Around the house: Toddler bedroom tour

Welcome to Cricket's new bedroom! I've shown you pieces of the room as it's come together and am thrilled to reveal the finished product today.

Since we already have a nursery ready and waiting for the new baby, most of my creative energy over the last several months has gone into this toddler room. This poor baby isn't even here yet and all the worldly things awaiting her are hand-me-downs from her big sister! That's the life of a second child, I suppose. (I'm the third of four girls, so she won't get much sympathy from me...) It just feels different from the first time around when we focused all our energy preparing for our newborn instead of working to make a smooth transition for our toddler.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tour. One of these days I really will let Cricket try sleeping in her new bed. Just not today.

Paint color: Olympic Paint Big Cypress (C26-4).

Above: The upholstered bed we made, which I detailed in a previous post.

Below top left: The bed fabric is Valori Wells Wrenly Wildfield Cobalt Blue.

Below top right: Last summer I fell in love with a piece my sister bought from a Denver artist, whose business is called Soulful Home. I asked Soulful Home to custom-make these butterfly hangings to match both the walls in Cricket’s nursery and those in her new room. Cricket immediately became obsessed with the butterflies and visits them many times a day, waving her hands and exclaiming, "Flap, flap, flap!" The trick was to hang them high enough so she can admire without knocking them down.

Below bottom: I planned to recover the lamps on the dresser in this adorable fabric but made the mistake of admiring and purchasing it during early pregnancy when I was still incredibly sick. Now the fabric, like many other things I did, ate and thought about during that time, makes me nauseous to see. The lamps will probably have to come down for a while anyway when we start using the dresser as a changing table for Cricket. Hopefully by the time she's potty-trained I'll be able to look at the fabric again without vomiting.

Below top row: We found this gorgeous chest at Shelton's, a used furniture store. It was in rough shape, but we hired the shop's handyman to refinish it in a color that matches Cricket's eyes. (Jeff refinished the first dresser we bought there for the nursery and it took an unspeakable number of hours and coats of paints. When the handyman told us he would refinish this dresser for $90, we jumped at the chance to hire him.)

The photo hanging above the dresser is one of mine, Vibrant trail, which I shot last summer in Colorado. Jeff and Cricket were hiking up ahead of me, just around the bend. I can feel the mountain sun of my face when I look at it.

Below bottom row: We found this lovely garden piece at one of our favorite antique shops, Market Imports. 

When we used this room for guests, I always filled the pots with fresh flowers. But I knew I wouldn't have time to refresh them on a weekly basis for Cricket so—for the first time in my life—I bought fake flowers. Luckily, she doesn't know the difference and keeps trying to smell them.

Below: This gallery wall faces the foot of the bed and sits on the opposite side of the closet from the bookshelf. For some background and DIY instructions, see my previous posts here and here.

Left: We built this bookshelf from unfinished crates. I detailed the project here.

Above: We're avid readers and writers (well, Cricket is still working on those skills) and have books spilling from every surface in the house, so I was a bit embarrassed to see that I only put a few of them on her shelf to shoot these photos. I promise if you visit us, you'll be surrounded.

Thanks for taking a look at our newest room!