Take 2: The Nursery

No literally, take two...babies that is! Ready or not, in just 12 short days we will have baby #2 arriving! Cole Hamilton Schrall is due to arrive via c-section on September 19 unless he chooses to come early. I'll be very curious to see how big he is compared to his brother, Charlie, because boys and girls...this one feels like a whopper! Daniel asked me if I was having a little boy or a calf. He's super sweet like that. Still learning the concept of a "filter" that one.

Anyway, many people have asked us what his nursery looks like so I thought I'd give you a little tour. You'll recognize it because it's the same room Charlie's in. We only have 3 bedrooms in our little home - 1 for us, 1 that serves as an office/man-room/guest room and then the nursery.

This little room used to be Daniel's man-room back in the day but when Charlie came along, we converted the guest room in to a makeshift man-room, which actually has worked out better. We use it alot for watching TV and relaxing in, especially since we took out the guest bed and put in a pull out sofa instead. But enough about that room, that's not even what I'm featuring here!

Here's a pre-baby picture:

Then it transformed in to Charlie's room. You'll notice there are no closets in this little room so I had to be creative with storage.  Here's a quick tour of Charlie's room pre-Cole:

Then when we found out we were expecting our second little peanut, we realized we better be even more creative! So here is the updated nursery. Surprisingly it works really well and honestly, I like the layout much better. Let's start with the small touches that I added to "de-Charlie" the room and make it more for both boys:

On the nursery door

 This looks complicated for their front door but really it's a simple kit from Hobby Lobby that came pre-stenciled with the shapes and I glued it to a canvas. The canvas was simple enough to paint since the center was mostly the C and their names. The rest you just had to paint what was stenciled out and viola - a cute little name plate for the boys.

Then I added unique initial canvases that I painted over each of their cribs. Charlie had one before but I never really loved how it turned out so I repainted one for each boy. (oh, and you too can have your very own for your child - just ask me!)

 And each boy also has their own little plaque to commemorate their birth date and details (length, weight, birth time) over each of their cribs too.



And on the center table between the cribs, I have cute frames with each of their names. Little touches like this really helped bring the nursery together to make sure it wasn't just about Charlie.

So finally for the tour...starting at the right of the door...

laundry and stuffed animal hangout

Charlie's Crib

Cole's Crib

Wall shot of both cribs and their artwork

changing table and their only clothes storage (2 drawers each!) 
On the left is the end of Charlie's crib to give you perspective.

The next picture is probably my favorite spot - the reading nook. It took me FOREVER to find the bookshelf that you see hanging but I finally found it on Qualitytoys.com. Who knew it would take me so long to find something you see in every pediatrician's office and elementary school! I needed something that could hang and not take up too much space to store as many books as possible. There are still some stacked underneath but it at least gets most of them off the floor. The red tub is their toy bin.  



Here's a close-up since it's my favorite little spot (there's even a little stool between the chair and changing table with a giraffe perching).

And behind the door is the storage shelf. This holds all their blankets, bibs, changing table items and a litany of other nursery necessities. It's super useful but a little busy so I'm glad it's mostly hidden behind the door.

So that'[s quick tour of the nursery! Not pictured are little things like a set of hooks on the back of their door to hold their book bags, sweatshirts, etc. We also have tubs of clothes labeled by size under each of their cribs for the next size up. That way as they outgrow things, we can just reach under and pull out the next size. (the rest are stored under our bed, again, painstakingly labeled by size.) We have towels, formula, diaper items, etc all stored under their cribs in baskets as well - all of which are neatly tucked away behind the matching crib skirts I made and velcroed to the cribs.

In such a little room it pays to be organized! But it actually works out great and we ended up having plenty of floor space. Now if baby #3 comes anytime soon ... we're in big trouble!!! Not only for space but because Daniel will be in the looney bin!

Have you had to be creative in your nursery for storage? Ever felt like you were crammed in only to realize a little creative organization gave you so much more room? I'd love to hear how you save space!