Shep’s New England-Inspired Nursery

Friends, I’m so excited to share today’s post with you!! I had a clear vision for Shep’s nursery from the beginning, and it has been gratifying to see it come to fruition. Let’s take a tour!

But first, let’s look back. Here’s the before of the former “blue room,” our smallest bedroom:

Yikes! My inspiration for turning this dumping ground into a happy spot for our baby boy was one of my favorite childhood books – Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey, a treasured New England author. We’d use the bold but nature-inspired colors and whimsical illustrations from the book to set the scene, framing three spreads to star in the space. This was my original inspiration board:

All of the credits are in this post!

And here’s how the board came to life!

Whee!! Such a good before and after :)

To free up floor space, we moved the queen bed into our guest room and set up the full in here.

We hired out the painting – prepping the walls to cover up those stripes was a feat! – and he did a beautiful job. When I first saw the finished colors, though, I was convinced we had made a mistake – they looked a little cartoonish to me. But, once we layered in finishes and especially the artwork – what was meant to tie everything together from the start – they totally transformed. Speaking of which…

The art!! The illustrations that started it all have turned out to be the crown jewel in this room, just as I had hoped. We had Framebridge frame three spreads from the book (I bought a new copy and cut the pages out verrrrrry carefully!). The gold Richmond frames have a heritage feel even though the illustrations themselves are youthful. I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out and know we will treasure them for a long, long time!

Our only “major” DIY was switching out the light fixture and fan. John really wanted to keep a ceiling fan, so I hunted high and low before finding this one. The sleeker visual profile really makes a difference in how big the room feels, and I like that the frosted, round bulb has a bit of a nostalgic feel to it!

John’s parents ended up gifting us the white Jenny Lind crib, which looks sharp against the colorful walls. We have two sheets on rotation from Little Unicorn – this blue one and this wave pattern. For the big bed, I found coordinating pillow cases and throw pillows at HomeGoods (we already had the white duvet and sheets!).

Let’s see… the little yellow bedside table was one I found at the flea market many years ago, and the lamp was from my Mom’s childhood room (!). The racquets are from my grandmother’s attic – I had saved them for years without knowing where to put them, and I’m so glad they finally have a home!! The sweet striped basket was a gift from my work ladies, the rocks and driftwood were collected on the Island, and the stuffed whale was a gift, too.

It’s a happy, cozy little room. I hope Shep loves spending time here as he gets bigger!

And now, if you’ll indulge me with a few more of our family photos by Graham…

My one request of the session was that we create a new version of our favorite photo from last time. I’d say Graham did an admirable job :)

Thank you for letting me share, friends! What do you think of our sweet baby boy’s spot? If you have any questions I didn’t cover, drop a note in the comments and I’ll help you out!

Photos: Graham Terhune of Anagram Photo | Hair and makeup: Samantha Ray | My pajamas: Lake Pajamas | Wall color: Beach Foam by Behr (blue) and Aurora Borealis by Ben Moore (green) – both colormatched to Sherwin Williams | Custom framing: Framebridge | Fan: Hunter | Jenny Lind-style crib: Amazon | Crib mattress: Amazon | Bed and bedside table: Raleigh Flea Market | Lamp and racquets: vintage | Crib sheets and blanket: Little Unicorn | Striped pillows: HomeGoods | Pennant: Seawicks | Striped basket: gift

P.S. June’s buffalo check and Liberty print nursery