I have been itching to redecorate Mazen’s room for some time now. Probably as early as the moment I realized that my vision for his yellow + gray nursery never really turned out how I imagined.

As a reminder, here’s what we started with:

Here’s what his nursery looked like right before he arrived:

Here’s what it looked like one year later (and here’s the post about that!)

And here’s what it looks like today!

I’m in the process of slowly turning our house into a beach house. I’ve declared it my favorite style (bright, relaxed, comfortable). While the changes in the main house have been subtle, I decided to carry the nautical theme into Mazen’s room and give his décor a bit of an overhaul. I didn’t spend that much or change any of the big stuff, but the key pieces made a huge difference in the look and feel of the room.

The biggest change, of course, is the wall color. What was once a minty green is now bright modern white! And I love it.

I added new linens and curtains and moved around the artwork and furniture a bit. Here’s what it looks like from the doorway:

My favorite piece in the room is the ropey lamp that I found in Target’s Threshold line.

As a reminder, here’s the before! A red lamp I bought fresh out of college that had seen better days.

The new bedspread from Land of Nod has whales on the underside!

On top I had this pillow cover made through Etsy to fit the insert we already had. I love the pop of red – it is small but it really brightens up the room

Check out that octopus – also from Target! The burlap bins I bought a while ago, but they were Homegoods finds that work so well in the open space of the nightstand.

I used to store toys in this box in the basement, but it works so much better as a book cart in here.

If you look closely, you’ll see the Young House Love octopus hook on the shelves! I was going to hang it, but I actually like it as a decorative item even more. The paper mache M was made by blog reader Heather!

We use the bed as a changing table (which works perfectly) so most of the time you’ll find the matching changing pad on top.

But when I tidy up, it rests back on top of the dresser.

These curtains were sitting right under my nose for the longest time. I was searching for grommet curtains (the easiest to open and close) that were blackout but also over half white/light with some navy. I had already checked Pottery Barn Kids and overlooked these, and when I saw them on Pinterest I thought they had to be custom made. When I clicked through to the blog that featured them, she had a source guide and I found them on Pottery Barn! Grommets, blackout AND nautical – SOLD! They even tie in the burlap color on the bins and anchor print!

Here’s a reminder of what the old curtains were like – blah!

I splurged on a crib sheet that I really didn’t need but just wanted. I used to think $24 or so for a sheet was a lot (and it is when you have to buy 1,000 baby things!), but now that I know how much use they get and how happy these whales make the room feel I say go with the sheet you want most in the long run.

We moved Mazen’s crib 90 degrees and the room now seems to be so much more spacious. The rocking chair looks so much better over there than squeezed in by the door where it used to be. We also swapped rugs around in the house – Mazen’s stained chevron rug is now in the basement, the cushy basement rug is in the living room and this kitchen living room rug is now in here. I think it fits so much better.

I love it. Mazen likes the whales. We are all happy with the updates!

Where’s That From?

See some of my inspiration on my Baby Pinterest board!

Stripe + whale quilt

Whale crib sheet

Blue dot changing pad cover

Burlap wall anchor

Octopus wood wall art

Rugby stripe curtains

Anchor pillow cover

Ropey lamp

White pin tuck sham

Rocking chair

Wooden book crate

Paper mache M

Young House Love octopus hook

Here was our nursery just before we brought little Mazen home from the hospital:

And here it is one year later:

By request, here are some of the things we have loved about our nursery and some things we have changed.

Our color scheme and décor I still really love.{Although I will say I have considered painting the walls bright white recently…!} I changed the bedspread from a white duvet to a blue quilt for the summer, and like the quilt a lot more because it shifts around less than the duvet did. I also swapped the huge sham and small throw pillow for a more practical gray lumbar pillow. It’s great for reading in bed or nursing.

I swapped out our gray lamp for the red one because it was easier to turn on and off in the wee hours of the night. The gray ones are now our master bedroom lamps.

The biggest change is the night stand. At about 11 months Mazen figured out how to open the drawer and that caused the night stand to be really tippy. (We hadn’t bolted it to the wall because it was so light.) Also, the top had gotten really cluttered, especially since we used it for our wipes storage. The table below was Karen’s and was living in our attic. It was the perfect solution! The only drawback is that it totally clashes with the wall color. Maybe I’ll paint it someday.

It has tons more space on top and not one but two shelves underneath. I have actually thought about getting a big low dresser to go here for more drawers and an even bigger bed-side surface space, but I think this is good enough for now.

M loves to pull out this drawer and hide trinkets and his toothbrush inside. It’s a much better height for him.

On the bottom shelf I have a bin full of our bedtime books. It’s easy to pull out and bring onto the bed so we can dig through them and find the best stories. I found these burlap bins at Homegoods.

Another huge change is that we no longer use our changing table. When Mazen started to roll, it was too dangerous to have him up there, bolts and straps and all. We went through a short time of changing him on the floor until we realized…

That the bed is the perfect solution! He can roll off but he still has a soft bed to roll onto. And I can keep the floor space open and the wipes and things on the night stand. I also find it much easier to change him from the base of the changer – the angle is easier to manage.

Having a bed in our nursery has been THE BEST thing we could have done. I’m so glad we decided to keep it in there! I lie down to nurse all the time. We read stories snuggled together. I change all of his outfits and diapers on the bed. He loves to stand at the window and look out. We also slept in the nursery during the horrible four month sleep regression, and the bed was a life saver for our sleep quality. It will become Mazen’s big boy bed someday in the future too. I really can’t imagine where I’d do all of this if we didn’t have the bed in there.

Since our changing station has moved, the dresser serves as an open space for laundry folding and holds the changing pad when we are using the bed for other things. It also houses the sound machine.

The crib has been awesome.

Before:

After:

It’s on its lowest setting now. We have been nothing but happy with the crib and mattress purchase. I still don’t know if the organic mattress was worth the price tag (and never will) but I can say the mattress is holding up just fine and barely feels used a year later.

I added breathable bumpers when M started to roll around. They might have been unnecessary because I took them off to clean them on the front and he hasn’t ever gotten stuck. In fact, he likes to play with the crib from the outside so I haven’t put them back on.

We bought this crib wrap for the front when M started to chew on the crib. Sadly we have some permanent teeth marks so buy this before your child starts teething! We bought this gummi rail for the sides where ties wouldn’t work. I’ve been happy with them both, although I haven’t taken the gummi off to see how it does on the finish. The front tie wrap is great because I can throw it in the wash if it gets gross.

Lastly, I had to take the crib skirt off when we lowered the crib. It was custom made by my friend and it didn’t fit anymore. Sad, but I kind of like the open look too.

Nap toys! We still use our aden + anais blankets for sleeping. He loves them. And my mom got him these little dolls (without buttons or anything) from Amazon.

Did you notice that the paintings changed order in the first two photos? One night I woke up in a panic thinking about that heavy lion frame crashing into the crib and on top of Mazen if we had another earthquake. The next morning I swapped it with the lightweight bike canvas just to be safe ; )

Before we had nice flags hanging in style by their lonesome:

And now they have ugly cords tangled throughout. We mounted the video monitor on the wall, which has been priceless to have, but it sure isn’t pretty to look at!

The toy baskets are now filled with even more toys!

The rug…

I haven’t been very happy with the rug. It was inexpensive from Urban Outfitters. I don’t like that it always looks dirty!! It has tons of little pills in it that look like dirt specks, and it collects dirt from shoes really easily. And when M was younger and spitting up all the time, the water marks from the spit up and clean up took ages to come out. If I were you and I were setting up a nursery I’d get an indoor/outdoor rug like the ones that Ballard Designs has. Easier to clean! Thumbs down on the rug : (

The chair gets a thumbs up!

While I only nursed it in a handful of times (the bed wins every time) it has been great to have when we have a visitor. Matt often sits in it while I nurse at bedtime and others sit in it when they hang in the nursery with us. I use it sometimes if I am comforting Mazen at night or need to rock him a bit. M loves to bang on it. I couldn’t have asked for a better chair for these purposes – it’s compact, rockable and comfy.

Our drawers and closet are pretty much the same. I’ve moved things around – what used to hold burp cloths now holds shoes and socks. But nothing really to note. I do sort of wish I could take everything out and make 2 rows for hanging clothes. I put all of his clothes in a drawer by season and they do get a little jumbled at times. But it’s just easier to put shirts in a drawer than to hang them up, so I haven’t made the jump to try that. Still very glad I took the closet door off and used a curtain instead.

Speaking of curtains, I did swap out the white ones for blackout curtains early on. I still miss the white ones, but the blackouts are good!

Gotta run – tantrum alert!!