horse for me when I was a little girl, so now our son will be able to play with it too!

We purchased the orange curtains at IKEA and had a friend shorten our bed skirt (it was way too long) and the curtains, and use the extra fabric to trim the curtains, make a custom rocking chair cushion, and some extra pillows for the bed. We had the letters behind his crib custom-cut, and I

hand-painted them to match the room. I also pulled the stripes from the bedding and added them to custom jungle animal artwork I designed and produced for a custom touch. The lamps were also from IKEA.

We have all of his bath and medical supplies in the counter over his changing table. His diaper supplies are in the top drawer of the dresser, which we also use as his changing table. His newborn clothes are hanging in the closet and folded in the dresser, while the other sizes are stored in canvas bins in his closet by size until he grows into them. Blankets are stored in the drawer under his crib. Toys will go into canvas bins on his bookshelf.

We started the nursery before I was pregnant by painting it light green since we knew it would work for either a boy or a girl. We finished things up about 3 weeks before I gave birth. We had a blast creating this nursery! As a graphic designer and architect, it was very important to us to have a nursery that reflected our style, and we feel that we accomplished this mission. Our son Carter seems to like it, too!

My favorite parts are the custom wall decals and artwork I designed for Carter's room! This was so much fun for me to create especially for him, and I love that the elements are completely custom and unique. We even named the animals: Morris and Boris the monkeys, George the giraffe, Leroy the elephant, Albert the alligator and Reggie the hedgehog! These are the things that make me smile every time I walk in to the nursery!

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