The Room is Ready

We have been waiting on Alyson Ann Bartlett (Aly) to arrive for 38 weeks and her room is finally ready! The crib is put together, the bedding is in place, her name is on the wall and she has plenty of stuffed animals to entertain her. It has taken us several months to get it all finished, but it's been a lot of fun along the way and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

I started thinking about her room very early in my pregnancy when a good friend, who was also expecting, told me about a baby store that was going out of business. The bank was auctioning off all of the items left in the store so we set out to see what we could find. We had to play hookie for a few hours to go to the auction, but I had great time getting in a bidding war for her crib, dresser and hutch. I ended up getting really nice furniture for a great price, and thanks to Travis and my dad managed to get it all home in one piece.

Once we found out Aly was going to be a girl I began to think about what I wanted her bedding to look like. I tend to lean toward bright colors rather than pink so I wanted to incorporate primary colors, but still give the room a feminine feel. My mom and I ordered several fabric swatches and began brainstorming color combinations. During our annual trip to Holiday House we found a dress for Aly that ended up inspiring her bedding design. After countless hours of internet searches I finally identified the designer of the fabric used for the dress and found some coordinating fabrics to match. When it was all said and done I ordered fabric from at least four internet sources and one local store.

Vicki Choate, who took care of me as a child and now works at Stone Ward, was kind enough to lend her talents to us and make the bed skirt as well as the window valance. They both turned out better than I ever imagined they would. I sent fabric to another company to make the bumper pads and blanket.

Once we had the design for the bedding nailed down, my new mission was to find someone to paint letters to match. Once again, good ole Google came in very handy, and I was able to locate someone to hand paint the letters. I sent her fabric swatches and she matched the design perfectly!

Mom and I also spent countless hours looking at floor lamps, chandeliers and drum lights. In the end, we decided to make our own. Jan Bollen, who also works at Stone Ward, was generous enough to give up her lunch break and wrap a self adhesive shade in some of my leftover fabric. After Jan worked her magic, we took the shade to a local lamp store to add the finishing touches. I told the guy at the store I wanted some glass to hang down out of the shade and he converted a Christmas ornament and two leaf finials into a decorative piece. Larry lent us his engineering skills to hang the new light and ceiling medallion in the room.

While on the hunt for wall decals or a nice painting to hang on the wall, I ran across these fun metal flowers. Mom and I almost went crazy trying to hang them on the wall, but I think it was worth the trouble. You can't help but feel happy when you look at them.

So, now everything is in it's proper place. We are stocked up on diapers, onesies and the bassinet has clean sheets waiting. Only one question remains. Aly, when will you come meet us? Your dad and I hope it is soon!