Clara's Room

I have been meaning to do a post on Clara's nursery for the past year. I was waiting on the curtains that Tia Laurie so lovingly and painstakingly made, and when she finished those for my birthday I completely forgot that I still needed to do a room post. So here it is, Clara's nursery!

Clarita's nursery is my favorite room in our house. Perhaps because it is the only room that is exactly what I want, perhaps because it was so fun to create, perhaps because it is where my favorite little person resides. I remember sitting in the chair in her room before Clara was born and thinking about the little baby that would soon occupy the room; hanging up all of the tiny pink clothes and imagining the baby that would fit into clothing so small; and just sitting calmly and taking it all in.

Everyone assumed that I would do a monkey themed nursery since I love monkeys. I am not real big on the whole theme idea (unless the theme is polka dots) so decided that I just wanted simple with gray and pink. I did still incorporate some monkeys into the mobile, night light, and lamp. I don't know if I necessarily had a vision of what the finished nursery would look like, but the finished project was exactly what I wanted. I wouldn't change a thing!

Luckily I have talented friends and family so I didn't actually have to do very much for Clara's room. Dada and Fafa painted the room. Luckily I had just found out I was pregnant when we moved in. That meant that we just left the room empty until we decided to start working on the nursery. Nothing to move or rearrange!

Tia Laurie put together all of the furniture (the crib is courtesy of Fafa and Abuela Sheri and the dresser courtesy of Abuelita) and made the curtains (a task I believe she wishes she never would have volunteered for). The puffs or "balls" as Clara calls them (she points to them and signs ball) were decorations that Tia Laurie made for one of my showers.

The "Clara" banner and framed "C" were made by Kevin's cousin Ashley for one of my showers. She also made the blanket on Clara's crib.

Tia Erika made the heart monkey in Clarita's crib and Auntie Mikaela had a friend make the "monster" in the crib. Clara loves to play with them when she wakes up! The pinguino in her crib was a gift from Dada and the monito was from Chelsea. Clarita snuggles with them as she falls asleep.

Tia Laurie provided plain letters and lots of embellishments at my shower and everyone there took part in creating Clara's awesome alphabet wall. This is a great shower idea as I would never have been creative enough to decorate that many letters. They would have all ended up polka dot. Everyone signed the back of them too so we can always know who to give credit to! Clarita always points to the letters as a sign that I should sing her the alphabet song!

I actually made the embroidery hoop hangings. I originally wanted Dada to paint polka dots on the wall, but my smart friend Sarah showed me the hoops she had made for her daughter and I was sold! It was really fun picking out the fabrics. I underestimated the amount of fabric I would need and didn't have enough polka dot fabric. Luckily Tia Laurie has a fabric store in her house where I found a bunch of different animal fabrics to complement the polka dots.

I bought the rug online and it was supposed to be gray but arrived light green. The hassle of sending it back prompted me to poll people that came over and the overwhelming decision was to keep it. I'm glad we did because I like the color it adds to the room.

The bookshelf was Kevin's grandparents' that I stole from our closet when we moved out of their old house. It isn't really ideal as the shelves are not tall enough to accommodate taller books, but I like it and the fact that it was his grandparents' so we make due. At the shower Tia Laurie threw me guests brought a book in lieu of a card (another great shower idea) and that rapidly filled Clarita's bookshelf. They even have super cute monkey polka dot book plates with notes to her inside them!

That's Clara's room. I imagine it will begin changing as she gets older and develops different interests (and graduates from the crib). I still enjoy sitting in the chair and looking at the room. The only difference is that I now have a snuggly baby in my arms or get to watch her playing with her toys and squealing with laughter as I sit...definitely an improvement to the silence before she was born!